O B B B C ?

Imagine folks sitting in a circle. Having a conversation about OBBBC. Or more precisely, about the OBBBC in one person's life. The circle could be around a fire in a primitive village; it could be around a small table in a modern hospital; it could be almost anywhere. That one person's OBBBC is the center of the conversation, and the purpose of the circle is to call forth all the wisdom available to understand the OBBBC.

OBBBC: One Big Buzzing Booming Confusion. Something has happened to this person's life that is out-of-the-ordinary. A sudden health crisis, onset of mental illness, addiction, or some other puzzling situation. A confusion that one person cannot unravel by themselves. So the circle is gathered, people with various kinds of wisdom, expertise and experience. The purpose is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nature of this confusion and what may be done about it.

Paul Pruyser introduced me to OBBBC in Topeka, Kansas about 1980, where he practiced and taught at the world famous Menninger Clinic. Pruyser, a psychologist "wrote the book" on spiritual assessment: The Minister as Diagnostician. Pruyser and Karl Meninger (a psychiatrist and the clinic's founder), teaching a course by the same title, identified the value in including a chaplain in the circle of wisdom around the person with OBBBC. Every aspect of the person's life is important to understanding and planning a path toward recovery. The psychiatrist could use his specialized knowledge, experience and language system to diagnose the OBBBC and recommend helpful action. The psychologist's perspective adds more to the picture, as does that of the medical doctor, the nurse and the social worker. Each has a distinctive perspective, a wealth of experience and a language system to enhance understanding of the person's needs. Each specialist is able to identify resources that could be helpful. The interesting discovery, made by Pruyser, was that this was also true of the chaplain on their team. Pruyser was surprised to discover that the recommendations of the chaplain often closely paralleled those of the psychaitrist. In response he began to study the spiritual dimension of life, seeing that it was more than something completely mysterious.

Pruyser's challenge to us is twofold: To people with OBBBC and to treatment teams working with such people, his challenge is to make sure there is someone on that team trained to bring the specialized knowledge of the spiritual dimension of life to the table. Then he challenged clergy to learn to use their language and observational skills systematically so they could bring something significant and helpful to that conversation. Every person with OBBBC deserves to have someone at the table who can help them (and the others at the table) understand both the spiritual problems involved and the spiritual resources that will help in the person's journey toward wholeness.