Take our Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Test

Find a therapist to heal from trauma.

The book of Job asks the timeless question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Job's outrage at innocent suffering is validated. Therapy provides a place to create meaning from suffering.

Part of healing is recognizing our profound vulnerability while continuing forward with resilience.

A few years ago, my patient's child was admitted to the ICU with pneumonia.

"Dr. Pauker, why did this happen? She's such a baby. Just 2 years old. What could she have done wrong? I don't think I can go on if anything happens to her..."

My patient's plea echoed in my ears as anguish and panic reverberated throughout the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a modern plague that, at that time, felt almost Biblical in scale. Her question also brought me back to a discussion about the book of Job that took place in my study group of psychoanalysts, who met monthly for over a decade examining Biblical texts through a psychoanalytic lens. Job confronts a question that emerges in every therapist's office: How do we make sense of devastating loss when no explanation feels adequate?

The Book of Job as a Psychological Narrative of Trauma

The Book of Job is the quintessential Bible story that addresses loss and confrontation with God. It invites the question, “Why, if there is a just God, do the good and righteous suffer?” Or, more colloquially, Why do bad things happen to good people?

To summarize the tale: Job is a good, prosperous family man whom God defends as his servant when Satan provocatively asks, “Job praises you now, but what if he lost all he had? Would his faith remain strong or would he waver?” Disturbed by the thought, God tells Satan to test Job, just don’t kill him. In rapid succession Job loses his flocks, children, and health. His wife admonishes him, “OK already! Curse God, be done with it and die.” But Job refuses.

Three friends visit Job. They fervently advise him to repent, as he must have done something wrong to warrant such punishment from a just God who would not make Job suffer without a reason. Job insists he did nothing wrong. His suffering is not deserved.

A fourth friend arrives to console Job and argues that we can’t understand all of God’s ways. There is no reason to expect God to be just. Job should resign himself to his fate, which must serve some purpose larger than himself. Job becomes furious, rejects this option, and hurls his anger at God.

“It would have been better never to be born than to suffer such indignities, pain and humiliation!” He challenges God to come forward and read his indictment so that Job can answer the unjust charge and justify his innocence.

From the midst of a “whirlwind,” Job is answered. And what an answer it is.

“Who is this whose ignorant words smear my design with darkness?

Stand up now like a man... Where were you when I planned the earth?

Tell me, if you are so wise...

God recounts the many miracles of his creation; and who is Job to pretend he could understand God's infinite design?

Job is rendered speechless.

Amazingly, God chastises the friends who "have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has” and defends Job's response of challenging God. His message: man should not accept his suffering. God should be held to account for the suffering of the innocent, though we may never understand the larger design. There is a Hollywood ending, as all is returned to Job. He lives in prosperity to a ripe old age.

Loss, Meaning, and the Experience of Depression

People who have suffered loss frequently feel that the universe is capricious, uncaring, and without meaning. These are depressing thoughts, often seen in clinical depression, that can lead individuals to lose hope, give up, not care for themselves, and rob them of any perspective within which to place their suffering. As psychoanalysts, we often witness that from the tumultuous, whirling maelstrom of loss and pain, patients are, ultimately, able to wrench meaning out of the chaos of their lives. That is part of the goal of psychoanalysis and many psychotherapies—to redefine the narrative of our lives.

Take our Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Test

Find a therapist to heal from trauma.

My experience is that patients suffering from loss react in a variety of ways. There are those who are consumed about whether the loss is punishment for a wrong they committed. Others wonder if it is a test. Some people lose their faith and even curse God, as they become convinced that the divine being doesn’t care about their good and bad actions. Many who have suffered loss feel guilty about what they did or did not do. And others channel their grief into dedicating themselves to a cause as a tribute to their loved one.

Rage as a Pathway to Recovery

Ultimately there is no answer for loss. All religious attitudes try to soften the blow. But none of us know why bad things happen. Job demonstrates the rage felt in adversity. The rage beneath the sadness, fear, pain, anger, and guilt. The rage that must be harnessed to recover. Psychotherapy provides a valuable opportunity to process the past, to reveal and recall memories, and even to think about what we would rather forget. It creates a psychic space where past, present, and our thoughts about the future can reside together. Through the telling and retelling of one's story of loss, there can emerge forgiveness, acceptance, and determination to create a better tomorrow.

The story of Job is told and retold through the ages because its questions and answers are timeless. And we are not.

Vulnerability, Resilience, and Acceptance

Fortunately, the child whose mother came to see me when she was critically ill recovered and is flourishing. But the experience of feeling that she nearly lost her child never left her. Part of the healing process in therapy is recognizing and, eventually, accepting how vulnerable we are but forging ahead with resilience. As much as we learn about ourselves in therapy, there is an unknowing with which we must come to terms. Gratitude for what is rather than fear of what could be or anger for what we don't have are hallmarks of a successful treatment.

© Psychology Today