But the authors of a new study on life-changing experiences give author Charles Dickens high marks for his portrayal of Scrooge\u2019s sudden switch to saintliness.<\/p>\n Former grad student Jon Skalski and Brigham Young University psychology professor Sam Hardy conducted an in-depth study of 14 people who experienced profound, sudden and lasting change. They say the fictional Scrooge would fit right in<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cLike our participants, Scrooge was suffering,\u201d Skalski said. \u201cThere was disintegration. There was a world that was ripe for change because of suffering going on<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Scrooge had money, he hit rock bottom in terms of relationships. Orphaned as a child and broken-hearted from a failed engagement, Scrooge\u2019s pains intensify each Christmas Eve, the anniversary of the death of his only friend, Jacob Marley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the story, Marley appears seven years after his death as a voice of warning. Though a ghost, the role he plays is true to life. Most study participants described the presence of a trusted other person during their experience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cJust by their presence, a trusted friend can open up possibilities and a sense of faith in what\u2019s possible that one can\u2019t see,\u201d Skalski said.<\/p>\n Skalski and Hardy\u2019s research will appear in the January issue of The Humanistic Psychologist<\/em>. Finding people that fit the criteria was no easy task. To do so, they employed ads on Craigslist in Illinois and Utah.<\/p>\n Notably, the experiences shared by the participants were not recent events. On average, nine years had passed between the transformation and their interview. Most of them could remember the exact time of day when the turning point occurred<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve often thought about this, whether these transformations are really sudden or gradual,\u201d Skalski said. \u201cIt\u2019s like water boiling \u2013 you can look at that as a discontinuous change from not boiling to boiling, but there are certain elements going on beneath the surface that allow for the dramatic change to take place.\u201d<\/p>\n For an entrepreneur referred to as Kevin in the study, the preceding turmoil arose because his identity as a successful businessman crashed along with his failed ventures<\/strong>. Like Scrooge, he had neglected relationships and said his psyche was \u201cin a very dark place.\u201d<\/p>\n But with his breakthrough moment, life instantly took on a whole new meaning for Kevin.<\/p>\n \u201cI say it\u2019s the best thing that could\u2019ve happened, because my life is so much more rewarding than it once was. You can\u2019t put a price tag on certain\u2026events that I maybe missed before \u2013 certain events, and a marriage, and a family, birthdays, you know?<\/strong> Certain things that are just really fun to be a part of are more meaningful, and it is happiness \u2013 the kind that lasts. I know these truths have been around forever. But for me they\u2019re new.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Similarly, another participant\u2019s world crumbled because she based her worth on how well she did in school. Like Scrooge and Kevin, she emerged with a focus on other people.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I measure success by my \u2013 how much time I spend serving and doing those things, because those \u2013 serving and being with people \u2013 are really what bring me satisfaction now<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Each of the study participants experienced overwhelming stress prior to their breakthrough. Hardy, an expert in human development, wonders whether hitting rock bottom is a necessary ingredient for such positive transformations.<\/p>\n \u201cThat led me to think, well, is there a way that people can capitalize on these mechanisms of change and initiate them themselves instead of bottoming out,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cCan you self-initiate this kind of change?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n Skalski sees another holiday parallel with his research in the film \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life.\u201d After planning to end his life, George Bailey realizes how other people depend on him in Bedford Falls, prompting his famous line, \u201cI want to live again!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose stories are stuck within our culture,\u201d Skalski said. \u201cWe all know deep down inside that human beings can and do change in profound and significant ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Skalski is seeking a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of West Georgia. To be alerted when their study is available, sign up for table of contents alerts from The Humanistic Psychologist<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the BYU press release via EurekAlert!: \u201cBah, humbug!\u201d is the line most closely associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, the famous miser from \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d But the authors of a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9252"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9450,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252\/revisions\/9450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"senior](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/senior_mom_daughter.jpg\")
\u201cBah, humbug!\u201d<\/strong> is the line most closely associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, the famous miser from \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d<\/p>\n