God and a ‘Little Bit of Magic’: Faith and Healing through the Lens of Cambodian Trauma Survivors

Abstract

Trauma is a global phenomenon that affects millions each year. Recovery from trauma is challenging and approaches vary between cultures and models. Faith and spirituality have long-been traditional modes for healing in cultures worldwide. However, through a largely Western-dominated medical model of treatment, healing through religion and spirituality had been often overlooked in favor of medical diagnoses and psychiatric treatment. The ability to recover from traumatic circumstances and adversity is known as resilience. Yet there is limited research available on how faith and spirituality may build resilience in the aftermath of trauma and its application in developing countries, such as Cambodia. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand what factors, including faith and spirituality, had enabled the recovery from trauma of Cambodian young people, through the collection of their oral narratives. The young people reported that coping strategies, such as faith and spirituality, played a role in in transforming their lived traumatic experiences into strengths. This paper explores faith as a resilience factor and how faith and spirituality may support healing and positive-growth outcomes for young Cambodians recovering from trauma.

‘It Touched My Heart’ - Trust and Attachment in the Aftermath of Trauma for Cambodian Orphans and Young People

“…As part of this assumption, I believed from the beginning that my resilient participants would be well-connected and that their connections in life would have buffered the effects of trauma. This is consistent with international literature which explores resilience in the absence of PTSD (Wyatt & Welton, 2022;2021;Agger, 2015;Dushimirimana, 2014;Mollica, 2006;Overland, 2013). Evidence mounts that we can foster resilience in children and youth in many ways through social connection and support (Masten, 2018).…”

Intergenerational Trauma in the Aftermath of Genocide

“…Additionally, other studies on Cambodian trauma survivors and resilience found that survivors' participation in traditional cultural and religious practices improved their overall wellbeing (Agger, 2015;Overland, 2013;Overland & Yenn, 2007;Wyatt & Welton, 2022). For example, one study found that the more actively Cambodians were engaged in their culture and religion, the more they seemed to thrive (Overland, 2013).…”

The Christian Spiritual Perspective of Healing in the Psychological Therapeutic Process

“…By referring to the methods of scientific psychological therapy, the church is forced to make certain evaluations regarding its own spirituality and the way in which the models it operates with are relevant and topical, bring effective results to the problems of believers, and present the alternative to a contemporary spirituality model (Wyatt & Welton, 2022). Through an open and serious dialogue between the two fields of knowledge, it is possible to arrive at the foundation of a way of life that can correspond to the demands of the Christian faith in the current context.…”

“…Christian psychologists affirm the sufficiency of Scripture, but explain this doctrine in a way that actually departs from Scripture in the matter of soul care. Scripture is the truth, and does not reveal the truth only to the ones who are informed, but to all in an equal manner, so to get close to the biblical text is not about the amount of information that one might receive about a particular subject (Wyatt & Welton, 2022). Rather, the Bible guides in an unbiased way in all matter it addresses.…”