Trauma, Attachment, and Spirituality: A Case Study

Abstract

e goal of this article is to illustrate the interaction between trauma, attachment, and spirituality, and to demonstrate how to address this interaction in long-term attachment-based psychoanalysis. Toward that end, this article brie y summarizes the convergence of attachment theory and psychoanalysis, and then reviews literature on attachment to God and trauma, including complex traumatic stress. We then present an in-depth case study of a patient with symptoms of complex traumatic stress that was treated from a long-term attachment-based psychoanalytic modality. Finally, based on the case that is presented, recommendations are made to practitioners about dealing with trauma and spiritual issues from an attachment-based perspective.

Childhood Trauma and Experience in Close Relationships Are Associated with the God Image: Does Religiosity Make a Difference?

“…In line with the findings of other authors [27,50,51], it may be assumed that survivors of a childhood trauma experience a negative self-perception, feelings of shame and being unworthy and that they transmit their negative feelings to a spiritual dimension [52]. The victims' sense of being loved and accepted by God can be disrupted [53], and they can have difficulty in believing in God's love [54,55]. Furthermore, they may question God's power and justice [56][57][58] and underreport God as absolute or just.…”

Associations of childhood trauma experiences with religious and spiritual struggles

“…A history of sexual abuse was related to significantly greater spiritual injury in some studies (Lawson et al, 1998), specifically to perceiving God as distant or experiencing doubts about God (Kennedy and Drebing, 2002). (Maltby and Hall, 2012) described intensive divine struggles after CT that were connected with feelings of being abandoned and not being loved by God, and with fear or anger towards God. In another case study (Proctor et al, 2019) the experiences of CT were related to divine struggles and interpersonal struggles.…”

The emotional experience of awe as a facilitator of traumatic narrative integration.

“…For this reason, symptoms of complex trauma (e.g., affective dysregulation, structural dissociation, somatic dysregulation, impaired self-development, and disorganized attachment patterns) often overlap with those of disorganized attachment, sometimes making it difficult to distinguish between the two diagnoses (Ford & Courtois, 2009). Yet regardless of symptom diagnosis, the presentation is the same: In addition to causing chronic deficits in regulatory capacity, complex traumatic exposure disintegrates implicit and explicit memory systems, thus compromising an individual’s capacity to construct a coherent life narrative (Maltby & Hall, 2012).…”