A Chaplain may provide part of the usual MPD psychotherapy, act as a resource in understanding religious issues, or directly address the religious ideation of the patient. I would like to focus on this last aspect. For those who have been abused as children, working toward the resolution of religious issues can be very important in the healing process. Careful and systematic attention to those issues can help even in ways that are not at first apparent.
Abusers frequently involve religious ideation in the abuse.
First, they may claim a distorted religious justification for the abuse. Second, they may project a rationale for the abuse upon the victim. Third, they may use religious language to ensure secrecy. All three may be reported by the same patient. The religious understandings and stance used by an abuser may be a reflection of his own emotional illness or dysfunction, may also be espoused by a larger community, or may be simply a facade created for self-justification.