Religion, Spirituality, and Trauma: An Introduction:

Current research trends suggest that about half of all people will experience directly, or vicariously, some form of trauma over the course of their lifespan. Recent societal events, such as high profile child abuse cases and scandals, increased rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide rates among returning veterans, and some of the worst natural disasters recorded in history have brought greater attention to issues of trauma. With this have come several advances in our understanding and treatment of trauma. As a result, this area of study has seen an increase in the diversity of topics investigated and sophistication of research methodologies implored. Despite these significant gains, there is still much to be learned about the unique role of religion and spirituality in relation to trauma. Thus, the purpose of this special issue is to contribute to this burgeoning body of literature. Before describing the work contained in the pages that follow, we briefly share some background about where our interest and work on faith and trauma began. This special volume has evolved out of our shared professional and personal experiences. Both of us, at different times in our personal and professional lives have been deeply moved by first-hand accounts of trauma. I (Aten) had just finished graduate school and had moved to South Mississippi to start my first academic appointment. Little did I know that Hurricane Katrina would strike the Gulf Coast just six days later. I saw first hand how devastating and far-reaching trauma can be. Perhaps even more importantly, I saw first hand how the church cared for trauma survivors and how faith helped bring about meaning and recovery to survivors. Within two months my research team had completed our first study on religion and trauma among Hurricane Katrina survivors. It was these early experiences after Hurricane Katrina--and years that followed of living in, studying, and working with communities affected by this disaster--that has led me to continue this work in other regions domestically and internationally, and ultimately to my involvement in this special volume. One of us (Walker) was working on a child abuse treatment team in a secular community mental health center near his hometown in Canton, Ohio for his predoctoral internship. I (Walker) remember working on a Child Abuse Treatment Team that year, and seeing a client who had been beaten to the point that he had broken bones. I was horrified, and shocked to learn that a child, living twenty minutes from where I had grown up, had been treated this way by his family. In attempting to help another child client to process his reactions to his abusive experience, I once asked him if he had talked to God about what had happened. The client responded by saying that he was "not sure that God could help." In that moment, I realized that nothing in the course of study in my PhD, my theology degree, or my integrative training had adequately prepared me for how to respond. I have since spent a good deal of my professional life trying to understand the process of healing from child abuse from the perspective of survivors and their therapists. …