SPIRITUAL CHALLENGES TO CHILDREN FACING VIOLENT TRAUMA

Abstract

This article reviews research and theory dealing with the intersection of the developmental psychology of trauma and spirituality. The central hypothesis is that the experience of childhood traumatization functions as a kind of `reverse religious experience', a process combining overwhelming arousal and overwhelming cognitions that threatens core `meaningfulness' for the child. In addition to reviewing the role of religion in spiritual development, it offers some general principles for action and action research to understand better the role of spirituality in the traumatization and healing of children. Research implications include the need to study the life path of violent youth as a strategy for understanding the role of spirituality in preventing social problems among high risk children. The discussion is based upon the authors' formal and informal fieldwork and research with children in war zones, violent youth and street children in several regions of the world over the last 10 years, in which trauma and spiritual development have been a major focus.