Traversing Trauma: Resilient Women's Religious and Spiritual Stories of Hope and Strength

Public Significance Statement To adaptively cope following severe life events, Christian, Islamic, and Jewish women reported their reliance on religious and spiritual beliefs. Their beliefs in a Supreme Being were powerful, stabilizing, and beneficial forces. Because many women who experience trauma rely on their religious and spiritual beliefs, mental health professionals need to consider coping strategies that incorporate culturally sensitive religious and spiritual beliefs. For many individuals, religious and spiritual (R/S) beliefs are a central part of their worldview and provide substantial support when adapting to and coping with life's challenges. As mental health professionals provide supportive services, they must carefully consider ways to incorporate clients' R/S beliefs into culturally sensitive and responsive interventions. To gain insight into clients' adaptive coping when relying on R/S beliefs, this research explored the experiences of 39 women from Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions. Each of these individuals accessed their R/S beliefs to adaptively cope following a severe life event. Individual interviews (90-120 min) were conducted with each participant. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a systematic review of interview transcripts revealed four common themes of reliance on R/S coping: (a) engaging in important relationships with others who also shared a strong R/S core belief system (CBS), (b) integrating R/S practices with psychological strategies, (c) experiencing and acknowledging divine intervention, and (d) reframing experiences through the use of R/S-oriented thoughts and beliefs. Regardless of religious denomination, participants reported similar R/S coping processes. Participants' reliance on R/S coping and a strong CBS in a Supreme Being were powerful, stabilizing, and beneficial forces. These findings suggest the importance of mental health professionals understanding, validating, and drawing upon clients' R/S beliefs, practices, and experiences. This article emphasizes the critical need to better prepare mental health professionals, who may feel insufficiently prepared, to incorporate R/S issues in therapy.