Spiritual abuse and psychache: The association of sacred wounding with gender, sexual orientation, and race

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dc.contributor.advisorMollen, Debra
dc.contributor.committeeMemberStabb, Sally
dc.contributor.committeeMemberPorras Pyland, Claudia
dc.creatorPorter, Courtney
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-18T16:27:32Z
dc.date.created2024-08
dc.date.issued2024-08
dc.date.submittedAugust 2024
dc.date.updated2024-09-18T16:27:32Z
dc.description.abstractThe researcher of the current study sought to expand understanding of the impact that religious and spiritual experiences have on the mental health outcomes of adults. While research on various forms of abuse has been extensive in nature, literature exploring dimensions of spiritual abuse have been diminutive in comparison. Even less is known about the impact spiritual abuse has on survivors’ overall well-being and the role spiritual abuse might play in the intolerable emotional suffering or psychache of those who experience sacred wounding. This study seeks to facilitate increased understanding of spiritual abuse not only due to the concerning association between psychache and suicidality (Spínola et al., 2022; Troister & Holden, 2012) but also in service of psychology’s mandate to provide ethical, intersectional, and competent integration of religion and spirituality in clinical practice (Currier et al., 2023). Participants were recruited through social media and email listservs to complete the following questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire, the Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire (Keller, 2016) and the Psychache Scale (Holden et al., 2001). The researcher recruited adult participants (n = 150) who had been involved in a religious or spiritual group at some point in their lives. The researcher conducted correlational and multiple regression analyses to test their hypotheses. The data supported the predicted higher rates of spiritual abuse for sexually marginalized participants than for heterosexual participants (Hypothesis 1). As expected, the data confirmed significant positive relationships between spiritual abuse and psychache (Hypothesis 2). The results did not support that the relationship between spiritual abuse and psychache would be moderated by race (Hypothesis 3), sexual orientation, (Hypothesis 4) or gender identity (Hypothesis 5). Additional findings, limitations, research implications, and treatment considerations are discussed.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/16780
dc.subjectSpiritual abuse
dc.subjectPsychache
dc.subject.otherSpiritual abuse
dc.subject.otherPsychache
dc.titleSpiritual abuse and psychache: The association of sacred wounding with gender, sexual orientation, and race
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
local.embargo.lift2025-08-01
local.embargo.terms2025-08-01
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Arts and Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentSchool of Social Work, Psychology and Philosophy
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychology
thesis.degree.grantorTexas Woman's University
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
thesis.degree.programAPA 7th edition

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