Polish Catholics Attribute Trauma-related Symptoms to Possession: Qualitative Analysis of Two Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors.
Journal of child sexual abuse January 1, 2022 Igor J. Pietkiewicz, Urszula Kłosińska, Radosław Tomalski 8 citations
Two women with a history of sexual abuse were labeled as possessed by their religious communities and subjected to exorcisms. A clinical assessment and interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed that accepting a demonic explanation for trauma-related symptoms and interventions from clergy provided social support but prevented them from seeking diagnostic evaluations and trauma-focused therapy, resulting in persistent symptoms. This underscores the need to educate religious leaders about basic psychopathological symptoms.