Mental health, religion, & culture. (Journal File).

Hanneke Schaap-Jonker, E., Eurelings-Bontekoe, P., & Zock, H. (2002).

Image of God and personality pathology: An exploratory study among psychiatric patients Vol 5. (1), 55-71

The authors cite research showing that the quality of early relationships with primary caregivers is associated with God image. Individuals who experience more extensive early relational trauma often view God as more distant or punitive than those who experienced stable early attachments. The authors also discuss studies that indicate that God image often reflects self-image, whether positive or negative. An association between psychopathology and negative images of God is, therefore, expected and has received some confirmatory evidence. The authors state that the relationships between personality pathology and God image have received less attention. Thus they endeavor to be one of the first to examine relationships between DSM-IV personality disorder traits and God images.

Forty-six psychiatric patients responded to the Dutch Symptom Checklist (SCL90) and the Questionnaire to Assess Personality Features (VKP-IV). Images of God were assessed using a questionnaire comprised of statements Murken (1998) developed based on two dimensions: feelings about God and experience of God's actions.

Results indicated that greater personality pathology, particularly borderline, avoidant, schizotypal, schizoid, dependent, and paranoid traits, is associated with more negative feelings about God. Similarly, greater personality pathology, especially schizotypal, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid traits, results in perceptions of God's actions as more negative. Specifically, patients with predominantly cluster A traits (odd-eccentric) experienced God as passive, aloof, and unsupportive. Patients with primarily Cluster C traits (anxious-fearful) characterized God as dominant and punishing. Independent associations between Cluster B traits (dramatic-emotional) and God image did not result, possibly indicating high intercorrelations between Cluster B traits and those classified under Clusters A and C.

The authors theorize about these results from both an object-relations and a cognitive schema perspective. In terms of an object-relations viewpoint, the patients are seen as identifying with their primary caregiver's stance toward them as children, either rejecting (Cluster A) or controlling (Cluster C), in order to withstand their resultant feelings of being abandoned or dominated, respectively. The patients cannot reject an omnipresent or control an omnipotent God, so they manifest both their attempts to reject or control God in addition to their original roles as the abandoned or dominated children, respectively. From a cognitive schema perspective, the early self-object relationship is understood as a relational template, which biases individuals to attend and thus respond to interpersonal signals that are congruent with the original maladaptive schema.

According to the authors, negative God images, when viewed as maladaptive interpersonal schemas, become amenable to psychotherapeutic treatment. Thus they advocate for research on the efficacy of cognitive schema therapy with personality disordered patients who possess negative God images. This study's results may not generalize to patients with antisocial and/or narcissistic personality disorders, as these disorders were underrepresented due to a predominantly female sample.

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