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Parental and God Representations Among Individuals with Psychosis: A Grounded Theory Analysis

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Abstract

Religiousness, spirituality, and social support have all been identified as having a positive impact on overall mental health outcomes. The current study describes quantitative and qualitative assessment of parental and God representations among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (N = 46). Six salient themes emerged; participants described the importance of caregiver love and nurturance, need for God, loss of family members, love of God, concrete support provided by parents, and the ability to tolerate ambivalent feelings toward parents. Participants linked their relationships with parents and God to their process of recovery. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School-Child Clinical Psychology Program, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, 1165 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Tracy A. Prout & Patricia Ottaviano

  2. College of Mount Saint Vincent, Bronx, NY, USA

    Alexa Taveras, Carolyn Sepulveda & Julian Torres

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  1. Tracy A. Prout
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  2. Patricia Ottaviano
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  3. Alexa Taveras
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  4. Carolyn Sepulveda
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Correspondence to Tracy A. Prout.

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Authors Tracy A. Prout, Patricia Ottaviano, Alexa Taveras, Carolyn Sepulveda, and Julian Torres declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study.

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Prout, T.A., Ottaviano, P., Taveras, A. et al. Parental and God Representations Among Individuals with Psychosis: A Grounded Theory Analysis. J Relig Health 55, 2141–2153 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0265-0

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