Images of God and the imaginary in the face of loss: a quantitative research on Vietnamese immigrants living in Canada

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationships between images of God, the imaginary and experiences of loss among Vietnamese immigrants living in Canada. One hundred twenty-nine participants completed four sets of questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire, a Questionnaire on God Image, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Davidson Trauma Scale. In the second phase, 32 participants were administered the AT.9 test (an archetypal test with nine elements). In this test, participants are asked to draw, using nine symbolic elements, and then write a story based on their drawing. Results showed that a positive perception of God negatively correlated with somatisation, anxiety and hostility, whereas negative God image was significantly related to high levels of emotional distress. Results also showed that the synthetic categories of the imaginary were associated with a positive perception of God; and were negatively associated with somatisation, intrusion and hyper-vigilance. Further discussions on the main findings will address cultural implications in the fields of Mental Health, Religion and Culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Images of god
• Vietnamese immigrants
• the imaginary
• experiences of loss

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In his work, Durand (1960/1992)’s mapping has its roots in sensorimotor schemas, namely three dominant reflexes (i.e., dominant posture, descending or digestive gesture, and rhythmic gesture) (Xiberras 2002), which fall within the anthropological and are linked to the neurobiological and to the psycho-spiritual.