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Article Review Assignment
In this article, the primary emphasis is on a case study of Joseph, a man who is currently
incarcerated. Joseph has endured numerous traumas throughout his life and has achieved
rehabilitation by connecting with spirituality. During his upbringing, he experienced physical,
mental, and emotional mistreatment from his father, resulting in frequent distressing separations
and a state of spiritual perplexity once he entered the foster care system. These experiences
caused his heart to become spiritually callous. After the deaths of his foster mother and
biological father, Joseph was to his limit and ultimately broke. This led to the violent crime for
which he is currently incarcerated, as well as the diminishing of his spirituality. The correlation
between spirituality and trauma can be intricate and have both advantageous and detrimental
consequences.
The early years of Joseph's life were marked by sporadic episodes of physical, mental,
and emotional violence at the hands of his father, which is regarded as an assault on his
spirituality. Joseph would run away from home when he knew that his father was going to beat
him. According to Hylton (2022), his mother claims that she had no idea the extent of the
beatings of her children; she claims that she was always at work. Two decisive moments revealed
to Joseph’s mother the severity of what happened in her home while she was away: when he ran
away from school and when he jumped off the roof to escape.9
After jumping off the roof to escape his father, Joseph called DHS and entered foster
care (Hylton, 2022). Joseph lost his trust in his father and God in his short life due to violence.
At twelve, Joseph was placed with a Canadian family who loved him, and he loved them back.
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Joseph found spiritual peace and regained faith in his parents for the first time in a long time
(Hylton, 2022). Unfortunately, he was abruptly taken from his new family after nine pleasant
months.
Joseph's biological father passed away with Joseph present. He observed his foster
mother undergo a fatal massive heart attack one year prior. When his father passed away, his
grief was compounded by the fact that he had never grieved her passing. To cope with the
traumatic experiences that life presented to him, Joseph consumed an excess of alcohol and
inhaled an excessive amount of marijuana and cigarettes (Hylton, 2022).
Following the death of his foster mother, Joseph relocated to live with his foster brother,
David. To acquire funds, they decided to burglarize a residence that David had previously
targeted. Regrettably, a ten-year-old girl and her father were abandoned to cause their death, but
happily, both managed to survive. Joseph received a 90-year jail term according to Hylton
(2022). Joseph began contemplating the concept of forgiveness, ultimately acknowledging to
himself and God the full magnitude of his offenses. Joseph acquired the skills of praying, fasting,
and seeking God's presence to obtain wisdom, strength, and serenity. As a result, he developed a
genuine reliance on God's ability to fulfill His commitments (Hylton, 2022).
I selected this case study because of my firsthand experiences with trauma and jail,
making it fascinated me that Joseph discovered and sustained his faith while imprisoned. Case
studies possess numerous strengths, one of the most significant being their ability to produce
comprehensive, nuanced data regarding the case, exemplified by Joseph's raw emotions, which
the researcher observed directly, enhancing the understanding of the case and its context.
Additional advantages of case studies, such as the one conducted by the researcher on
Joseph, include the capacity to acquire and record material that may be beneficial for a more
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extensive investigation. This case study may corroborate other psychological ideas and offer a
concept for future psychological research.
Case studies possess several limitations, one of which is the sample size. Given that this
case study focuses on a single individual, Joseph, it would be challenging to reproduce the
findings using an alternative subject. Thus, asserting that incarceration guarantees the discovery
of Jesus would be inaccurate; the case study lacks sufficient evidence to substantiate this claim,
and it also fails to provide evidence to refute the possibility of finding Jesus.
Joseph's father's frequent physical, mental, and emotional maltreatment during his
childhood was perceived as a spiritual violation. Violence damaged Joseph's trust in both his
father and God during his short existence. His inability to mourn his foster mother led him to
resort to drugs and alcohol following his father's death. He made a detrimental decision that
harmed others and subsequently found himself incarcerated, where he encountered Jesus Christ.
This case study elucidates the impact of childhood trauma and the degree to which it can
persistently affect individuals into adulthood if inadequately addressed. Effective coping
strategies are essential for addressing childhood trauma. Psalm 55:22 instructs us to relinquish
our burdens to the Lord, who will uphold us (Peterson, 2021). This verse encourages reliance on
God and relinquishing our burdens to Him.
