The Ambivalence of Loss and Gain: Searching for Significance after Leaving a Context of Perceived Spiritual Abuse

This study investigates how survivors described discovering ways to reorient themselves after experiencing loss related to perceived spiritual abuse within certain Pentecostal fellowships in Norway. Through a reorientation of significance, they sought value and meaning in their lives and aimed to improve their well-being. They did this by strengthening their agency associated with taking responsibility for their situation after they left a context of perceived spiritual abuse. Semi-structured interviews with 16 participants were conducted and analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis. The participants reflected on their past experiences and how these continued to affect them as they evaluated their life and planned for their future. The analysis identified two main empirical themes: (1) loss-oriented reflections on the past and (2) gain-oriented reflections on the present and the future in light of the imprint of losses in the past. The discussion of the participants’ reorientation of significance applies the theoretical lens of power dynamics and incorporates Kenneth Pargament’s ideas about orienting systems and sense of significance alongside Roy Kearsley’s distinction between power over, power from, and power to.