Implicit Organisational Trauma and a Dis-Membered Congregation: A Psychoanalytic Exploration

This article will explore the phenomenon of implicit organisational trauma through a case study example of a religious congregation that was closed following cumulative experiences of enduring collective trauma over the course of several decades. These included the traumatic death of a beloved member, repeated violations of relational trust, and betrayal by congregational leaders, as well as intergenerational child sexual abuse perpetrated by various clergy members. Psychoanalytic and systems psychodynamics views of traumatogenic processes within an organisational level of experience will be explored and applied. Particular attention will be given to discussing the phenomenon of splitting and affective dissociation within the psychological, relational, and organisational experiences of a traumatised congregation. In addition, the process of organisational healing will be explored through the perspective of reintegrating implicit emotional memories of trauma within the collective consciousness of its members, through which the community's sense of agency was rediscovered. In the case study reviewed throughout this article, we highlight the organisational decision that promoted healing from the history of shared trauma, which was the community's collective choice to close their congregation.