Who Holds the Key to Your Box? Trust, Safe Space, and Culture

Abstract

Abstract:The issue of trust—loss of safety, violation of trust, and restoration of interpersonal trust—is at the heart of the experience of trauma and trauma treatment. Culture affects the conditions that contribute to a sense of safety and trust as well as the meaning of trust itself. Space—physical space, emotional space, and even spiritual space—is a factor in the creation of a sense of trust and safety. Based on an exploration of the therapeutic metaphor of a covered box, this article discusses factors related to trust and space and culture observed in the context of trauma therapy groups conducted in Ankara, Turkey, between March 2009 and May 2011. Five trauma therapy groups were conducted by a multidisciplinary, multicultural team of mental health professionals inquiring into the effects of culture on therapeutic processes in trauma. The article focuses on both practical, physical space and imagined space in relation to the therapeutic goal of reestablishing a sense of basic interpersonal trust after trauma.