Posttraumatic symptoms and religious/spiritual struggles in Russian Orthodox women: a network analysis

Background: Religion can serve both as a resource and a source of distress after trauma. Russian Orthodox Christian women face a convergence of risk yet remain absent from the psychotraumatology literature, and the co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms with religious and spiritual (R/S) struggles has not been examined. Objective: This study explored the network of ICD-11 PTSD/CPTSD symptom clusters, six R/S struggle domains, and divine closeness experience in trauma-exposed Russian Orthodox women, identifying central and bridging nodes at the trauma–R/S interface, the conditional position of divine closeness, and replication across samples. Method: Two online samples were recruited via Russian-language Orthodox communities (Sample 1: N = 549, 2025; Sample 2: N = 512, 2026). Symptom clusters, R/S struggles, and divine closeness were assessed with the International Trauma Questionnaire, the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSS-14), and the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale Short Form (S-DSES). Networks were estimated with EBICglasso, a regularised Gaussian graphical model; central and bridging nodes were identified via strength, expected influence, and bridge centrality; and replication was assessed with the Network Comparison Test. Results: The trauma and R/S domains were bridged primarily through a connection between negative self-concept and ultimate meaning struggles, the highest bridge nodes on their respective sides, joined by the strongest cross-domain edge. Divine struggles were the most central node within the R/S domain, and divine closeness was inversely associated with trauma symptoms. Network structure did not differ between samples. Conclusions: Negative self-concept was the strongest bridge between the trauma and R/S domains, and divine struggles the most central node within the R/S domain. The replicated network generates hypotheses for clinical assessment, culturally sensitive and spiritually integrated interventions, and further research in this underrepresented group. First network study to map ICD-11 PTSD/CPTSD symptom clusters jointly with religious and spiritual struggles in two independent samples of trauma-exposed Russian Orthodox women.Negative self-concept and ultimate meaning struggles formed the strongest replicated bridge linking the trauma and religious/spiritual domains.Divine struggles were the most central node within the religious and spiritual domain, whereas divine closeness was inversely associated with trauma symptoms across both samples. First network study to map ICD-11 PTSD/CPTSD symptom clusters jointly with religious and spiritual struggles in two independent samples of trauma-exposed Russian Orthodox women. Negative self-concept and ultimate meaning struggles formed the strongest replicated bridge linking the trauma and religious/spiritual domains. Divine struggles were the most central node within the religious and spiritual domain, whereas divine closeness was inversely associated with trauma symptoms across both samples.