06/18/2026
Imago Dei: A Therapist's Reflection on Trauma, Addiction, and Human Worth
As a therapist working with trauma, addiction, and mental illness, I am continually amazed by the complexity of God's design. Neuroscience reveals the incredible order of the brain, but being made in the image of God (Imago Dei) goes far beyond our neurobiology.
Scripture teaches that every person bears God's image and possesses inherent dignity and worth. This truth is especially important when working with individuals who carry deep wounds and ask difficult questions:
Why am I this way?
Why was I abused?
Why do I struggle so much?
Did God make a mistake when He created me?
The reality of trauma, addiction, anxiety, depression, and other forms of suffering reminds us that we live in a fallen and broken world. Trauma may alter neural pathways. Addiction may hijack reward systems. Mental illness may impact thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
Yet none of these realities erase the image of God within a person.
The client sitting across from us is more than a diagnosis, a trauma history, or a collection of symptoms. Beneath the wounds remains a person created in God's image. Someone with inherent worth, dignity, and the capacity for a relationship with God.
Healing is often about rediscovering who God created us to be.
Even amid suffering, the image of God remains.
Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
- Lawrence PLMHP, Executive Director/Founder
