ABSTRACT
Components of the depth axis have been relatively ignored in medicine and psychiatry. According to the scientific—humanist dichotomy, depth axis components have traditionally been in the domain of priests and philosophers. In conclusion, the depth axis provides a consistent schema by which to view fulfillment and its opposite, traumatization at different levels of human function. Religion and other defenses protect from knowledge of trauma. In trauma, all human aspirations and fulfillments at all function levels, from body to soul, can be damaged. Symbols can provide fulfillment akin to the original functions they represent. Their destruction in trauma causes equivalent pain. The frequent withholding or just indifferent bureaucratic administration common after wars and disasters may be seen as so unfair as to be even more distressing than the original trauma. In trauma, security and resources are sensed to be arbitrarily and unjustly removed.
