The suprasystemic level of personality organization in the context of psychological trauma: a theoretical rationale within a systems model
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6127-2026-5-121-131
The article is devoted to the theoretical substantiation of the suprasystem level within a five-level model of personality in the context of psychological trauma. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to overcome reductionist approaches to trauma analysis, in which the consequences of trauma are described either predominantly through symptomatology or through separate cognitive, affective, or social mechanisms. The paper considers personality as a complex, open, hierarchically organized system comprising elemental, component, subsystem, system, and suprasystem levels. Special attention is paid to the suprasystem level, at which external social, communicative, and cultural reality is transformed into internal representations, relational models, forms of self-regulation, and selfidentification. The specific mechanisms of disorganization are revealed through the integration of attachment theory, the concept of betrayal trauma, and models of functional dissociation. The purpose of the article is to theoretically clarify the content and functions of the suprasystem level in the author’s five-level model of personality in the situation of psychological trauma. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the theoretical substantiation of the suprasystem level as a key component of the author’s five-level systemic model of personality in the context of psychological trauma. It is shown that the suprasystem level performs translational, normative-structuring, identificatory, and regulatory functions, ensuring the transition from external social reality to internal forms of personality organization. The theoretical significance of the article consists in clarifying the mechanisms of vertical traumatization of personality. The practical significance is determined by the possibility of using the model in clinical-psychological analysis of developmental trauma, identity disorders, dissociation, and victim fixation, as well as in the design of psychotherapeutic interventions.
Keywords: psychological trauma, personality, systems approach, suprasystem level, attachment, betrayal, dissociation, identity, self, victimization, five-level model
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Issue: 5, 2026
Series of issue: Issue 5
Rubric: PSYCHOLOGY
Pages: 121 — 131
Downloads: 22