Religious trauma is a systemic experience between a person and their religion as a whole. It may be a parent using religion to abuse a child, or a spouse drawing on religious doctrine to assert their right to dominate or control their partner. Often the abuser is a religious leader attempting to control or manipulate someone lower in the religious hierarchy, such as a volunteer, community member, or visitor. Spiritual abuse is an interpersonal experience between two people. These experiences are closely related, but they are distinct. Do I have freedom of choice in how I live my life, raise my children, interact with my partner, and so on, or are those decisions made for me by my religious leaders?.Have my religious leaders ever recommended I stay in an abusive or harmful situation in order to grow closer to my god?.Has my boss ever limited my ability to work or the opportunity for promotion based on my expressed belief in, or disavowal of, a certain faith?.Have my religious leaders ever tried to justify domestic violence or protect known abusers?.Has a parent or partner ever tried to force their religion on me?.
#Religious trauma syndrome free#
Has someone ever used or attempted to use my religious beliefs or practices to manipulate me into certain actions?.If you feel you may have been subjected to spiritual abuse, ask yourself: Spiritual abuse occurs when a person’s religion or spirituality is used to exert control over another person. What is spiritual abuse?Ībuse is the harm or mistreatment of another, often for the purpose of exerting power or control.
#Religious trauma syndrome manual#
What is religious trauma syndrome (RTS)?Īlthough not yet added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the term “religious trauma syndrome” (RTS) is gaining traction with therapists and other experts to describe the negative mental health effects of unhealthy or harmful religious experiences. For our purposes, “religious trauma” and “religious trauma syndrome” offer similar descriptions of the same thing. Sacrificing an entire worldview, community, and support system-which may result in trauma of its own-can be an incredibly difficult step on the road to healing. Leaving an unhealthy religious community may result in strained, damaged, or even broken relationships with friends, family, or partners. This can be a healthy choice, but it may be disorienting for someone whose life has been controlled by a certain set of beliefs, rules, and expectations. Religious trauma may also occur when a person decides to leave their harmful or abusive religious community. So this type of trauma may stem from a lifelong message that who you are somehow puts your relationship with your god, your family, and your community at risk. Some LGBTQIA+ people, for example, grow up in conservative religious communities who believe their identity is sinful or evil. Many forms of religious trauma are not associated with specific events, but instead accumulate over a long period of time through harmful messages enforced by the community. The victim may avoid sharing their experience for fear of what it could mean for their place in the faith community.
The religious community may ostracize the victim of a trauma, claiming it was somehow deserved, decreed by their god as necessary, or not that bad in the grand scheme of things.
This type of trauma often unfolds over several stages: Traumatic religious experiences may harm or threaten to harm someone’s physical, emotional, mental, sexual, or spiritual health and safety. Religious trauma occurs when a person’s religious experience is stressful, degrading, dangerous, abusive, or damaging. Religious trauma: Signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment
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