Symptoms of Religious Trauma
In the last article, we looked at the concept of Adverse Religious Experiences (AREs), which are any experiences of a religious belief, practice, or structure that undermines an individual’s sense of safety or autonomy and/or negatively impacts their physical, social, emotional, relational, or psychological well-being (Religious Trauma Institute). As we learned, AREs may lead to religious trauma, but they don’t always. In order to be experienced as trauma, the nervous system’s capacity to cope must become overwhelmed.
Any type of trauma includes the following types of symptoms; in fact, the diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), requires symptoms from the following four categories. However, not all experiences of trauma fit neatly into the diagnosis of PTSD, and PTSD is only one of many ways to conceptualize traumatic experiences.
Intrusive symptoms (such as ruminative thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, and obsessive thinking)
Some examples of how this may present in someone experiencing religious trauma include:
Ruminative thoughts of hell
Nightmares about a traumatic event or a Biblical story
Obsessions and compulsions related to a need to be perfect in order to earn god’s favor
Avoidance symptoms (such as avoiding reminders/triggers, distraction, dissociation, isolation, substance use, workaholism)
Some examples of how this may present in someone experiencing religious trauma include:
Avoiding religious communities or people that are triggering or make you feel anxious or angry
Using substances to distract from distressing feelings
Isolating from family and friends, and feeling as though if you leave your religious community, you will have no one to turn to
Changes in thoughts/feelings (such as difficulty remembering traumatic event(s), extreme negative beliefs, anxiety, depression, shame, self-blame, feeling detached from others or the world, difficulty or inability experiencing pleasure)
Some examples of how this may present in someone experiencing religious trauma include:
Negative beliefs or perceptions about “non-believers”
Black and white thinking
Feeling as though you are guilty even when you haven’t done anything wrong
Difficulty experiencing pleasure within sexual relationships
Changes in arousal (such as feeling on edge, difficulty focusing, insomnia, irritability, hyper vigilance, increased startle response, self-destructive behavior)
While the above symptoms are relevant to any type of trauma, religious trauma is a unique experience which includes symptoms in the above categories that stem from religious contexts or high-control spiritual groups (including cults). Religious trauma is distinct from other trauma experiences typically due to the concept of god or the divine being a part of the adverse experiences. Just as experiences of trauma are unique from individual to individual, experiences of religious trauma - while sharing certain themes - are unique from individual to individual.
The mental health symptoms that may be experienced as a result of religious trauma can include (but are not limited to):
Shame about being personally responsible for Jesus’ death, being a sinner, or not living up to god’s expectations
Feelings of unworthiness, being unlovable, or being inherently bad or sinful or evil
Fear of rejection by god or religious community
Lack of self-compassion
Lack of personal autonomy (an ingrained belief that your life belongs to god, which can lead to challenges making decisions, creating personal boundaries, and providing intentional consent)
Lack of self-trust
Lack of trust of your own body, emotions, and intuition
Current or history of chronic fear or anxiety around salvation, the rapture, hell, satan, or demons; fearing that you or your loved ones will go to hell
Superstitious beliefs about what will lead to positive and negative outcomes in life
Perfectionism - fear of making mistakes
Black and white thinking - judging every individual thought or action as “good” or “bad”
Spiritual bypassing - denying the presence and validity of mental health issues due to a belief that those feelings come from satan or a lack of faith, and if one prays enough or are favored then god will take the mental health symptoms away
Difficulty experiencing pleasure
Feeling bad or wrong for having sexual thoughts or feelings, or having physical reactions to sexual situations such as crying or feeling a disconnection from one’s body
Feeling shame for your gender identity or sexuality (especially if it differs from the cisgender/heterosexual norms)
Feeling guilty when you haven’t done anything wrong
Blaming yourself when bad things happen to you
Feeling ashamed when you get angry
Feeling guilty for questioning those in positions of authority
Feeling guilty for not donating time or money to a religious group
Feeling an obligation to recruit people to a religious group (and feeling guilt when you don’t do this)
Feeling guilty for not attending the meetings/services of a religious group
Feeling responsible for the salvation of the people around you
Fearing advice or treatment from non-believers
Fear of enjoying media by non-believers
Fearing that doubts about your faith indicate that you’re not truly saved
Often assuming that religious people and leaders are judging you
Suspecting that religious leaders don’t want people to be happy or enjoy sex; that they don’t actually believe what they teach
Suspecting that god is cruel or indifferent to your suffering
If you have experienced or are currently experiencing any of these symptoms (or others that you suspect may be due to adverse religious experiences), please reach out to schedule a free consultation to see if trauma therapy might be a good fit for you (Massachusetts residents only). Please know that you are not alone. There are others who have experienced this, and there is help available.
I am grateful to the following resources, which are my sources of the above material:
