Religious trauma is the felt sense of coercion or manipulation by a religious leader or dogmatic and authoritarian religious community. We explore the symptoms of religious trauma and how to address these.
Spiritual abuse involves coercion, control, or exploitation by another person in a spiritual context. It can come from a faith leader or a partner who uses spiritual or religious beliefs or doctrine to exert power over you. Spiritual abuse can involve verbal, emotional, and/or physical violence.
Abuse damages our ability to experience an intimate relationship with God in numerous ways, including giving us a deep distrust of a God..
Walk the Straight-N-Narrow: A Poem about the Spiritual Abuse of Spiritual Authority Walk the straight-n-narrow, They said, And nothing will go awry. Walk the straight-n-narrow, and don’t ask the question why.…
Clinical Psychologist. Author. Podcaster.
How Religious & Spiritual Beliefs Can Be Used To Groom Us To Tolerate (Or Perpetrate) Abuse
No, this is not a "trial" from God. This is called 'abuse', plain and simple. While you are struggling in utt...
Four years ago, the co-lead pastors of my church at the time were asked to resign because of spiritual abuse. That church had become my family, my community, my home. The news was shocking, but I was also deeply grateful the dysfunction was finally being named. While I am still unpacking the realities and consequences
Every spiritual abuser has these five lies in common, and the effect is devastating on the faith of their victims.
Why Is Spiritual Abuse Hard To Define? It’s difficult to define or recognize spiritual abuse because it has so many manifestations, often overlapping with other kinds of mistreatment in a church environment.It’s so hard to identify or find validation that spiritual abuse has occurred or is occurring. We make excuses, w
Paul regrets writing a painful letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7: 8, 9). But he is pleased that at least they weren't as terrible as he was and they
Pixar's latest short film about the unlikely friendship between a neglected pit bull and a stray cat is creating waves on social media. 'Kitbull' is a new animated film from the Disney-owned company. Jim Morris, President of Pixar says, “The SparkShorts program is designed to discover new storytellers, explore new…
Why Is Spiritual Abuse Hard To Define? It’s difficult to define or recognize spiritual abuse because it has so many manifestations, often overlapping with other kinds of mistreatment in a church environment.It’s so hard to identify or find validation that spiritual abuse has occurred or is occurring. We make excuses, w
Narcissists Pretend to be Religious
One of the most painful aspects of religious trauma is sexual repression. In psychological research, we see that early life trauma results in developmental delays. This is because brain development can be interrupted by maltreatment, neglect, or abuse in adolescence or childhood. Read more about th
