Religious Trauma Syndrome: When Faith Hurts the Mind and Soul

Religious Trauma Syndrome: When Faith Hurts the Mind and Soul

When we think of religion and psychological abuse, we usually picture ex-cult members. Often, these people come out with severe trauma that needs treatment. But you don’t have to be in a cult to suffer this kind of harm: Faith-related trauma is a real thing. Some are calling it “Religious Trauma Syndrome,” and former evangelicals are emerging to find answers and healing.

Defining Religious Trauma Syndrome

New York Times writer Richard Schiffman says that Religious Trauma Syndrome isn’t an official diagnosis — yet. It’s not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an extensive resource book used by mental health professionals. But it’s become shorthand for negative mental health outcomes caused by what Schiffman calls “religious indoctrination.” The World Health Organization also recently included RTS in its International Classification of Diseases.

Journey Free, a recovery group that helps people heal from such trauma, describes RTS as resulting from “chronic abuse” connected to authoritarian and dogmatic religious cultures. Since it develops through long-term trauma, RTS sufferers can exhibit symptoms of complex PTSD:

  • Hyperarousal, the constant feeling of being irritable or “on edge”
  • Re-experienced trauma through nightmares and flashbacks
  • Avoiding situations that may remind them of their trauma
  • Isolation from friends and family
  • Nagging feelings of guilt of shame
  • Difficulty with emotional regulation and expression

Journalist Stephanie Russell-Kraft profiled one religious trauma survivor, Ana Sharp Williamson, in a March 2021 piece for The New Republic. Williamson, who had grown up in a conservative evangelical community in the United States, began having panic attacks after she and her husband began attending a new church. She found herself crying, sweating, and hyperventilating during these episodes. Russell-Kraft adds that other former evangelicals have similar experiences, especially after leaving their churches when former U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.

Causes of Faith-Related Trauma

Religious Trauma Syndrome results from recurring experiences over a long period of time. Often, this begins with fear-based doctrines that are repeatedly taught. With evangelical Christianity, especially in the United States, these can include several ideas: an overemphasis on eternal damnation, white Christian nationalism, and anti-LGBTQIA sentiments. Thinly veiled misogyny expresses itself in complementarianism, the idea that men and women occupy distinctive and separate roles. It also takes the form of purity culture, which insists that men are naturally lustful and women should remain virgins until marriage.

These ideas further become instruments of trauma when they’re used to shame, attack, and abuse others. Anyone can suffer these effects, but they’re especially salient among women and LGBTQIA people. God is an angry guy in the sky demanding perfection and conformity, so the narrative goes. If you’re defective in any way, he will reject you. But since humans are imperfect, it’s easy to develop hypervigilance and fear through repeated exposure within conservative religious environments. And in some cases, these damaging messages are coupled with physical and/or sexual abuse.

It’s OK Not To Be OK

Psychological trauma can heal through treatment. But some sufferers of RTS look for therapists specializing in religious trauma. Groups like Journey Free and Recovering from Religion offer services such as individual counselling and support groups, plus other resources to help in the healing journey. Canadian mental health professionals have followed suit, with counselling services available in places like Vancouver and Alberta. The Reclamation Collective provides religious trauma therapy listings for both the United States and Canada.

Healing from RTS includes rediscovering oneself. That usually means letting go of perfectionism, developing self-compassion, and slowly unlearning damaging and destructive ideas. For some, it also means reclaiming one’s sovereign free will to make deliberate life and faith choices. Ultimately, recovering from religious trauma is a journey that takes time and patience to travel.

Religious Trauma Syndrome: When Faith Hurts the Mind and Soul

When we think of religion and psychological abuse, we usually picture ex-cult members. Often, these people come out with severe trauma that needs treatment. But you don’t have to be in a cult to suffer this kind of harm: Faith-related trauma is a real thing. Some are calling it “Religious Trauma Syndrome,” and former evangelicals are emerging to find answers and healing.

Defining Religious Trauma Syndrome

New York Times writer Richard Schiffman says that Religious Trauma Syndrome isn’t an official diagnosis — yet. It’s not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an extensive resource book used by mental health professionals. But it’s become shorthand for negative mental health outcomes caused by what Schiffman calls “religious indoctrination.” The World Health Organization also recently included RTS in its International Classification of Diseases.

Journey Free, a recovery group that helps people heal from such trauma, describes RTS as resulting from “chronic abuse” connected to authoritarian and dogmatic religious cultures. Since it develops through long-term trauma, RTS sufferers can exhibit symptoms of complex PTSD:

  • Hyperarousal, the constant feeling of being irritable or “on edge”
  • Re-experienced trauma through nightmares and flashbacks
  • Avoiding situations that may remind them of their trauma
  • Isolation from friends and family
  • Nagging feelings of guilt of shame
  • Difficulty with emotional regulation and expression

Journalist Stephanie Russell-Kraft profiled one religious trauma survivor, Ana Sharp Williamson, in a March 2021 piece for The New Republic. Williamson, who had grown up in a conservative evangelical community in the United States, began having panic attacks after she and her husband began attending a new church. She found herself crying, sweating, and hyperventilating during these episodes. Russell-Kraft adds that other former evangelicals have similar experiences, especially after leaving their churches when former U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.

Causes of Faith-Related Trauma

Religious Trauma Syndrome results from recurring experiences over a long period of time. Often, this begins with fear-based doctrines that are repeatedly taught. With evangelical Christianity, especially in the United States, these can include several ideas: an overemphasis on eternal damnation, white Christian nationalism, and anti-LGBTQIA sentiments. Thinly veiled misogyny expresses itself in complementarianism, the idea that men and women occupy distinctive and separate roles. It also takes the form of purity culture, which insists that men are naturally lustful and women should remain virgins until marriage.

These ideas further become instruments of trauma when they’re used to shame, attack, and abuse others. Anyone can suffer these effects, but they’re especially salient among women and LGBTQIA people. God is an angry guy in the sky demanding perfection and conformity, so the narrative goes. If you’re defective in any way, he will reject you. But since humans are imperfect, it’s easy to develop hypervigilance and fear through repeated exposure within conservative religious environments. And in some cases, these damaging messages are coupled with physical and/or sexual abuse.

It’s OK Not To Be OK

Psychological trauma can heal through treatment. But some sufferers of RTS look for therapists specializing in religious trauma. Groups like Journey Free and Recovering from Religion offer services such as individual counselling and support groups, plus other resources to help in the healing journey. Canadian mental health professionals have followed suit, with counselling services available in places like Vancouver and Alberta. The Reclamation Collective provides religious trauma therapy listings for both the United States and Canada.

Healing from RTS includes rediscovering oneself. That usually means letting go of perfectionism, developing self-compassion, and slowly unlearning damaging and destructive ideas. For some, it also means reclaiming one’s sovereign free will to make deliberate life and faith choices. Ultimately, recovering from religious trauma is a journey that takes time and patience to travel.

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