Religious trauma counseling, sometimes called religious trauma therapy, is specialized therapy for the psychological harm caused by high-control religious environments, spiritual abuse, fear-based teachings, or the disorienting experience of leaving a rigid belief system or cult. Some clinicians call this Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS). It is different from general talk therapy; it asks for clinicians who understand indoctrination, attachment trauma, coercive control, and the specific communities people come from.
Our collective of nine clinicians works with clients across the United States and internationally through secure online sessions. Our therapists are based in Washington, California, Idaho, Tennessee and Brisbane, Australia, with in-person availability in Washington and California and evening hours for clients in Europe and Asia.
Do you ever feel like you want to find your own path in life but feel afraid that even exploring that subject might bring about the loss of love; the love of God or the love of your community?
Do you ever doubt in your own emotions and have a hard time trusting in yourself?
Have you ever experienced someone telling you they love you or trying to show you appreciation but it feels unbelievable or like something remote that you want to connect to but don’t know how?
These are just some of the experiences that are common for people who experience religious trauma — and they are treatable. The effects can be cognitive, emotional, social, and cultural: black-and-white thinking, perfectionism, chronic guilt, panic attacks and nightmares, the symptoms many describe as religious PTSD, grief over lost community, and the “fish out of water” feeling of entering the secular world.
Religious trauma often stems from strict or oppressive belief systems that discourage questioning or independent thought. This can lead to:
Religious trauma reflects the psychological impact of fear-based teachings, guilt, and ostracism, often leading to emotional responses:
Religious trauma frequently disrupts relationships and social development due to the isolation or control many religious groups exert:
Adjusting to the secular world after leaving a rigid faith can feel like entering an entirely new culture:
The capacity to be in touch with our body and our emotions. As well the capacity to be in connection with others emotionally and recognize emotions as information rather than as sin.
The capacity to attune to our own needs and emotions without self hatred or shame. As well, the capacity to recognize, reach out for, and take in physical and emotional nourishment.
The capacity for healthy dependence and the ability to recognize and participate in interdependence. As well, the ability to understand trust as a necessary element to experience intimate relationships. Intimacy = Trust and Honesty over time
The capacity to set appropriate boundaries in order to recognize the feeling of safeness. the capacity to say NO and set limits. The capacity to observe ourselves in a non critical way without the need to constantly negatively evaluate what we are seeing in ourselves.
The Capacity to integrate vulnerability, trust and love with sexual experience. As well the capacity to live in emotional honesty and to trust oneself.
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