Religious Trauma Coaching

The ongoing experience of a set of symptoms, some of which are poor decision making skills, depression and/or anxiety, impeded development, an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame, and suicidal ideations.   These symptoms are results of immoral or traumatic events that are witnessed, or experienced first hand, and have the power to change one’s life forever.  These events often happen in the process of indoctrination into, or the practice of a religious belief system that is dogmatic, oppressive, and controlling or by a traumatic event in close proximity to a religious group or institution.  The deeper the understanding of the causal relationships, the more unbearable life feels to the survivor. Religious goals that are weaponized cause damage to the psyche of those wielding and struck by them.  Religious Trauma is not an officially diagnosed syndrome in the DSM-5, but is comparable to PTSD.

An injury sustained, in time and space, to an individual\’s conscience or psyche resulting from an act they are forced to do against their will, or by an unmanageable situation, and which is perceived to be a moral transgression.  The injury sustained in that event results in profound and ongoing feelings of guilt, betrayal, shame, identity confusion, and anger.

An experience of moral injury or religious trauma that is different, or more severe than moral injury or religious trauma that occurs as a one-time event, or a short series of events.  Complex Moral Injury and/or Complex Religious Trauma results from repeated, and extraordinarily high-stakes (often involving physical safety) interpersonal trauma.  In such cases, the victim faces a form of captivity, and sees no way out.  This kind of repeated and long-term interpersonal trauma creates real changes in the brain.  As a result, the survivor is changed at the deepest level of the self. This can occur as a result of being sexually trafficed, incest, or repeated abuse when the victim is not able to escape the situation.

When moral injuries are multiple and occur over an extended period of time, they are complex, and take the form of Complex – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), which is different from PTSD. This level of Trauma has severe outcomes, such as flashbacks (visual, somatic, and emotional), profound loneliness, a feeling of brokenness that makes us essentially different from others, difficulty in regulating emotions, fear of trust, hyper-vigilance of people, a profoundly hurt inner child, constant search for a rescuer, dissociation (Dissociative Identity Disorder), and suicidal ideations.

No. You can be morally injured and be traumatized from that injury, without suffering Religious Trauma, as many who have served in the military have discovered.  Although Moral Trauma is similar to Religious Trauma because the trauma is based in the transgression of morals and/or values, if religious people, and belief systems were not involved in the Moral Trauma, it is not the same as Religious Trauma, and will manifest differently. For example, If an individual is NOT raised in a religious home, and is forced to act in a way she views as immoral, she sustains a moral injury that may be traumatic. This is because every culture provides moral imperatives. Culture tells us what is good/bad, right/wrong, desirable/undesirable, etc.  So, religion is not necessary for deep, moral trauma, but Moral trauma is necessary for Religious Trauma.

A way of talking about moral injury as though it were a physical injury that occurred in real time and space, so that people who know and love the traumatized come to understand they are not just attention seeking, and emotionally demanding, but that they have been traumatized, and need empathy and compassion. Reification is our challenge!

No. Just like injuries to our physical bodies, moral injuries fall on a continuum from mild to severe, simple/one time to complex/repeated over time.

No. Not all Religious Trauma comes from intentionally abusive behavior of religious clergy, or from abusive religious teachings. It can come from a moral injury unbeknownst to clergy or leaders of a religious institution, to members of that religious group or to someone who is NOT a member of said religious group, but that occured in close social or geographical proximity to a religious institution. By remaining hidden, kept in secret, the event maintains its connection to religion, as well as its power to traumatize.

No. In that situation, you sustained a moral injury.

Yes. We are all raised within a cultural context, and our culture provides moral imperatives for our society, it tells us what is right/wrong, good/bad, desirable/undesirable, appropriate/inappropriate, etc. In that sense, our culture functions in some ways as a religion. However, this moral injury, being cultural in nature, will not likely develop into Religious Trauma.

The symptoms you experience as a result of Religious Trauma is likely to increase as you attempt to leave your group of indoctrination, church, institution or cult. Healing from Religious Trauma is about much more than leaving. The best approach to healing from Religious Trauma, I believe, is to engage a Social Coach who can help you identify triggers and their sources, assess their severity, and to empower and support you as you devise a strategy that prioritizes your safety and growth during the process of leaving.

Not all flashbacks are the same. One type of flashback is an emotional flashback. An emotional flashback isn’t seeing the traumatic event, as if you were living it once again. An emotional flashback is when the emotions from the past traumatic event/or events experienced. Not only is this type of flashback among the least recognized and understood, it is among the most distressing. The person witnessing an individual having an emotional flashback is convinced that the individual suffering the flashback is completely irrational, that the intensity of the emotions don’t match the situation being discussed. In fact, the individual having the emotional flashback is reliving the traumatic event in the purest, most threatening form possible.