Impacts of Religious Trauma and Adversity

Having extreme beliefs can often lead to extreme experiences: Many people experience trauma through mission and volunteer work, authoritarian and abusive homes, schools, work and church settings. Others experience the effects of trauma after being exposed to numerous subtle experiences of invalidation, rejection, silencing and strict adherence to external rules and authority. Many of the people I work with have had to spend so much time trying to be who others expect and demand them to be, that they weren’t afforded the chance to really sit with and embrace who they are. Through adversity and hard life experiences, they’ve learned to not ask for what they need, to prioritize others, to say yes when they mean no, to take on emotional burdens for others and to hide their true feelings, sometimes even from themselves. Even though they’re emerging from this fog and have reconnected to parts of themselves, old patterns still hold them back and the practical, day-to-day aspects of living authentically and in safety are murky, uncharted territory. They still carry hurt and grief from past experiences. They are still at odds with parts of themselves that they thought they left behind.

My own experience with religious indoctrination into a high control group and strict adherence from childhood has shown me how deeply this experience can impact a person's life, relationships, safety and mental health. I also understand that leaving this environment and way of thinking presents it's own unique challenges. Seeing things from outside the framework for the first time, you start to realize just how much harm was done, and how big the world is on the outside. Things you were once told were bad or evil, like your sexuality, your emotions, your skepticism, you realize are actually normal and healthy. On top of the trauma, you also deal with the difficulty of reorienting your mind and body to what is real and true, and the grief of lost relationships and patterns of coping.