Christian Authoritarianism is a significant social issue in 21st century American culture, a throwback to the hypocrisy, intolerance, and abuse of yesteryear. Along with this abuse comes a psychological price: religious trauma. The problem is real, and the consequences can be severe.
Darren M. Slade, President of the Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR), has organized an important resource for professionals working with religious trauma.
The Global Center for Religious Research has established the world's first and most comprehensive psychiatric research group to study the causes, manifestations, and treatment options for those suffering from "religious trauma" (RT). Religious Trauma can look like:
*Feelings of unworthiness, being unlovable, or bad in some way
*Fear of rejection by God or the faith community
*Lack of self-compassion
*Lack of personal autonomy - an ingrained belief that one's life is for God's sole purpose, leading to challenges making decisions, creating personal boundaries and providing intentional consent
*Feeling that they can't trust themselves, their body or their emotions
*Growing up with chronic fear or anxiety around salvation, rapture, Hell, Satan, or demons
*Superstitious beliefs about what will lead to positive and negative outcomes in life
*Perfectionism or hyper-vigilance - fear of making mistakes
*Extreme dualistic thinking - judging every individual thought and action as "good" or "bad"
*Spiritual bypassing - denying the presence and validity of mental health issues due to a belief that those feelings come from Satan or a lack of faith and if they pray enough or are favored then God will take it away
*Difficulty with experiencing pleasure
*Feeling bad or wrong for having sexual thoughts or feelings, or having physical reactions to sexual situations such as crying or feeling a disconnection from the body
*Denying sexuality
*Lasting trauma from conversion therapy
GCRR has built an international team of licensed psychiatrists, therapists, sociologists, university professors, religion scholars, and Ph.D. candidates from around the world, all who specialize in the field of trauma research.
GCRR's Religious Trauma Studies certificate includes 30 lectures to learn about the effects of shame, perceived failure, and self-criticism, how religious trauma affects the nervous system, understanding developmental religious trauma, EMDR and entheogenic therapies in treating religious trauma, and best therapeutic techniques in supporting patients suffering from religious trauma.*
Lectures include:
1. "How Religious Trauma Affects the Nervous System and Body" (Elizabeth Wilson, LPC, LAC)
2. "A Twisting of the Sacred: The Lived Experience of Religious Abuse" (Paula Swindle, PhD & Craig Cashwell, PhD)
3. "Power and Control Dynamics" (Gill Harvey, PhD)
4. "Religious Abuse and the Trauma of Perceived Spiritual Failure" (Janyne McConnaughey, PhD)
5. "Faith, Doubt, and Gatekeeper Trauma" (Brian D. McLaren)
6. "Developmental Religious Trauma"(Gill Harvey, PhD)
7. "Bereavement and Bad Theology: A Toxic Cocktail" (Teri Daniel, DMin, CT, CCTP)
8. "Religious Shame, Self-Criticism, and Mitigating Effects of Self-Compassion" (Mark Karris, LMFT, PsyD)
9. "The Effectiveness of Using EMDR in Trauma Treatment" (Arielle Sokoll-Ward, LCSW)
10. "Entheogenic Therapies for Religious Trauma and Disaffiliation" (Kelby Bibler)
11. “What's the Harm: A Glimpse of My Life After Catholicism?” by Jenna Belk, host of Atheistasis Podcast20.“Departing a Religion: Supporting Those in Grief” by Kara Bowman, MFT (Certified Grief Counselor, Certified Thanatologist, Certified Trauma Therapist)
21. “Cultivating a Uniquely LGBT Spirituality After Religious Trauma” by Tarrin Anderson, MA (Spiritual Director, MA Depth Psychology)
22.“Chewed Up Gum and Broken Rose Petals: Problematizing Purity Culture in Evangelical Christianity” by Katelynn Steinhauser (Graduate Student in English Writing and Rhetoric, Texas Woman's University)
23. “Developmental Religious Trauma: When the Personal Story and Research Topic Align” by Gill Harvey, DPsych (Therapeutic Counsellor/Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Trainer)
24.. “How Religious Trauma Hits Home” by Rebekah Drumsta, MA, CPLC (Spiritual Abuse Advocate, Author, Consultant, Coach)
25. “Five Spiritual Practices that Re-Traumatize the Traumatized” by Janyne McConnaughey, PhD (Attachment and Trauma Network, Board President)
26. “The Effect of Adverse Religious Experiences on Women’s Health: A Proposed Grounded Theory Study within the Theoretical Framework of the Roy Adaptation Model” by Beth Schwartz, MS (Professor of Nursing, UCLA )
27. “Understanding Religious Trauma through the Internal Family Systems Model” by Jenna Riemersma, LPC, CSAT-S, CMAT-S, NCC (#1 Best-Selling Author and Founder/Clinical Director of the Atlanta Center for Relational Healing)
28. "Religious Trauma and the LDS-Mormon Faith" by Melissa Walker
29. “Reclaiming Spirituality After Religious Trauma” by Andrew Jasco
30. "Christofascism and Religious Trauma" by Carolyn Baker
*EMDR is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy. Entheogenic therapies refer to plant-derived psychoactive substances.
For more information, visit the Global Center for Religious Research at https://www.gcrr.org/
