Religious trauma, while not a well-known concept, has managed to remain hidden for a very long time. And that is- perhaps, its secret to devastating lives: it silences the voices of its victims, keeping them locked into their trauma as their lives spiral downwards. And controlling them for as long as the spiral continues.
As humanity progresses, we find ourselves questioning things that were previously considered to be taboo, and that's a good thing, provided we can maintain a rational perspective as we seek the truth. Paying better attention to self-care and the meaning of and in our lives, we strive to understand what hurts us, how to establish healthy boundaries, and to find those things that help us to find our way back to our authentic selves.
Religion is an important part of self-identity for some, but for others, it is the cause of immense suffering. It’s the latter who find the strength to look deeper, to pursue joy and happiness more purposefully, but often only after all the joy and happiness has left their lives.
Inspired by my friend, Ari* (name changed to one that appropriately means Lion, eagle, or Sun-like in various cultures), my exploration of RTS revealed a world that is difficult to comprehend. But his experience resonated with me. I felt his pain and it wasn't that different from my pain, despite vast differences in our respective lived experiences. But let's understand what RTS is first.
Research, which usually needs money thrown at it, is scant. But religiously traumatizing experiences are not. In her paper, Christian Shame and Religious Trauma, Alison Downie argues that religious trauma deserves more attention, meriting research in the context of being the lived experience of a given religion, whether this experience also includes abuse or violence or not.
It is important to take note that many religions are based on love, hope, and faith. They inspire and uplift, bringing comfort, especially those who are suffering. Religious trauma is a concept that arises in certain religions where the leaders practice their religion in toxic ways. Not all religion- by far, are involved in this practice.
Religious trauma results from a lived experience within a religion that is debilitating. Usually abusive, the experience may also be dangerous, degrading, stressful, or even violent. Traumatic religious experiences can be detrimental to a person’s emotional, physical, and mental health, or affect their spiritual or sexual wellbeing.
This often arises from the tendency of authoritarian, dogmatic, and fundamentalist or cult-type religious communities to create climates of chronic shame, causing trauma to its followers. The teachings of the religion, taught within shaming environments, are traumatizing. Not an added element to other traumas such as physical, sexual, or domestic abuse by a religious leader or other person within the movement, religious trauma is the formative experience of actively participating in the religion itself.
But shame and guilt are not the same thing:
Guilt emerges when we cross our own ethical, moral, or religious boundaries, and then denounce ourselves for what we perceive as wrong.
When we feel shame, we see ourselves in a negative light.
It is chronic shame, rather than the guilt we feel, that is central to religious trauma.
A research paper delving into U.S. adults suffering from religious trauma found in March 2023 that the number of adults that experienced religious trauma in the US is:
About 1/3 experienced religious trauma at some stage during their life.
Of the participants, 90% know anywhere between one and ten others who probably have RTS.
10‒15% currently experience religious trauma
37% experience at least 3 of the 6 major RTS symptoms
Interpolating the results, it is estimated that as many as 20% (one in five) of U.S. adults currently experience major religious trauma symptoms.
Spiritual Abuse
Religious trauma- as opposed to spiritual harm (or spiritual abuse), occurs within a religious context. Spiritual harm happens in a social context, for example, a workplace, hospital, or community center. The word“ spiritual” draws on humans being inherently spiritual in some way and, as a result, this potentially makes individuals vulnerable to harm- simply by virtue of being human.
The signs of spiritual abuse include:
Insistence on obedience to religious authority figures.
Using guilt or fear to control behaviour.
Shaming or ostracizing those who don’t conform to religious norms.
Punishing those who question or doubt beliefs.
In both cases, debilitating symptoms can emerge over time, resulting in Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS).
Religious Trauma Syndrome
Not currently recognized as a separate diagnosis in the DSM-5, religious trauma syndrome is gaining recognition from some mental health professionals as a distinctive form of trauma. Chronic shame, indoctrination, and religious abuse(including emotional, physical, or sexual abuse) that is excused or justified by religious beliefs and even psychological abuse (such as gaslighting or manipulation) all contribute to RTS.
The symptoms of RTS can be similar to those experienced by individuals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD (C-PTSD) but RTS has its own unique set of symptoms. Much like PTSD, RTS is diagnosed through the symptoms and experiences of the person.
Signs You Have Religious Trauma
Preferring isolation, symptoms such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety often set in. As the family is also often torn apart because of conflicts over beliefs, the isolation is then further exacerbated by cultural separation. Identifiable by its symptoms, the signs of Religious Trauma Syndrome include:
Depression and/or anxiety.
Emotional numbness
Guilt or shame
Identity confusion and/ or lack of meaning or purpose in life
Disconnection
Panic attacks or nightmares
Sleep issues
Anger
Fear
Cognitive confusion
Suicidal ideation
Joan of Arc: Religious Heroine Or Religious Trauma Victim?
Jeanne D’Arc may not have experienced the symptoms of RTS- it’s not written in the historical accounts of her short life, perhaps to keep her sainthood intact, but she definitely experienced religious trauma. Very little is known about her relationships with family or friends, and it seems that isolation may have played a role in her life.
Politics was complicated in the 15th century and dominated by royalty, with France, England, and other European countries having shared genetics and inter-marriages. In France, the wannabe king, Charles, saw Jeanne D'Arc, a courageous French girl who later became known in the English-speaking world as Joan of Arc, as being useful in the royal squabbles of the time and particularly useful to his ambition to be king.
A peasant teenager in medieval France, Joan had spiritual visions that convinced her that God had chosen her to lead France to victory in its long-running 100-year war with England. It gave her life purpose.
Joan- dressed as a man, became one of France's fiercest warriors and set about living according to her visions, but political and religious leaders found ways to use her for their own ambitions.
After the destruction of the English army in France, in July 1429, Charles, Joan, and the French army entered Reims where Charles became King Charles VII. Announcing that God's will had been fulfilled, Joan then faced a hostile French court where her enemies started to circle. Taken as a prisoner in England after various shenanigans, she was held ransom but there is no evidence that Charles tried to save her once she was transferred to the English.
Put on trial for heresy and the blasphemous act of wearing men's clothes, the charges against Joan of Arc also included acting on visions that were deemed demonic and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the church, claiming she would be judged by God alone. Because Joan's guilt could be used to compromise Charles's claims to legitimacy (on the basis that he had been consecrated by the act of a heretic), the guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion and public heresy was a capital crime. Despite having signed a declaration confirming she was no longer an unrepentant heretic, Joan was imprisoned and kept in chains.
The guards put men's clothes in her cell, forcing her to wear them, but on Joan’s version, she had gone back to wearing men's clothes while being held with male guards, having been the victim of abuse and rape attempts. She was determined not to deny the voices again.
Burned at the stake at the age of 19 on 30 May 1431, Joan’s final act was to take the sacraments, despite the court process requiring they be denied to heretics.
Key to Joan of Arc's history is that despite being used by others, and subtly and not-so-subtly bullied to serve their purposes, in the end, Joan held onto her dream, and her faith. But very few people can withstand the kind of trauma that religion can and did inflict.
As the world has become more sophisticated over the ensuing 600 years, so have the control techniques used in certain religions that use tactics that break down hopes and dreams, the central being, of their members.
Those who came after the 15th-century persecutors may have learned from Joan’s later recognition as a saint that breaking down the wholeness, the heart of a person, is a better option, leaving them unexposed to later repercussions. Abuse, control, and guilt remain part of some religions in the 21st century.
Ari’s story
Ari saw my blog and told me his experiences aligned, but had more to do with religion. He believes he may have religious trauma syndrome (RTS), after experiencing trauma that affected his life with certain symptoms. He said,
“It can make sense when you realize what it is, or realize that what you’re going through or experiencing is a health condition. It’s not normal. I don't think people back in the day were aware of things like that, and that was one of the problems back then."
Ari only found out about RTS recently, after watching a video of someone who said they had it, sharing the story and experience online. Ari can relate. Up until then, he didn't know such a disorder existed. His experience of religion was fear-based and he has been in communities that drive people through the most severe form of fear.
Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZakfMOp5qA
“No one should have to go through what I and the man in the video I watched went through. I had unhappiness, depression, a death wish, and suicidal thoughts. It's a life not worth living and one I realize I couldn't keep living.
Put into a box while we’re still young, we are instilled with preformed beliefs, values, assumptions, attitudes, etc, and a lot of it is wrong or flawed. Part of growing up is getting ourselves out of that box, leaving behind the beliefs we've been taught (2+2=3). The so-called truth we learned leads us to discover what the truth really is, and we learn not to just accept what we've been taught. Being close to falling into depression (depression is hopelessness), and 99% convinced that this way life is as good as life gets, I almost gave in and ended my life”
But, thankfully, there was that 1% of uncertainty. “The question I had to ask myself was "Does it have to be this way?". It turns out that I found it's up to me now and it’s just the opposite. I think I realized that life's great and worth living. I haven't wanted to die since."
Ari’s heart-breaking retelling of his lived experience is a reminder that many others suffer pain at the hands of religion. But it’s inspiring to see that, despite religious trauma, Ari is looking into the Bible with a new understanding, by understanding the languages it was written in, not the people who later used its words to control others.
Finding ways of healing, Ari's new story is about rebuilding his life, with hopes and dreams that serve him. Learning about ancient civilizations, and learning mostly languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, he’s also looking at Sumerian history, being the earliest according to educational and scientific institutes. He says,
“It can work out for you, to go through that experience, like it can give you a deeper appreciation and value of life that you never would have had had you not gone so deep down to hit rock bottom. The more severe, I think the stronger, the wiser, etc, you can become. I'm not sure if you get where I'm coming from. Someone who has not gone through something as bad cannot relate to me."
But he found the human connection, even if pain is the common denominator, by reconnecting to the world. His life, and the world, are both better off for that.
Healing means rebuilding. Rebuilding family and social networks, or finding new communities whose values and beliefs are better aligned with yours. The people who support our journeys are important, and these are the relationships that add joy and meaning to life.
Struggling alone isn’t for everyone, and there are more and more professionals who deal specifically with Religious Trauma Syndrome. Reaching out to them may be hard, but they are humans too, who understand that to emerge from the isolation, restoring the human connection is key.
Finding meaning isn’t limited to relationships. We tend to excel most when hard work is enjoyable and meaningful to us. If you are unaware of what your passion is, explore every avenue. Working for money will only get you so far. Find something to work on that excites you, something you would do even if it didn't pay money. This is the way to master a craft and become the best at what you do, loving the person you are while doing it.
Some people find healing in faith and a paper on the effect of trauma on religious beliefs suggests that most people do not change their religious beliefs after a trauma, but significant changes occur for some, who increase or decrease their religious beliefs. But this applies for the most part to people who develop PTSD. Relying on or deepening faith as a healing modality gets complicated for RTS people, because the proposed relief is, in effect, the cause.
But there are many other ways to overcome religious trauma. These include:
Mindfulness
Exercise
Practicing self-care
Getting creative
Developing self-awareness
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
And most importantly, reminding yourself to love yourself. You are worthy.
Today, open your mind and heart to the abundance of wisdom that surrounds you. Remember, understanding life and gaining wisdom are thoughtful processes, which are not merely about intellectual expansion but about the refinement of our entire being.
A singer, Wendy Oldfield says that “Singers' music touches our souls by evoking emotions, transporting us to another place, and reminding us of our humanity through its universal language.”
With a former band, she sang this song. It reminds us that people can help us to heal. Ari got there. And we all can get there! Even if getting there just means stepping out of self-imposed isolation (as a means to self-preservation) for now.
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