What is religious trauma/abuse?

• Religious trauma and abuse occur when spiritual beliefs, practices, or religious institutions are used to control, shame, or harm individuals, often leaving deep psychological and emotional wounds. This form of trauma can result from authoritarian structures, fear-based teachings, purity culture, spiritual gaslighting, or coercive control in religious communities. Survivors may struggle with intense guilt, shame, anxiety, and identity confusion, particularly if their sense of self was tightly bound to religious doctrine. Many experience symptoms similar to complex PTSD, such as hypervigilance, relational difficulties, and emotional dysregulation, along with a profound loss of trust—in themselves, others, or a higher power. Healing often requires creating space for grief, reclaiming autonomy, and exploring personal values outside of rigid belief systems. In therapy, survivors benefit from validating their lived experiences, processing spiritual betrayal, and rebuilding a sense of safety and inner authority beyond the confines of dogma.

How can religious abuse show up in spiritual practice? Some tips on how to recognize the shadow side of spirituality, identify predators masking as spiritual teachers, and work through past religious trauma and abuse.

Religious abuse can show up in spiritual practice when the teachings, beliefs, or practices of a religious or spiritual group are used in harmful and manipulative ways, leading to psychological, emotional, or physical harm for individuals involved. Here are some ways religious abuse may manifest in spiritual practice:

• Authoritarian Control: Religious leaders or authorities may exercise excessive control over their followers, dictating every aspect of their lives, including personal choices, relationships, and beliefs.

• Manipulation and Guilt-Tripping: Religious abusers may use manipulation and guilt-tripping tactics to maintain control over their followers. They may make individuals feel responsible for perceived shortcomings or failures, creating a sense of shame and unworthiness.

• Isolation and Shunning: Some religious groups may isolate their members from outside influences and discourage interactions with family and friends who are not part of the group. They may also employ shunning as a punishment for non-compliance or questioning.

• Spiritual Bypassing: Religious abuse can involve the use of spiritual teachings to bypass or ignore real-life problems or trauma, leading individuals to suppress their emotions and vulnerabilities. Spiritual bypassing is common in philosophical approaches that promote non-attachment. While non-attachment is not problematic in itself, misunderstanding and misapplication of non-attachment can have a devastating effect on mental health by suppressing psychological material that would do well to be brought to the surface and processed before being let go. Non-attachment is a process of deep surrender and involves a type of transformation. The suppression that occurs in spiritual bypassing is fear-based and will not lead to transcendence, but self-delusion.

• Chronic guilt or shame: This often persists even in the absence of wrongdoing, often rooted in rigid moral codes or perfectionism.

• Fear of questioning or doubting: When spiritual teachings, leaders, or doctrine shame you for having questions or wanting answers, which is often accompanied by anxiety, self-blame, or fear of punishment.

• Difficulty making autonomous decisions: Often due to past conditioning to defer to religious authority or “God’s will.”

• Loss of personal identity: This occurs where one's self-concept is subsumed by prescribed religious roles (e.g., "the servant," "the submissive wife," "the chosen") or disconnection from one’s emotions, desires, or body.

• Hypervigilance or scrupulosity: This often manifests as obsessive concern over sin, purity, or moral failure, sometimes resembling religious OCD.

• Social isolation: Often enforced if you try to leave the belief system, driven by fear of contamination or disloyalty.

• Emotional and Verbal Abuse: Religious leaders may engage in emotional or verbal abuse, belittling or demeaning their followers, and using fear or intimidation to maintain control.

• Internalized oppression: This looks like blaming yourself for your oppression, which is especially common among women, LGBTQ+ individuals, or people of color, when religious doctrine enforces hierarchy, silence, or self-erasure as a virtue.

• Distrust of one's intuition: This often occurs from being taught to ignore personal insight in favor of external spiritual authority or “discernment.”

• Excessive Demands: Religious abusers may place excessive demands on their followers, expecting them to sacrifice their time, money, and energy without regard for their well-being or personal boundaries.

• Cult-Like Behavior: Some religious groups may exhibit cult-like characteristics, such as the deification of a leader, thought control, and the suppression of independent thinking.

• Forced Confessions and Public Shaming: Religious abusers may force followers to confess their perceived sins or shortcomings publicly, leading to humiliation and shame.

• Rigid Dogma and Belief System: Religious abuse may involve the imposition of rigid and inflexible beliefs, leaving little room for individual interpretation or questioning.

• Sexual Abuse and Exploitation: In extreme cases, religious leaders may exploit their positions of authority to engage in sexual abuse or manipulation of followers.