Religious Trauma Quiz
Do you wonder if your trauma symptoms might be related to your religious/church experience?
If you find yourself asking questions like:
Do I have religious trauma?
Did my church traumatize me?
What are religious trauma symptoms?
Was my church/religious organization toxic?
Did you grow up in a rigid religion or cult?
Here’s some of the ways that religious communities can become rigid, dogmatic, or cult-like:
Focused on the rules, rather than the people within the community
Overly focused on the personality or desires of the leaders, rather than community consensus
Incredibly anxiety or fear of death, afterlife, or the “state of the world”
Feeling the religious community is the only access you have to God, spirituality or a safe afterlife
Overlook egregious or unhealthy dynamics for the sake of community “perception”
Outward and hateful repression of people based on sexuality, gender, race, or socioeconomic status
When evaluated, the messages the community claims to believe in are far from how the members or leaders actually behave
What is religious trauma? And what are the symptoms?
Impeded emotional, sexual or social development. You might feel “behind” or different from your peers
Depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns related to the painful experiences in the religious community
Poor decision-making skills. You might feel like you need approval or help with decisions since your church or cult required you to abandon your own desires for membership with them
Lack of self-confidence or self-esteem. You might have gotten messages that you were intrinsically bad and can’t trust yourself or your instincts.
Pervasive feelings of guilt or shame.
Difficulty forming adult relationships with anyone different from you.
Here’s a free religious trauma test to quickly assess whether your trauma symptoms are related to an overwhelming or hurtful religious environment.
Religious Trauma Symptoms
Our religious and church environments are meant to be safe, supportive, and respectful of its people. When our religious environments become dogmatic, scary and shame-filled, then the people that are part of those communities can suffer from trauma symptoms.
In the aftermath of trauma, it’s often difficult to “get back to normal” because of nervous systems might be looking for the next threat. Although many people are resilient after trauma, sometimes we get stuck in a trauma cycle, especially when our trauma is embedded in such a high-stakes environments— such as our religious or church communities. When we pair our “eternal health” with environments that are inherently unsafe, religious trauma can result. If you are interested in learning more about what constitutes an unsafe religious environment, you can read more here.
Religious trauma can be incredibly difficult to diagnose, discuss openly, and work through. Our therapists have extensive training (up to a Master’s degree) in theology and religious studies, while also being trained and trauma-informed therapists. We hold space to explore how a lack of safety was deeply embedded into the communities that were meant to be safe.
Here’s a full list of religious trauma symptoms here.
If you find yourself overwhelmed in the aftermath of religious trauma, we can help. Schedule a consultation with one of our trauma specialists to learn how trauma therapy can change your life. We offer free 15-minute consultations for you to discover our style of therapy and how we can help you thrive.
Religious Trauma Support Group
We have religious trauma specialists that can help you understand your experience in individual therapy or group therapy. Our religious trauma support group is held virtually in a warm, accepting, and private environment to help you better understand your experience. Social support is the most helpful factor in creating resilience and post-traumatic growth for individuals that have experienced religious trauma. This group provides a social support network of others that have experienced similar spiritual abuse or religious trauma.
De-Glorifying Suffering Religious Trauma Workbook
This workbook will walk you through 10 weeks of reflection on religious trauma and spiritual abuse. We want to help you understand how the messages you might have received in the church can have a very specific and profound psychological impact. We’re here to connect those experiences and help you find a way forward. Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of identifying your religious trauma, this workbook has skills, tools, and challenges to help you cope.
You’ll learn how to:
Start the journey of Deconstruction
Challenge purity culture and reclaim your own sexuality
Cope with the theology of sin and its impact on our fear of a higher power.
Identify how colonialism, racism, power dynamics, and manipulation played a role in your own religious experience
Reflect on personality disorders in leadership and spiritual warfare
This ebook is sent straight to your inbox and is ready as soon as you are.