By: Mandie Schreck

Gathering with those who hold like-minded spiritual beliefs is supposed to be a safe haven to worship with your loved ones, community, and congregation. For many years, abuse in the church has been a sensitive topic and gained even more momentum with the “Me Too” movement that has helped individuals come forward with their stories. To illustrate this, “the number of allegations of Catholic clergy sex abuse of minors more than quadrupled in 2019 compared to the average in the previous five years,”(Boorstein, 2020). Sexual Abuse and misconduct in the church are as prevalent as they were in the 1950s when they started getting more recognition. Adults and minors have been affected, which has led to physical trauma, distrust in religious figures, and even spiritual trauma.

SNAP, a clergy-abuse survivor’s organization, said, “Church officials pretend they’re reporting on a past problem when in fact thousands of proven, admitted, and credibly accused clerics who have committed or concealed child sex crimes remain ‘under the radar,’ living and working among unsuspecting neighbors, friends, co-workers, and even relatives,”(Boorstein, 2020).

Trauma in the church can be one of the most sensitive and life-altering experiences a human can experience. Not only is their bodily autonomy endangered, but the trauma will affect that individual on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level.

Another form of abuse in the church that may not be as well known is called Religious Trauma Syndrome. Marlene Winell, Ph.D. first coined the phrase in 2011 and described Religious Trauma Syndrome as “a condition experienced by people who are struggling to leave an ‘authoritarian, dogmatic religion’ and people and who are struggling to cope with the impacts of indoctrination or the rites and rituals associated with becoming part of a religion” (O’Connor, 2021).

This type of abuse causes trauma in the spiritual and emotional psyche. It causes self-doubt, depression, anxiety, feeling less-than, feeling unsupported, feeling wrong or bad in the physical body, and even loneliness.

Religious Trauma can also form into a type of PTSD, especially for those in the LGBTQ+ community, single parents, and individuals who question dogmatic upbringing. Dr. Harold G. Koenig, a psychiatrist who helped develop “religious cognitive therapy” in 2014, said, “Jesus just gave two commandments to the faithful: love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. If people remembered this and allowed it to guide their attitudes and actions, they might stop harming people in the name of religion”(Schiffman, 2019).

Religious Trauma Syndrome and sexual assaults within the church are not tied down to just one religion. It has spanned many different cultures, backgrounds, and upbringings across the globe.

We are here to support you in your personal healing journey to complete wellbeing. We bring awareness and education to 10 different types of abuse and help others heal and find peace.

If you would like to learn more and donate to help others find refuge, please visit GoARO.org.

References

Boorstein, M. (2020, June 26). Scandals, compensation programs lead Catholic clergy sex abuse complaints to quadruple in 2019. Retrieved from Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/06/26/scandals-compensation-programs-lead-catholic-clergy-sex-abuse-complaints-quadruple-2019/

O’Connor, K. (2021, April 11). Confronting religious trauma. Retrieved from Elon News Network: https://www.elonnewsnetwork.com/article/2021/04/churches-religious-entities-help-religious-trauma

Schiffman, R. (2019, February 5). When Religion Leads to Trauma. Retrieved from New York Times:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/well/mind/religion-trauma-lgbt-gay-depression-anxiety.html