When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion

Psychotherapist Anderson draws from personal experience, doctoral research, and her counseling career in this sensitive debut guide to recovering from religious trauma, a phenomenon that “resides in our bodies in the same way [as does] trauma from war, developmental trauma, or sexualized trauma.” The survivor of a strict and authority-obsessed Christian upbringing, Anderson offers straightforward guidance on the nature of religious trauma, including its physical and emotional symptoms (flashbacks, hypervigilance, chronic pain) and why strict belief communities are simultaneously so hard to stay in and break free from—for one, their “dynamics of... control are such that individuals are required to live, act, and think in specific ways or endure life-altering consequences.” Rather than proposing a structured recovery program, Anderson pinpoints areas of improvement for sufferers, including regaining self-trust, connecting with one’s body, and embracing a full range of emotions, through such practices as adopting flexible boundaries and dismantling harmful internalized beliefs about the physical self (for example, “I am not healed from physical illness because I have unconfessed sin... in my heart”). Anderson strikes a smart, balanced tone—though she highlights how society’s generally proreligious attitude can complicate healing, she takes care not to push for atheism as a “solution,” and encourages a gradual healing process that looks different for everyone. It’s an exemplary guide to an understudied issue. (Oct.)