Religious Trauma Syndrome

[Trillo]

I was trying to find "Life's harsh lessons make you more gullible", a news item from back in 2006, but couldn't remember the precise phrase, and had to speed read through a bunch of related results. Before finding it, the following item about Religious Trauma Syndrome caught my attention:

Religious Trauma Syndrome: How Some Organized Religion Leads to Mental Health Problems
...
Two years ago, Winell made waves by formally labeling what she calls “Religious Trauma Syndrome” (RTS) and beginning to write and speak on the subject for professional audiences. When the British Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Psychologists published a series of articles on the topic, members of a Christian counseling association protested what they called excessive attention to a “relatively niche topic.” One commenter said, “A religion, faith or book cannot be abuse but the people interpreting can make anything abusive.”
...
But in reality, religious teachings and practices sometimes cause serious mental health damage. The public is somewhat familiar with sexual and physical abuse in a religious context. As Journalist Janet Heimlich has documented in, Breaking Their Will, Bible-based religious groups that emphasize patriarchal authority in family structure and use harsh parenting methods can be destructive.

But the problem isn’t just physical and sexual abuse. Emotional and mental treatment in authoritarian religious groups also can be damaging because of 1) toxic teachings like eternal damnation or original sin 2) religious practices or mindset, such as punishment, black and white thinking, or sexual guilt, and 3) neglect that prevents a person from having the information or opportunities to develop normally.

more...

I can't help but think of Justin Harris.

The construct of modern Christianity is based on the idea that there was only one son of god, Jesus, who lived and died as a human, and everyone else is less than a son or daughter of god and is a sinner. It seems to me that construct is inherently demeaning.

Symptoms of Religious Trauma Syndrome:

• Cognitive: Confusion, poor critical thinking ability, negative beliefs about self-ability & self-worth, black & white thinking, perfectionism, difficulty with decision-making

• Emotional: Depression, anxiety, anger, grief, loneliness, difficulty with pleasure, loss of meaning

• Social: Loss of social network, family rupture, social awkwardness, sexual difficulty, behind schedule on developmental tasks

• Cultural: Unfamiliarity with secular world; “fish out of water” feelings, difficulty belonging, information gaps (e.g. evolution, modern art, music)

Causes of Religious Trauma Syndrome:

Authoritarianism coupled with toxic theology which is received and reinforced at church, school, and home results in:

• Suppression of normal child development - cognitive, social, emotional, moral stages are arrested

• Damage to normal thinking and feeling abilities -information is limited and controlled; dysfunctional beliefs taught; independent thinking condemned; feelings condemned

• External locus of control – knowledge is revealed, not discovered; hierarchy of authority enforced; self not a reliable or good source

• Physical and sexual abuse – patriarchal power; unhealthy sexual views; punishment used as for discipline

Anyway, it's a topic I have little knowledge of, but thought this group might like to be advised of the syndrome.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. I see a lot of RTS. Some right here.

I think you are about to be subjected to a biblical shit storm condemnation.

[Trillo]

3. "The U.S. is a Christian Nation" (haha)

As good an example as any of black and white thinking, that is also factually incorrect.

[guillaumeb]

2. always good to have a seeminly disinterested, rational sounding

bunch of nonsense to hide the fact that the "syndrome" described does not really exist.

I could reword the article to describe an American trauma syndrome, or a GOP trauma syndrome, and use the same references to explain why American chauvinism has a psychological basis. If the point is to say that many people have difficulty processing things because of their beliefs, educational deficiencies, and/or upbringing why not just say that?

But in reality, religious teachings and practices sometimes cause serious mental health damage

So the "America is number 1" that so many of you evidence is a sign of serious mental health damage?

"USA number 1" is the real American religion, and your constant war is the practice of that religion.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. jesus on a toast!

[guillaumeb]

6. can I have any color toast?

or does it have to be white?

[Trillo]

5. Probably just more black and white thinking.

Ref: "USA number 1"

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Right as usual, sir.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22957950

DSM IV and V identify that as a diagnostic code, and trauma can be one of the consequences of any number of conditions other than a disease or physical injury.

The DSM doesn't attempt to catalog every single possible influence/disorder combination. It's not meant to be used in that way. Hence, while RTS is a recognized thing, you won't find that term, specifically, in the DSM. There are stressors such as adjustment, or acute stress, that can have causes, and the diagnosis works backwards from the symptom.

•Re-experiencing the event — For example, spontaneous memories of the traumatic event, recurrent dreams related to it, flashbacks or other intense or prolonged psychological distress.
•Heightened arousal — For example, aggressive, reckless or self-destructive behavior, sleep disturbances, hyper-
vigilance or related problems.
•Avoidance — For example, distressing memories, thoughts, feelings or external reminders of the event.
•Negative thoughts and mood or feelings — For example, feelings may vary from a persistent and distorted sense of
blame of self or others, to estrangement from others or markedly diminished interest in activities, to an inability to remember key aspects of the event.

A cause could be anything from rape, to war, to whatever, including something like religion. Entering into religion. Departing it. Moving from one to another, etc. All phases give rise to the possibility of an adjustment disorder, and religion IS recognized as I linked above.

So...

'Right as usual, sir.'

[guillaumeb]

9. Interesting. Here is another link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/religion-mental-health-angry-god-brain_n_3097025.htm

A quote:
"Many people find comfort in religious faith, but a provocative new study links certain beliefs with emotional problems. The study, published April 10 in the Journal of Religion & Health, showed that people who believe in an angry, vengeful god are more likely to suffer from social anxiety, paranoia, obsessional thinking, and compulsions."

Does correlation prove causation? Are people with certain emotional problems more likely to "need" a vengeful god?

Another quote:

"Does that mean believing in an angry god can make you crazy? Not necessarily. The study looked only at the correlation between beliefs and mental health and not at causality, so the study's take-away message is subject to interpretation."

The last quote:

"How about the prevalence of emotional problems in believers and nonbelievers? Overall, the study found no significant difference."


Please explain exactly what or how this proves that religion causes derangement or leads to religious derangement syndrome?

[AtheistCrusader]

10. OP was about trauma.

So, the specific psychosis in question would be PTSD from trauma related to religion not 'religious derangement syndrome'. Are you switching up words just to provoke a semantics fight?


And the rest of your post was worthless, because the study you linked to explicitly stated its limitations and intent up front, so asking the question 'is it correlation or causation?' is pointless rhetorical noise, because the study was never intended to show causation. Nor did I offer that particular study as a backing for the RTS described in the OP. I'm not impressed that you can answer your own question about your own source on your own tangent.

The condition you linked to actually has NOTHING AT ALL to do with the content of the OP.

As I said, adjustment disorders can arise from any number of conditions all undoubtedly possible in relation to religion. Entering into it, departing it, switching from one religion to another, people being abused by way of religion, etc.


Plenty of info out there on this.
http://new.exchristian.net/2011/11/trauma-from-leaving-religion.html

Dr. Marlene Winell is a psychologist and writer in the San Francisco Bay Area who works with individuals, families, and groups. Her background includes twenty-eight years of experience in human services, in both community and academic settings. She holds a doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion. In her psychotherapy and teaching services, Dr. Winell is a specialist in the area of recovering from religious indoctrination, particularly Christian fundamentalism.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Why would I put up

with a religion that tells me I am a worthless piece of shit no matter what I do that is right, just because some woman ate a fruit in an ancient story? Why would I put up with that kind of emotional abuse? And believe that this imaginary problem has a magical solution which this organization tells me I must have or else I am going to hell? I would put up with it if I had low self esteem and took it seriously. It takes inner strength to leave socially sanctioned emotional abuse.

Read Alice Miller's works about the "poisonous pedagogy" of unquestioning obedience to patriarchy which produces adults who used the Nuremberg defense: I was only following orders.

Read John Bradshaw's Healing the Shame that Binds You.

[Lordquinton]

15. He links to the DSM

and the NCBI and you retort with the Huffington post, well done.

[cbayer]

13. This is an excellent response and nails it exactly.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Or... not.

Not by a country mile.

[hrmjustin]

7. Inreresting post.

[cbayer]

12. PTSD is a recognized syndrome. It can be caused by a variety of traumas.

Some of those might have religious underpinnings, other clearly do not.

There is no need for a new diagnosis. It's all taken care of.

[Trillo]

16. How and why RTS and PTSD are different

Not my words, but from the first link in the OP,

Another difference is the social context, which is extremely different from other traumas or forms of abuse. When someone is recovering from domestic abuse, for example, other people understand and support the need to leave and recover. They don’t question it as a matter of interpretation, and they don’t send the person back for more. But this is exactly what happens to many former believers who seek counseling. If a provider doesn’t understand the source of the symptoms, he or she may send a client for pastoral counseling, or to AA, or even to another church. One reclaimer expressed her frustration this way:

Include physically-abusive parents who quote “Spare the rod and spoil the child” as literally as you can imagine and you have one fucked-up soul: an unloved, rejected, traumatized toddler in the body of an adult. I’m simply a broken spirit in an empty shell. But wait…That’s not enough!? There’s also the expectation by everyone in society that we victims should celebrate this with our perpetrators every Christmas and Easter!!

What I find curious is Winell's rationale, it seems solid, would you ask a rape victim to seek counseling from the rapist? From whom would you seek help if your abuser was both a school and a religion? Using a similar rationale, you shouldn't then seek help either from highly-schooled professionals, nor from religious counselors. Who else is on the list? Pretty much only the self and maybe some close friends (the latter of whom probably don't want anything to do with your dysfunction).

Thus it seems highly dangerous to individuals' psychological health to combine religion with schools.

[cbayer]

17. It's made up. It's one persons take on something that has absolutely no

backing in research or data. None.

People make up psychological/psychiatric disorders all the time. Generally it is based merely on their own personal experience. The shelves of the self-help section in any bookstore bend under the weight of this kind of nonsense.

Since the vast majority of people that attend religious schools undergo no trauma at all, the argument about combining religion is school is specious. In addition, legitimate religious schools have non-religious counselors that they routinely refer to. If they don't, then there is likely a problem, but there are going to be all kinds of problems in that case.

[Trillo]

18. Google Scholar seems to have 7 results,

one says that research in religious harm is thin:

The psychological impact of religion has long been ignored by academic psychol- ogy (Belzen, 2000; Paloutzian & Park, 2005). Change is afoot, however, and the last several decades have seen a surge of research in this area, which generally shows a positive relationship between religion and mental health (Seybold & Hill, 2001). By contrast, there are relatively few references to religion’s negative impact and virtually no references to religious trauma. In fact, a search for articles on “religious trauma” yields studies on the use of religion to recover from trauma rather than religion as a source of trauma. Popular literature, conversely, contains many books on spiritual and religious abuse and manipulation, religious addiction, and toxic faith (Plante, 2004; Purcell, 2008; Winell, 1993; Wright, 2001). This disparity suggests that the professional literature does not yet accurately reflect the potentially harmful im- pact of religion and spirituality or the abundance of concerns people have in these areas. This article aims to address the gap in the literature by highlighting the ways in which religion and spirituality can undermine mental health.

[cbayer]

19. There may be little research specifically on religiously based PTSD, but PTSD

itslf is well researched. The nature of the trauma is not particularly important in treating the disorder. Someone with PTSD related to combat or rape or a train wreck or having been abused are going to present as individuals and they will or will not meet the criteria for the disorder.

Of course some people have experienced religious based trauma. OTOH, there is research that supports a mental health benefit to religious affiliation.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make?

[Lordquinton]

20. you just made their point

Disgusting that people think this way with no awareness.

[cbayer]

21. What point is that?

There is research available about the correlation between religion and mental illness. The studies sometimes show a mild positive correlation and sometimes a mild negative correlation. Taken int he aggregate, it appears that there is unlikely a strong correlation either way.

The problem is that "religion" to way to variable to be adequately adjusted for.

That is why there is not hard data on PTSD specifically related to religion.

It would be like trying to do research on PTSD in population of people that have 3 siblings vs. those with 1.

[Lordquinton]

22. you literally restated what he quoted to you

And used it as an excuse to say that you don't see a point. Military service could be described the way you just described religion, so your point is moot.

Tell me, are you speaking as a common person, or as a professional here?

[cbayer]

23. No, military service is pretty standardized.

Religious experience is extraordinarily variable.

I always speak as a common person unless you want to pay me for some expertise. Why do you ask?

BTW, just because this is a long standing aggravation of mine, moot means subject to debate.

[golfhobo]

24. Real life experience with "religious abuse."

Just found this thread and logged in to respond. Does anyone still care about this topic? It's not about "abuse." Maybe, it IS a "syndrome." But, it's real.

I'm a preacher's son, and my life has been significantly "altered" (if not ruined) by the religious beliefs that I was taught, and somewhat forced to live by.

MOST of you are missing the point. Anyone still care to know the truth?

[uppityperson]

25. Sure, what's your truth? I am interested

[snagglepuss]

26. I too agree it's a real syndrome as I am one of the walking wounded.

Glad you logged in and am interested hearing more about your story, that is if you care to tell it in the line of fire of some people who are hostile to the idea of RTS but only some. btw DU has a great option where you can put people on ignore if you rather not have to deal with nay-sayers

Welcome to DU.

[Lordquinton]

27. Sure, let's hear it

It's gotten quiet around here, so more voices can be heard.