What do you wish Therapists understood about Religious Trauma?
The Religious Trauma Institute is committed to bringing a trauma-informed perspective to religious trauma and adverse religious experiences.
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With your consent, we would love to share your feedback with mental health professionals, researchers, advocates, survivors, and the general public.
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10 Things I Wish My Therapist Understood about my Deconversion:
Losing my faith was not a choice, and it’s not something I can choose to undo.
I want them to address my grief and loss as well as the grief and loss of my family who still believe.
It’s hard to trust myself because I grew up believing my heart was deceitful and desperately wicked.
We need mental health clinicians who are truly able to leave their personal convictions at the door & listen.
Help me connect with secular groups, especially post-theist groups who understand my experience.
Recognize the religious trauma I experienced and how it impacts me today.
Ask me about my relationships and be aware of cycles of religious-based guilt, shame, and abuse.
The most difficult thing for me now is dealing with the regret of having wasted so much of my life on something I no longer believe.
When I call and ask for a secular therapist, don’t tell me you can work with anyone regardless of their beliefs, ask me why this is important to me and offer to help me find a secular therapist.
I really don't feel that different, and yet, being in this new place (which I didn't choose) can have big ripples in my life.
Together, We Can Resolve Religious Trauma
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