top of page

RELIGIOUS TRAUMA, SPIRITUAL ABUSE, & CULT RECOVERY:
RESOURCES + RESEARCH

HELPFUL WEBSITES
  • ​​Cult Recovery 101

  • International Cultic Studies Association

  • People Leave Cults

  • Reclamation Collective

  • ​The Religious Trauma Institute

  • Religious Trauma Syndrome

  • BITE Model of Authoritarian Control

ASSESSMENT TOOLS
OUR RESOURCES​
  • The Religious Trauma Survival Guide
  • Impacts of Religious Trauma​​​​
  • Religious Trauma Inventory
  • High Control Group Inventory

  • The Religious Power & Control Wheel

  • Religious Deconstruction

  • Spiritual Bypassing

​REFERRALS

RESEARCH SOURCES

  • Abrams, Z. (2021). Improved treatment for developmental trauma. Monitor on Psychology, 39.

  • Argyle, M., & Beit-Hallahmi, B. (2013). The social psychology of religion. Psychology Revivals.

  • Azim, F., Ginsberg, N., Becker, B., & Scheffler, K. (2021). Exploring relationships between genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder, sex guilt, and religiosity among college women in the U.S. The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

  • Bainbridge, A. (2022). Exploring self-disclosure between the survivor-therapist and survivor-clients. Counseling and Psychotherapy Research.

  • Barnes, R., & Aune, K. (2021). Gender and domestic abuse victimization among churchgoers in North West England. Journal of Gender-Based Violence.

  • Bisantz, L. (2023). Betrayed by the divine and overlooked by scholarship: An inquiry into spiritual abuse and religious trauma. University of Colorado Honors Journal.

  • Björkmark, M., Nynäs, P., & Koskinen, C. (2022). Living between two different worlds: Experiences of leaving a high-cost religious group. Journal of Religion and Health.

  • Blosnich, J. R., Marsiglio, M. C., & Ransford, H. E. (2020). Sexual orientation change efforts, adverse childhood experiences, and suicide ideation and attempt among sexual minority adults. American Journal of Public Health.

  • Bockrath, J., Keon, K., & Hinton, J. (2022). Religious and spiritual struggles and their links to psychological adjustment. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1976). The experimental ecology of education. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

  • Burke, L., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2016). Inventory of complicated spiritual grief (ICSG). In Techniques of grief therapy: Assessment and intervention.

  • Carlson, E. B., & Putnam, F. W. (1993). An update on the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Dissociation, 6, 16–27.

  • Cashwell, C. S., & Swindle, P. (2018). When religion hurts: Supervising cases of religious abuse. The Clinical Supervisor, 37, 212–226.

  • Cashwell, C. S., Bentley, D., & Yarborough, P. (2007). The only way out is through: The peril of spiritual bypass. Counseling and Values, 52, 109–123.

  • Castaño, Á., Bélanger, J. M., & Moyano, M. (2022). Cult conversion from the perspective of families: Implications for prevention and psychological intervention. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

  • Chaves, M., & Lehrer, E. L. (2021). Congregations in 21st century America. Department of Sociology, Duke University.

  • Cherniak, M., Thiemann, P., & Mackay, D. (2021). Attachment theory and religion. Current Opinion in Psychology.

  • Chisholm, A., Mark, I., Unigwe, S., & Katona, C. (2022). Rituals as a control mechanism in human trafficking. Journal of Human Trafficking.

  • Clark Miller, A. (2023). The religious trauma survival guide: Education and recovery tools.

  • Davis, M., & Johnson, M. (2021). Exploring black clergy perspectives on religious/spiritual related domestic violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.

  • DeGroat, C., & Mouw, R. (2020). When narcissism comes to church: Healing community from emotional and spiritual abuse.

  • Demasure, K. (2022). The loss of the self: Spiritual abuse of adults in the context of the Catholic Church. Religions.

  • Denney, J., Harness, R., & Kline, A. (2018). Child sexual abuse in Protestant Christian congregations: A descriptive analysis of offense and offender characteristics. Religions.

  • Domestic Abuse Intervention Project. (1993). Power and control wheel; the Duluth model.

  • Downie, A. (2022). Christian shame and religious trauma. Religions.

  • Ecker, B., Ticic, R., & Hulley, L. (2013). A primer on memory reconsolidation and its psychotherapeutic use as a core process of profound change. The Neuropsychotherapist, 1, 82-99.

  • Ellis, A., Hunsinger, L., Copen, M., & Evans, J. (2022). Religious/spiritual abuse and trauma: A systematic review of the empirical literature. Spirituality in Clinical Practice.

  • Engelman, J., Milstein, G., Schonfeld, I., & Grubbs, J. (2020). Leaving a covenantal religion: Orthodox Jewish disaffiliation from an immigration psychology perspective. Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

  • Eyles, P. (2022). Representing & supporting autistic/neurodivergent cult survivors. Presentation for Audecademy.

  • Fernandez, F. (2022). Victims are not guilty: Spiritual abuse and ecclesiastical responsibility. Religions.

  • Ginicola, M., Filmore, J., Stokes, M., & Smith, C. (2017). Affirmative counseling with LGBTQI+ people. In Affirmative Counseling with LGBTQI+ People.

  • Goldberg, J. L., & Wexler, E. (2017). Cult recovery: A clinician's guide to working with former members and families. International Cultic Studies Association.

  • Gray, J. (2022). Protecting the sacred tree: Conceptualizing spiritual abuse against Native American elders. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

  • Grimell, J., & Atuel, H. (2023). Beyond PTSD: A multi-case study exploring identity, moral injury, and spiritual injury. Journal of Veterans Studies.

  • Hadding, C., Semb, O., Lehti, A., Fahlström, M., Sandlund, M., & DeMarinis, V. (2023). Being in-between; exploring former cult members' experiences of an acculturation process using the cultural formulation interview (DSM-5). Frontiers in psychiatry, 14, 1142189.

  • Hadding, R., Murray, J., & Wodarski, J. (2023). Being in-between: Exploring former cult members' experiences of an acculturation process using the cultural formulation interview (DSM-5). Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1142189.

  • Harper, S., McCarthy, M., & Samuelsen, K. (2023). Identifying systemic factors when counseling black women of Christian faith in the USA. Journal of Religion and Health.

  • Hassan, S. (2021). The BITE model of authoritarian control: Undue influence, thought reform, brainwashing, mind control, trafficking, and the law (Doctoral dissertation).

  • Hassan, S., & Shah, M. (2019). The anatomy of undue influence used by terrorist cults and traffickers to induce helplessness and trauma. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health.

  • Henry, H., & Li, C. (2022). Religious identity development and multicultural competence: A correlational study of counseling students. Counseling and Values, 67(1), 116-137.

  • Herman, J. (1993). Trauma and recovery: From domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books.

  • Herrington, A. J. (2024). Deconstructing your faith without losing yourself. Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

  • Hollier, J., Clifton, S., & Smith-Merry, J. (2022). Mechanisms of religious trauma amongst queer people in Australia’s evangelical churches. Clinical Social Work Journal.

  • Jenkinson, G. (2023). Walking free from the trauma of coercive, cultic and spiritual abuse: A workbook for recovery and growth.

  • Johnson, D., & VanVonderen, J. (2005). The subtle power of spiritual abuse.

  • Jones, T., Power, J., & Jones, T. (2022). Religious trauma and moral injury from LGBTQA+ conversion practices. Social Science & Medicine.

  • Kar, N. (2011). Cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Neuropsychiatry.

  • Karpman, S. (1968). The drama triangle: Fairy tales and script drama analysis. Transactional Analysis Bulletin, 7(1), 39-43.

  • Keller, K. (2016). Development of a spiritual abuse questionnaire (Doctoral dissertation). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

  • Kenny, A. (2022). My body is not a prayer request: Disability justice in the church.

  • Kern, C., & Jungbauer, J. (2022). Long-term effects of a cult childhood on attachment, intimacy, and close relationships. Clinical Social Work Journal.

  • Keul, H. (2022). Vulnerability, vulnerability, resilience, and resilience: Spiritual abuse and sexual violence in new spiritual communities. Religions.

  • Knight, A., Esmiol Wilson, E., Ward, D., & Nice, L. (2019). Examining religious disaffiliation through a family systems lens: Implications for treatment. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy.

  • Koch, D., & Edstrom, L. (2022). Development of the Spiritual Harm and Abuse Scale. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

  • Langone, M. (1993). Recovery from cults. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

  • Lefevor, G., Huffman, C., & Blaber, I. (2021). Navigating potentially traumatic conservative religious environments as a sexual/gender minority. Violence Against LGBTQ+ Persons: Research, Practice, and Advocacy.

  • Levitt, H., Horne, S., Wheeler, E., & Wang, M. (2015). Addressing intimate partner violence within a religious context. Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma.

  • Lifton, R. (1961). Thought reform and the psychology of totalism: A study of brainwashing in China.

  • Lutkajtis, A. (2022). Lost saints: Desacralization, spiritual abuse. Fieldwork in Religion.

  • Marschall, A. (2024). What is trauma-informed therapy? Definition, techniques, and efficacy. VeryWellMind Blog Post.

  • Matthews, C., & Salazar, C. (2014). Second-generation adult former cult group members’ recovery experiences: Implications for counseling. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 36, 10.1007/s10447-013-9201-0.

  • McCormick, W., Carroll, T., Sims, B., & Currier, J. (2017). Adverse childhood experiences, religious/spiritual struggles, and mental health symptoms. Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

  • McGraw, C., & Pargament, K. I. (2019). Consequences of abuse by religious authorities. Traumatology.

  • McLaughlin, C., Stinson, R., & Docherty, M. (2022). Approaches to understanding and aligning with religious leaders: A latent profile analysis of religious leaders’ worldviews. Spirituality in Clinical Practice.

  • Mulvihill, N. (2022). UK victim-survivor experiences of intimate partner violence. Criminology and Criminal Justice.

  • Novšak, R., Mandelj, T., & Simonič, B. (2012). Therapeutic implications of religious-related emotional abuse. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.

  • Nummenmaa, L., Glerean, E., Hari, R., & Hietanen, J. K. (2014). Bodily maps of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(2), 646–651.

  • Oblak, R. (2019). Cultic abuse recovery: Counseling considerations. International Journal of Cultic Studies.

  • Okrey Anderson, S., & McGuire, J. (2021). I feel like God doesn’t like me: Faith and ambiguous loss among transgender youth. Family Relations.

  • Panchuk, M. (2020). Distorting concepts, obscured experiences: Hermeneutical injustice in religious trauma and spiritual violence. Hypatia.

  • Pargament, K., & Mahoney, A. (2012). Spirituality: The search for the sacred. The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology.

  • Parker, J., Purvis, L., & Williams, B. (2023). Religious/spiritual struggles and mental health among black adolescents and emerging adults. Journal of Black Psychology.

  • Peck, B. (2022). Timeline of religious trauma awareness (Graphic).

  • Pereda, N., Guilera, G., Forns, M., & Gómez-Benito, J. (2022). An exploratory study on mental health, social problems, & spiritual damage in victims of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and other perpetrators. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse.

  • Perry, B., & Szalavitz, M. (2007). The boy who was raised as a dog: What traumatized children can teach us about loss, love, and healing.

  • Pooler, D., & Barros-Lane, L. (2022). A national study of adult women sexually abused by clergy: Insights for social workers. Social Work, 67(2), 123-133.

  • Prochaska, J., & Norcross, J. (2002). Stages of change. In Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapist contributions and responsiveness to patients (pp. 303–313).

  • Prusak, J., & Schab, A. (2022). Spiritual trauma as a manifestation of religious and spiritual struggles in female victims of sexual abuse in adolescence or young adulthood in the Catholic Church in Poland. Archive for the Psychology of Religion.

  • Rahman, S., McGowan, K., Sun, C., & Durrant, H. (2023). Prevalence of sexual pain among cisgender Muslim women in North America. The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

  • Raine, S., & Kent, S. (2019). The grooming of children for sexual abuse in religious settings: Unique characteristics and select case studies. Aggression and Violent Behavior.

  • Ramler, M. (2022). Disidentification as a survival strategy for religious trauma. In Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric.

  • Robertson, H. (2024). Coercion, conversion, control: Techniques utilized to recruit and indoctrinate new members into cult organizations (University Honors Theses). Paper 1457.

  • Rotter, J. (1954). General principles for a social learning framework of personality study. Journal of Social Issues.

  • Seligman, M., & Maier, S. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(1), 1–9.

  • Shaw, D. (2022). The heart of cult recovery: Compassion for the self. ICSA Today, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2022, 2-9.

  • Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind: Toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience. New York: Guilford Press.

  • Slade, D., Smell, A., Wilson, E., & Drumsta, R. (2023). Percentage of U.S. adults suffering from religious trauma: A sociological study. Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry.

  • Stone, A. (2013). Thou shalt not: Treating religious trauma and spiritual harm with combined therapy. Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society.

  • Taylor, B. (2022). Practicing the presence. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology.

  • Thoma, C., Fruits, E., & Eisenberg, M. (2022). Identifying well-being profiles and resilience characteristics in ex-members of fundamentalist Christian faith communities. Stress and Health.

  • Tomalin, E. (2023). Spiritual abuse and gender-based violence. In Gender-Based Violence: A Comprehensive Guide. Springer, Cham.

  • Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.

  • Van Deusen, S., & Courtois, C. A. (2015). Spirituality, religion, and complex developmental trauma. In Spiritually oriented psychotherapy for trauma.

  • Vaughan, F. (1991). Spiritual issues in psychotherapy. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.

  • Vieten, C., & Lukoff, D. (2022). Spiritual and religious competencies in psychology. The American Psychologist.

  • Walker, L. E. (2017). The battered woman syndrome (4th ed.).

  • Walker, P. (2013). Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving: A guide and map for recovering from childhood trauma.

  • Ward, D. (2011). The lived experience of spiritual abuse. Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

  • Wellwood, J. (1984). Toward a psychology of awakening.

  • Winell, M. (2011). Religious trauma syndrome. Series of 3 articles in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Today.

  • Winell, M., & Allen, S. (2016). Leaving the fold: A guide for former fundamentalists and others leaving their religion.

  • Winzenried, C. (2022). Dealing with the trauma of leaving religion behind. The Australian Humanist.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA

bottom of page