Religious trauma is something that happens far more often than most people realize. In When Religion Hurts You, Dr. Laura Anderson takes an honest look at a side of religion that few like to talk about. Drawing from her own life and therapy practice, she helps readers understand what religious trauma is and isn’t, and how high-control churches can be harmful and abusive, often resulting in trauma. She shows how elements of fundamentalist church life–such as fear of hell, purity culture, corporal punishment, and authoritarian leaders–can cause psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual damage.
Dr. Laura Anderson is a psychotherapist, trauma resolution coach and consultant, writer and educator specializing in complex and developmental trauma, dynamics of power and control and religious trauma based out of Nashville, TN.
You can connect with her work on her website drlauraeanderson.com.
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Thank you all for hosting Laura for this great conversation! I appreciated so much of what you talked about and your courage to engage this difficult topic. Ben’s question about 1/2 way through prompted an awareness for me that I’d like to share. Ben asked how pastors can care for parishioners who have been triggered by an action taken by someone in leadership at a church. Laura’s answer was great! But it occurred to me that sometimes our churches as institutions or our theological doctrinal stances are the things that reify trauma for folks. I have had experiences of space being created for my angst by individuals in leadership when the structure of the organization held them back from making any meaningful change. In the same vein, some christian theologies engender a traumatic sense of impending, inescapable harm. So while this podcast was incredible, it left me wondering questions beyond the scope of this conversation. What would it look like to create a trauma informed faith community at the organizational level? What would it look like to have a trauma informed faith/doctrine? Since we are individuals living in community, these broader questions, while daunting, seem important to engage.
Hi Jana, thanks for these thoughts. I think you are asking deeply important questions! I have heard people say, for example, that as children they experienced the looming threat of eternal conscious torment in hell as traumatic. One wonders if there is any way of holding this theological view that doesn’t cause trauma?