Healing Spiritual Trauma

Introduction

Spiritual trauma can be one of the most deeply wounding forms of emotional and psychological pain. When a person’s sense of God, faith, or religious community becomes a source of fear, shame, or harm, it can leave lasting scars. For both Jewish and Christian individuals, the trauma often goes unrecognized, dismissed, or spiritualized away—making it harder to process and heal.

What Is Spiritual Trauma?

Spiritual trauma, sometimes called religious trauma, occurs when a person’s belief system, spiritual identity, or experience of a faith community becomes a source of abuse, fear, guilt, or disconnection. It often includes:

• Emotional manipulation by religious leaders

• Teachings that cause shame around identity, sexuality, or doubt

• Punitive or legalistic theology

• Rejection by religious communities

• Coercive spiritual practices or control

Dr. Marlene Winell, a psychologist who coined the term Religious Trauma Syndrome, describes it as “a set of symptoms experienced by those leaving authoritarian religious environments” (Winell, 2011).

How Spiritual Trauma Manifests

Spiritual trauma can look different than physical or emotional abuse, but its effects can be just as devastating. Common symptoms include:

• Anxiety, depression, and panic attacks

• Fear of eternal punishment or divine abandonment

• Difficulty trusting others or forming intimate relationships

• Shame-based identity, especially around sexuality or doubt

• Religious OCD or scrupulosity

Research published in The Journal of Religion and Health found that individuals exposed to religious trauma reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress, often including complex PTSD-like symptoms (Brewster et al., 2017).

Spiritual Trauma in Christian Communities

Many Christians who experience spiritual trauma come from fundamentalist, evangelical, or high-control denominations. Often, trauma is tied to messages about sin, hell, obedience, and gender or sexual purity.

Dr. Laura Anderson, founder of the Religious Trauma Institute, explains, “Many survivors are taught to override their intuition and inner voice in the name of obedience to God or church authority. This can create lasting dissociation and shame” (Anderson, 2021).

Examples include:

• LGBTQ+ Christians told their identity is sinful

• Women discouraged from leadership or autonomy

• Survivors of abuse within the church whose reports were minimized or silenced

The result is often a fractured spiritual identity and a painful distrust of God, Scripture, or community.

Spiritual Trauma in Jewish Communities

Spiritual trauma in Jewish contexts often arises from authoritarian rabbinic control, family pressure, communal shaming, or disconnection from halachic expectations. This is especially common in ultra-Orthodox or Haredi environments where conformity is essential.

A study by Levinsky College’s Dr. Elisha Harel found that individuals leaving Haredi communities experienced high levels of trauma due to social exclusion, internalized guilt, and fear of divine punishment (Harel, 2020).

Key sources of trauma include:

• Excommunication or alienation for religious questioning

• Family estrangement due to religious disobedience

• Shame-based messages about modesty, purity, or obedience

• Abuse by rabbinic authorities or yeshiva staff

Organizations like Footsteps and Makom work with ex-Haredi Jews who often report trauma symptoms akin to religious PTSD.

Common Ground: Shame, Control, and Fear

While the theological frameworks differ, both Jewish and Christian trauma survivors often share:

• Fear-based religious messaging

• Legalism that ignores mental health

• Cultural silence around abuse

• Loss of community as punishment for doubt or nonconformity

As noted in Psychology Today, “Spiritual trauma leaves people disconnected not only from their community and tradition, but from their own sense of self-worth and spiritual agency” (Tobin, 2022).

Healing Paths: Integration, Not Rejection

Healing from spiritual trauma doesn’t always mean rejecting faith. For many, it means rebuilding it in a safe, healthy way.

Approaches to healing include:

• Trauma-informed therapy, especially from clinicians trained in religious trauma

• Spiritual direction that supports questioning and exploration

• Somatic practices to reconnect the body with safety

• Peer support groups, such as Reclamation Collective or Tikvah Lake Recovery

• Revisiting sacred texts with compassionate reinterpretation

For Jewish survivors, therapists who understand halacha and Jewish life can help integrate healing with spiritual values. For Christian clients, Christ-centered therapy that emphasizes grace and love over fear is often key.

Dr. Jamie Marich, author of Process Not Perfection, writes, “Recovery from spiritual trauma is about reclaiming your right to choose how you connect to the sacred—if at all—and finding freedom in that choice” (Marich, 2019).

Conclusion: Faith Can Hurt, but It Can Also Heal

Spiritual trauma can cause deep wounds—but those wounds can also become portals to a more authentic, grounded connection with faith, self, and others. Whether Jewish or Christian, healing starts with the freedom to ask hard questions, set healthy boundaries, and seek safety over spiritual perfection.

No tradition is immune from the misuse of power—but every tradition also holds the seeds of compassion, justice, and true belonging. Healing happens when survivors are allowed to reclaim those seeds for themselves.

References

• Winell, M. (2011). Religious Trauma Syndrome.

• Brewster, M. E., et al. (2017). “Religious trauma: The role of spirituality in recovery.” Journal of Religion and Health.

• Anderson, L. (2021). Religious Trauma Institute. https://religioustraumainstitute.com

• Harel, E. (2020). Religious Disaffiliation and Trauma in the Haredi Community. Levinsky College of Education.

• Tobin, M. (2022). “How Spiritual Trauma Separates People from Themselves.” Psychology Today.

• Marich, J. (2019). Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery.

• Footsteps. https://footstepsorg.org

• Reclamation Collective. https://www.reclamationcollective.com