UNITED KINGDOM
Addicting Info
For many, religion has become a place to visit to escape from the troubles that life brings, as well as a place of sanctuary, or a place to give thanks and share joy. However, for others, organized religion can end up being extremely damaging to the psyche as far too many who interpret those religions use religious indoctrination and texts to abuse the teachings of any particular religion to implement their own thoughts, ideas, and ways of life.
Dr. Marlene Winell dives into this world of abuse first-hand to study it’s damaging effects. She holds her doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies and offers services that aid in recovery from religion. She writes:
“I think we can acknowledge we have a subculture now – a group of people who were once religious but have left and are reclaiming their lives. This group is special and identifiable. It’s not just exChristian; it’s exMormon, exMuslim, ex-Jehovah-Witness, ex-cult, and ex-authoritarian.”
Winell wrote an article for the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies that explains what she calls “Religious Trauma Syndrome” (RTS). Within the article she writes:
“Religious indoctrination can be hugely damaging, and making the break from an authoritarian kind of religion can definitely be traumatic. It involves a complete upheaval of a person’s construction of reality, including the self, other people, life, the future, everything. People unfamiliar with it, including therapists, have trouble appreciating the sheer terror it can create and the recovery needed.”
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