Religious Trauma Counseling

Religious Trauma Syndrome is a fairly new term used to describe mental health symptoms caused by indoctrination in a very rigid or fundamentalist religious environment. Some of these symptoms only occur after the person has experienced more of life outside of the religious environment and been exposed to other ways of thinking and being.

Symptoms can include bouts of intense panic, anxiety, depression, rage, fears/nightmares about going to hell, confusion, poor critical thinking ability, limited beliefs about self-ability/self-worth, difficulty allowing oneself to experience pleasure, black and white thinking, and sexual difficulties.

You may feel anxiety about questioning your beliefs, trouble believing your own thoughts and feelings are valid, difficulty understanding healthy sexuality, and grief about questioning or detaching from a belief system that was seen as fundamental to your well-being.