Religious Trauma Mental Health

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 listeners 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.

“...a captivating book that touches your heart and leaves a lasting impression. This beautifully crafted story will deeply resonate with you emotionally, as its characters will leave a lasting impression.” —Midwest Book Review When we first meet Mary Kline in God Bless the Child, Book One of The Women of Paradise County series, she is sewing, her main obsession besides eating. It is hard to blame Mary for who she has become. She’s been perpetually hungry since childhood, and as she becomes a woman, she craves something far more delicious—a child of her own. When Pearl Davis turns ...

What is it like to suffer Religious Trauma Syndrome while still inside a high demand religious organization? What causes Religious Trauma Syndrome, and what are the risks that come with continuing participation? A Voice from Inside presents the rare voice of a critical insider of the Watch Tower Society, offering an account of the experience, how people are struggling, and what can be done to survive and move forward.

You don’t have to perform to be loved. You don’t have to hustle for healing. And God was never the one who shamed you. The God Beyond Religion is a soul-shaking memoir of liberation — from childhood trauma, addiction, religious control, and the exhausting chase to be “holy enough” for love. Monica Eddy tells the unflinching truth of what it means to be raised in dysfunction, abandoned as a child, then imprisoned by addiction and spiritual abuse — all while searching for a God who could hold her brokenness. But healing didn’t come through striving. It came through therapy. ...