Why Create a Publication on Recovering from Harmful Religion?
Hi! Welcome to my publication Recovery from a Harmful Religion.
This is a passion project for me.
I wish there had been something like this when I first left the religion of my childhood (Jehovah’s Witnesses) over 20 years ago.
Back then I felt like a fish out of water! I felt like an alien on a foreign planet where nobody had given me the rule book.
Many people do not realise the effects on someone who has been raised in an authoritarian, rigid, fundamentalist type of religion and then leaves.
Marlene Winell in her book Leaving the Fold said that people often think it is a bit like learning that Santa Claus is not real - a bit sad, but you will get over it.
People do not realise the sheer terror that someone can feel and how someone’s whole identity can shatter and be left in a million pieces when leaving a religion that provided the skeletal framework of their life.
This publication is NOT about condemning all religion.
The benefits of having a religious faith have been well researched and documented by many research studies.
However, what has not been so widely researched, and where a lack of information abounds is the effect and role of religion that harms people; how and why this occurs, what can be dealt to mitigate it and how to help people heal from its effects.
So what sort of religions can cause harm to people?
Specifically, religions which:
- are rigidly structured
- are claiming to teach the absolute truth
- are often fundamentalist
- are authoritarian and patriarchal; and which
- shun members who no longer believe
- encourage restricted association with outside members
- discourage higher education
- encourage and endorse physical discipline
- have a hierarchy of authority that is enforced (elders, ministers, priests, clergy)
- condemn self-knowledge and trust
- have black and white thinking
- condemn critical thinking and questioning
Why?
Well, this is what this course (series of articles, embedded videos, quizzes) aims to answer.
Religious trauma syndrome (RTS)
If you have been brought up in a church that meets all or some of these criteria and left, or joined as an adult and then later left, you may find yourself struggling with issues of
low self-worth; self-hate; a deep and abiding fear of God; high levels of self-judgment; fear of “the world”; trust issues; emotional suppression; feeling numb; empty, or conversely overwhelmed; filled with anger and rage (or unable to feel anger at all); feeling like “a shell”, lonely, unable to form meaningful connections, struggling with mental health issues and suicidality and grieving the loss of family and friends who are still in “the faith”
Marlene Winell PhD coined the term Religious Trauma Syndrome to explain the array of symptoms that people often find themselves struggling with when they leave an authoritarian type of religion.
In fact, Dr Winell states that people suffering this syndrome can be misdiagnosed with mental health or personality disorders such as PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression and Anxiety when in fact they are struggling with issues related to the impacts of their past indoctrination, and belief systems still negatively impacting on their lives in a substantial way.
My personal story
When I first left the religion of my childhood over twenty years ago (after over thirty years) I struggled with a loss of identity and in trying to rebuild my life.
I was trying to do this at a time I was also cut off from some of my family and all the friends I had ever known.
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) practise shunning of members (even family members) who leave the faith. They are encouraged to look upon the person who no longer believes as dead.
This made it doubly hard.
I do not want anyone else to experience as much hardship in recovering as I went through (including two suicide attempts).
Having access to information can be a vital source of healing and can also help you not feel so alone in your journey.
It has been over twenty years now and I have regained my life and rebuilt my identity.
This publication contains a course (which will be added to each week until it is complete).
COURSE: RECLAIMING YOUR LIFE: REBUILDING YOUR IDENTITY
The course is in three sections.
The first section is on REFLECTING and REVIEWING; the next section is on HEALING, and the third section is on IDENTITY and GROWTH.
Each section contains multiple topics (articles).
For ease of working your way through the course, at the bottom of each course topic links will be provided to the article immediately prior and the article next in line.
Other articles are grouped together under headings of
COURSE
REFLECTIONS
HEALING
YOUR STORIES
CREATIVITY (including art, poetry, music)
I will be accepting contributions from other writers. They must be tagged as either true story, reflections, healing, or creativity.
The focus and intent of the course will be that there is meaning to be found in life after leaving an authoritarian religion.
Other published articles may document people’s journey (including my own) at all stages after leaving until the current day.
Some of you may still be struggling, and others may be thriving.
All are welcome. There is no exclusion.
This publication also hopes to find readers who may have a family member involved in one of these religions or who wish to know how to help a friend who may be struggling.
I certainly hope the information contained may help increase your understanding which may also then increase your capacity to be able to assist.
