Christian Authoritarianism is a significant social issue in 21st century American culture, a throwback to the hypocrisy, intolerance, and abuse of yesteryear. Along with this abuse comes a psychological price: religious trauma. The problem is real, and the consequences can be severe.
Religious Trauma can look like:
Deep or chronic shame about being personally responsible for Christ's d***, being a sinner, or not living up to expectations
*Feelings of unworthiness, being unlovable, or bad in some way
*Fear of rejection by God or the faith community
*Lack of self-compassion
*Lack of personal autonomy - an ingrained belief that one's life is for God's sole purpose, leading to challenges making decisions, creating personal boundaries and providing intentional consent
*Feeling that they can't trust themselves, their body or their emotions
Growing up with chronic fear or anxiety around salvation, rapture, H, S, or demons
*Superstitious beliefs about what will lead to positive and negative outcomes in life
*Perfectionism or hyper-vigilance - fear of making mistakes
*Extreme dualistic thinking - judging every individual thought and action as "good" or "bad"
Spiritual bypassing - denying the presence and validity of mental health issues due to a belief that those feelings come from S**n or a lack of faith and if they pray enough or are favored then God will take it away
*Difficulty with experiencing pleasure
Feeling bad or wrong for having sl thoughts or feelings, or having physical reactions to s**l situations such as crying or feeling a disconnection from the body
Denying sy
*Lasting trauma from conversion therapy