Leaving a strong religious identity and allegiance usually introduces some level of traumatic psychological shock.
Trauma in Religion.
A traumatic event can be anything that causes a person to feel threatened emotionally or physically, feel powerless, and/or affect their capacity to cope while overwhelmed. Traumatic events can vary greatly and can include things like car accidents, natural disasters, and physical or verbal abuse. Trauma can include physical and emotional pain as well as neglect.
Latter-day Saints, among others, are taught that safety and happiness depend on obedience and loyalty to their church. Thus leaving Mormonism means the end of the life you once lived. The reality you once accepted is gone. This needs to be recognized as trauma – even though the intensity and the symptoms will be different for each person.
Symptoms of Trauma.
The intensity and symptoms differ for each person, but typically involve feeling threatened emotionally or physically and feeling powerless. Anytime trauma occurs within relationships, the long-term effects involve damage to one’s ability to trust, and the creation of negative internalized messages—such as being unlovable. Consider some of the symptoms of trauma that can be applied to leaving a religious group:
- Anxiety or panic attacks
- Emotional numbness
- Guilt / shame
- Anger
- Insomnia / exhaustion
- Social withdrawal
- Avoidance of specific places / people
- Mood swings
- Feelings of not fitting in anywhere
- Feelings of grief / loss
- Trouble making sensible decisions
- Repetition of ineffective choices
[Related: Be Patient with Your Journey From Mormonism]
Physical Effects of Trauma.
Realize that your body responds to past trauma. Contemporary research has revealed that trauma produces actual physiological changes, including a recalibration of the brain’s alarm system, an increase in stress hormone activity, and alterations in the system that filters relevant information from irrelevant. These changes explain why traumatized individuals become hypervigilant to threat at the expense of spontaneously engaging in their day-to-day lives. They also help us understand why traumatized people so often keep repeating the same problems and have such trouble learning from experience. We now know that their behaviors are not the result of moral failings or signs of lack of willpower or bad character—they are caused by actual changes in the brain.
Trauma in a Faith Crisis.
The Personal Faith Crisis Report was created to to assist LDS Church leaders with recommendations targeted at better understanding a faith crisis. The research behind the report studies the LDS faith crisis in detail. It identifies the stages of a faith crisis. People in the “Traumatized Disbeliever” stage of their faith crisis often hit “rock bottom.” This stage can be alarming and unsettling. Many have labeled this stage in their faith crisis as the “dark night of the soul.”
[Related: Personal Mormon Faith Crisis Report – Faith Crisis Stages]
Get Help for Religious Trauma.
When situations arise with family, friends and leaders, you might experience a fight or flight reaction, or may respond with fawning or paralyzing behavior. These kinds of responses may be a result of trauma triggers. This might be hard to identify when you’re going through it, or it may feel too risky to open up about even when there is an encouraging space provided to walk through it. If you struggle to implement logical and thoughtful options in your faith journey, even though you really want to, it may be because you are experiencing PTSD.
If you are experiencing these kinds of phenomena, consider seeing a counselor who can help you process the internal pressures, guide you through better communication with family members, and give you tools for emotional regulation.
[Related: Caring for Yourself After Mormonism]
