Defending the Separation of Church and State
Several months ago, a friend of mine, an ex-nun, told me about Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS). I knew of the Clergy Project, an organization that helps clergy who feel trapped in a profession they no longer believe in, to make the transition from a sectarian world to the secular one. However, I had never heard of RTS, PTSD yes, but RTS, no, even though they are very similar. Readers who know what PTSD is will have a much easier time understanding RTS, and its pervasiveness. Intrigued, I decided to investigate and write this month’s column on Religious Trauma Syndrome.
RTS is listed as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition (DSM-5). It often starts to develop when young people’s questions about religious beliefs go unanswered, or parents refer to the bible to placate their children. Children over the age of five can reason and know the bible doesn’t answer their questions. If it did, there would be no reason to ask questions. Funny, but that is what true believers want; just accept what you are told and don’t engage in independent thinking. Chat age, children may not be able to articulate that adults who refer to the bible to answer their questions are just discouraging independent thinking. This leads to more severe symptoms as the child becomes an adult such as suicidal ideation, sleep, and eating disorders, nightmares, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse, unemployment, and a lack of emotion in interpersonal relationships. https://www.ndavidhubbardlmhc.com/uploads/8/9/3/1/8931162/religious_trauma_syndrome.pdf
Tony Beck of Dallas, Texas, an adult, and member of a worldwide missionary, began to ask questions about the validity of what he was teaching others in countries such as China, Russia, and several countries on the African continent. Tony asked his questions but didn’t get any answers from the missionary community. What Tony experienced were confusion, diminished intellectual and critical thinking skills, identity confusion, anxiety, depression, and the breakup of his family and social networks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id70RLR4GeE&ab_channel=trapezedance
The debilitating effects of RTS become more severe when a young person feels trapped inside a fundamentalist religion that teaches ideas such as the Christian doctrines of original sin and eternal damnation. Unlike the classic transactional therapy book by Thomas Harris, “I’m OK – You’re OK,” fundamentalist religions tend to teach “You’re not okay” and “You’re not safe.” The lived experience of young people caught up in a controlling religious environment is “I’m Not OK – But You’re OK” which leads to self-devaluation. https://thepowermoves.com/im-ok-youre-ok/
What young people’s experience tells them is true and what their controlling religious environment is teaching them about homosexuality and gender identity creates dissonance. Prenatal hormone research shows that the quantity and timing of hormone release first affect genital development, which determines the gender physicians arbitrarily assigned at birth, and affects brain development that determines the individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity. These hormonal influences result in the individual’s homosexual, bisexual, or straight sexual orientations and gender identities that are present at birth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6677266/
Since there is little empirical evidence to justify demonizing members of the straight or LGBT communities for sexual orientations and gender identities present at birth, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed the diagnosis of homosexuality, including bisexuality, as a mental illness from DSM-3 in 1973 and, in 2013, replaced the mental illness diagnosis of gender identity disorder in DSM-5 with the neutrally descriptive gender dysphoria. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695779/
RTS is worldwide. Sherrie D’Souza, of Sydney, Australia, writes about “Losing my religion: facing the trauma of leaving a faith” where she reports the absolute disgust former believers still show her after leaving the apocalyptic Jehovah’s Witness religion five years ago. Sherrie reports she had been a believer for forty years but, after she left, family and friends shunned her. To help rebuild her life, Sherrie started the first Australian Recovering from Religion (RfR) support group. This group encourages those grappling with questions and doubts about religious beliefs to meet and express themselves in a safe space. https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/losing-my-religion-facing-the-trauma-of-leaving-a-faith-20210817-p58jht.html If you live in Maine and are experiencing any symptoms of Religious Trauma Syndrome listed above, you are not alone. There is a Recovering from Religion group in Portland. Their website is https://www.meetup.com/RfR-Portland-ME/
Ray Vensel is president of the Maine Chapter of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. He welcomes comments at president.rv@ffrfmaine.org and 207-370-8813.