‘Religious trauma’ as used for the purposes of this site, can be described as psychological damage resulting from the practice of or attempt to let go of a faith-based worldview. The essence of the concept of religious trauma is that certain ideas are not always benign. The valuing and practice of bad ideas can lead to bad outcomes. Even seemingly good ideas can lead to bad outcomes under the right circumstances. The psychological trauma can be self-inflicted or inflicted by others and can occur suddenly or over a period of time. It can result from indoctrination with ideas that degrade self-esteem or function to create a baseline level of shame. It may arise when someone is on the receiving end of judgments about morality and sexual behaviors. It may occur as guilt in response to one’s desire to find answers outside of a religious worldview. It often manifests when people find valid reasons to escape their worldview, but years of indoctrination to ignore their own critical thinking leave them highly vulnerable to alternative damaging ideas. Finally, it occurs when people realize that their worldview is filled with misinformation and damaging ideas but do not know where to turn or what to do next. Despite defining the term, I am well aware that ‘religious trauma’ is a term loaded with implications. It is broad in scope and widely open to interpretation. To highlight the difficulties of describing these concepts, rather than ‘religious trauma,’ think of the term ‘bone fracture.’ To say someone has a ‘fracture’ is only the first small step towards diagnosing and treating this injury. It says nothing about how the bone was damaged—a single violent blow to the bone or chronic repetitive overuse; it says nothing about which bone—a cracked skull, vs a broken toe vs a cracked hip—and it says nothing about the degree of the injury or the requirements for healing, a simple splint for a hairline fracture of the pinky vs a surgery, screws and months of physical therapy for a shattered pelvis. Similarly, to say that someone has experienced religious trauma is simply an indication that he has sustained some level of damage to the psyche due to a faith-based worldview. It requires investigation to identify the cause, the nature and the severity so as to develop an individual means of healing. There is considerable research being done in the UK on ‘Religious Trauma Syndrome.' While this is highly encouraging for the world at large, the research has not yet caught on in the US for a variety of reasons. Regarding the term religious trauma syndrome, not everyone who experiences religious trauma exhibits a consistent syndrome of symptoms. For this reason, I prefer to focus on any and all psychological damage resulting from religious belief systems. The manifestations of psychological damage are any individual or combination of symptoms that can be seen across psychiatric domains. Typical presentations can include anxiety, depression, anger, obsessional thinking, insomnia, suicidal thoughts . It is common for self-esteem to be affected and for coping skills to be underdeveloped and inadequate. Sadly, it is also fairly common for someone to be so sufficiently indoctrinated into their worldview that they are unable to recognize that the worldview itself is the cause of their suffering. The Religious Trauma section of the website is updated regularly with relevant articles about the damage inflicted by faith. The Stories section is a place to read about the experiences of others suffering from religious trauma as they attempt to make sense of themselves and the world without relying on belief. Strategies to begin addressing religious trauma can be found below in the Overcoming Religious Trauma section. Reality-based alternatives to the placebo promises of religion can be found in the Good Reason section. If you'd like to share your own story or insights or would like to connect to a community, please respond using the Contact/Share link above.