When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion

Spiritual abuse is something that happens far more often than most people realize.

In When Religion Hurts You, Dr. Laura Anderson takes an honest look at a side of religion that few like to talk about. Drawing from her own life and therapy practice, she helps readers understand what religious trauma is and isn't, and how high-control churches can be harmful and abusive, often resulting in trauma. She shows how elements of fundamentalist church life--such as fear of hell, purity culture, corporal punishment, and authoritarian leaders--can cause psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual damage.

As she explores the growing phenomenon of religious trauma, Dr. Anderson helps readers embark on a journey of living as healing individuals and finding a new foundation to stand on. Recognizing that healing is a lifelong rather than a linear process, she offers markers of healing for those coming out of painful religious experiences and hope for finding wholeness after religious trauma.

Laura E. Anderson (PhD, Saybrook University; LMFT) is a trauma-informed psychotherapist, founder of the Center for Trauma Resolution, and cofounder of the Religious Trauma Institute. Her dissertation focused on healing after sexualized violence and trauma in connection with purity culture. Anderson has spoken on Christian and post-Christian podcasts and online platforms and has written for Religion News Service and The New Republic. She is actively engaged on Instagram and other social media platforms and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.