The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy

Religious Trauma and High-Control Religion: An Interview with Anna Clark Miller, LPC, LMHC

Dec 4, 2023

The podcast explores religious trauma and high-control religions with expert Anna Clark Miller. Topics include the impact of religious trauma, common therapist mistakes, and healing after leaving high-control religions. The discussion covers therapy approaches, rebuilding lives post-religion, rigid thinking, LGBTQ+ trauma, and therapist training for religious trauma.

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INSIGHT

Nature of Religious Trauma

Religious trauma is complex trauma from repeated incidents over a long period.
It impacts the nervous system and involves traumatic beliefs about religion and strict conformity.

ADVICE

Avoid Therapist as Spiritual Authority

Avoid becoming the client's new spiritual authority or guru in therapy.
Empower clients to own their decisions rather than please the therapist.

INSIGHT

Symptoms of Religious Trauma

Key symptoms of religious trauma include shame, rigid thinking, fear, emotional suppression, and relationship dysfunction.
High-control religions intensely moralize, causing shame and binary thinking.

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Religious Trauma and High-Control Religion: An Interview with Anna Clark Miller, LPC, LMHC

Curt and Katie interview Anna Clark Miller about religious trauma. We explore what religious trauma and high-control religions are. We look at common mistakes therapists can make when working with religious trauma survivors as well as what therapy and healing can look like for these folks.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode, we talk about religious trauma and high-control religion

We were interested to learn more about how therapists can support religious trauma survivors, so we reached out to an expert, Anna Clark Miller, to share her wisdom.

What is religious trauma?

· Complex trauma over a long period of time

· Impacts to the nervous system

· Traumatic beliefs about religion and the after life

· Following rules and conforming to a religious group’s idea of how someone should live

What mistakes do therapists make when working with religious trauma survivors?

· Therapists becoming the client’s new spiritual authority

· Clients using therapy to tell them how to think and live

· Clients need to own themselves and their own minds, not work to please the therapist

What does healing after leaving a “high control” religion look like?

· The loss of so much, including social support, identity, etc.

· Complex PTSD healing

· How will I fit into the world? How will I talk with people?

· Building hope for someone who is needing to completely remake their life and identity

· The client needs to create a sense of safety within themselves

· You can’t “rip off the Band-Aid” with leaving a high control religious group

· Helping clients with their judgment around their emotions (starting with observation before judging if it is good or bad)

· Working with clients to examine their beliefs (over time)

What is included in the treatment for religious trauma survivors

· Noticing one’s body

· Exploring and reimagining healthy relationships

· Identity work

· Deconstruction of topics based on what the client is thinking, feeling, etc.

· Addressing spiritual bypassing

· Not just “mindfulness” due to concerns about secular psychology

Stay in Touch with Curt, Katie, and the whole Therapy Reimagined #TherapyMovement:

Our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/therapyreimagined

Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Creative Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/