Therapeutic Implications of Religious-Related Emotional Abuse

Abstract

Religion can play a positive role in preventing all types of abuse. Consequently, it is often difficult to believe that religion or a particular manner of religious awareness can also be conducive to the degradation and humiliation of individuals, and that it can be maneuvered to justify abusive behavior. In this article we discuss the emotional repercussions of religious-related abuse in the family, an aspect that is rarely documented in the field of psychotherapy, but has many negative consequences. Religious-oriented emotional abuse is traceable to several levels of human functioning: the individual's internal level of experiencing themselves, the interpersonal and systemic levels, where the individual enters relationships, as well as within the framework of the individual's relationship with God.

Keywords:

• attachment
• emotional abuse
• psychotherapy
• recovery from religious abuse
• religious abuse
• spiritual abuse

Notes

¹Although this article discusses religious abuse from the perspective of the Christian tradition, we believe it is applicable with other religious belief systems as well.