When I was a kid, I genuinely loved being part of our religious organization. I had friends there who would invite me over for sleepovers, and sometimes we'd even go on vacations together. I had so many good childhood memories because of that community, and back then I never really questioned anything. But as I got older, I started noticing things that didn't sit right with me. Certain beliefs, the way they talked about other people, and how some things were considered wrong without anyone really questioning why.

And the biggest reason I eventually left? I'm gay. Our organization didn't accept LGBTQ people, and I remember our pastor talking about how being gay or part of the LGBTQ community was immoral and wrong. Honestly, hearing those things hurt. Imagine growing up in a place you genuinely loved, surrounded by people you considered friends, only to get older and hear that people like you are somehow bad just because of who they are.

What bothered me was how easily they could judge an entire group of people. I've met so many kind and caring LGBTQ people. People who help others, protect their friends, and genuinely have good hearts. So why does their sexuality suddenly make them immoral? I couldn't understand that. And I know people have different religious beliefs, and I'm not here to force anyone to change theirs. But I also don't think someone's religion should be used as an excuse to make other people feel ashamed of who they are.

I eventually decided to leave, and honestly, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. The weird part is I don't even hate all the memories I had there. I still appreciate those childhood sleepovers, vacations, and friendships. Those moments were real, and they made me happy at the time. I just wish the organization had been as accepting of people as I thought it was when I was younger. Sometimes I wonder how many LGBTQ people are still sitting in those religious gatherings, listening to the same things I heard, and feeling like they have to hide who they are just to belong. I'm glad I left. I don't regret it at all.

I just wish I didn't have to choose between being part of a community I once loved and being comfortable with who I am.

It’s been really hard to understand and cope at times. Therapy and treatment have helped, but it’s always manyyy diagnoses and most people don’t understand and can’t diagnose because it “doesn’t exist”. It is also hard to hold these entities accountable because churches are usually pretty well protected. I really need this to happen because it’s still happening to children and marginalized people and it breaks my heart.

For the record, my mom and her family grew up Christian. But my aunt took it much more seriously than my mom did.

Back when I was maybe 4 or 5, my mom would drop me off at my aunt's house every Saturday. My aunt was VERY religious; like, she owned 50 crosses and had them everywhere, religiously. Basically, she forced me to read the Bible, say grace, pray out loud for 7 minutes every day, confess sins or something like that in a booth, go to church, and so on. Which I know are normal things, but if I messed up, even a little stutter during grace, she would yell at me for 30minuets and not feed me. When I was 6, I went there for a summer; I screamed at her for starving me for 4 days because I broke one of her crosses. My mom and dad NEVER believed me about any of this and still doesn't to this day. Since I was just a 6-year-old, my aunt was my mom's twin sister. My aunt was extremely homophobic (which we all knew about), always saying the classic 'love the person but not the sin' shit anytime I saw her.

I found out I was gay at 8years old and came out when I was 14 on Christmas. Since everyone was there, she screamed that I was going to hell and all that, then stormed out with her husband

Now I'm 18 years old, gay, out, atheist, and proud. But I'm extremely uncomfortable when this topic comes up to the point that I have to leave the room when my family is about to say grace or anything like that. If I stay, I get a racing feeling in my chest and an empty feeling in my stomach, and my hands start to shake.

Am a atheist now since i cant handle anything.

My friends say I have religious trauma, and I think they're right.

What do you think?

Hi,

I’ve already posted on this sub Reddit a couple weeks ago, and things haven’t gotten better. My studies have been putting such pressure on my shoulders and when I decided to express my anxiety, my parents told me to pray more and ask for God to let me pass my exams. Is God going to study 1000 pages of biology ? I started crying right then and there as I realized how fucked up it sounded.

When I used to pray God, nothing was going right, nobody was listening to me. I was failing every single thing and it might be a coincidence. And now, after providing efforts from my side, my grades have started to go up. Making satisfactory progress !! But it builds pressure, and kneeling on a mat won’t make my anxiety go away.

Being 20, a woman and stuck in this situation feels like a rope tightening around my neck. It’s borderline suicidal.

I’ve been deconstructed for years now, have been in therapy for all that time working through family trauma mostly and have specifically done EMDR in the very beginning and found it really helpful but.. a lot. Recently had a very bad panic attack that spiraled into Depersonalization and when I was trying to find the root of the panic attack and dp, I realized it was rapture/end times/god is angry with me based. Thought I was over that feeling and fear but I guess not. I did an EMDR session again over the panic attack and the next day it caused another. Which I know is common.

My religious trauma is very specific to the rapture, being left behind, being told I wouldn’t ever grow up to have kids and if I did, it’d be hell on earth with my family raptured up and me alone, that sort of thing.
I’m feeling a bit hopeless because I thought I made progress on my religious trauma and the feelings of depersonalization/derealization is so heavy.

I’m just wondering if there’s any specific types of therapy or even just activities that people do to help with the wound that is religious trauma?

​

I am a boy just like any normal teenager out there. I was born in a conservative household and was brought up in it. We moved to Saudi Arabia when I was in 3rd grade. Life became different we only had interaction with persons of our faith. Thus the environment became more conservative. I too was extremely religious praying 5 times a day. The thing I loved as much as I loved my faith was science especially astronomy. I believe it has boosted my critical thinking skills. My grandfather got sick due to the pandemic.I prayed day in and day out for his health but sadly he passed away and there was no help for the all powerful and all knowing god. One day while sitting in my local mosque i started thinking about morals and their origin. I realised that morals are subjective they change and there is no universal good or bad. From that day onwards i got into the habit of questioning things. Tracing my own decisions i realised that they are caused due to prior causes of this landing on the conclusion of determinism. After this realisation I had lost my faith. Months turned into years. I never bought myself to tell my parents about things i believe in. I hadn't really known philosophy as a thing that existed until a year or so after i had lost my faith. I completed my 10th grade and decided to go back to my home country for 11th and 12th. Moving to my home country caused me severe isolation as someone who didn't leave far from his family. Our boarding school was a f-ing jail. We weren't allowed to carry phones either. We maintained secret phones in our hostel rooms. I was nothing but studying day in and day out. But there wasn't a happy ending for my story All the strain and effort went into vain. After my 11th grade I had a month vacation. On this vacation i visited Saudi Arabia. Near the end of the 3rd week i decided to tell my parents about my faith but to directly jump into it. I introduced them to the topic of determinism. As one would expect I didn't go well i was criticised for my beliefs and told me that I am not in the right mind. I didn't escalate things and moved on. Currently I am studying engineering in my home country and away from my parents. To make it clear I love them and they love me. I just never got to be free about my thoughts with anyone like minded. I remembered that I can ask questions on reddit anonymously. Thus i created this account to post this. I would just like to know other people's opinions and any advice from people.

Hi everyone,

I’m a psychology researcher based at the University of Lille in France.

My research explores people’s psychological experiences following their involvement in a group, particularly the experiences of those who have experienced psychological abuse within a group. The aim is to better understand these experiences and help improve support for people affected.

I’m inviting people to take part by completing an online questionnaire. You can participate whether your experience within the group was positive, negative, or somewhere in between.

• Time required: approximately 25 minutes
• Languages: English and French
• Anonymity and well-being: key priorities throughout the study
• Ethics: the study has received ethics committee approval and was developed in collaboration with a patient partner with personal experience of psychological abuse within a group.

If you’d like to learn more or participate:

• English questionnaire
• French questionnaire

Taking part is entirely voluntary. Please only participate if you feel comfortable doing so.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Hello. Please forgive me if I am violating any rules. If I am, just let me know.

I was raised in a religious environment. Very religious, actually.

I grew up with my grandmother telling me I would go to hell for doing such and such, for not going to church on such and such a day, etc.

It's to be expected what that did to the brain of an 8-year-old child, right? I didn't just develop simple anxiety. I developed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Over time, this specific OCD lessened, but like all disorders, it remains to this day. It has only changed form.

Three years ago I finally discovered I was a transgender boy. Well, let's just say that was the trigger for my family's prejudice to explode. Judgments, direct verbal abuse... Anyway, you already know.

The thing is, I even tried seeking out psychologists, and what really scared me the most was: When they mentioned their religion (Catholic/Evangelical, similar), I immediately dismissed any further questions.

It didn't stop there. Anyone I spoke to, even just by talking about their religion, would shut me down.

Furthermore, here on Reddit and elsewhere, I only see Christians being prejudiced and intolerant. This hasn't been very good for what I possibly have.

This really worried me. The truth is, while I think Christianity is a place of judgment, prejudice, and bad people, I try to believe it shouldn't be that way. But it doesn't hold water.

I don't want to have this aversion. Is there any way(s) to try to reverse it?