Religious Trauma & Cult Recovery Blog

By Dr. Quincee Gideon, PsyD 

We love de-mystifying cults over here at Traumastery, and one of the best ways to do so is to point out similarities so they don’t seem quite as “untouchable” and “mystical.”

While many cults may have very similar qualities, not all cults are the same. Surprisingly, m...

Let’s break down all of the religious trauma themes that we see in the film Women Taking. Trigger warning: sexual assault

I’m Dr. Quincee Gideon and I’m a clinical psychologist and educator specializing in religious trauma and cult abuse recovery. I want to point out unhealthy culty dynamics when t...

What is deconstruction?

Deconstructing after religious trauma refers to the process of examining and reevaluating one's beliefs and experiences after experiencing trauma within a religious context. This process may involve questioning previously held beliefs, revisiting past experiences, and explor...

Leaving a religious community or cult is very difficult work. You are leaving your community of people, your belief system, and much of what you know. This process is destabilizing, as you uproot and change your life. After leaving your group, you probably have complicated feelings about your relati...

Religious trauma is more common than you might think. When trauma happens within religious environments, unique symptoms can arise. Oftentimes, there’s a mix of upsetting trauma symptoms and the mental health outcomes of living in repressive and controlling environments.  

What are religious trauma...

Let’s first start off with defining trauma. Trauma is anything that happens “too much, too fast” or "too often". This overwhelms our nervous systems and we are made to feel temporarily overwhelmed, which initiates our survival mechanisms of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

Religious environments can...