Millions of LGBTQ Americans have religious trauma. Psychiatrists want to help
Millions of LGBTQ Americans have religious trauma. Psychiatrists want to help
Some mental health experts are advocating for religious trauma to be considered an official disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Some mental health experts are advocating for religious trauma to be considered an official disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Religious trauma absolutely should be considered a disorder. And not just for queer people. There are people who grew up in incredibly crazy churches and are plagued with recurring nightmares of burning eternally in hell because they were told that's what would happen to them if they made the slightest misstep. They aren't daily or anything like that for my wife, but she grew up in an Assembly of God (crazy speaking in tongues people) church and she does still get nightmares about being in hell. I've talked to people for whom it's pretty much a weekly occurrence.
I also get dreams like this! More often I wake up and can't get the stupid hymns and songs they taught us in sunday school when we were kids out of my head. It's really fucking annoying and makes me feel crazy sometimes
I'm sorry she deals with that. I don't get nightmares but I have trouble with concerts or seating anywhere in rows as a panic attack trigger đ
Potential Hot Take
Religion is a collective illusion at best and a reason for genocide at worst. So we should do everything to create a society, where people just leave this dangerous liability behind.
A ban will not do it. But continuos reminders of what religion actually is and does, will pave the way for it to die out on its own.
Religion ruins everything.
I agree. A ban would be a counterproductive disaster. Itâs something we need to grow out of collectively and that will take a minute.
We need to develop (we being humanity) a more moral equivalent to religion because it does fulfill some basic needs.
Per usual, educated people are harder to control.
The eternal barrier is actually finding access to a psychiatrist, or even a therapist for that matter
And then filtering out the ones who suggest that the solution is a stronger personal relationship with god and they know the nicest little church, you'll love it, ...
Those therapists need to have their licenses revoked. If a therapist doesn't have the objectivity to keep their own preferences out of therapy, are they even qualified to be doing it? I'd say no. For some, the community of church is a healthy thing, for others it just adds to the trauma. A competent therapist would figure out what each client really needed before pushing the church crap.
Itâs such a minefield finding good help. I had terrible luck for years in finding steady care, so many dead ends.
I finally got connected with a larger group practice (USA based) and thatâs when I started getting the help I need. The key for me was consistency of care, both psychiatry and therapy working together over longer periods.
The advantage of a group practice is that if you need to switch therapists (or, more commonly, the therapist or psychiatrist leaves the practice) they have a group of alternatives to choose from. A good group practice will work behind the scenes to assure continuity and tailored care.
I didnât really start getting better until I had a real care team. Trauma physically changes the nervous system and it often takes neuropsychiatry (medication) and therapy to make progress.
The challenge is that these kinds of practices are only found in bigger metropolitan areas. I did have to wait almost 6 months to see a psychiatrist, but they got me in with a therapist much sooner. My years of trying to find some relief in smaller cities just seems like wasted time in retrospect.
Yeah, I live in a small town, so I don't think I can find that.
I had a therapist once who I thought was going to help me, but then one day he suddenly went on a racist rant about MLK Day, unprompted. Then I had one who was pretty good, but eventually I just got discouraged. Just thinking about trying again gives me anxiety, and I'm literally a LGBT+ person with trauma lol
There are so many hateful people and con men in religion. I was thinking my way out of it in my 20's. What they were preaching as gospel sounded like the fantasy stories of Dungeons and Dragons or the books I was reading.
And I was Gay and had to figure that out. It wasn't easy with all the hate pushed by religion.
Yeah, I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut about my sexuality because my religion (Mormon/LDS) still practices electroshock torture for âfixing the gayâ. I maintained my silence out of sheer terror that the people I was supposed to trust would want to hurt me that way.
Now that I am stronger, I will not forgive and I will not forget. Nor will I remain silent any longer.
Did you leave the Mormon church. I hear leaving comes with issues too.
Glad you were smart and aware about what could happen. My parents were not happy I was gay and thought it was a mental illness and that my friends were teaching me to be gay. None of my friends were gay. I had to make new gay friends. I was able to keep one old friend but lost all the other friends I had before I come out.
Being an atheist on top of that was the cherry on top of it all.
Psychiatrists only prescribe pills. They can't resolve trauma on a permanent basis. They can prescribe all of the Xanax, and Prozac they want.
You still need an actual therapist, or psychologist.