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HandWiki. Religious Trauma Syndrome. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/35706 (accessed on 13 September 2026).
HandWiki. Religious Trauma Syndrome. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/35706. Accessed September 13, 2026.
HandWiki. "Religious Trauma Syndrome" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/35706 (accessed September 13, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, November 22). Religious Trauma Syndrome. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/35706
HandWiki. "Religious Trauma Syndrome." Encyclopedia. Web. 22 November, 2022.
Religious Trauma Syndrome
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The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Philosophy:Religious_trauma_syndrome

Religious trauma syndrome (RTS) is recognized in psychology and psychotherapy as a set of symptoms, ranging in severity, experienced by those who have participated in and left behind authoritarian, dogmatic, and controlling religious groups and belief systems. Symptoms include cognitive, affective, functional, and social/cultural issues as well as developmental delays. RTS occurs in response to two-fold trauma: first the prolonged abuse of indoctrination from a controlling religious community, and secondly the act of leaving the controlling religious community. RTS has developed as its own heuristic collection of symptoms informed by psychological theories of trauma originating in PTSD, C-PTSD and betrayal trauma theory, taking relational and social context into account when approaching further research and treatment. The term religious trauma syndrome was coined in 2011 by psychologist Marlene Winell in an article for British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, though the phenomenon was recognized long before that. The term has circulated among psychotherapists, former fundamentalists, and others recovering from religious indoctrination. Winell explains the need for a label and the benefits of naming the symptoms encompassed by RTS as similar to naming anorexia as a disorder: the label can lessen shame and isolation for survivors while promoting diagnosis, treatment, and training for professionals who work with those suffering from the condition. Survivors report relief when they find out that RTS is “real.”

social context psychotherapy psychology

References

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