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RESEARCH SOURCES

ON RELIGIOUS TRAUMA, SPIRITUAL ABUSE, & CULT RECOVERY
  • Abrams, Z. (2021) Improved Treatment for Developmental Trauma. Monitor on Psychology.

  • Argyle, M. & Beit-Hallahmi, B. (2013) The Social Psychology of Religion. Psychology Revivals.

  • Azim, et al. (2021) Exploring Relationships Between Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder, Sex Guilt, and Religiosity Among College Women in the U.S. The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

  • Bainbridge, A. (2022) Exploring Self-Disclosure Between the Survivor-Therapist and Survivor-Clients. Counseling and Psychotherapy Research.

  • Barnes, R., & Aune, K. (2021) Gender and Domestic Abuse Victimisation Among Churchgoers in North West England. Journal of Gender-Based Violence.

  • Bisantz, L. (2023) Betrayed by the Divine and Overlooked by Scholarship: An Inquiry into Spiritual Abuse and Religious Trauma. University of Colorado Honors Journal.

  • Björkmark, M., Nynäs, P., & Koskinen, C. (2022) Living Between Two Different Worlds: Experiences of Leaving a High-Cost Religious Group. Journal of Religion and Health.

  • Blosnich, et al. (2020) Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Suicide Ideation and Attempt Among Sexual Minority Adults. American Journal of Public Health.

  • Bockrath, et al. (2022) Religious and Spiritual Struggles and Their Links to Psychological Adjustment. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1976) The Experimental Ecology of Education. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

  • Burke, L. & Neimeyer, R. (2016) Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief (ICSG). Techniques of Grief Therapy: Assessment and Intervention.

  • Carlson, E. & Putnam, F. (1993) An Update on the Dissociative Experiences Scale.

  • Cashwell, C. & Swindle, P. (2018) When Religion Hurts: Supervising Cases of Religious Abuse. The Clinical Supervisor.

  • Cashwell, C., Bentley, D., & Yarborough, P. (2007) The Only Way Out is Through: The Peril of Spiritual Bypass. Counseling and Values.

  • Castaño, Á., Bélanger, J., & Moyano, M. (2022) Cult Conversion from the Perspective of Families: Implications for Prevention and Psychological Intervention. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

  • Chaves, et. al. (2021) Congregations in 21st Century America. Department of Sociology, Duke University.

  • Cherniak, et al. (2021) Attachment Theory and Religion. Current Opinion in Psychology.

  • Chisholm, A., Mark, I., Unigwe, S., & Katona, C. (2022). Rituals as a Control Mechanism in Human Trafficking. Journal of Human Trafficking.

  • Clark Miller, A. (2023) The Religious Trauma Survival Guide: Education and Recovery Tools.

  • Davis, M. & Johnson, M. (2021) Exploring Black Clergy Perspectives on Religious/Spiritual Related Domestic Violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.

  • DeGroat, C. & Mouw, R. (2020) When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Community from Emotional and Spiritual Abuse.

  • Demasure, K. (2022). The Loss of the Self: Spiritual Abuse of Adults in the Context of the Catholic Church. Religions.

  • Denney, et al. (2018) Child Sexual Abuse in Protestant Christian Congregations: A Descriptive Analysis of Offense and Offender Characteristics. Religions.

  • Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (1993) Power and Control Wheel; The Duluth Model.

  • Downie, A. (2022) Christian Shame and Religious Trauma. Religions.

  • Ellis, et al. (2022) Religious/Spiritual Abuse and Trauma: A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature. Spirituality in Clinical Practice.

  • Engelman, J., Milstein, G., Schonfeld, I., & Grubbs, J. (2020) Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Orthodox Jewish Disaffiliation From an Immigration Psychology Perspective. Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

  • Eyles, P. (2022) Representing & Supporting Autistic/Neurodivergent Cult Survivors. Presentation for Audecademy.

  • Fernandez, F (2022) Victims Are Not Guilty: Spiritual Abuse and Eccleasiastical Responsibility. Religions.

  • Ginicola, M., Filmore, J., Stokes, M., & Smith, C. (2017) Affirmative Counseling with LGBTQI+ People in Affirmative Counseling with LGBTQI+ People.

  • Gray, J. (2022) Protecting the Sacred Tree: Conceptualizing Spiritual Abuse Against Native American Elders. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

  • Grimell, J. & Atuel, H. (2023) Beyond PTSD: A Multi-Case Study Exploring Identity, Moral Injury, and Spiritual Injury. Journal of Veterans Studies.

  • Harper, et al. (2023) Identifying Systemic Factors When Counseling Black Women of Christian Faith in the USA. Journal of Religion and Health.

  • Hassan, S. (2021) The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking, and the Law. Dissertation.

  • Hassan, S. & Shah, M. (2019) The Anatomy of Undue Influence Used by Terrorist Cults and Traffickers to Induce Helplessness and Trauma. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health.

  • Herman, J. (1993) Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror.

  • Hollier, J., Clifton, S., & Smith-Merry, J. (2022) Mechanisms of Religious Trauma Amongst Queer People in Australia’s Evangelical Churches. Clinical Social Work Journal.

  • Jenkinson, G. (2023) Walking Free From the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth.

  • Johnson, D. & VanVonderen, J. (2005) The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.

  • Jones, T., Power, J., & Jones, T. (2022) Religious Trauma and Moral Injury From LGBTQA+ Conversion Practices. Social Science & Medicine.

  • Kar, N. (2011) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Neuropsychiatry Dis Treatment.

  • Karpman, S. (1968) The Drama Triangle: Fairy Tales and Script Drama Analysis. Transactional Analysis Bulletin.

  • Keller, K. (2016) Development of a Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire. Proquest Dissertations Publishing.

  • Kenny, A. (2022) My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church.

  • Kern, C. & Jungbauer, J. (2022) Long-Term Effects of a Cult Childhood on Attachment, Intimacy, and Close Relationships. Clinical Social Work Journal.

  • Keul, H. (2022) Vulnerability, Vulnerability, Vulnerance and Resilience: Spiritual Abuse and Sexual Violence in New Spiritual Communities. Religions.

  • Knight, A., Esmiol Wilson, E., Ward, D., & Nice, L. (2019) Examining Religious Disaffiliation Through a Family Systems Lens: Implications for Treatment. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy.

  • Koch, D. & Edstrom, L. (2022) Development of the Spiritual Harm and Abuse Scale, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

  • Langone, M. (1993) Recovery From Cults. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

  • Lefevor, G., Huffman, C., & Blaber, I. (2021) Navigating Potentially Traumatic Conservative Religious Environments as a Sexual/Gender Minority. Violence Against LGBTQ+ Persons: Research, Practice, and Advocacy.

  • Levitt, H., Horne, S., Wheeler, E., & Wang, M. (2015) Addressing Intimate Partner Violence Within a Religious Context. Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma.

  • Lifton, R. (1961) Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China.

  • Lutkajtis, A. (2022) Lost Saints: Desacralization, Spiritual Abuse. Fieldwork in Religion.

  • Marschall, A. (2024) What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy? Definition, Techniques, and Efficacy. VeryWellMind Blog Post.

  • McCormick, W., Carroll, T., Sims, B., & Currier, J. (2017) Adverse Childhood Experiences, Religious/Spiritual Struggles, and Mental Health Symptoms. Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

  • McGraw, et al. (2019) Consequences of Abuse by Religious Authorities. Traumatology.

  • McLaughlin, et al. (2022) Approaches to Understanding and Aligning with Religious Leaders: A Latent Profile Analysis of Religious Leaders’ Worldviews. Spirituality in Clinical Practice.

  • Mulvihill, N. (2022) UK Victim-Survivor Experiences of Intimate Partner. Criminology and Criminal Justice.

  • Novšak, R., Mandelj, T., & Simonič, B. (2012) Therapeutic Implications of Religious-Related Emotional Abuse. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.

  • Nummenmaa, L., Glerean, E., Hari, R., & Hietanen, J. K. (2014). Bodily maps of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(2), 646–651.

  • Oblak, R. (2019) Cultic Abuse Recovery: Counseling Considerations. International Journal of Cultic Studies.

  • Okrey Anderson, S., & Mcguire, J. (2021) I Feel Like God Doesn’t Like Me: Faith and Ambiguous Loss Among Transgender Youth. Family Relations.

  • Panchuk, M. (2020) Distorting Concepts, Obscured Experiences: Hermeneutical Injustice in Religious Trauma and Spiritual Violence. Hypatia.

  • Pargament, K. & Mahoney, A. (2012) Spirituality: The Search for the Sacred. The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology.

  • Parker, J., Purvis, L., & Williams, B. (2023) Religious/Spiritual Struggles and Mental Health Among Black Adolescents and Emerging Adults. Journal of Black Psychology.

  • Peck, B. (2022) Timeline of Religious Trauma Awareness (Graphic).

  • Pereda, et al. (2022) An Exploratory Study on Mental Health, Social Problems & Spiritual Damage in Victims of Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy and Other Perpetrators. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse.

  • Perry, B. & Szalavitz, M. (2007) The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing.

  • Prochaska, J. & Norcross, J. (2002). Stages of Change. Psychotherapy Relationships That Work: Therapist Contributions and Responsiveness to Patients (pp. 303–313).

  • Prusak, J. & Schab, A. (2022) Spiritual Trauma as a Manifestation of Religious and Spiritual Struggles in Female Victims of Sexual Abuse in Adolescence or Young Adulthood in the Catholic Church in Poland. Archive for the Psychology of Religion.

  • Rahman, et al. (2023) Prevalence of Sexual Pain Among Cisgender Muslim Women in North America. The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

  • Raine, S. & Kent, S. (2019) The Grooming of Children for Sexual Abuse in Religious Settings: Unique Characteristics and Select Case Studies. Aggression and Violent Behavior.

  • Ramler, M. (2022) Disidentification as a Survival Strategy for Religious Trauma. Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric.

  • Rotter, J. (1954) General Principles for a Social Learning Framework of Personality Study.

  • Seligman, M. & Maier, S. (1967) Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology.

  • Slade, D, Smell, A., Wilson, E. & Drumsta, R. (2023) Percentage of U.S. Adults Suffering from Religious Trauma: A Sociological Study. Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry.

  • Stone, A. (2013) Thou Shalt Not: Treating Religious Trauma and Spiritual Harm With Combined Therapy. Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society.

  • Taylor, B. (2022) Practicing the Presence. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology.

  • Thoma, et al. (2022) Identifying Well‐Being Profiles and Resilience Characteristics in Ex‐Members of Fundamentalist Christian Faith Communities. Stress and Health.

  • Tomalin, E. (2023) Spiritual Abuse and Gender-Based Violence.

  • Van der Kolk, B. (2014) The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

  • Van Deusen, S. & Courtois, C. (2015) Spirituality, Religion, and Complex Developmental Trauma. Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma.

  • Vaughan, F. (1991) Spiritual Issues in Psychotherapy. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.

  • Vieten, C & Lukoff, D. (2022) Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Psychology. The American Psychologist.

  • Walker, L. (2017) The Battered Woman Syndrome. Fourth Edition.

  • Walker, P. (2013) Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma.

  • Ward, D. (2011) The Lived Experience of Spiritual Abuse, Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

  • Wellwood, J. (1984) Toward a Psychology of Awakening.

  • Winell, M. (2011) Religious Trauma Syndrome. Series of 3 Articles in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Today.

  • Winell, M. & Allen, S. (2016) Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion.

  • Winzenried, C. (2022) Dealing With the Trauma of Leaving Religion Behind. The Australian Humanist.

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