Usually, when beginning trauma therapy, you may often feel overwhelmed, stuck, scared, sad, or even numb. You may express that relationships feel difficult, life feels like just too much, and every little thing seems to impact you in big ways. Trying to find peace, hope and joy feels nearly impossible. These are the same things my clients share with me when beginning therapy. However, as time in therapy goes on, you may start to experience healing both externally and internally. Let’s take a look at what external and internal healing may look like in therapy.

Like any complex trauma, healing from religious trauma is not linear. Because cults or fundamentalist religious communities tend to try to control your whole lifestyle and internal experiences, religious trauma encompasses so much: your relationships, thoughts, feelings, body, sexuality, and finances– just to name a few. Here are some potential signs that you’re healing from religious trauma.

Trauma healing happens in big stages. There can be a lot of small ups and downs within these stages, but healing generally unfolds in this way.

The two main dimensions on which a person can be insecurely attached are characterized by attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Attachment anxiety is to the degree to which one is worried that their attachment figure will be unsupportive in times of distress and need. Attachment avoidance is the degree to which one minimizes their dependency needs and distances from potentially supportive interpersonal relationships when faced with stressors.