Religious trauma syndrome: The futile fate of faith

Dear Editor,

Religious trauma syndrome (RTS) term was first used in 2011 by an American Psychologist Marlene Winell.[1] This term is neither present in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (5 or Text Revision) nor there any code in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Generally diagnosed by psychologists/psychiatrists as religion-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), but the psychotherapists working closely with patients who had suffered mental trauma at the hands of their religious beliefs have named it religious trauma syndrome.[2,3] As metabolic syndrome has no ICD code but is still used widely and globally by physicians in both clinical practice and research, similarly, psychotherapists working closely with patients who had suffered mental trauma at the hands of their religious beliefs have named it religious trauma syndrome.

Although religion as a whole is taken from a positive perspective, this syndrome highlights the other side of the coin. Indoctrinating with false beliefs, customs, and rituals, authoritarian religions, or the high control sects/cults of the religion forces followers to not only move on a particular spiritual path but also share their personal life secrets, financial gains, social networks with the religious leaders and victim-blaming. Victim blaming puts the onus onto the victims, who are mostly a devoted pupil, for anything that goes wrong in their lives, which in turn is a strong mind control strategy used in high-control organizations and cults.[4]

The clinical features of this syndrome include weak critical thinking skills, difficulty in making decisions, decreased sense of self-worth, difficulty building strong relationships, being unfamiliar with mainstream culture/isolation or struggling with fitting in and belonging (fish out of water feeling), nightmares, sleeping issues, eating issues, sexual dysfunction, anxiety, sense of grief, guilt and fear, and loneliness.[5]

Though treatment varies with the nature of symptoms, therapy generally includes counseling, music therapy, socialization, self-help group membership, and medications wherever indicated. Once specific therapy, based on a model by Dr. Bruce Perry known as the neurosequential model of therapeutics (NMT), states that brain development occurs in a bottom-up, use-dependent modality. So, treating physicians should consider intervening in lower systems like the brainstem before focusing on improvement in cognitive ability. The use-dependent component of NMT states that the brain adapts through experience, which, in turn, helps us in psychological categorizations of the world around us, especially the types of experiences during early development. NMT further explains how such traumatic experiences can halt regular neurological development, especially. if occurs at a younger age, and children are most vulnerable. These traumatic experiences not only result from a single aversive event but can also arise from extended exposure.[6,7]

Categorically naming mental health issues like PTSD, anorexia, insomnia, mania, etc., there is a requirement to recognize this illness in the present time when the internet is replete with stories of victims. From the legal standpoint of view toward religious trauma, there is the freedom to choose any religion and there are laws to protect that freedom but as of today, there is no law (USA as well as India) that states the accountability of religious organizations, so they can make claims without having to prove it to anyone.[8,9]

According to estimates in the United States, one-third of the adult US population have experienced RTS at some point in their life.[10] In India, which is a religious society, the data are not available. However, all including psychiatrists, psychologists, and patients should be made aware of the entity so that optimum management may be done for the patient.

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Conflicts of interest

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