Emotional Abuse and Harm Screener and its revelations

What is emotional abuse?

It was published in 1991 by church pastors and mental health counselors Jeff Van Vonderen and David Johnson. The Subtle Powers of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority within the Churchthe book in which they coined and conceptualized the term “emotional abuse.”

emotional abuseThe authors define this as “abusing someone who is in need of help, support, or greater spiritual strength, thereby weakening, weakening, or diminishing that person’s spiritual strength.” “to do something”. They say that spiritual abuse is typically when a leader “uses their spiritual position to control or dominate others,” or when “power is used to reinforce the leader’s position or needs.” ”, it is pointed out that this occurs when

In 1992, Ronald Enroth expressed similar concerns about the power and control of abusive leaders.in Abusive Churches: Helping those hurt by legalism, authoritarian leadership, manipulation, over-discipline, and spiritual intimidation.Enroth includes authority and power as one of its five realms. religious abuse. Others are manipulation and control, elitism and persecution, lifestyle and experience, dissent and discipline.

Religion and spirituality are actually different concepts. However, there is no significant difference in how leaders of organized organizations and groups use both to gain power and control others.

Therefore, both emotional abuse and Religious abuse has significant overlap with: adverse religious experienceWorld Religions Center■ The study defines it as “an event, series of events, relationships, or circumstances within or related to a religious belief, practice, or structure that an individual experiences as overwhelming or destructive.” These experiences can cause religious trauma. ”

in leave the fold (2006), religious abuse survivor and psychologist Marlene Weinel, Ph.D., coined and conceptualized Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS). Weinell’s RTS theory builds on previous research on the process of religious and/or spiritual abuse and thus provides a framework for understanding the long-term, multifaceted effects, particularly on the nervous system. Masu. Although RTS is not an official diagnosis in her DSM-5, the concept is defined as “a condition experienced by people who leave authoritarian and dogmatic religions and struggle to cope with the damage of indoctrination.” explained. This can be likened to a combination of PTSD and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD). ”

A few years later, Dr. Weinel published a trilogy of essays. Cognitive behavioral therapy today, calls on the counseling and psychology professions to respect RTS as a legitimate form of trauma and abuse that is a serious form of religious and/or spiritual abuse. Perhaps the most important takeaway from Dr. Weinell’s essay is this regarding the “double” effects of religious trauma.

First, the actual teachings and practices of restrictive religions are toxic and can cause lifelong psychological damage. Often, mental and emotional abuse is joined by physical and sexual abuse due to the patriarchal and oppressive nature of the environment.

Second, moving away from a religious framework places a great deal of stress on individuals as they struggle to leave behind equivalents of one world in another. This usually involves a sudden and significant loss of social support while facing the challenge of rebuilding one’s life. People who retire are ill-equipped to deal with this problem because they have been sheltered and taught to fear the secular world and because their personal skills for independence and independent thinking are underdeveloped. Often there isn’t.

There is no particular belief system that is most likely to commit religious or spiritual abuse or cause RTS. However, these patterns of abuse correlate with many features of both religious fundamentalism and spiritual cultism. As a result, fundamentalist religious groups and spiritual cults can exist across a vast number of traditions, sharing exactly the same institutional and interpersonal dynamics (e.g., extremism and narcissism).

new screener

Emotional Abuse and Harm Screeneris a free, publicly accessible study released in 2022. The results help individuals identify several types of spiritual harm and the severity of each category.

This assessment includes 27 questions that sequentially cover five different types of psychological harm: Controlling Leadership (#1-5), Tolerating Violence (#6-9), and Maintaining Systems ( #10-14), gender discrimination (#15) -16), inner suffering (#17-24), and harmful images of God (#25-27).

Examples of such statements include:

• My actions are being monitored excessively by the pastor or group members
• My pastor/leader clearly claims to speak for God.
• Expected to follow pastor/leader’s personal rules/advice regarding dating, marriage, and sex
• See the Bible being used to justify parent-child abuse
• Seeing leaders or groups protecting or elevating abusive individuals
• Pressured by religious leaders to stay in abusive marriage
• I was taught that if I left my church I would be in danger of hell.
• I was made to feel that there was something wrong with me for having questions and doubts.

As a public researcher in religious literacy and religious psychology, I believe that nearly one-third of spiritual abuse and harm screenings are based not only on bias supported by harmful theology, but also under abusive leadership. We believe that the focus on institutional abuse in the US is a major step forward.

why?like I want to say“The Bible says you will go to hell” means religious prejudice. religious abuseOn the other hand, it sounds like, “Okay, now speak up.” But be careful…I’ll destroy you. ” One is a legalistic position on doctrine, and the other is a promise or threat to suffer for exposing hidden abuses. Victims of emotional abuse need clinical tools that encompass both.

More than 30 years later, The Spiritual Abuse and Harm Screener captures the nuances of religious and spiritual abuse with equal depth. abusive church, by Ronald Enroth. I completed his SAHS evaluation myself and couldn’t stop thinking about Enroth’s accomplishments.

The main point of the book, at least for me, was that a large part of religious and spiritual abuse is re-victimization in the form of taking away the right to control one’s own narrative.

Sadly, research shows that this silence and voicelessness can range from sexual assault on campus, harassment and discrimination in the workplace, to narcissistic abuse by popular or publicly influential romantic partners, It has been shown that all kinds of abuse can be traumatizing to survivors and whistleblowers, ranging from psychological abuse at the hands of the nation’s calculating, con-artist religious leaders. facade.

Among these many different types of survivors, you can find exactly the same story arcs featuring backlash from abusive individuals that the public despises. The persistence of a smear campaign that blames the victim despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. The overwhelming stigma of pathological labels used to assassinate your character and undermine your intelligence. Decreased trust and self-isolation as a result of flying monkeys and gang stalking. The despair of being isolated and dealing with grief and abandonment. The betrayal of passive bystanders who would rather fit in than defend you. The gullibility of yes-men who do not realize that they are puppets.

And for this reason, “Who cares what other people think anyway?” When it comes to religious and/or spiritual abuse, “it’s okay to know the truth” is not enough. Such comfort may also be effective in cases of small-scale conflict or religious prejudice. However, the nature of religious and spiritual abuse is institutional and communal, and needless to say, it is ongoing and pervasive.

These tactics are undoubtedly abusive, and their effects are often traumatic. Abusive leaders are the glue that holds everything together.

References