Wondering if you have religious trauma? Here are some common symptoms that can help you make sense of your experience: 

• Experiencing discomfort with sexual intimacy due to purity culture

• Sense of isolation, being an “outsider” if you leave the community

• Pervasive feelings of guilt and shame

• A loss of a community

• Experiencing scrupulosity or Religious OCD symptoms

• Sexual shame, self-loathing, feeling inherently bad

• Feeling “behind the times” 

• Labeled “sinner” or “broken” for disagreeing with the religious community

• Inability to trust self

• Struggling to find a purpose outside of the community

• Use of doctrine to justify abuse 

• Brainwashing/forced to follow community’s rules

• Feeling “lesser than” due to sexuality or gender

• Sexual abuse in marriage, being forced to have sex for a higher purpose

• Assignment of gender roles, most commonly roles that denigrate women