Module 6: Developing Self-Compassion, Self-Trust, and Embodied Boundaries

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Laura Anderson, PhD, LMFT

APA CE Credits: 1

This program is co-sponsored with Traumastry. Traumastry is approved by the American Psychological Association and NBCC to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Traumastry maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Learning Objectives: 

• Participants will be able to analyze three mechanisms through which high-control religious environments undermine self-compassion, self-trust, and personal boundary formation by reinforcing an external locus of control and chronic shame, and evaluate how these mechanisms influence trauma-related psychological functioning.
• Participants will be able to apply three evidence-informed somatic and interoceptive intervention strategies that support development of self-compassion, restoration of self-trust, and establishment of embodied personal boundaries among clients recovering from high-control religious environments.

Program Summary and Justification

This program provides psychologists and licensed mental health professionals with an evidence-informed framework for understanding how high-control religious environments can disrupt the development of self-compassion, self-trust, and healthy personal boundaries. Research on religious and spiritual abuse indicates that exposure to coercive religious systems is associated with significant impairments in psychological functioning, including increased shame, emotional distress, and disruptions in identity development (Ellis et al., 2023). Individuals leaving high-control religious environments frequently report difficulties with autonomy, internal decision-making, and self-evaluation due to prolonged conditioning that emphasizes obedience to external authority over internal cues related to safety, emotion, and personal agency (Carlson et al., 2022; Zeligman et al., 2019). These dynamics often reinforce an external locus of control that can complicate trauma recovery by weakening individuals’ capacity to trust their internal experiences or establish protective relational boundaries.

Trauma research further suggests that chronic shame and disrupted self-perception are common consequences of prolonged exposure to controlling or abusive relational systems. Studies examining trauma-related psychological processes demonstrate that experiences of trauma are associated with increased dissociation, emotional dysregulation, and alterations in self-concept that may persist long after the original context of harm has ended (Santoro et al., 2025; Schauer & Elbert, 2010). Conversely, research on self-compassion indicates that self-compassionate attitudes toward the self are associated with improved emotional regulation and reduced trauma-related distress, suggesting that strengthening self-compassion may be an important component of trauma recovery (Scoglio et al., 2018; Marshall & Brockman, 2016). Additional research on relational boundaries indicates that flexible and internally guided boundaries are associated with higher levels of self-compassion and psychological well-being, underscoring the importance of restoring internal self-regulatory processes following experiences of coercive control (Snyder & Luchner, 2020).

Building on this empirical foundation, the program introduces evidence-informed somatic and interoceptive intervention strategies designed to support development of self-compassion, restoration of self-trust, and establishment of embodied personal boundaries in individuals recovering from high-control religious systems. Interoception—the awareness of internal bodily states—plays a central role in emotional regulation and the nervous system’s perception of safety and threat, making it a critical mechanism in trauma-informed treatment approaches (Khalsa et al., 2018). Somatic trauma interventions that incorporate interoceptive and body-based processing have been shown to support emotional regulation and reduce trauma-related physiological distress by strengthening the connection between physiological and psychological processes (Ferrari et al., 2019; Scoglio et al., 2018). Research examining embodied and movement-based trauma interventions further suggests that practices emphasizing bodily awareness and self-directed agency can support recovery among survivors of interpersonal trauma (Crews et al., 2016; Mazzio et al., 2021). Additionally, evidence indicates that self-compassion-focused interventions can improve psychological functioning and reduce self-critical thinking patterns associated with trauma exposure (Diedrich et al., 2016; Ferrari et al., 2019).

By integrating empirical research from trauma psychology, religious trauma scholarship, and somatic intervention research, this program equips psychologists with clinically applicable tools for assessment and intervention when working with individuals recovering from high-control religious environments. Participants will strengthen their ability to analyze how coercive religious systems may disrupt internal self-regulatory processes and apply evidence-informed body-based strategies that support development of self-compassion, restoration of self-trust, and establishment of embodied personal boundaries in trauma recovery.