Module 3: Adverse Religious Experiences, Spiritual Abuse, and Dynamics of Power and Control

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Laura Anderson, PhD, LMFT

APA CE Credits: 1.25

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: 

1. Participants will identify and assess five core characteristics of high-control religious systems and describe how these reflect clinically recognized patterns of coercive control relevant to trauma-informed psychological assessment
2. Participants will demonstrate effective use of three trauma-informed clinical interventions to support nervous system regulation, agency restoration, and post-traumatic recovery in clients impacted by spiritual abuse and high-control religion.

Program Summary and Justification

This program provides psychologists and licensed mental health professionals with a trauma-informed framework for identifying and treating the psychological impacts of spiritual abuse and high-control religious environments. Integrating research from domestic violence literature, religious trauma theory, and spiritual abuse scholarship, the program assists clinicians in identifying and assessing the structural and relational dynamics that mirror coercive control in interpersonal abuse. This program builds upon foundational training in trauma theory and intervention by applying established psychological models to the emerging clinical area of religious trauma, enhancing clinicians’ ability to differentiate spiritual abuse from supportive religious practice and to deliver effective, evidence-based care in complex clinical presentations.

Participants will learn to identify at least five defining characteristics of high-control religious systems—using evidence-based research and clinical case conceptualizations (Ellis et al., 2022; Jackson et al., 2021; Stark, 2018; Ellis et al., 2023). These characteristics are analyzed in parallel with the Power and Control Wheel from the Duluth Model, adapted for use in religious contexts (Woods, 2022), to explain the overlap between spiritual coercion and domestic abuse tactics. The program also introduces the concept of Adverse Religious Experiences (AREs) and discusses the importance of differentiating between pro-social religious involvement and trauma-inducing spiritual environments (Chhabra et al., 2025).

Building on this theoretical foundation, participants will apply three targeted clinical interventions: (1) Mapping the Religious Power and Control Wheel to increase client awareness and name harmful dynamics; (2) Rebuilding a Felt Sense of Safety through somatic resource activation (Grabbe & Miller-Karas, 2018); and (3) Reframing Fear-Based Beliefs using cognitive techniques drawn from acceptance-based frameworks (Hayes et al., 2016). These approaches are designed to assist clients in identifying spiritual abuse, reconnecting with personal agency, and regulating their nervous system in the aftermath of trauma rooted in high-control religious settings (Anderson, 2023; Milner et al., 2020; McCormick et al., 2018).

This program supports the ongoing development of clinical competency by equipping professionals to assess and treat religious trauma with nuance, rigor, and cultural humility. Participants will be prepared with conceptual clarity and practical tools to support trauma recovery, boundary repair, and post-traumatic growth in clients navigating the effects of spiritual abuse.