Spiritual abuse is always subtle. Its effects go undetected by the victim and their community for decades. The ingredients of spiritual abuse involve a rigid hierarchy of authority, relationships of proximity, and a culture of behaviour compliance by those with lower power. Spiritual abuse can be rendered through a spiritual leader or an indoctrinated person within a system. The goal is to attempt to control and manipulate constituents toward compliance.

Many assume spiritual abuse is a far-fetched sensational tragedy of a domineering cult leader who has entrapped followers into oppression. While this is in part spiritual abuse, any abuse—committed intentionally or otherwise—that occurs in a religious context and negatively impacts a person’s spirituality, effectively breaking their spirit by removing their sense of agency, can be described as spiritual abuse. In essence, the individuals are dehumanized.

Spiritual abuse can occur in many contexts: parent-child relationships, in organizations, in intimate relationships, and many more. As in most abuse, the experience can often go unnoticed by the survivor because the relational contexts usually reinforce the good intentions of those in authority.

Healing often begins as a tiny thread appearing as a thought or sense that something isn’t quite right.

As harm is imprinted through relational contexts, a survivor requires a safe, compassionate, and skilled healer to journey with them.

If you want to gently pull on that thread, you can do it one wee step at a time in a safe space with one of our trained therapists. Reach out to us today.