5 Books Your Therapist is Reading Now in 2022
We get a lot of requests for recommendations, so this week we want to share some books on religious trauma that our Woven therapists recommend!
Helen Jun- Helen recommends You are Your Own: Reckoning with the Religious Trauma of Evangelical Christianity by Jamie Finch.
“Rooted in her experiences growing up in an Evangelical Christian family, Jamie Lee Finch’s “You Are Your Own” offers an overview of Evangelicalism and the painful confusion and anxiety experienced under its demands. Finch explores the mechanisms of trauma and how fundamentalist denominations match the patterns connected with PTSD. She elaborates on the doubt, guilt, fear, and grief that haunt those leaving the Evangelical faith and offers an approach to help them recover healthy self-worth and resilience. A socio-historical autobiographical analysis of Evangelical Christianity's religious trauma, “You Are Your Own” emerges from Finch's reconnaissance on her own life—her journals, her stories, her trauma—and offers advocacy for everyone harmed by fundamentalist faith.”
“Jamie Finch has a reflective, conversationalist writing style that makes it easy to read.” - Helen Jun, M.A.
Lauryn Lucido - Lauryn recommends Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion by Marlene Winell, Ph.D.
“Have you been harmed by toxic religion? Learn how to recover and reclaim your life.
Psychologist Marlene Winell is uniquely qualified to address the subject of this book. In addition to her personal experience with leaving fundamentalist religion, she has worked with clients recovering from religion for 28 years. She is known for coining the term Religious Trauma Syndrome.
Leaving the Fold is a self-help book that examines the effects of authoritarian religion (fundamentalist Christianity in particular) on individuals who leave the faith. The concrete steps for healing are useful for anyone in recovery from toxic religion.”
"Leaving the Fold is great and has some wonderful, practical activities for someone to process their experience.” - Lauryn Lucido, LMFT
Lauryn also recommends the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast
“Founded in 1996, Seattle’s Mars Hill Church was poised to be an influential, undeniable force in evangelicalism—that is until its spiraling collapse in 2014. The church and its charismatic founder, Mark Driscoll, had a promising start. But the perils of power, conflict, and Christian celebrity eroded and eventually shipwrecked both the preacher and his multimillion-dollar platform.”
Megan Johnson - Megan recommends Educated: a Memoir by Tara Westover.
“Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.”
“The author described how religious and generational trauma often goes hand in hand and provides an encouraging story of human resilience and the ability to overcome. It demonstrates how what feels normal in a traumatic situation starts to look horrifying from an outside perspective.” - Dr. Megan Johnson
Moriah Conant - Moriah recommends Beyond Shame: Creating a Healthy Sex Life on Your Own Terms by Matthias Roberts.
“We all carry sexual shame. Whether we grew up in the repressive purity culture of American Evangelical Christianity or not, we've all been taught in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that sex (outside of very specific contexts) is immoral and taboo. Psychotherapist Matthias Roberts helps readers overcome their shame around sex by overcoming three unhealthy coping mechanisms we use to manage that shame.
Beyond Shame encourages each of us to determine our own definition of healthy sex, while avoiding the ditches of boundaryless sex positivity on the one hand and strict moralistic boundaries on the other. Define your sexual values on your own terms, overcome your shame, and start having great, healthy sex.”
“Leaving Purity Culture can be very destabilizing and overwhelming because once you leave, there are no easy way out." - Moriah Conant, M.A.
Ruth Gatt - Ruth recommends Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry by Robert Jay Lifton.
“In this unique and timely volume Robert Jay Lifton, the National Book Award–winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fanatical religious cults may be much closer than anyone thought. Exploring the most extreme manifestations of human zealotry, Lifton highlights an array of leaders―from Mao to Hitler to the Japanese apocalyptic cult leader Shōkō Asahara to Donald Trump―who have sought the control of human minds and the ownership of reality.”
Ruth writes, “I felt that Losing Reality provided a good picture of the mechanics of cult abuse and just how powerful that can be; how much psychological trauma arises as a result, and how deeply that trauma permeates the human experience.
Survivors: Are you ready to take your religious trauma and cult abuse recovery to the next level? Get a curated education experience with A Year of Non-Magical Thinking for Survivors. It is led by a trauma psychologist that specializes in religious and cult abuse. Dr. Quincee walks you through the topics that you've been longing to understand. Join us and other cult survivors in this powerful education.
Therapists: If this list is totally your thing, then we have an education and consultation community made just for you. Join us in A Year of Non-Magical Thinking for Therapists to learn all about indoctrination, deconstruction, coercive control, religious OCD and more.
