What is Spiritual Abuse?
Spiritual Abuse is a difficult form of abuse to define, as there is a line between “abuse” and “not abuse” that is blurry, considering it is not a physical form of abuse. Typically, spiritual abuse uses faith, religion, or beliefs to extort control. Spiritual abuse can involve coercion, control, or exploitation by another person in a spiritual context, and can include aspects of verbal, emotional, and/or physical abuse. With spiritual abuse, it is important to know that spiritual abuse is not exclusive to a specific religion or spiritual belief, rather, it is using one's own, or another's religion or spiritual beliefs, to gain control over another individual.
Some forms of spiritual abuse include:
- Using your religion’s holy book to control your choices
- Being intimidated into conforming to a specific religion
- Being made to feel isolated or rejected from your spiritual community
- Being threatened with spiritual consequences for not conforming
- Using scripture to justify physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
All types of abuse leave a mark on an individual, and similarly to physical scars, spiritual abuse can leave individuals with mental and emotional scars. Spiritual abuse can also change the image an individual holds of God or another higher power, if they believe there is one at all. Some effects of spiritual abuse can include:
- Developing depression, anxiety, or complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTDS)
- Feeling lost without religion
- Losing one's faith
- Feeling betrayed by a higher power
- Feeling isolated from communities