Religious Trauma Survival Guide: Education and Recovery Tools for Survivors and Professionals

by Anna Clark Miller

This book has been re-published under a new title! To read the most updated version of this book, search for For God's Sake: Recovering From Religious Trauma by Anna Clark Miller.

This guidebook offers survivors of high-control religion a tangible path to healing from adverse religious experiences. It's written by experienced religious trauma therapist, Anna Clark Miller, who is also a survivor of religious trauma. In addition to recovery tools, it lays an educational foundation for other survivors and mental health professionals, pulling from research on post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma recovery techniques, cult dynamics, purity culture, and more.

219 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2023

About the author

Anna Clark Miller is an author, trainer, and licensed professional counselor who is dedicated to helping survivors heal from religious trauma, spiritual abuse, and high-control groups. Her work is rooted in her own lived experience as a survivor. After being born and raised in a high-control religious group, Anna spent years working in fundamentalist organizations before recognizing the signs of religious trauma in her own life. Her personal journey of healing from institutional harm is the wellspring for work.

Anna's writing, training, and counseling center survivors' experiences connected to beliefs, practices, or systems that were dis-empowering and harmful. Her publications are firmly rooted in the growing body of research on religious harm and high-control groups. Anna's contributions are guided by core values of empathy, curiosity, and autonomy, and she takes a religiously neutral approach, focusing on each individual's right to think for themselves and pursue healing on their own terms.

Reviews

[Gee Rothvoss]

Borrowed this one on Unlimited for a postgrad research assignment on therapy for RT survivors, and I must say that this little handbook has been extraordinarily helpful. Miller offers valuable insight into exactly what Religious Trauma encompasses (fear and anxiety, shame, rigidity and suppression, & relationship dysfunction), providing robust theoretical frameworks that she then adapts to religious abuse specifically. I found the examples she provided to be particularly handy in regards to understanding the ways that RT may show up in people's daily lives, even when not triggered. During the second half of the handbook, Miller offers self-assessment tools to get to know one's trauma better and different ways to start working through it step by step. Her five-stage model was incredibly helpful to structure my own intervention program, and I cannot recommend this book enough to scholars and RT survivors alike!

[Bayleigh Saulmon]

This book had some great points and places for reflection. I think I’m farther in my religious trauma healing journey than I anticipated because it kind of felt like an overview of what I already know, but it was a great refresher and would be excellent for someone just now starting the journey of deconstruction.

A quote that stood out to me: “the ultimate goal of deconstruction isn’t to fully reject the belief system, but to assess each element individually without jumping to forgone conclusions. Deconstruction isn’t always finding the “right” answers or reaching certainty. The goal is to be curious as you search for congruence.”

[S.]

excellent workbook to process and work on having an individual identity independant of religion. very insightful and empathy inspiring. terrific education in human rights, therapeutic approaches, and commonalities accross high demand religions. Recommend for anyone struggling with guilt or overburdened by church responsibilities and obligations, or who has been harmed by clergy or church actions or teachings.

[Ben Wikner]

Helpful and much needed resource

[J Goulet]

Very practical. Miller provides meaningful yet easily understandable information. The tools provided are doable and impactful.

[Anita Ojeda]

A Great Companion for When Religion Hurts You

Whether You’ve been hurt by religion or know someone who has suffered, this is a great resource. It has checklists, inventories, and ample reflection questions to help the reader understand the role highly-controlling religion had in shaping their present.