BookBook · L1 · Catalogued
Broken Trust
F. Remy Diederich
Diederich offers a pastoral account of spiritual abuse and recovery, with attention to distorted authority, boundaries, and rebuilding trust.
ChristianApproachable256 pages
THE LIBRARY · 662 BOOKS · 232 PODCASTS & EPISODES · 47 COMMUNITIES & DESTINATIONS · 10 MAPS951 resources · books, podcasts, communities, and maps
What are you exploring?
Words for What Happened shelf
Refine results⌄
Choose only what helps.
Effort / Depth⌄
Perspectives⌄
5 matching resources
Book
BookBook · L2 · Inner Atlas Reviewed
Leaving the Fold
Marlene Winell
Psychologist Marlene Winell offers a self-help framework for people separating from authoritarian or fundamentalist religion. She describes indoctrination, fear, guilt, family and community pressures, stages of leaving, and the practical work of rebuilding identity, relationships, meaning, and everyday life. Exercises and recovery language turn the book toward personal use rather than detached religious criticism.
Psychological / academicModerate316 pages
BookBook · L2 · Inner Atlas Reviewed
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
David Johnson; Jeff VanVonderen
David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen describe spiritually abusive systems in which religious authority, performance, shame, secrecy, and distorted images of God are used to control people. They identify patterns that keep members compliant and leaders protected, then address the confusion, exhaustion, mistrust, and difficulty receiving grace that can remain after someone recognizes or leaves the system.
ChristianApproachable240 pages
BookBook · L2 · Inner Atlas Reviewed
Trauma in the Pews
Janyne McConnaughey
Educator and trauma survivor Janyne McConnaughey translates trauma research into guidance for congregations, classrooms, and ministries. Combining personal narrative with accessible accounts of adverse childhood experiences, attachment, dissociation, triggers, and nervous-system responses, she shows how ordinary church practices can unintentionally reproduce danger—and how consistent, informed relationships can make religious spaces less isolating for survivors.
ChristianApproachable304 pages
BookBook · L2 · Inner Atlas Reviewed
When Religion Hurts You
Laura E. Anderson
Therapist Laura E. Anderson offers psychoeducation for people affected by high-control religion and adverse religious experiences. Using trauma-informed language, she connects religious messages and environments with nervous-system responses, identity, grief, sexuality, relationships, and difficulty making choices, then proposes practices of pacing, embodiment, self-trust, and integration rather than prescribing a new belief system.
Psychological/Academic — clinicalModerate223 pages