- Codependency, Courage to Speak Up, Danna Hartline's articles, Dissonance, Effects of Trauma on the Family, Healing, lds culture, Leadership, Mental Illness, Mormon Culture, Self-Care, Self-trust, Shame, Suicide, Trauma vs. Offense, Trust the Lord
Church Trauma Is More Common than You Might Realize
Last month the Mormon Trauma Mama team hosted an invitation-only summit called When Church Hurts to talk about the problems we are seeing with church trauma and how we can promote awareness, healing, and change. We are still working on solutions to this problem—and will be for many years to come! But at the summit, I introduced a man who had a similar dilemma. Maybe you have heard about him. His name is Ignaz Semmelweis. Semmelweis was a fascinating man. He was a European doctor, an obstetrician, in the mid-1800s. He worked at Vienna’s General Hospital, an important research hospital, where he tried to get to the bottom of a…
- Courage to Speak Up, Danna Hartline's articles, lds culture, Mental Illness, Trauma vs. Offense, Unrighteous Dominion
Survivors Speak: Psychological Trauma Can Be a Great Destroyer of Dreams
Hello! I created this video for an event called Survivors Speak: A Story Telling Event, which will be taking place in Salt Lake City shortly. It is an opportunity that will provide many survivors of abuse to come out of the shadows of hiding and speak up. Sadly, I am unable to attend, but all the same, I want to show my support to my friends there by addressing the very real issue of psychological trauma. Psychological trauma is a very real issue that needs attention. I will give you a formal definition of psychological trauma but before I do so, I would like to help you get in the mindset of this type…
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Survivors Are Trail Blazers
I wonder how real I dare be with people. I wonder who will be the next friend to drop off my list. I struggle with knowing how to hold and live my truth while still honoring another’s sacred. These sentiments are not uncommon for church trauma sufferers because there are a variety of unique struggles in dealing with church trauma that are not found in normal post-traumatic circumstances. One of the more prevalent is the powerful unspoken rule in church systems requiring or expecting members to only speak positively of their leaders and church. K.D. Bilsky describes it as the “can’t talk” rule, expecting current and former members to be…
- Abuser Loyalty, Danna Hartline's articles, Depression, Dissociation, Dissonance, Effects of Trauma on the Family, lds culture, Leadership, Mental Illness, Mormon Culture, Post Traumatic Church Syndrome, Shame, Suicide, Trauma vs. Offense, Unrighteous Dominion
The Church-Trauma Tree
Let me introduce myself. Maybe you know me. I’m Danna Hartline. I am the founder and creator of the Mormon Trauma Mama—this website right here—which focuses on church trauma and healing. If you are a follower, I hope you’ve found it helpful. I have an incredibly talented team that works with me—maybe you’ve noticed! My team and I also run a Facebook group called LDS Church Trauma and Healing. As a team, we are also organizing an invitation-only summit this fall called When Church Hurts. We are bringing together some of the top minds in this movement to collaborate and support each other’s efforts as we work on raising awareness about…
- Acceptance, Anger, Danna Hartline's articles, Depression, Dissonance, Empathy, Examples of Courage, Healing, Love, Self-Care
Growing Up Is Hard Work
Let us not deny it: Growing up is hard work. I’m learning that. For years I thought growing up just came with age but I’m learning that it’s something I get to choose to do—or not do. And today was a test in growth. It hit rather subtly. I thought I was doing so well and I have been. I have been really paying attention to my self-talk and not being reactive but today I felt I lost all grounding. For a moment, the stresses seemed to be too much. I “broke,” something I haven’t done for some time. (A tendency I have is to feel everyone else is allowed to…
- Danna Hartline's articles, Empathy, Fellowship, Healing, Lost Sheep, Modesty, Mormon Culture, Priesthood, Racism, Sex, Unrighteous Dominion
If I Were a Bishop
Recently I was contacted by a former stake and mission president, David Ostler. This wonderful man is dedicated to helping leaders learn how to help members through faith crisis. He has an impressive website dedicated to just this cause called Stake and Ward Resources. It is definitely worth checking out. Dave emailed me because he knew of my work and interest in helping trauma victims. He wanted to ask some urgent questions he had in regards to leadership. He asked, “If you were a Bishop what would you do differently in your ward? What would you do differently in sacrament meeting, Sunday school and 3rd hour? What would you do with the…
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My Bishop Shamed Me for Being Raped
By Shamed Rape Victim I grew up in an active LDS family, was active myself and served a mission. When I returned, I got constant questions of “Are you dating?” and feeling the LDS pressure to now get married. In my desperation, I started dating a guy who ultimately raped me and continued to sexually and emotionally abuse me for 2 months. In my “desperation” I continued to date him thinking I could change him and he would be the one and I could finally say that “Yes, I am dating an LDS man.” Now, at that time in my life, I don’t attribute my low self esteem, depression and…
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LDS Funeral Trauma
This is part one of a series. The story gets more and more tragic as details are disclosed.
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The Dying of Beliefs Post Trauma
In her book On Death and Dying, Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross taught that there are certain steps one goes through in the dying process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In the first stage of denial, people refuse to accept their new reality. They say, “The lab must have gotten my tests mixed up with someone else’s.” Or “This happens to other people, not me.” But their denial doesn’t work very long. So they move into the next stage: anger. They are angry at the doctors, angry at their family, angry at God. When the anger doesn’t help, they begin to bargain. They think they can bargain with God to buy…
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We Were Discriminated Against
By Jairo Osiris Barrera I was a Mormon for 15 years, so was my mom. We went to an English-speaking ward, but little did I know that they were just being nice to us because a friend of my grandfather was protecting both of us from the living hell we went thru later on. When she passed away, we were left all alone. We were discriminated against and victimized in the most horrible ways possible. We were bullied to the point that both of us had to get out of the church. We both received threats for us “to leave or else” from the Bishop and the Elders Quorum President,…
