Mormon Culture
- Abuser Loyalty, Acceptance, Anger, Church doctrine, Church Exodus, Codependency, Cultural Behavior, Danna Hartline's articles, Depression, Discrimination, Dissociation, Dissonance, Effects of Trauma on the Family, Fear, Fellowship, LDS Women, Leadership, Mental Illness, Modesty, Mormon Culture, Organizational Behavior, Patriarchal Structure, Post Traumatic Church Syndrome, Self-Care, Self-trust, Sex, Shame, Suicide, Trauma vs. Offense, Unrighteous Dominion, Unsafe policies
Chapter 5: Four More Consequences of Church Trauma
Chapter 4 discussed four common effects of Church Trauma: cognitive dissonance, church exodus, dissociation, and abuser loyalty. This chapter addresses four more consequences of Church Trauma: loss of identity, mental disorder, family dysfunction, and shame. Loss of Identity Trauma messes with concept of self. After one is traumatized by the Church, victims often have no idea who they are anymore. The Mormon Church is not just a religion; it’s a lifestyle. Hence traumatization can cause a complete upheaval to a person’s construction of reality, including the self, other people, life, and the future. Few can appreciate the sheer terror religious trauma can create (Tarico, 2015). Many considerations must be examined—“Should…
- Abuser Loyalty, Anger, Church doctrine, Church Exodus, Codependency, Cultural Behavior, Danna Hartline's articles, Depression, Dissociation, Dissonance, Fear, lds culture, Leadership, Mormon Culture, Organizational Behavior
Chapter 4: Four Consequences of Church Trauma
Consequences of Church Trauma Now that we have discussed many of the causal factors of church trauma (see chapters two and three) within the Mormon Church, it is important to also look at the consequences of traumatic situations found there. Although the focus will be on consequences of trauma in the Mormon faith, it is important to note that these consequences can be found within most sufferers of church trauma, regardless of the religion. Indeed, because of church trauma, we see many serious side effects, including the following: cognitive dissonance, church exodus, dissociation, abuser loyalty, loss of identity, mental disorders, family dysfunction, and shame. Each will be discussed below: (Added…
- Abuser Loyalty, Church doctrine, Church history, Codependency, Cultural Behavior, Danna Hartline's articles, Discrimination, Dissonance, lds culture, LDS Women, Leadership, Modesty, Mormon Culture, Organizational Behavior, Patriarchal Structure, Priesthood, Racism, Shame, Unrighteous Dominion, Unsafe policies
Chapter 3: Five More Causes of Trauma in the Mormon Church
Chapter 2 addressed three causal factors of trauma in the Mormon Church: Unsustainable History, Church Doctrine, and Unsafe Policies. This chapter addresses five more: Patriarchal Structure, Organizational Behavior, Cultural Behavior, Unrighteous Dominion, and Discrimination. Like Chapter 2, the discussion is just an overview and is not comprehensive. Further, not all causal factors of trauma are addressed in my thesis, as there are potentially several but I tried to hit on some of the main factors. If you have not yet read Chapter 2 or Chapter 1, it might be beneficial before or after reading this chapter. Pictured below is the Church Trauma Tree that was referenced in Chapter 2. Patriarchal…
- Church doctrine, Church history, Danna Hartline's articles, lds culture, Leadership, Mormon Culture, Priesthood, Racism, Unrighteous Dominion, Unsafe policies
Chapter 2: Three Causal Factors of Trauma in the Mormon Church
Here is Chapter 1 in case you missed it. This chapter (chapter 2) does not entail all that is promised in the Review of Related Literature below because I am breaking the publication up into smaller sections. (Remember my thesis is 112 pages.) But I am keeping it true to how it is found in the original thesis. After the overview and a brief explanation of each root, there will be a discussion of the first three causal factors of church trauma within the Mormon Church: Unsustainable Church History, Church Doctrine, and Unsafe Policies. Next week I will address the last five causal factors, followed by chapters addressing the consequences…
- Acceptance, Anger, Danna Hartline's articles, Empathy, fellowshipping, Healing, lds culture, Love, Mormon Culture, welcoming
Mormons (and Post-Mormons) Have a Bullying Problem
Hold tight. This is raw and this is real. I am going to call it like I see it: Mormons have a bullying problem. Maybe it is just a war among us and not outside of us but having been on both sides of Mormonism, I am appalled and deeply saddened by what I see. Here’s how it goes: If you are a member, you are bullied by other members if you don’t fit the mold. If you don’t act right, dress right, believe right, look right, think right, worship right, talk right, parent right, gender right, associate right, say the name of the Church right, smell right, marry right,…
- Courage to Speak Up, Depression, Dissociation, Dissonance, Effects of Trauma on the Family, Empathy, Healing, lds culture, LDS Women, Leadership, Lesley Butterfield's articles, Love, Mormon Culture, Post Traumatic Church Syndrome, Priesthood, Racism, Shame, Suicide, Unrighteous Dominion
What Are The Roots Of Mormon Trauma?
SHHHHH! I want to share a secret with you. I already wrote this article. I’ve been writing this article on Mormon Trauma for a few weeks now actually. And I have struggled with it. Originally, I wrote this article with the intention that I did not want to alienate anyone because church trauma within the LDS faith is not widely known. I did not want to be deemed an anti-Mormon or apostate because of what I wrote. I did not want to be called a sensationalist. I didn’t want to hear that I was too angry or hateful. I wanted to avoid being told I was over-reacting or being too…
- Abuser Loyalty, Acceptance, Anger, Codependency, Courage to Speak Up, Danna Hartline's articles, Effects of Trauma on the Family, Examples of Courage, Fellowship, Healing, lds culture, Leadership, Love, Mormon Culture, Self-trust, Sex, Shame, Unrighteous Dominion, welcoming
Is the LDS Church Increasing Its Appeal for Sexual Predators?
I have to say it: I really wonder about the direction the Mormon Church is moving. It just feels the Church is regressing. Two red flags have been raised recently: One is the disheartening excommunication of Sam Young in his effort to change policy about one-on-one interviews and the sexually explicit questioning of our youth. That alone is enough but I see another connection to Sam Young’s movement to protect LDS Children, which brings me to concern number two: the Church’s withdrawal in the Scouting program (which had interesting timing—two weeks after the BSA announced they would no longer discriminate against women, the Church backed out.). These two recent actions alarm me and…
- 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…
- Acceptance, Empathy, Fellowship, fellowshipping, Gerry Baird articles, lds culture, Love, Mormon Culture, welcoming
Saints in Training
Throughout history there have been countless ideas postulated. Most never took off, but some grew into cultures, traditions, legends and religions. Some of these ideas have yielded good fruit, like the invention of the light bulb and toilet paper. Other ideas have been tragically destructive, costing the lives of millions. Sometimes seemingly good ideas can go terribly wrong and vice versa. Suffice it to say, everything we experience in our lives depends on ideas. The chair you are sitting on began as an idea in someone’s head. The car you drive began as an idea, as did the clothes you are wearing. Ideas shape the world. Religious ideas are especially…
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Broken Heart and Empty Womb
In Genesis 1:28, we read, “God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Like many religious traditions that use the Bible in their worship, this scripture is interpreted by LDS faithful to mean that they should place a high importance on having a large family. In 2015, the Deseret News reported on a Pew Research Study that indicated that Mormons have the largest family size (3.4 children) of the American religious groups that were studied. The next closest religious groups were black Protestant (2.5 children) and then Catholics and evangelicals (2.3 children). As a lifetime member of this faith, this was not surprising to me…
