Religious Trauma Syndrome: Justin's ASL Story

Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) can happen when people suffer deep psychological wounds when religious institutions control them through excessive rules, threats, and even physical harm. This type of abuse is not discussed very often, but it happens to more than many people realize. Justin Vollmar discusses his experience with RTS and gives some insight into how it happens.

[@DEAFCOUNSELING]

Transcript: Justin is wearing glasses and a black shirt and standing in front of a light-colored wall while signing his story.
Hello, I’m Justin Vollmar. I’m a cult survivor. When I was 18, I joined what I thought was a wonderful church at first, but later realized had many very strict rules and a long and never-ending list of expectations. I had to work hard and dedicate a lot of my time and money to that church, and attend all kinds of church services and events. The church made many demands and they were destructive. There was a lot of mental, emotional, and what is called spiritual abuse.
After 11 years, from age 18 until I was 29, I finally broke free and got out of the church, but then I struggled with PTSD. I discovered a psychological term that described what I had experienced - Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS). It caught my eye. PTSD is a little different because it more often refers to experiences related to war, domestic violence and things like that. RTS is different because it happens in a religious environment like a church, a synagogue, a mosque, a Christian or other religious school.
Abuse can happen in those places, including mental, physical, spiritual and sexual abuse. The term, Religious Trama Syndrome, was created because many people found it hard to believe that it existed. They would minimize people’s reports by accusing them of gaslighting or they would defend their religious leader or church by saying, “My pastor is such a nice person” or “That’s impossible - it would never happen in my wonderful and good church”. They would try to protect their positive experiences by diminishing others’ complaints as unfounded, while the truth is that many, many people have experienced trauma from their religious groups.
One big problem is that religious institutions take advantage of the great legal protections they have in this country. The Second Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion, actually means - and this is scary - that any religious leader can use tactics to sway, harrass, convince, brainwash and recruit members. They can take their money and time, tell them what to do, and basically destroy them. Did you know that is actually legal?
They can’t be sued for doing this. They can’t go to jail for it. It’s scary. Take Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, it’s perfectly legal for them to keep knocking on your doors and bother you all they want. The higher courts have ruled that they can do this. Religions take advantage of this. It can get really ugly and abuse happens. Religions often target certain groups of people. Gay and lesbian people who grow up in Christian churches, for example, can experience terrible abuse and trauma. In some churches, women are automatically accorded second class status and are required to submit to men. These men can exert their extreme power to the extent that domestic violence situations occur.
Pastors, priests and other religious leaders use fear tactics to control members. They often cloak, or disguise, these in fear-inducing religious phrases such as “If you don’t obey, you will go to hell” or “If you don’t give money, God will punish you and you might have a car accident or bad luck - God will render judgement upon you - I’m warning you”, or “The devil will destroy your children family”. These are examples of threatening language that cause a lot of trauma.
Another example is home schooling, when children grow up in isolation without normal opportunities to socialize with others. They aren’t allowed to watch movies, dance, go swimming, wear shorts, or play sports. They grow up experiencing trauma due to these harsh rules.
Another example is when people are recruited into churches, which then become the center of their lives. They are isolated from the rest of the world and lose their connections with the community outside of the church. They spend their lives working for the church, with the goal of going to heaven and getting rewarded with a crown. It’s like they keep jumping up to try to catch a carrot dangling from a rope.
I have many stories about what I experienced personally during my 11 years in the church and I can’t possibly share them all, but I want to let you know that RTS is real. It happens often and in many places. It is usually untreated. When people leave their church or other group, it can be difficult to find support and others who have gone through similar experiences. I’ve started noticing a growth in support recently though, which is mostly due to awareness about children being molested in religious institutions. People have been waking up to this, and hopefully, it will translate into more awareness and support for other types of abuse that happens in churches and other religious institutions.