Spiritual abuse happens when someone uses spiritual or religious beliefs to hurt, scare or control you. Spiritual abuse can include forcing you still in a relationship or marriage, excuse violence and abuse, blame your shortcoming for violence and abuse, stop you from getting medical or health care, force or pressure you into a marriage you don't want, etc.

There is typically a pattern to the behavior that happens again and again. Sometimes other types of abuse are going on at the same time. Spiritual abuse can have a deeply damaging impact on those who experience it. This abuse typically keeps the person from interacting with other religious and spiritual practices for a period of time or forever.

 Spiritual abuse might include:

• Stopping you from practicing your religious or spiritual beliefs

• Threatening your afterlife if you don’t follow religious or spiritual beliefs

• Forcing you to raise your children according to spiritual beliefs you don’t agree with

• Forcing you to participate in religious practices that you don't want to participate in

• Using religious or spiritual leaders or teachings to control your behavior

• Stopping you from returning home to Country

• Shaming or insulting your religious or spiritual beliefs.

Recommendations

Assessments recommended: DES: Dissociation Experience Scale, ACE: Adverse Childhood Experiences, Sociotropy Autonomy Scale, BDI II: Becks Depression Inventory II,

Counselors recommended: Sarah Merritt, Eliana Valentin, Jennifer Shotwell, & Carrie Eggart