Patterns of abuse are similar, whether they are sexual, emotional, or religious/spiritual. Religious/spiritual abuse is a scientifically recognized syndrome. It doesn’t have to be sexual to wreak its damage on victims.
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What Is Spiritual Abuse?
Any attempt to exert power and control over someone using religion, faith, or beliefs can be spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse can happen within a religious organization or a personal relationship.
Spiritual abuse is not limited to one religion, denomination, or group of people. It can happen in any religious group, as an element of child abuse, elder abuse, or domestic violence.
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—WebMD Editorial Contributors, medically reviewed by Jennifer Casarella, MD, “Signs of Spiritual Abuse,” WebMD, December 18, 2022
The first stage of recovery from abuse is denial. It is widespread when the reputation of the religious institution is at stake.
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In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross famously described the 5 stages of grief as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. More than 50 years later, we know that these stages can come in a different order or be skipped or repeated, and that there may be other, different stages that the bereaved and other trauma survivors may go through (Doka et al, 2011).
Doka K., Tucci A. (2011). Beyond Kübler-Ross: New Perspectives on Dying, Death, and Grief. Washington, DC: Hospice Foundation of America. Accessed 7/1/2022.
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—Kaytee Gillis, LCSW-BACS, reviewed by Ekua Hagan, “6 Steps Toward Recovery From a Toxic Relationship,” Psychology Today, July 1, 2022
The harm caused by abuse varies—it depends on factors like the character of the abuse, length of time, nature of the relationship, etc. Character of the abuse means here what was actually said or done.
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Does emotional abuse lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
Emotional abuse doesn’t always lead to PTSD, but it can.
PTSD can develop after a frightening or shocking event. Your doctor may make a PTSD diagnosis if you experience high levels of stress or fear over a long period of time. These feelings are usually so severe that they interfere with your daily functioning.
Other symptoms of PTSD include:
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https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/effects-of-emotional-abuse#ptsd
Public domain images
ReplyDeleteImage links:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:19th_century_knowledge_traps_and_snares_tesch_nest_box_trap_1.PNG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:19th_century_knowledge_traps_and_snares_tesch_nest_box_trap.PNG
Gonzalinho
Spiritual direction in Opus Dei is compromised by its overriding objective—which is not the spiritual good and well-being of the person being directed but rather the propagation of the institution of Opus Dei and the protection of its reputation. Underlying this agenda is a theology that ascribes infallibility to Escriva as the origin of a divine mandate and an encompassing spiritual regime. It’s a type of idolatry, in my view.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, spiritual direction in Opus Dei relies exclusively on a narrowly interpreted religious-ascetical framework that is inadequate to dealing with psychological issues, which inevitably arise in managing Christian spirituality, because the human being is an embodied soul, with psychological and related bodily dimensions deriving from their corporeal nature.
Gonzalinho
POPE’S WORLDWIDE PRAYER NETWORK (APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER) MARCH 2023 INTENTIONS
ReplyDeleteFor victims of abuse
We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering.
https://popesprayerusa.net/popes-intentions/
Gonzalinho
GENDER ABUSE IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
ReplyDeleteAn Argentine judge recognizes gender abuse suffered for years by 20 nuns in a breakthrough ruling
By Almudena Calatrava
AP News
Updated 8:10 AM GMT+8, April 6, 2024
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge on Friday ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in the country’s conservative north, and ordered the accused archbishop and church officials to undergo psychological treatment and training in gender discrimination.
The ruling in the homeland of Pope Francis cast a spotlight on the long-standing of abuse of nuns by priests and bishops in the Catholic Church.
Though long overshadowed by other church scandals, such abuses in religious life are increasingly being aired and denounced as a result of nuns feeling emboldened by the #MeToo movement, which has a corollary in the church, #NunsToo.
“I conclude and affirm that the nuns have suffered acts of gender violence religiously, physically, psychologically and economically for more than 20 years,” Judge Carolina Cáceres said in the ruling from Salta in northwestern Argentina.
She also ordered the verdict be conveyed to Francis.
The four accused clergy members have denied committing any violence. The archbishop’s lawyer, Eduardo Romani, dismissed Friday’s ruling as baseless and vowed to appeal. Still, he said, the archbishop would abide by the order to receive treatment and anti-discrimination training through a local NGO “whether or not he agrees with its basis.”
The nuns’ lawyer hailed the verdict as unprecedented in Argentina in recognizing the plaintiffs’ plight and the deeper problem of gender discrimination.
“It shatters the ‘status quo’ because it targets a person with a great deal of power,” said José Viola, the lawyer.
…complaints have largely fallen on deaf ears at the Vatican and in the rigid all-male hierarchy at the local level in Argentina, apparently prompting the nuns in Salta to seek remedy in the secular justice system. A similar dynamic played out when the clergy abuse of minors scandal first erupted decades ago and victims turned to the courts because of inaction by church authorities.
…Their complaints cited a range of mistreatment including verbal insults, threats, humiliation and physical — although not sexual — assault.
The nuns describe archbishop Mario Cargnello as grabbing, slapping and shaking women. At one point, they said, Cargnello squeezed the lips of a nun to silence her. At another, he pounced on a nun, striking her as he struggled to snatch a camera from her hands. They also accused Cargello of borrowing nuns’ money without paying them back.
Cáceres, the judge, described the instances as “physical and psychological gender violence.”
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Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/argentina-nuns-abuse-vatican-pope-metoo-79273d907d2f75e2ade6feae10ec3d81
“A similar dynamic played out when the clergy abuse of minors scandal first erupted decades ago and victims turned to the courts because of inaction by church authorities.”
Abuse is not only sexual. There are other forms of abuse that share a basic similarity, according to the science of psychology.
Gonzalinho
We’re getting somewhere.
DeleteGonzalinho
If the Church really cares for the victims—it doesn’t, apparently—it should put together a public acknowledgment of the abuses and broadcast the systematic steps it will take to address the dysfunction. It hasn’t. Because the Church’s first priority is its reputation. Unfortunately, the victims are secondary casualties, to be locked up in the closet, if at all possible.
DeleteIf we review how the clerical sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. was managed, it was the ethical press that was the hero in this sordid decades-long affair. The institution was, bluntly, the oppressor.
Gonzalinho
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
ReplyDelete5:45
“I want my life back.”
6:52
“The [Roman Catholic] Church claims to be, purportedly, the most moral institution in the world, and it acts usually the most [immorally] when it comes to this issue.”
8:06
“The women were also told by the Sisters of Charity that they shouldn’t have gone [public] with the abuse claims.”
“The one lady said I should have never [gone] to the news.”
“Would you be where you are had you not spoken publicly…?”
“Probably not, probably not.”
https://youtu.be/Wc6q6wPZAII?si=3gD3NpeL2ViLsArC
—News 5 Cleveland, “Courageous survivors speak about abuse of children by nuns at orphanage,” YouTube video, 19:20 minutes, December 21, 2022
Religious abuse—
It’s a fact.
Victims are damaged for life.
Fortunately, the scientific community is coming around to acknowledging, recognizing, and understanding it.
Better late than never is the saying.
“What Is Spiritual Abuse?
“Any attempt to exert power and control over someone using religion, faith, or beliefs can be spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse can happen within a religious organization or a personal relationship.
“Spiritual abuse is not limited to one religion, denomination, or group of people. It can happen in any religious group, as an element of child abuse, elder abuse, or domestic violence. Domestic violence [is] also called intimate partner violence...
“Abuse is a pattern in which one individual (whether an intimate partner or person with authority) uses fear, intimidation, violence, or other harm to control another. Abuse can cause serious trauma….”
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-spiritual-abuse
—WebMD Editorial Contributors, medically reviewed by Jennifer Casarella, MD, “Signs of Spiritual Abuse,” WebMD, December 18, 2022
It’s long overdue for the Roman Catholic Church to incorporate the social sciences into their understanding of psychologically healthy spirituality.
Depending only on religion isn’t going be adequate to address the spiritual needs of the faithful.
“Religion only” is “too much religion.”
Gonzalinho