Finding Our Minds

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We have another special guest! Our friend Justin discusses his life growing up in a conservative Evangelical environment and how it was not an easy road to accept his gay identity and reconcile his faith. In this season about spiritual trauma, we've discussed how it is rooted in one's fear for their immortal soul. Justin's story is a beautiful tale of his dark night of the soul and recovering with a beautiful relationship to his God, and community. 

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We have a special guest! This season we have been unpacking religious trauma and spiritual abuse. Our guest today is Mikayla Gilbreath (she/her), LMSW, CCTS-I. Mikayla discusses discovering her queer identity in an Evangelical community, coming out, and her work as a grief and trauma therapist. 

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Grief, loss, and trauma can all accompany leaving a spiritually abusive environment. While previously we talked about how an institution can be religiously abusive -even if it's not a cult- today Dr. Mac and Léa Fae talk about the trauma associated with removing oneself from a high-demand environment. Leaving is never easy. 

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Earlier this season Dr. MAC and co-host Léa defined spiritual abuse, and discussed the unique characteristics of trauma from religious/spiritual abuse. Healing wounds from this specific type of trauma is its own unique journey, and in today's episode we discuss what that can look like. 

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Today's episode Dr. Margaret Arnd-Caddigan (she/her) and Léa Fae (they/he/she/fae) discuss types of organizational structures that don't meet the standard definition of a cult, but still practice spiritually abusive tactics. 

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Spiritual abuse that takes place during childhood is unique in the trauma developed by the abused. In this episode of Finding Our Minds. Dr. Margaret Arnd-Caddigan (she/her) and co-host Léa Fae (they/he/she/fae/faer) discuss how religious trauma differs from other types of childhood trauma, and how that can affect development.

Sources for this season can be found in two parts. Below, and in the Episode 1 description.

Sources (2/2)
McGraw, Danielle M., Marjan Ebadi, Constance Dalenber, Vanessa Wu, Braindi Naish, and Lisa Nunez. 2019. “Consequences of Abuse by Religious Authorities: A Review. Traumatology, 25. No. 4: 242-255.

Mulvihill, Natasha, Nadia Aghtaie, Andrea Matolsci and Marianne Hester. 2022. “UK Victim-Survivor Experiences of Intimate Partner Spiritual Abuse and Religious Coercive Control and Implications for Practice. DOI: 10.1177/17488958221112057.

Novsak, Rachel, tina Rahne Mandelj and Barbara Simonic. 2012. “Therapeutic Implications of Religious-Related Emotional Abuse. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 21. No 1:31-44.

Ward, David J. “The Lived Experience of Spiritual Abuse. 2011.” Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 14. No. 9: 899-915.

Ross, Rick A. 2014. Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out.  North Charleston, South Carolina:  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Singer, Margaret T. 2003. Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing fight Against Their Hidden Menace. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.

Whitsett, Doni & Stephen A. Kent. 2003. “Cults and Families.”  Families in Society, 84, no. 4: 491-501.

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Welcome back, listeners! Season 4 tackles the topic of spiritual and religious abuse. In this introduction your hosts Dr. Arnd-Caddigan and Léa Fae Caddigan discuss their personal relationship with spiritual abuse and the inspiration behind this season's topic. A short and sweet introduction to the material before delving deeply into the topic in subsequent episodes.

Sources for this season can be found in two parts, below, and in the episode description of Episode 2.

SOURCES (1/2)
Callaway, Ewen. 2014. "Chicken Project Gets off the Ground." Nature 509, no. 7502: 546.
Piller, Ingrid. 2016. Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice: An Introduction to Applied Sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cashwell, Craig S. and Paula J. Swindle. 2018. “When Religion Hurts: Supervising Cases of Religious Abuse.” The Clinical Supervisor, 37. No. 1: 182-203.

Demasure, Karlijn. 2022. “The Loss of the Self—Spiritual Abuse of Adults in the Context of the Catholic Church.” Religions, 13: 509.

Diederick, F. Remy. 2017. Broken Trust: A Practical Guide to Identify and recover from Toxix Faith, Toxic Church, and Spiritual Abuse. Self Published.

Downie, Alison. 2022. “Christian Shame and Religious Trauma.” Religions 13: 925.

Ellis, Heidi M., Joshua N. Hook, Sabrina Zuniga, Adam S. Hodge, Kristy M. Ford, Don E. Davis, and Daryl R. Van Tongeren. 2022. “Religious/Spiritual Abuse and Trauma: A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature.” Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 9, no. 4: 213-231.

Finch, Jamie L. 2019. You are Your Own: A Reckoning with the Religious Trauma of Evangelical Christianity. Self Published.

Johnson, David & Jeff van Vonderen. 1991. The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church. Minneapolis: Bethany House.

Knapp, Patrick J. 2021. Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.

Kvarfordt, Connie L. 2010. “Spiritual Abuse and Neglect of Youth: Reconceptualizing What is Known Through an Investigation of Practitioners’ Experiences.” Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 29. No. 2: 143-164.

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It's (finally) the final episode of the season! Dr. Mac and Leah wrap up this season's discussion on "the sense of self." Why is the medical model not the best way to look at mental un-wellness and the healing journey? How can we help our clients without infantalizing them? How dose a mind-centered depth-approach therapy allow for an individual's healing journey to inform the therapeutic process, better than evidence-based practice? This and more on today's episode. 

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Today's final episode of this season's lecture series, Dr. Arnd-Caddigan discusses what it takes for inner change to occur in an individual, and how other people are involved in the process.

Works discussed in today's episode include:
Benjamin, J. (2004). Beyond doer and done-to: An intersubjective view of thirdness.  Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 73, 5-46

Benjamin, B. (1988).  Bonds of love: Psychoanalysis, feminism, and the problem of domination. Pantheon.

Chessick, R. G. (1990).  Self-analysis:  A fool for a patient?  Psychoanalytic Review, 77, 311-340. 

Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E. & Target, M.  (2005). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. Other Press.

Stern, D. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant: A view from psychoanalysis and developmental psychology. Basic Books. 

Tronick, E. Z., Bruschweiler-Stern, N., Harrison, A. M., Lyons-Ruth, K., Morgan, A.C., Nahum, J. P., Sander, L. & Stern, D. N. (1999). Dyadically expanded states of consciousness and the process of therapeutic change.  Infant Mental Health Journal, 19, 

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Our final installment of discussing identity, personality, and character, Dr. Arnd-Caddigan discusses what makes up one's character. She goes on to review personal ethics in the context of forming identity and character, and how this relates to treating mental suffering in the therapeutic context.

Works cited in today's episode:
Carol Gilligan (1982) In a Different Voice

Johathan Haidt, Fredrik Björklund, and Scott Murphy (2000). Moral Dumbfounding:  When Intuition Finds No Reason. https://polpsy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/haidt.bjorklund.pdf

Hursthouse, Rosalind and Glen Pettigrove, "Virtue Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2022/entries/ethics-virtue/>.

 Nel Noddings (1984).  Caring: A Relational Approach to Ethics and Moral Education