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Religious trauma. Coercive control. Addiction. Depression. Deanna survived all of it — and rebuilt her life on her own terms.
Deanna grew up inside a strict Fundamental Baptist home where shame replaced support and obedience replaced safety. When she finally left, she had no tools to recognize manipulation — which made her the perfect target. A man named Steve used love-bombing, ecstasy, and calculated coercive control to pull her into repeated sexual exploitation she identifies as rape.
When she told her family, they stayed silent.
What followed was a spiral into heavy drinking, multiple DUIs, and a depression she drowned in alcohol. Rock bottom came in a jail cell. From there — through Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment, and community — she built something no one handed her: long-term sobriety, a storytelling platform called Intrepid Storytelling, and a family of three kids she created by choice through IVF, foster care, and adoption.
This is what recovering from religion and trauma actually looks like.
By Clark Fredericks4.8
1818 ratings
Religious trauma. Coercive control. Addiction. Depression. Deanna survived all of it — and rebuilt her life on her own terms.
Deanna grew up inside a strict Fundamental Baptist home where shame replaced support and obedience replaced safety. When she finally left, she had no tools to recognize manipulation — which made her the perfect target. A man named Steve used love-bombing, ecstasy, and calculated coercive control to pull her into repeated sexual exploitation she identifies as rape.
When she told her family, they stayed silent.
What followed was a spiral into heavy drinking, multiple DUIs, and a depression she drowned in alcohol. Rock bottom came in a jail cell. From there — through Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment, and community — she built something no one handed her: long-term sobriety, a storytelling platform called Intrepid Storytelling, and a family of three kids she created by choice through IVF, foster care, and adoption.
This is what recovering from religion and trauma actually looks like.

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