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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Religious Abuse

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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Religious Abuse CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Religious Abuse: Impact on Mental Health and Development A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Social Work By Breanna Barnes May 2020 i The graduate project of Breanna Barnes is approved: ______________________________________ __________________ Dr. Wendy Ashley Date ______________________________________ __________________ Dr. Ioana Schmidt Date ______________________________________ __________________ Dr. Alejandra Acuna (Chair) Date California State University, Northridge ii Dedication To all of those who showed me kindness, support, patience, and compassion over the last three years. Because of these gifts, I am closer to realizing the type of person and social worker I have always wanted to be. iii Table of Contents Signature Page ii Dedication iii List of Tables v Abstract vi Introduction 1 Methods 7 Results 11 Discussion 18 Conclusions 28 References 30 iv List of Tables Table A. Relevant research found in database searches 9 Table B. Review of relevant research 12 Table C. Themes 17 v Abstract Religious Abuse: Impact on Mental Health and Development By Breanna Barnes Master of Social Work Purpose: To establish unique consequences of religious abuse experienced in childhood on mental health and development. Hypothesis: What is the impact of religious abuse on mental health and development? Methods: Systematic literature review utilizing research from five databases. Results: 599 potential articles were narrowed down to 17 that were deemed appropriate for the study. These articles were further explored for relevant information and reveal of themes. Discussion: Five themes were identified including: unique consequences present in abuse cases perpetuated by clergy, developmental and mental health consequences, diagnostic considerations and implications for treatment. Keywords: religious abuse, spiritual abuse, mental health, development vi Introduction The benefits of religion are a common topic of social work literature. It is well understood that religion can offer protective factors against drug abuse, a sense of community, and decreased likeliness of antisocial and rule-breaking behavior (Laird, Marks, & Marrero, 2011). Discussed much less frequently is the impact of religion when it is practiced in a negative, damaging way. Religious abuse (RA), also known as spiritual abuse, is unique in that, as the name suggests, it is abuse perpetuated and often justified by one’s faith. Specifically, religious abuse is the use of religious ideas to intimidate and control (Simonic, Mandelj, & Novsak, 2013). It can also be described as any occasion in which religion or religious beliefs are present with various types of abuse (Simonic et al., 2013). Background Religion has been linked as a contributing factor to domestic violence (Nason-Clark, 2004), child sexual abuse (Tishelman & Fontes, 2017), and other forms of interpersonal violence. The justification of the abuse using religion is what separates RA from other types of abusive behavior. Some dynamics within religion that may enable it to become abuse include: unrealistic evaluation of spiritual acumen among clergy, unrealistic expectations by families and religious leaders alike, and misapplication of philosophy by twisting theology to suit personal motives, coercion through shame and fear, and premature transcendence, including ignoring physical, psychological, emotional, and social needs (Bhaktavatsala and Dhyanakunda-devi, 2001, as cited in Oluwole, 2010). RA may also appear within families when religious parents expect denial of emotions, perfectionism, and broken natural will based on distorted and sometimes literal interpretations of religious writings and the idea of the parent’s responsibility of appropriate child-rearing to teach their children to live according to God’s will (Simonic, Mandelj, & Novsak, 2013). Religiously 1 motivated medical neglect, severe abuse, and even murder of children has occurred (Bottoms, Nielson, Murray, & Filipas, 2003). A study of religion-related child abuse found that 66% of cases involved physical abuse, 50% included sexual abuse, and 1/3 of cases reported child neglect (Bottoms et al., 2003). 43% of cases were perpetuated by fundamentalist Christians, 38% protestant, and 16% Catholic (Bottoms et al., 2003). While there is potential for RA to occur within the context of any religion, these will be the focus of this study. In 85% of cases, the parents were the perpetrators, though there were also religious authorities, teachers, and others (Bottoms et al., 2003). Most of the victims were between 5-11 years old (Bottoms et al., 2003). Abuse within the church differs slightly, with the majority of victims being between 11-14 years of age and 81% male (Denney, Kerley, & Gross, 2018). This paper aims to answer the question: According to research that is currently available, what is the impact of religious abuse on development and mental health? In addition to this guiding question, further focus will be placed on adults who have experienced some form of RA as children. Types of Religious Abuse There are two primary forms of emotional religious abuse. In the first, the abuser uses theological explanations to reason and justify the physical abuse of their partners or children (Bottoms et al., 2003). The second form of RA occurs when religious beliefs are used to induce shame, fear, and guilt in victims, leading to them feeling alone, distressed, worthless, neglect, or cursed (Capps, 1995). Emotional RA may include inducing fear around religious matters (such as the consequences of sin, the afterlife, and supernatural entities), participation in burial ceremonies and religious rites, humiliation, insult, and false accusation (Nobakht & Dale, 2018). While the amount of research on RA and its impact are limited, RA has been described in research as 2 consisting of the following behaviors or components: leadership representing God, spiritual bullying, acceptance via performance, and spiritual neglect (Ward, 2011). While RA can occur alongside virtually any other form of abuse, these specific concepts tend to be how RA appears as a lived experience, rather than an abstract concept. Some research claims that RA could be even more insidious than non-religious abuse, claiming that the impacts of RA could lead to poorer long-term emotional and psychological outcomes (Bottoms et al., 2003). Consequences of RA are varied and include depression in about 50% of cases and suicidal ideation in approximately 33% (Bottoms et al., 2003). Victims of RA have also reported phobias, social withdrawal, inappropriate aggression, and dissociative disorders (Bottoms et al., 2003). Religious abuse can also entail corporal and sexual abuse, also justified by religion in some way by the abuser. Within the Protestant Christian church, there were 7,095 claims of alleged sexual abuse by clergy, church staff, and other church members and volunteers from 1987 to 2007 (Denney, Kerley, & Gross, 2018). Several factors have been found to increase the likelihood of church members and officials engaging in abusive behaviors, including other churchgoers ignoring the warning signs, the niceness culture (which can lead to flirting or sexual advances being mistaken for friendliness), the ease of private communication, no oversight, church officials having multiple roles such as pastor and counselor, and inherent trust in the sanctuary (Denney et al., 2018). Religious leaders specifically may be more likely to engage in sexual abuse due to having power in the church and accessibility to potential victims, the power of being above scrutiny by most churchgoers, and having personal knowledge of their congregants, such as family and marital issues (Denney et al., 2018). Approximately 35% of RA abuse by clergy is perpetuated on church grounds, and most abuse cases that occurred offsite occurred at the home of the perpetuating clergy 3 (Denney et al., 2018). A majority of offenders within the religious setting are male, white, middle- aged, and employed in an official capacity within their church (Denney et al., 2018). Aims and Objectives The following formal review of the literature was decided upon after finding that while it is clear that RA is just as nefarious and damaging as many other forms of abuse, interestingly, the amount of published research on the subject is lacking. A simple internet search of the topics reveals many books written on the subject by those who have experienced it firsthand, indicating a need for these stories and experiences to be told. Despite this, the academic world has left the subject of RA relatively untouched when compared with other forms of abuse. It is likely that, due to the delicate nature of addressing religious practices, it is generally shied away from by researchers and institutions. Further, the importance of affording the right to freedom of religion is vital, so the topic must be addressed carefully and responsibly to protect and respect this right. Due to these and other factors, it can be difficult to distinguish when it may be time to intervene. Generally, it seems that the protections of freedom of religion has been used to cover a moral “grey” area, in which abuse flourishes (Pretorius, 2011). However, this lack of attention is precisely why this is a subject that is deserving of more. Those who are already speaking about their own experiences deserve to have this issue taken seriously, as well as the support of academic research
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