The Link Between Religious Trauma & Dissociation
Dissociation is both a natural and an adaptive coping mechanism. And it’s also a fairly common experience for people who were indoctrinated into a religious cult.
For some, it looks like zoning out during a sermon or worship set. For others, it shows up as feeling oddly distant from your own body, your memories, or your emotions when anything “spiritual” comes up.
Even though dissociation is your mind’s way of trying to protect you, it can still feel really unsettling, especially if you notice yourself “checking out” without meaning to or losing chunks of time and not knowing why.
You might worry that you’re broken, damaged, or developing a serious mental health issue.
In this article, we’ll walk through what dissociation actually is, how it can range from everyday, harmless experiences (like daydreaming) to more severe patterns, and why it shows up so often for people who’ve been harmed in religious settings.
We’ll also look at five specific ways high‑control religions can push you toward dissociation and some concrete steps you can take to understand what’s happening so you can begin to reconnect with yourself.
What We’ll Be Covering:
What is Dissociation?
In simple terms, dissociation is a mental process where you disconnect from your thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity.
It can feel like you’re watching yourself from the outside, almost like being in a dream-like state.
People may also describe it as “zoning out” or feeling numb.
In the psychology world, it’s often considered a defense mechanism that the mind employs in response to overwhelming or distressing situations.
This is why we often see it showing up for folks who have experienced trauma.
However, dissociation doesn’t only occur when there’s been trauma.
What’s important to understand for people who dissociate is that sometimes dissociation can be benign, like daydreaming, and other times it can be deeply distressing and problematic as in the case of dissociative amnesia (Wilkhoo et al., 2024).
Benign Dissociation
As mentioned above, not all forms of dissociation are harmful or distressing.
In fact, benign dissociation is a phenomenon that we all experience from time to time.
Remember those moments when you find yourself completely absorbed in a daydream? Or when you’ve driven a familiar route and realize you don’t recall the last few minutes of the drive?
These are examples of benign dissociation.
In these instances, our mind simply detaches from our immediate surroundings or current activity.
It’s a natural and quite common experience, often triggered by monotony or over-familiarity, rather than distress.
This type of dissociation is temporary and generally harmless, serving as a mental break that allows our mind to rest or wander freely.
However, when dissociation becomes chronic and is triggered by trauma, it can interfere with our daily lives and mental health.
Problematic Dissociation
When dissociation transitions from being a harmless mental escape to a problematic and recurrent phenomenon, it often signifies underlying psychological distress.
This distress can be a result of various factors, the intensity of which can determine the degree of problematic dissociation.
Mild forms might manifest as brief periods of disconnection, while severe cases may lead to a dissociative disorder.
Dissociative disorders are characterized by a disconnection between a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, behavior, or sense of self.
These disorders can be transient or chronic and can significantly disrupt every area of psychological functioning.
They include Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder
This disorder is characterized by persistent feelings of detachment or estrangement from oneself, including one’s thoughts, emotions, body, and surroundings.
Those with this disorder may feel like they are in a dream-like state or watching themselves from the outside (Wilkhoo et al., 2024).
Dissociative Amnesia
A more severe form of dissociation is known as dissociative amnesia.
This is a state of mind where one’s awareness of their identity or memories of personal history are temporarily lost (Staniloiu & Markowitsch, 2014).
People suffering from dissociative amnesia might find themselves in an unfamiliar environment without any recollection of how they got there.
This is more than mere forgetfulness or absentmindedness.
It’s as though the mind has selectively blocked out certain aspects of reality in order to protect you from psychological pain.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
DID, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is perhaps the most well-known and severe type of dissociative disorder.
It involves a fragmentation or splitting of one’s identity into two or more distinct personalities that control their behavior at different times.
This can be triggered by traumatic experiences, often during childhood, when our minds are still developing coping mechanisms.
The result is the creation of multiple identities, each with unique behaviors, thoughts, and emotions, that coexist within the same person (Brand, 2014).
The Connection Between Religious Trauma and Dissociation
Now that we have a better understanding of dissociation, let’s take a closer look at how it connects to religious trauma.
Religious trauma occurs when someone experiences psychological harm as a result of their involvement in a religious or spiritual group or belief system.
This can include feelings of shame, guilt, fear, and self-blame due to strict and often unrealistic expectations set by the group or teachings.
Additionally, religious trauma can stem from traumatic experiences within the religious environment, such as emotional, physical or spiritual abuse.
For someone who has experienced religious trauma, dissociation can be a common coping mechanism.
By dissociating from the traumatic experience or the teachings of the religious group, you’re better able to protect yourself from the intense emotional pain and cognitive dissonance that often accompanies religious trauma.
This is especially true for those who were raised in strict or fundamentalist environments, where any deviation from the group’s beliefs was met with severe consequences.
How Religious Cults Contribute to Problematic Dissociation
Religious cults (a.k.a. high-control religions or authoritarian religious groups) can contribute to dissociation in several ways due to the intense and restrictive nature of their beliefs and practices.
1. Chronic Cognitive Dissonance
Religious cults, characterized by their strict beliefs and doctrines, may end up clashing with your personal values, lived experiences, or emerging questions.
When this occurs, it creates cognitive dissonance—the mental discomfort that shows up when what you were taught to believe does not line up with what you actually see, feel, or know to be true.
You might, for example, be told that the group is loving and safe while witnessing abuse, racism, sexism, or homophobia within the community.
To survive this tension, you may start splitting off or minimizing your own perceptions, telling yourself “it’s not that bad” or “I must be the problem” in order to stay connected to the group.
Over time, this ongoing dissonance can push you toward dissociation, where you emotionally check out, numb yourself, or disconnect from your true thoughts and feelings as a way to reduce the inner conflict and keep some sense of stability.
2. Thought Control
In addition to causing cognitive dissonance, religious cults often use thought control techniques to manipulate you into aligning with their beliefs.
One common tactic is gaslighting, where leaders or members deny, twist, or minimize your reality so you start doubting your own memories, perceptions, and emotions.
They may also use guilt‑tripping and shame‑based messages that make it hard to trust your thoughts and instincts.
Over time, this kind of thought control can push you to suppress or dissociate from your own critical thinking, doubts, or disagreements, especially if speaking up risks punishment, social exclusion, or crushing guilt.
3. Emotional Suppression
Religious cults often control your emotional life and may discourage or punish the open expression of doubt, anger, grief, or even joy that doesn’t “fit” the group’s narrative.
Over time, you can learn to second‑guess your own feelings or label them as sinful, dramatic, or selfish.
To stay safe and accepted, you may start numbing out, minimizing what you feel, or only showing emotions that are approved by the group.
This kind of chronic emotional suppression can lead to emotional dissociation, where you disconnect from your true inner experience in order to match the emotional script the group expects from you.
4. Guilt & Fear
Religious cults often rely on chronic guilt and fear to keep people compliant.
You might be told that questioning a leader, missing a meeting, setting a boundary, or even having certain thoughts puts you at risk of punishment, abandonment, or eternal torment.
Over time, this constant emotional pressure can make you feel like you’re always one mistake away from disaster.
To survive that level of stress, you may start disconnecting from your own desires, needs, and instincts, or go numb so you do not have to feel the fear and shame so intensely.
This ongoing state of guilt and fear can lead to a dissociative pattern where you become more and more detached from your sense of agency, autonomy, and personal identity, and more focused on staying “safe” in the eyes of the group.
5. Rituals and Mind-Altering Practices
Many religious cults employ rituals or mind‑altering practices such as:
- prolonged worship sets
- emotionally charged altar calls
- fasting
- speaking in tongues
- repetitive messaging in sermons that build intensity over time
These practices can overwhelm your nervous system and trigger dissociation, especially when you are already carrying trauma.
You might feel a rush of euphoria, numbness, or a sense of leaving your body, and be told this means you are having a “god‑experience” or special encounter with the divine.
Because the group is framing these altered states as proof that their beliefs are true, it becomes harder to notice that what you are feeling is a very human response to emotional overload.
In reality, spiritually transcendent or altered‑state experiences show up across many religious and spiritual traditions, and even outside of any structured religion at all.
6. Identity Erasure
Many religious cults promote rigid expectations around gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender roles, sending the message that there is only one “godly” way to be a man, a woman, or a partner.
If your lived experience does not line up with these expectations—whether that looks like being queer or questioning, not identifying with hyper‑masculinity as a man, or not wanting children as a woman—you may learn to see your true self as a problem to fix rather than a person to honor.
To stay connected to the group, you might start editing yourself: hiding your attractions, toning down parts of your personality, or forcing yourself into roles and behaviors that feel deeply wrong in your body.
Over time, this pressure to align your identity with what the group expects can push you toward dissociation, where you disconnect from your desires, needs, and sense of self in order to survive in an environment that does not allow you to fully exist as who you are.
How to Stop Dissociating
If you find yourself frequently dissociating due to religious trauma, there are steps you can take to begin the healing process.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Understand Your Triggers
The first step in the recovery journey is figuring out how your dissociation manifests and then to start thinking about what seems to trigger it.
If your tendency to dissociate is connected to religious trauma, you’ll want to identify which aspects of religion trigger you.
These articles may help with the processes:
Get Connected
It’s important to have a strong support system when healing from religious trauma and dissociation.
This can include trusted friends or family members, therapy, or support groups specifically for those who have experienced religious indoctrination.
The Reclamation Collective offers a number of resources for connecting to religious trauma groups as well as therapists who specialize in religious trauma.
Practice Grounding Techniques
When dissociating, it’s essential to have a go-to coping mechanism to bring yourself back to the present moment.
Grounding techniques, such as deep breathing or focusing on physical sensations, can help you reconnect with your body and surroundings.
This PDF Download may be a helpful starting point in helping you develop grounding skills.
Set Boundaries
Boundaries are critical when you’re healing from chronic dissociation.
This may include setting boundaries with toxic people who are triggering your dissociation or establishing boundaries within yourself, such as learning to say no to things that make you uncomfortable.
It also means prioritizing proper rest, nourishment and body movement to help keep your nervous system regulated at baseline, making you less susceptible to dissociative episodes.
Seek Professional Help
If your dissociation is impacting your daily life and functioning, it’s important to seek professional help.
A therapist can provide a safe space for you to process your trauma and develop coping strategies to manage your dissociation.
Check out Psychology Today to find a licensed therapist in your state or region.
You can also learn more about working with me HERE.
Bringing It All Together
We have talked about what dissociation is, how it can range from everyday, harmless experiences to more serious dissociative disorders, and why it shows up so often for people who have been harmed in religious cults and other high‑control groups.
We also explored specific ways these environments fuel dissociation through:
- Chronic cognitive dissonance
- Thought control
- Emotional suppression
- Guilt and fear
- Mind‑altering practices
- Identity erasure
We also considered practical steps you can take to begin reconnecting with yourself, like identifying your triggers, building support, grounding, setting boundaries, and seeking professional help when you are ready.
If you recognize yourself in this, I want to re-assure you that there’s nothing “broken” about you—your mind and body have been doing their best to keep you safe in an unsafe environment.
Healing from chronic dissociation is possible, and you absolutely deserve the time, care, and support it takes to slowly come back to yourself.
References
Some Possible Next Steps:
If this article resonated with you and you’re wondering where to go from here, you might consider the following options:
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