Mental Health Resources

On the podcast, we often explore the complex intersections of faith, mental health, deconstruction, and healing. Whether you're navigating religious trauma, grappling with scrupulosity, or just looking to understand yourself more deeply, we believe access to compassionate, evidence-based support is essential. This list includes therapists, tools, directories, and research we’ve referenced or found helpful—curated for those on a similar path of untangling belief, rebuilding identity, and reclaiming a sense of self. There are resources to help.

RESEARCH & DEFINITIONS

  • Scrupulosity is a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) involving religious or moral obsessions. Scrupulous individuals are overly concerned that something they thought or did might be a sin or other violation of religious or moral doctrine. They may worry about what their thoughts or behavior mean about who they are as a person.

    ​​

    What are the symptoms of scrupulosity?

    • Common obsessions seen in scrupulosity include excessive concerns about:

    • Fear of committing blasphemy, or offending/angering God

    • Fear of having committed a sin

    • Behaving overly morally

    • Excessively striving for purity

    • Fear of going to hell or being punished by God

    • Fear of being possessed

    • Fear of death

    • Fear of the loss of impulse control

    • Doubting what you truly believe or feel

    • Needing to acquire certainty about religious beliefs


    Along with excessive worry about religious and moral issues, scrupulosity sufferers engage in mental and/or behavioral compulsions and avoidance of triggering situations. Behavioral compulsions may include:

    • Writing prayers to check they’re done “correctly”

    • Excessive confession 

    • Repeatedly seeking reassurance from religious leaders and loved ones

    • Repeated cleansing and purifying rituals

    • Acts of self-sacrifice

    • Treating attendance of religious services as obligatory when they are not actually so

    ​Source: 
    International OCD Foundation. (n.d.).
    What is OCD: Scrupulosity.
    https://iocdf.org/faith-ocd/what-is-ocd-scrupulosity/

  • EMDR is a psychotherapy approach designed to help people process and heal from traumatic or distressing experiences. It uses bilateral stimulation—often guided eye movements—to activate the brain’s natural healing processes, helping reduce the emotional intensity of difficult memories.

    EMDR was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987. She noticed that her own distressing thoughts lost their emotional charge when her eyes moved back and forth—possibly while watching leaves or grass move in the wind. This accidental observation led to years of research, including her first controlled study published in 1989, which demonstrated EMDR’s effectiveness in treating trauma. Since then, EMDR has become widely used and is recognized by organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as an effective treatment for PTSD and other trauma-related disorders.
     

    Source:

    Shapiro, F. (1989). Efficacy of the eye movement desensitization procedure in the treatment of traumatic memories. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2(2), 199–223. doi:10.1002/jts.2490020207

  • “Spiritual bypassing is the avoidance of uncomfortable feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs with spiritual beliefs or practices.”

    Mathieu also emphasizes that it often looks like detachment, excessive positivity, or rejection of the body and personal history.

    Source:
    Ingrid Mathieu, PhD, Recovering Spirituality: Achieving Emotional Sobriety in Your Spiritual Practice (2011)

THOUGHT LEADERS
Deconstruction
& Mental Health

  • Focus: Religious trauma, embodiment, complex PTSD, cult recovery

  • Focus: Queer mental health, spiritual harm, sexual shame
     

    • Website: matthiasroberts.com

    • Instagram: @matthiasroberts

    • Podcast: Queerology: A Podcast on Belief and Being

    • Book: Holy Runaways: Rediscovering Faith After Being Burned by Religion and Beyond Shame: Creating a Healthy Sex Life on Your Own Terms

  • Focus: Religious trauma, embodiment, complex PTSD, cult recovery
     

    • Website: drlauraeanderson.com

    • Instagram: @drlauraeanderson

    • Podcast: Reclaiming My Theology (guest appearances)

    • Book: When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion

  • Religious Trauma Institute

    Focus: Religious trauma, spiritual abuse, recovery without shame

    Website: religioustraumainstitute.com
    Instagram: @religioustraumainstitute

  • An ordained minister AND licensed psychologist—bridges spiritual and therapeutic worlds.​

    Focus: Trauma, faith integration, embodiment, justice, psychology

    • Website: drthema.com

    • Instagram: @dr.thema

    • Podcast: The Homecoming Podcast

    • Book: Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

RECOMMENDED THERAPISTS

  • Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)

    Specialties: 

    •  Internal Family Systems (IFS)-Informed practitioner

    • Trauma Healing and Nervous System Regulation specialist

    • Attachment-Based Therapy frameworks
       

    Website: andrewliem.com

    Instagram: @emotionsandus

  • Specialties: 

    • Self-Exploration

    • Trauma & Anxiety

    • EMDR

    • Addictive Patterns & Disordered Eating

    • Relational & Sexual Health

    • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy & Healthy Coping

    Website:.alignpsychotherapyla.com

    Instagram: @juliebrownpsyd

  • Specialties:

    • Trauma recovery

    • Sexual trauma

    • Support for adult children of emotionally enmeshed or triangulated family systems

    • Spiritual abuse and religious trauma, including

    • Support during faith deconstruction and spiritual realignment
       

    Website: www.williamsonwellness.live

MAJOR RESEARCH
& DATA SOURCES

Academic Articles & Studies

ON THE IMPACT OF RELIGION ON MENTAL HEALTH

  • Exline, Yali, & Sanderson (2000)

    Guilt, Discord, and Alienation: The Role of Religious Strain in Depression and Suicidality

    Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(12), 1481–1496

    https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(200012)56:12<1481::AID-JCLP7>3.0.CO;2-A

  • Abramowitz, Deacon, Woods, & Tolin (2004)

    Association Between Protestant Religiosity and Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms and Cognitions

    Depression and Anxiety, 20(2), 70–76

  • Siev, Baer, & Cohen (2011)
    Scrupulosity and Belief: The Role of Religious Practice and Cognitive Style
    Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(12), 882–887

  • Koltko-Rivera, M. E. (2004)
    The Psychology of Worldviews: Toward a Non-Relativistic Approach to Spiritual Development
    Review of General Psychology, 8(1), 3–58