Leaving the Fold
by Marlene Winell
Religious Trauma Syndrome. She named it. Here's how to heal.
For you if
you have left an authoritarian religion and need someone who understands exactly what that costs and has concrete tools for the specific work of recovery
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Winell grew up the daughter of a missionary, had a genuine born-again experience, and then spent the next phase of her life figuring out what it cost her — before spending twenty-eight years as a psychologist helping others do the same. She coined the term Religious Trauma Syndrome to name what happens to people who leave authoritarian religion: the grief, the identity crisis, the loss of community, the shame, the specific disorientation of having your entire framework for meaning suddenly removed. This is the only self-help psychology book written specifically for people recovering from toxic religion — not those questioning their faith while remaining comfortable, but those who have left or are leaving and need concrete tools for the specific work of rebuilding a self that was organized entirely around beliefs you no longer hold. The recovery and rebuilding book in the coercive control bundle: Combating Cult Mind Control names the mechanism by which groups capture people's reality, Leaving the Fold shows what it takes to reclaim it. Essential for anyone doing deconstruction work — from fundamentalist Christianity specifically or from any authoritarian religious structure — and for the therapists, family members, and community organizers who support them.
Where This Book Lives
Part of a Reading Journey
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For the family bookshelf
Same idea, written for a younger reader. Good for reading together.
