Counseling Services
Often there is more to work through than we can manage, even with much prayer, or the help of friends and family. Mental and emotional health, like physical health, needs maintenance and attention. Resources to further you along your path of healing would be incomplete without encouraging you to consider reaching out to a well-trained and believing counselor, in case it might be beneficial to you in your own unique situation.
The Catholic Psychotherapy Association and Catholic Therapists allow you to search by state to help you find a qualified counsellor in your area.
CatholicPsych.com offers online courses and resources including daily mentorship so you can have help all along the way (for those in need of financial assistance, ask about available scholarships), and all based on a Catholic understanding of the human person and our relationship to God. There might be something there just the right fit for you!
Catholic Counselors also offers tele-counseling so you can get help no matter where you are!
Catholic counselor Sonja Corbitt offers individual consultations as well as a Sacred Healing Masterclass!
Mental health professionals are trained to know what makes a healthy mind and heart, and to aid in repairing injured ones, just as a medical doctor knows how to repair an injured body. Even a non-Catholic or non-Christian counselor can be of immense help when someone has suffered religious trauma, sexual or emotional abuse, or years of struggling in dysfunctional relationships.
If you're looking for someone who specializes in any particular area, click here to search by a wide array of criteria in order to find someone who has the right qualifications to assist you.
Resources Specific to Cult Recovery
Many accounts from former traditionalists indicate patterns of cult-like behavior in their previous environments, especially within the more radical groups. These groups display behavioral patterns consistent with the warning signs identified by many experts in this field, including but not limited to:
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Absolute authoritarianism without accountability
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No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry
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Isolation from family and friends, especially if they leave the group or refuse to join
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Criticism or rejection of the group seen as "persecution" for a righteous cause
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Fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions
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Being made to believe it is a sin to leave the group
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The group/leader is always correct and is the only legitimate source of truth
There are many resources to help if you can relate to the above:
The International Cultic Studies Association provides help, articles, events, and more about psychological manipulation and abuse in cultic and other high-control environments.
The Cult Education Institute is a nonprofit library with archived information about destructive cults, controversial groups, and other related movements.
The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control, from Dr. Steven Hassan's Freedom of Mind Resource Center, can help you determine if the group or environment you were in used these methods of control.
The website A Little Bit Culty offers a long list of cult recovery resources (websites/experts, books, counselors, and other articles) to help you try to figure out if you are in a high-control environment or if you are trying to help someone else out of one (our site members have found this checklist to be very useful).
Other Resources
A Redemptorist priest with decades of experience ministering to those suffering from scrupulosity offers many helpful resources
Helpful resources and information addressing issues related to abuse occurrence and prevention
Catholic community support for
survivors of clerical abuse
Offers resources to assist sexual abuse survivors and their families
Jon Hershfield, MFT:
"Moral Scrupulosity OCD: Part 1"
"Moral Scrupulosity OCD: Part 2"
"Moral Scrupulosity OCD: Part 3"
Kendra Cherry:
"What is Spiritual Bypassing?"
(Caveat: this is a secular article, but the principle it presents is often a problem for Christians/Catholics and needs to be addressed. This is the best explanation of Spiritual Bypassing the editor has yet found.)
Brene Brown (videos):
"The Price of Invulnerability"
"Anatomy of Trust"
Article by Paul Fahey
(Podcast episode discussing this article)