Navigating Religious Trauma, Spiritual Abuse, and Lies About God: An interview with Dr. Jamie Marich

Curt and Katie interview Dr. Jamie Marich about her new book coming out in October 2024, You Lied to Me About God. We explore the impacts of religious abuse, Jamie’s personal story of spiritual trauma, and what therapists can miss when working with clients on these topics. We also dig into the idea that therapists can let their clients down when they don’t do their own internal work, address their bias, and show up effectively.
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An Interview with Dr. Jamie Marich

Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they) inspires people and systems to heal the wounds that keep them stuck, allowing for authentic transformation free of shame and stigma. A TEDx speaker, clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, lay spiritual director, short filmmaker, Reiki master, yoga teacher, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to redefine therapy. She is a woman in long-term recovery from an addictive disorder and lives with dissociative identities. As a queer woman who survived multiple spiritually abusive experiences in childhood and adulthood, Jamie is passionate about helping people to recognize where religion and spirituality may be causing harm in their lives so that they can chart a course for personalized healing.

Jamie began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003 teaching English and music. Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, and spiritual abuse while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Akron, Ohio. Marich is the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy. From her college days until 2012, Jamie was a high school speech and debate coach, and she still enjoys mentoring professionals in the art of public speaking. Jamie led two individual students to Ohio state titles, and she was a coach on two state championship teams (2009, 2011) with Howland High School.

In this podcast episode, we look at the impacts of spiritual trauma on therapy clients

We invited our friend, Dr. Jamie Marich, back on the podcast to talk about her story (and her upcoming book) that deals with spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and the lies that have been told "in God's name" that lead to shame and isolation for many of our clients.


What are the impacts of spiritual abuse and religious trauma?

Definition of shame as the lie someone told you about yourself
Spiritual abuse goes deeper because the lies are told in God’s name
There are big impacts of religious trauma on those in the LGBTQ+ community as well as those who are seeking deep spiritual connection
Looking at the concept of forgiveness within the context of religious and other trauma
How forgiveness can be helpful
How forgiveness is weaponized within the church and can be harmful
Forgiveness is not required, acceptance is a more appropriate goal
How can therapists make sure they are not adding to the harm for clients with religious trauma?
Do your own work, so you can approach clients where they are
Be authentic, don’t lie to your clients, but don’t bring it up unless asked
Seek consultation to enhance your understanding of the client’s situation
Cultural humility is key, and don’t rely solely on your clients to be the cultural informant
Do not impose your spirituality on your clients, but be open to discussing spirituality
Be aware of the power dynamics, so you don’t become the client’s new guru
Help clients to find their own answers rather than relying on external authority
Other ideas we touched on in this podcast episode
The importance of critical thinking
“Therapy cults” that promote adherence to a specific intervention model
The challenges of folks seeking compliance and righteousness, rather than taking a nuanced approach to topics and deciding for themselves


Who we are:
Curt Widhalm, LMFT
http://www.curtwidhalm.com

Katie Vernoy, LMFT
http://www.katievernoy.com


A Quick Note:
Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We’re working on it.
Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren’t trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don’t want to, but hey.