Works Cited

Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Addressing in Clinical Situations

Course #9658L-

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  • Participation Instructions
    • Review the course material online or in print.
    • Complete the course evaluation.
    • Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.

1. Bagwell-Gray ME, Thaller J, Messing JT, Durfee A. Women’s reproductive coercion and pregnancy avoidance: associations with homicide risk, sexual violence, and religious abuse. Violence Against Women. 2021;27(12-13):2294-2312.

2. Blue K. Healing Spiritual Abuse. InterVarsity Publishing; 1993.

3. Brown J. Grounded Spirituality. Enrealment Press; 2019.

4. Center for Unhindered Living. Qualities of healthy spirituality. Published 2012. Accessed 2012.

5. Cloitre M, Courtois CA, Ford JD, et al. The ISTSS Expert Consensus Treatment Guidelines for Complex PTSD in Adults. 2012.

6. Davis M, Johnson M. Exploring Black clergy perspectives on religious/spiritual related domestic violence: first steps in facing those who wield the sword abusively. J Aggress Maltreat Trauma. 2021;30(7):950-971.

7. Ellis HM, Hook J, Zuniga S, Hodge AS, Ford KM, Davis DE, van Tongeren DR. Religious/spiritual abuse and trauma: a systematic review of the empirical literature. Spiritual Clin Pract. 2022;9(4):213-231.

8. Fowler J. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development. Viking/HarperCollins; 1981.

9. Hobson WW, Enroth R, Langone M, Giambalvo C. Suffer the Little Children: Understanding and Overcoming Spiritual Abuse. 2012. Kindle edition.

10. Koch D, Edstrom L. Development of the spiritual harm and abuse scale. J Sci Study Relig. 2022;61(2):476-506.

11. Kramer JK, Alstad D. The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power. North Atlantic Books; 1993.

12. Landers AL, Danes SM, Campbell AR, Hawk SW. Abuse after abuse: the recurrent maltreatment of American Indian children in foster care and adoption. Child Abuse Negl. 2021;111:104805.

13. Langone MD, ed. Recovery From Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse. W.W. Norton and Co; 1993.

14. Levis RV, Siniego LB. An integrative framework for EMDR therapy as an anti-oppression endeavor. In: Nickerson MI, ed. Cultural Competence and Healing Culturally-Based Trauma With EMDR Therapy: Innovative Strategies and Protocols. Springer Publishing Company; 2016.

15. Marich J. EMDR in addiction continuing care: a phenomenological study of women in recovery. Psychol Addict Behav. 2010;24(3):498-507.

16. Marich J. EMDR Made Simple: Four Approaches to Using EMDR With Every Client. PESI Publishing; 2011.

17. Marich J. No longer trapped: insights on spiritual abuse recovery. Christian Feminism Today. Published 2018. Accessed February 5, 2026. https://eewc.com/spiritual-abuse/

18. National Domestic Violence Hotline. What is spiritual abuse? Accessed July 25, 2022. https://www.thehotline.org/resources/what-is-spiritual-abuse/

19. Oakley L, Kinmond K, Humphreys J, Dioum M. Safeguarding children who are exposed to abuse linked to faith or belief. Child Abuse Rev. 2019;28(1):27-38.

20. Orlowski K. Spiritual Abuse Recovery: Dynamic Research on Finding a Place of Wholeness. Wipf and Stock Publishing; 2010.

21. Plante T. Clericalism contributes to religious, spiritual, and behavioral struggles amongst Catholic priests. Religions. 2020;11(5):217.

22. Purcell BC. Spiritual Terrorism: Spiritual Abuse From the Womb to the Tomb. AuthorHouse; 2008.

23. Riley R. Post Traumatic Church Syndrome: One Woman’s Desperate, Funny, and Healing Journey to Explore 30 Religions Before Her 30th Birthday. Howard Books; 2015.

24. Ryan D, Ryan J. Rooted in God’s Love. InterVarsity Publishing; 1992.

25. Shaw D. Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation. Routledge; 2014.

26. Simmons BW. Coming Out Mormon: An Examination of Religious Orientation, Spiritual Trauma, and PTSD Among Mormon and Ex-Mormon LGBTQA Adults. Doctoral dissertation. University of Georgia; 2017. Accessed February 5, 2026. https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/simmons_brian_w_201712_phd.pdf

27. Stein A. Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachments in Cults and Totalitarian Systems. Routledge; 2021.

28. Van Vonderen J, Johnson D. The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Authority Within the Church. Bethany House Publishers; 1991.

  • Back to Course Home
  • Participation Instructions
    • Review the course material online or in print.
    • Complete the course evaluation.
    • Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.