Religious Trauma, Object Relations, and The False Self

Religious trauma can’t be understood only through symptom checklists—it emerges from deeply internalized relational and symbolic dynamics. In this episode of The Evidence-Based Therapist, we explore religious trauma through a psychoanalytic lens, drawing from thinkers like Freud, Winnicott, Rizzuto, and McWilliams to understand how a person’s “God image” forms, fractures, or heals.

We unpack how spiritual beliefs shape personality development, how community structures can reinforce false-self dynamics, and why disentangling God from the people who claim to represent God is often a core task of healing. We also discuss the role of annihilation anxiety, the function of belief for meaning-making, and why recovery isn't always about rejecting faith, but transforming the relationship with it.

This conversation features Ethan’s research on religious trauma and neurodivergence, and the ways psychoanalytic theory offers pathways beyond symptom relief toward identity, agency, and integration.

Topics include:

• The God image vs. the God representative
• Religious trauma as relational, not just doctrinal
• Why psychoanalysis offers a uniquely useful frame
• False-self development in spiritual environments
• The intersection of religious trauma and neurodivergence
• Healing through integration rather than rejection

Whether you work clinically with religious trauma, share these experiences personally, or are curious about how belief takes shape in the psyche, this episode offers a better language for what happens when the spiritual becomes wounding—and how it can become restorative again.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.