This article by psychologist Kylie Walls explores the psychological effects of adult sexual grooming and exploitation in religious and spiritual settings, including clergy sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, and clergy sexual misconduct. Written by a psychologist specialising in religious trauma, it examines how grooming works in faith communities, why survivors often do not recognise it as abuse, and what the aftermath looks like, including PTSD, complex trauma, shame, loss of faith, and disrupted sense of self.

Many people who have been groomed or manipulated in a religious setting ask the same question: was there something about me that made this happen? Written by a psychologist with a special interest in spiritual abuse and adult grooming, this piece explains what grooming and manipulation look like in religious contexts — and why vulnerability is never a personal failing.

Spiritual abuse can cause lasting psychological harm, including complex PTSD, a fragmented sense of self, and deep shame. This article explores the trauma symptoms associated with spiritual abuse — including emotional dysregulation, disturbed relationships, and a negative self-concept — and what recovery can look like.

Spiritual abuse in high-control religious environments often draws people in through love-bombing, trauma patterns, or authority dynamics. This article explores why people join, stay, or become complicit in spiritually abusive churches, using insights from psychology, coercive control, and betrayal trauma. Learn how power, obedience, and gaslighting keep people trapped—and how Christian psychology support can help survivors find healing, autonomy, and freedom.

A exploration of family estrangement, faith, trauma, religious trauma and boundaries — examining when distance becomes necessary and how healing can occur with compassion and discernment.

Religious trauma can develop within family systems shaped by control, silence, and spiritual authority. This article explores lived experiences of those who have experienced spiritual abuse, coercive control and domestic violence in religious families.

Understand how grooming operates in adult, faith, and professional settings. A faith-sensitive psychologist explains the psychology of grooming across contexts, manipulation, power imbalance, and recovery after spiritual or relational betrayal.

Understanding adult clergy sexual exploitation requires insight into spiritual abuse and the psychological dynamics that make victims more vulnerable. This article explores how cognitive dissonance, schema chemistry, and reverence for spiritual leaders can cloud victims' perceptions, making abuse harder to recognize. Highlighting the importance of appropriate vulnerability in relationships and the misuse of pastoral authority, it addresses the spiritual harm victims experience.