When the person who harmed you was also someone you trusted, depended on, or looked to for spiritual guidance, the injury goes deeper than fear. This article explains betrayal trauma, betrayal blindness, institutional betrayal and DARVO in the context of spiritual abuse and adult clergy sexual abuse. It looks at how they show up in churches and religious communities, especially where grooming or clergy sexual abuse has occurred.

Why do survivors of spiritual abuse so often return to the person who harmed them — and grieve them even after leaving? Psychologist Kylie Walls explains trauma bonding: the powerful attachment that forms through power imbalance and intermittent warmth, and why churches, ministries and religious communities are particularly fertile ground for it. Drawing on the work of Dutton and Painter, Patrick Carnes, and recent Cambridge research, this article explores how the bond is actively built through grooming and sacred authority, why doubt about a leader can feel like doubt about God, and what recovery involves. Written for survivors and those who support them, it makes clear that the pull back is a conditioned response, not a personal failing.

What sustains harm in spiritually abusive churches isn't the perpetrator alone — it's the quiet, semi-conscious compliance of those around them. A psychologist’s analysis of Václav Havel's The Power of the Powerless and his greengrocer as a lens for religious trauma, bystander complicity, and the slow work of repair.

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 with a area of focus 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.

Scrupulosity—religious OCD—can make faith feel like constant fear of disappointing God. Psychologist Kylie Walls explains that these struggles often stem from deeper attachment patterns shaped in childhood and reinforced by harmful spiritual environments. When leaders are controlling or shaming, the nervous system may learn to view God the same way. Healing is possible with supportive, evidence-based therapy.

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.

Adult clergy sexual exploitation is not an ‘affair’ but a betrayal of trust, power, and spiritual authority. This article explains the stages of grooming in clergy sexual abuse, highlighting patterns of coercive control, manipulation, and boundary violations. Learn how grooming erodes autonomy, the profound psychological and spiritual impact on survivors, and why survivor-centred, trauma-informed responses are essential for healing, justice, and safer faith communities.