FAQ
What is religious trauma?
Religious trauma is a moral, spiritual, mental, sexual, and/or physical injury that originates within a religious or faith community.
Why do I miss my faith, even though it felt harmful to me?
While there are as many answers to this question as there are people asking it, it is important to understand the structure and support that our faith provided for us. We wouldn’t have joined or stayed for as long as we did if there weren’t any benefits to it. Church and faith often provide familial support and built-in ways to connect with others. The beliefs and dogma in these communities also provide ways to understand a changing, sometimes anxiety-inducing world.
What is purity culture?
Purity culture is the pervasive belief that in order to be acceptable, loved, good, and godly, people must endeavor to remain pure. And what did they mean by pure?
The implications are far reaching, but purity culture expects us to remain sexually abstinent in all ways, maintaining a strict appearance of modesty and submission to patriarchal headship and male authority. In the midst of teaching abstinence only outside of marriage, it was explicitly stated that heterosexual relationships are the only way to connect to others in a way that is pleasing to God. While the teachings originated in the American Protestant Evangelical movement, there soon became a ripping domino movement that impacted church youth for more than a generation
Purity culture rose to popularity due to publications such as I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Every Young Man’s Battle, and Captivating flooded the evangelical Christian book market focusing on sexual purity and virginity. Young church people were being inundated with conservative talking points on sexuality and gender not only from the pews but also in their homes, bookstores, and popular media; at the crux of all of this messaging was the basic “truth” that in order to be lovable, good, and godly, they needed to be straight. They needed to be obedient. They needed to be abstinent. They needed to be pure.
Why is therapy so expensive?
Private pay therapy generally costs between $100-$250 per session, influenced by provider experience, geographic location, and insurance payout rates.
Key Cost Factors
- Location: Big cities have higher rates ($200–$350+) than rural areas ($80–$150).
- Credentials: Licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) or general counselors charge less than psychiatrists and providers with medical degrees. LCSWs also charge more than LGSWs due to their extensive experience in the credentialing process.
- Insurance: In-network copays often range from $0 to $50, while out-of-pocket costs vary without a plan. Due to recent changes in how many insurance providers pay clinicians and what information is required for this payment, some clinicians are transitioning to private pay rates.
Dr. Lawrimore charges $175 per 60 minute session, which is below the market rate for therapy in Washington DC. In order to help further mitigate cost, she is happy to provide superbills for reimbursement from insurance companies.
Resources
- Power, Control, and Purity: A Qualitative Study on the Messaging and Impacts of Purity Culture on Ex-Evangelicals
- Religious Trauma Syndrome: The Futile Fate of Faith
- Leaving the Fold
- Rebuilding a full life after walking away from organized religion
- Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
- The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church
- Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
- White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America
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