Your Journey to Mental Wellbeing Starts Here
The Afterglow of a Faith I No Longer Hold. A personal and therapeutic reflection on religious trauma
Leaving Was Only the Beginning.... Growing up in South Africa, religion was a total environment; shaping identity, morality, relationships, and even the way I assessed safety. Eventually, I stepped away from the belief system that raised me. Yet long after I left, I noticed something surprising: I was still living with the afterglow of the faith I no longer held. The thoughts lingered. The guilt lingered. The body memories lingered. The reflexes shaped in childhood lingered. From both my personal experience and my work in trauma therapy, I’ve come to understand that leaving faith is not a simple cognitive decision. It is a psychological unwinding. What remains afterwards is what I call the Religion Afterglow.
MENTAL HEALTHTRAUMAINFORMEDTHERAPYRELIGIOUS TRAUMA
By Theresa Potter — Social Worker, Psychotherapist, Religious Trauma Practitioner
11/29/20254 min read


Post-Religious Residual Syndrome: A Therapeutic Lens
To describe what many former believers experience, I use a non-clinical framework I call Post-Religious Residual Syndrome (PRRS).
It is not a diagnosis.
It is a trauma-informed way of understanding the cognitive, emotional, somatic, and relational residue left behind by immersive religious conditioning.
Cognitive Imprints: The Mind After Religion
Professionally, I have seen again and again how religious systems create cognitive templates that function like trauma pathways:
all-or-nothing thinking
catastrophizing (“If I do X, something terrible will happen”)
moral absolutism
guilt reflexes that activate before thought
internalised fear-based scripts (“God is watching”, “You will be punished”)
From a therapeutic perspective, these are learned neural shortcuts, reinforced through repetition, emotional intensity, and authority pressure.
In IFS terms, many clients carry parts shaped by early religious messaging:
the “good girl” parts
the “obedient child”
the “fearful believer”
the internalised pastor or parent voice
These parts don’t disappear simply because belief does. They require unburdening.
Identity Reconstruction: Who Am I Without God?
Leaving a faith system is a kind of psychological death and rebirth. In therapy, I often see clients grappling with:
the collapse of their previous self-concept
the loss of a moral identity bestowed by the church
Shame for no longer being the “ideal believer”
confusion about whether desires, boundaries, or opinions are “allowed”
This is not fixation — it is identity reintegration, a natural stage of trauma recovery.
Strategic psychotherapy often frames this as rewriting the “life narrative” after the old script has been removed.
In simple terms:
You cannot exit a totalising identity without creating a new one.
The Emotional Aftershock: The Nervous System Responds
I have sat with many clients — and my own past self — as they navigate a messy mix of emotions:
anger (often a protective response against spiritual coercion)
sadness (mourning time, innocence, or relationships lost)
shame (deeply conditioned in many religious cultures)
relief (liberation from fear-based systems)
disorientation (“What replaces God?”)
From a somatic perspective, religious trauma often presents similarly to complex trauma:
tightness in the chest
chronic hypervigilance
fear around decision-making
dissociative guilt responses
Processing is not optional — it is the body completing what it could not resolve in the environment where the trauma occurred.
Losing a Social Home: The Attachment Wound
In my practice, one of the most painful aspects of religious trauma is attachment disruption.
Clients often lose:
community
family acceptance
structure
rituals
shared language
Leaving religion is a relational rupture, not just an ideological one.
Talking about religion after leaving is not an obsession. It is the nervous system seeking new attachment points, new community, and new ways of being understood.
The Backlash Effect: Why Many Former Believers Swing Hard the Other Way
Professionally, I see this pattern frequently, a pendulum swing away from religious control.
From a trauma perspective, this overcorrection is a recalibration of the self.
Overcorrection as Self-Protection
The more authoritarian or shame-based the system, the stronger the rebound.
In IFS terms, previously suppressed parts (such as the rebellious adolescent, the rational thinker, or the intuitive self) surge forward to reclaim space.
This isn’t dysfunction.
It’s healing.
Reclaiming Autonomy
Many clients tell me they were taught to distrust themselves:
their intuition
their desires
their moral compass
their autonomy
Critiquing religion becomes a way of strengthening the muscles of self-trust.
Anger as Moral Restoration
In therapy, anger often emerges as the corrective emotion that restores boundaries after years of suppression.
Anger is not bitterness.
It is clarity.
Why the Afterglow Doesn’t Fade Quickly
From a trauma-informed viewpoint, several elements keep religious residue alive.
1. Conditioning Shapes the Brain
Fear-based conditioning embeds deeply. Many high-control religious environments function like:
authoritarian systems
closed belief ecosystems
shame-driven behavioural conditioning
Undoing these patterns is neurological work.
2. The Social Environment Reinforces It
Living in South Africa — where religion saturates public life — means the trauma cues remain active.
Clients often say:
“You can leave the church, but the church won’t leave you alone.”
3. Rebuilding Meaning is Intensive Therapy Work
In therapy, clients confront large existential questions:
What do I believe now?
How do I create meaning?
What is morality without fear?
How do I feel safe in my own mind and body?
This is a deep, purposeful reconstruction.
4. Healing Happens in Community
Shared stories are powerful.
Ex-believers find each other instinctively — a form of collective repair.
Community is not a sign of being stuck.
It is a sign of healing.
The South African Layer: Why Religious Trauma Feels Heavier Here
Apartheid-Era Theology
Religion here was used as a tool of power, oppression, and moral justification. Processing this is multi-generational work.
Charismatic and Evangelical Extremes
The emotional highs, supernatural narratives, spiritual warfare, and prosperity teachings create somatic imprints that behave like trauma memories.
A Secular Constitution in a Deeply Religious Nation
This tension forces ex-believers to continually negotiate their identity.
What the Afterglow Really Represents (Both Personally and Clinically)
For me, and for many clients, the religion afterglow is:
a trauma echo
an identity reconstruction process
a social reorientation
somatic unwinding
a cognitive recalibration
a moral reclamation
a necessary stage of growth
It is not pathology.
It is healing unfolding.
Closing Reflections
Leaving religion is not stepping out of a building.
It is stepping out of a psychological ecosystem that shaped:
your sense of self
your relationship with your body
your perception of safety
your moral worth
your place in the world
Talking about religion afterwards is not clinging to the past.
It is integrating it, slowly, compassionately, and consciously.
The afterglow remains the way the scent of the ocean lingers on your clothes after a long day at the beach. With time, reflection, and therapeutic support, your new life gently exhales it.
The continued conversation about religion is not nostalgia or fixation. It is integration. It is healing. It is the nervous system unlearning what it once believed its survival depended on.
Faith leaves its imprint, like the scent of the sea that lingers long after you’ve left the shoreline. Over time, through reflection, support, and courage, the wind changes, and you learn the texture of your own voice again.
Until eventually, you breathe freely.


Get in touch
Take the first step towards a brighter, more balanced life. Explore the transformative potential of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy with Serene Solutions, and embark on a journey of healing, growth, and self-discovery.






