My family is heavily religious.. or was.. and my non immediate family is so religious that apparently they hate gay people and trans folk but respect my name and pronouns.. I'm just like..I get so anxious following pro Christian creators on platforms..the people who be most mean or discriminatory towards me always have Bible quotes in their bio..I'm not trying to slander or shame christians..I'm just like so anxious to interact with people who actively state their religion because some shitty people part of their religion are the ones who attack lgbt people like me the most.. and they're not exactly disability friendly either.. atleast..most I've met. I have a few religious friends that I accept..I just find myself getting anxiety filled intrusive thoughts worrying that they secretly don't support me and are just my friend to poke fun amongst themselves.. it doesn't help that i have to be on Instagram for work as an artist..no matter how much I tell the algorithm to remove religious stuff from my page, it doesn't..
I have a lot of anxiety interacting with heavily pro Christian content
Help/AdviceI'm sorry you experience this.
I also live in a heavily religious area and I had my moments of getting triggered even by 'religious' sounds, such as church's bell. It was a little hell of itself.
I think instead of trying to control the external factors, such as Instagram algorithm, perhaps you can try to work on the internal factor.
I understand that religious trauma is challenging to overcome, just like most trauma.
I'm sending you hugs.
Thank you.. I'm trying to remind myself that like many lgbt people the whole community is a mixed bag of goods n bads.. there will be people who use religion to justify horrible things..and there are people who are lgbt like me n Christian and do wonderful things! Even allies..I have some friends who are Christian and allies too.. its just something maybe I have to work on in therapy..I'm worried it would offend my therapist..she knows I have religious trauma and she's never disclosed her religion to me..I just ..don't want her to think im a horrible person for trying not to touch or interact with anything religion based..especially Christianity
I think it's your therapist's job to help you through any of your trauma.
If she felt offended, that's her business, because she's literally there to help you heal, not too different from general doctors.
Still, mental health professionals are still human. I understand your concern.
My main point is that actually decent therapists would not think of you as a horrible person because you have religious trauma.
My own psychologist is hella religious, but she agrees that there's no point in me being religious just because and that the only genuine, healthy way to go is me finding my spirituality in my own way.
Now that's one healthy mental health professional.
Thank you so much for listening to me and for your advice. I will bring it up to my therapist hopefully next session
You are welcome. Be cautious, still, it's healthy to go to anything with a handful of healthy skepticism.
My psychologist is a pretty rare person (though my counsellor before her was pretty fantastic as well, he was incredibly helpful, though we never got deep enough to my religious trauma).
I have to really, really stress this: many people had not done enough internal work to be able to not take it personally when someone come for values they hold on to.
For example, my psychologist could get offended when I dropped it to her that I do have religious trauma and that I have my moments of "Screw God, screw religions", which is very understandable from trauma perspective.
But she didn't.
She actually could say, "Yeah, I get it, I had my own moments of being angry at God. I know how you feel. It's valid."
Still, people can always surprise us with how understanding, kind, and helpful they are.
I'm crossing my fingers for you!