Editing Religious trauma syndrome (section)

=== Betrayal trauma and shattered assumptions theory ===
While the traditional paradigm defining PTSD focuses on fear response to trauma and emphasizes corrective emotional processing as treatment, RTS may be better understood as a set of symptoms comparable to [[betrayal trauma]] informed by [[shattered assumptions theory]].<ref name="Winell BABCP 3" /> Betrayal trauma adds a fourth assumption ("people are trustworthy and worth relating to") to Janoff-Bulman's original three: (the overall benevolence of the world, the meaningfulness of the world, and self worth).<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Freyd|first=Jennifer and Anne DePrince|title=Loss of the Assumptive World: a theory of traumatic loss|publisher=Psychology Press|year=2002|isbn=1583913130|editor-last=Kauffman|editor-first=Jeffrey|pages=73|chapter=The Harm of Trauma: Pathological Fear, Shattered Assumptions, or Betrayal?}}</ref> Betrayal trauma theory acknowledges that victims unconsciously keep themselves from becoming aware of betrayal in order to keep from shattering that fourth basic assumption, the loss of which would be traumatic.<ref name=":8" />

Religious trauma can be compared to betrayal trauma because of the trust placed in authoritarian communities and religious leaders which causes harm to individuals. Betrayal trauma theory also acknowledges the power of shattered assumptions to cause trauma. With RTS, individuals are not only experiencing betrayal from family, religious community, and trusted faith leaders, they are also experiencing a shattered faith.<ref name="Winell BABCP 3" /> The potential extremity of feelings in relation to losing one's worldview while also losing emotional and social support to get through any given crisis can cause further trauma.

While fear paradigms tend to focus on treating symptoms of trauma through exposure therapy and attention to emotional regulation, betrayal trauma theory looks at the social context in which the betrayal occurred, placing the [[pathology]] in the traumatic event rather than the individual.<ref name=":8" /> This affects treatment approaches and also informs the treatment for RTS.