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Tag: spiritual bypassing

A rocky alcove or cave that distorts perception.
Emotional Abuse & Coercive Control

What Is Gaslighting, Really? The Precise Definition Behind the Most Overused Word in Emotional Abuse

The word “gaslighting” is everywhere — and that’s exactly the problem. When a precise clinical term gets stretched to mean everything, it stops meaning anything at all. Here’s the real definition, the five specific mechanisms that define it, and why what you’re carrying deserves a word heavy enough to hold it.

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August 24, 2026 No Comments
Faith & Spiritual Abuse

How Can God Be Love If Religious People Hurt Me?

Explore a personal journey of questioning God’s love amid religious abuse. Discover how Jesus heals and redeems pain caused by those misusing faith, offering hope and a renewed understanding of God’s heart.

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January 23, 2025 No Comments
Emotional Abuse & Coercive Control

Narcissistic Victim Syndrome: Overview

Our working definition of emotional abuse is that it is an ongoing pattern of selfish, destructive behaviors used to gain and maintain control over their spouse for one’s own benefit at the expense of their spouse. Underlying this pattern of behavior is a strong sense of entitlement to use others regardless of the cost to them. Narcissistic, emotional abuse eventually culminates in a very complicated case of un-health. The soul-crushing experience of being dismissed, unheard and unseen, belittled, and silenced culminates in becoming a dead (wo)man walking.

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September 5, 2023 No Comments
Faith & Spiritual Abuse

What Biblical Submission Actually Means — And What It Isn’t

If you’ve ever been told that submission means obedience — that your job is to comply, and his job is to lead, no matter what that leadership looks like — I want to offer you a different picture. One that’s actually more faithful to what Scripture says, and far less damaging to your soul.

Submission that is demanded ceases to be submission. It becomes servitude. And love that is demanded ceases to be love — it becomes obligation. That’s not a minor distinction. It’s the difference between a soul that flourishes and a soul that shrivels.

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November 1, 2020 No Comments
Faith & Spiritual Abuse

Denying the Reality of Spiritual Abuse

We have a great propensity to deny what we don’t want to see. It’s often hard to imagine anyone being as cruel as the spouse you hear about in your clients’ experiences. When this person is someone you also know from your community or church, the denial can be fierce.

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October 28, 2018 No Comments
Faith & Spiritual Abuse

The False Safety of a Marriage Idol

God loves you too much to let you go through the rest of your life putting your hope in a marriage idol, even if that idol was designed to be a powerful reflection, and experience, of Him.

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February 19, 2016 No Comments