The study of alternative religious movements (ARMs) encompasses a wide range of groups, from Fundamentalist Mormons to Scientologists to Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is, however, little research, and almost none of it from a therapeutic perspective, on the experiences of children who are raised in these groups. This leads me to wonder about the stories of women who are raised in and then exit ARMs and how these stories might inform the work of helping professionals. This thesis provides a narrative analysis of memoirs written by women who were raised in and then left alternative religions. Through the lens of deconstruction and post-structuralist feminism, it considers the ways in which women who have left ARMs narrate their experiences and how their stories might inform practice. Findings indicate that the women experienced a life marked by a pervasive sense of difference (though not always expressed in a negative sense). Long periods of managing doubt, dissonance, and disenchantment resulted in exhaustion. In the context of an expanding world and motivated by relationships with those outside their religious groups, they experienced deconversion and, eventually, disaffiliated. Disaffiliation was experienced both as frightening and liberating, resulting in the need to construct new identities and sites of belonging outside their religious groups. I have displayed these findings in the form of a model of religious deconversion and disaffiliation. This research may help child and youth care workers, therapists, social workers, and other helpers develop wise practices when working with those who have been raised in ARMs. / Graduate / 2022-04-14
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/12886 |
| Date | 28 April 2021 |
| Creators | Pratezina, Jessica |
| Contributors | Hoskins, Marie L. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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