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Family Excommunication And Fleeing Nones: Religion, Nonreligion, And Estrangement In Therapy, Jonathan Ludi Leitch

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Religion fractures families, and therapists working with clients in search of healing have so far had little empirical guidance on how to help. This phenomenological study is the first to explore the experiences of nonreligious Americans using therapy as a way to address religion-related family estrangement. Seventeen participants, all self-identifying as nonreligious but raised in Christian families, were interviewed about their therapy experiences. Most had seen individual therapists and preferred an individual focus but appreciated systemic conceptualizations and interventions. Nondirective, evidence-based, and, when appropriate, trauma-informed approaches were found to be most helpful. Nonreligious, especially non-Christian, therapists were usually but not …