Psychotherapy Alone Is Insufficient: Treating Clergy Sexual Abuse and Sacred Moral Injury

The experience of being sexual abused by clergy is most often conceptualized as a psychological condition requiring psychotherapy. Recent research and developments have provided more compelling conceptualizations with recovery plans that are broader than psychotherapy alone. This article describes four conceptualizations: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), moral injury, betrayal trauma, and sacred moral injury which is offered as the most compelling. Then, a five-step process of recovery, one of which is psychotherapy, is described along with the mental health professional's role in this process. A case example illustrates the implementation of this process.