Posttraumatic Spiritual Growth in the LGBTQ+ Community

Dr. Ryan Joseph Allen's doctoral research spent years listening for the answer. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 24 participants and a 407-person survey of LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies across the Midwestern US, this book examines what happens after religious or spiritual trauma and how, for many, growth follows it.

The findings are grounded, not simplified. LGBTQ+ participants reported more frequent and more intense trauma than their ally counterparts, but when it came to the growth that followed, the two groups looked remarkably alike. One of the clearest patterns to emerge: people who grew the most often moved away from formal religious affiliation and toward a spirituality defined on their own terms.

Originally written as a dissertation at Xavier University, this general-readership edition keeps the real research intact (the interviews, the data, the findings) with every participant's identifying details generalized to protect the confidentiality they were promised. It's for anyone who has wondered whether healing and faith can coexist, and for anyone doing the work of finding out.