Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
6. Janelle warns that when prayer and “speaking truth” don’t stop trauma responses, Christians can “lose hope” and even “start to blame them,” which becomes “retraumatizing”; where do you see this blame dynamic in modern Christianity (even subtly), and how does it expose our assumptions about sanctification, willpower, and what “faith” should look like?
Another way to ask: Where do you see Christians (even quietly) blaming people when prayer and “speaking truth” don’t stop trauma symptoms? What does that reveal about what we assume sanctification, willpower, and “real faith” should look like?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the transcript, the blame dynamic shows up when Christians interpret ongoing symptoms as spiritual failure—assuming the person is not trying, not believing, or not doing the right religious actions—rather than recognizing bodily threat responses. This exposes an assumption that sanctification should look like quick symptom removal through willpower, prayer, or “truth,” and that continued struggle means deficient faith.
- She describes the pattern: “we pray for them and they still feel the trauma… we speak truth… and their body is still experiencing the trauma.”
- Result: helpers “lose hope,” which trauma sufferers “really need people… not to do.”
- Escalation: “we can start to blame them… ‘you’re not trying hard enough… you need to do more.’”
- Impact: blame becomes “retraumatizing… added shame,” and “sometimes we add suffering.”
- She notes a broader tendency toward “behavior modifications” instead of “sourcing the trauma underneath.”