"G-d, in you I trusted, let me never be ashamed": Shame and sexual abuse among Orthodox Jews

Previous research suggests that generalized shame is an important consequence of sexual abuse, and that it maintains symptoms and hampers recovery. Orthodox Jews view sexuality as a powerful experience that is sacred within a loving marriage yet profane and damaging outside of that context. Sexual abuse may, therefore, be perceived as a shameful violation of modesty and spiritually degrading. Accordingly, we hypothesized that abuse would be more strongly related to shame among Orthodox Jews and that this would at least partially mediated resulting distress.

We assessed sexual abuse history, shame, and distress in a convenience sample of 628 adult patients completing an intake process for outpatient psychotherapy, of which 109 reported an Orthodox Jewish religious affiliation.

Among Orthodox patients, 43% reported a history of sexual abuse and this group reported substantially higher levels of shame compared to both Orthodox patients without a history of sexual abuse and non-Orthodox patients with a history of abuse. Moreover, elevated shame fully mediated the relationship between abuse and depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and spiritual struggles.

Results suggest that treatment of Orthodox survivors of sexual abuse requires particular attention to shame and that further research is warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).