7 Signs Your Religion Gave You Scrupulosity

I was walking down the road with a friend one day when she casually mentioned a term I’d never heard before: scrupulosity.

She said it was a kind of obsessive, compulsion-like thinking around doing the right thing or being morally or spiritually pure.

Because almost every thought in my mind was about pleasing God, honoring Him, serving Him, and being obedient to His will.

My greatest hope was for my family and me to be in heaven.

And in that moment… a surprising wave of relief washed over me.

Like—wait.

Maybe this constant pressure, this mental looping, this spiritual exhaustion…

Maybe it wasn’t what God expected.

Maybe I wasn’t being faithful.

Maybe I was just unwell.

Scrupulosity is a form of religious OCD.

And in high-control religion, it’s not rare—it’s normalized.

Here are 7 signs your religion may have given it to you:

1. You obsess over whether you’ve sinned—even in your thoughts or intentions.

2. You feel like you have to have daily devotions, or you might unknowingly fall into Satan’s temptations in subtle ways.

3. You panic about your salvation—constantly wondering if you’re truly forgiven.

4. You avoid things you enjoy out of fear of being “worldly.”

5. You replay moments or conversations to see if you messed up.

6. You’re always scanning your heart for wrong motives.

7. You feel guilty all the time—like no amount of effort is ever enough.

Sound familiar?

High-control religion often calls this:

“Conviction”

“Being led by the Spirit”

“A tender conscience”

But what if it’s actually trauma wrapped in theology?

It’s what happens when:

Love is defined as obedience

Sinlessness is the goal

But scripture says:

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear.”

—1 John 4:18

So if your faith journey has been shaped more by fear than freedom—

If anxiety has become your spiritual companion—

It’s worth asking:

Is this God?

Is this love?

Or is this a distortion?

Healing begins when we stop spiritualizing our anxiety… And start tending to our nervous systems, our inner child, and our deep need for safety.

You’re not broken.

You were shaped by fear.

And fear was never God.