The Cult of Mormon Therapists

What happens when a church treats teenage hormones like a moral emergency… and then appoints its own therapists to fix it? This week, Amanda and Reese are joined by John Dehlin (@johndehlin) of the Mormon Stories podcast (@mormstories) to unpack the deeply culty world of Mormon Therapy, where normal human behavior gets pathologized and sexual shame is framed as “treatment.” Join us as we unpack how Mormon teachings around sex, purity, and control have led to widespread sexual dysfunction, guilt, and fear and how “therapists” trained to protect doctrine (not patients) can do real psychological harm. From compulsory confessions to the pipeline that produces figures like Jodi Hildebrandt, this episode traces how moral panic masquerades as mental health care. Also, fair warning: if you take a shot every time John says the word masturbate, you will absolutely need to lie down afterward.

You can listen to The Cult of Mormon Therapists online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Cult of Mormon Therapists is an episode from Sounds Like A Cult by Studio71.

This episode is 59:11 long.

This episode was published on Dec 16, 2025.

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