It was easier "knowing" there was an afterlife. Being mortal kinda sucks when I dwell on it.

Intersting topic, I would say the suffering came with others reactions.... I mean we really can seclude ourselves in this religious world ?

No. I think I was more relieved than anything. No more kissing up to a god who supposedly died for my sins when I did nothing cause I wasn’t even born that time ago or always worrying about the damn devil, doing something wrong and going to hell. Now I just laugh at hell cause how ridiculous it is and also laugh at the pathetic man invented excuse for a god.

I suffer from depression which began in my childhood, because my entire family, most of all my mother, drank the Southern Baptist koolaid. I've never suffered from becoming agnostic.

I didn't but did have some slight aniexity more than anything i had an extreme feeling of relief and freedom.The freedom from religion foundation is known to help and support people coming out of religion. They might be a good source. My saddest acknowledgement was realizing I didn't feel as connected with my family as I once had because I had changed so much and religion is still a huge part of their life.

And I find it rude for you to belittle someone for possibly suffering trauma in this situation.

Yes. I had to take depression medicine for a while, for the first time in my life. I went through a tailspin phrase, for sure.

Going from religious & active in the church to agnostic was rough for me. Spent years beating myself up for my lack of faith. Then one day I realized that I was actually a full fledged atheist. That was a huge weight off my shoulders & I've felt great ever since!

I received a PTSD diagnosis yesterday. I'm still digesting it. When I went back over everything, I think it may be something called CPTSD and it may be in fact from how hard it as to leave religion

After being religious for so long it was an enlightenment for me. I was happy to be free to really concentrate on this world and the things I love.

No, but l did stay in a Holiday Inn. That line is like "That's what she said," it works for so many things. ?

The hardest part about leaving religion is that humans are social animals that evolved in groups for safety and security. Leaving a group, or losing your place in a group is a major life change and goes against our animal instincts to stay with the group.

Thus, most of your depression can be lifted by findign another group where you are welcome and accepted for who you are. Or, you could go on and boild a life where you are atonomous and dont' need others to fee secure. That takes much longer and a lot more effort.

For quick fixes, to fulfill social needs, in group interactions, meetup.com is a place tolook for people with similar interests, including agnostic/atheist groups.

Anyway, it is important to identify that your depression is is mostly caused by your loss of place within the group you left. Once you know the problemit is easier to find a workable solution to remedy the problem.

my apologies for the choppy word salad from using voice recognition and lazy post editing while driving.
It's completely natural for us to become saddened and even depressed when discovering new things and being unable to socialize or have our friends and family relate our new learning curve.
After decades of research and new discoveries I still find myself saddened by being unable to relate the others the joys of new insights and discovery

Hell no! It was a huge weight off my shoulders. I felt alive.

I feel free and happy.

Quite the opposite. My depression all but disappeared when I let go of the idea of there being some master plan that was in charge of my life.

The emotional and psychological discomfort and pain legitimately feel the way through cognitive dissonance making our Exodus from faith mythical thinking to logic and reason quite real sometime very profound.
But it should not be confused with PTSD or clinical depression as they are rooted in different causes.
Education and understanding of new things created by the synapses in our brain are like muscles that we have never exercise and are similar can feeling the same pains after work the reaping the healthy benefits in the long run.
But you must be of good cheer for they're Millions around here and ever increasing numbers in our country that are making the same Exodus from imaginary thinking to critical thinking, reason and discovering the awe of seeing this world for what it is and being free from unethical and immoral fears unjustified by those who wish to use myths and legends to control you

I grew up as a presbyterian - was a fanatic as a teen as I was trying understand my dysfunctional family's behaviors/government/society's behavior, etc. Kept noticing the contradictions and got into many arguments with a lot of people through out the years. Took some Philosophy of Religion classed and met a lot of agnostics/atheists along the way. When I finally dropped religion in my 30's - I went into a panic mode because I was so used to praying to god. It took me several years to get used to not praying. Finally over the years, I noticed some conflicting information and switched to Scientific Pantheist. Felt much better once I embraced this as it validated my inner promptings/observation of life. It is a real "loss" of identity & "support system" and it's confusing and scary for some people with a dramatic change of "lifestyle" or mentality. I felt very alone. I wasn't depressed but panicky as I felt I lost a "friend" but learned I need a compassionate living breathing sane human friends for real moral support.

Quite the opposite.

I just became angry at being lied to for so long. Then I became angry at people who can't or won't see the lies and come to the truth that is science.

Perhaps a little despondent, but I wouldn't be too quick to label it as depression.

Didn't last too long. A few months of pondering reality and the lack of a god.

No

I deff think stress. Family issues, long time friends....raising a child with a mother that is a barely functioning/educated Catholic. I think it was too gradual for me to be trama. Maybe if I were younger when it happened.

It's hard leaving things sometimes even if you've decided you don't believe

Absolutely NOT. I felt totally liberated. I was suicidal towards the end of my religious period, due to the bullying that I was dealing with in high school. Becoming atheist helped me get past that. I figured out that god wasn't going to do anything about it and it was up to me to figure out how to escape from my first hs and improve my life. At that time, a classmate who I actually considered to be nice died in a car crash; and, I recall thinking that if I was to commit suicide that the jerks I hated there would be celebrating and the people who cared would be upset. I left religion never turning back! It was the best decision I've ever made!