Other Looking For Ex Cult Members / Cult Survivors

[johannakat]

My mom joined a cult when I was six. I left when I was 15/16 (it was hard to leave) but believed in everything they'd told me till I was 17.

The trauma is catching up.

Anyone else here who was raised in a cult?

xox

oh and it was Jehovah's Wittnesses

 

[Fadeaway]

Pentecostal Nazarene. Not technically a cult but my step grandfather took fundamentalist Christianity to extreme levels. That was 20 years ago. Still have some scars but mostly healed from that aspect of my life.

 

[7Cs]

Born into but not raised in.

I was a year and a half old when the state took me away.

The cult was called the Christ Family.

 

[Eagle3]

I was born and raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult as well...was trained for ministry since birth. I got out at the age of 30, but still have to deal with a lot of the brainwashing. Honestly, I didn't realize there was anything wrong with the way I was raised until I got out of that crowd and started hanging out with normal people...then it hit me hard. People don't realize the dangers of spiritual trauma, which often includes other forms as well.

 

[Ronin]

Ish.

As in at this point? IDGAF for my sanity. They can all bite me.

 

[Teamwork]

Yes but none of the above mentioned. Working in therapy on what is truth. But dissociation interferes greatly with a lot of the current work.

 

[saraemerald]

My mom joined a cult when I was six. I left when I was 15/16 (it was hard to leave) but believed in...

Me too! And that's partly why I'm on here

 

[Teamwork]

Do you refer to yourself as ritual abuse survivor or cult survivor? I'm from ra abuse, but haven't seen it talked about much here?

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I was raised in a cult headed by my step dad and mother.

 

[Rainstorm Red-Smith]

My mom joined a cult when I was six. I left when I was 15/16 (it was hard to leave) but believed in...

Being adopted is like living in a cult where they live in a fantasy world detached from reality. Surviving adopted childhood is escaping the adoption cult where the chronic childhood abuse that you experienced is denied by the adopted child's handlers. Where you must survive by pretending that you believe what they say and wear the "adopted-child role" at all times, never allowing your true self to be seen.

 

[chant2012]

I was. Christian Fundamentalist. Very damaging stuff. You're not alone. There was so many good things but also so much trauma, brainwashing, and abuse. I was born into and raised in it. Isolated from "outsiders" and yeah lots of things. Ugh.. shudders.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

The cult I grew up in was made by my step dad. He had a bible typed up.

All of it is typed here (please be aware of very graphic content): Link Removed

But to give you the basic concept:

Cult Belief:

Basically they believed in short that theres this "big god" and if you are a 'choosen one' to become your own "little god" and follow all directions given by the "big god" and have found a "demon child" (me) a child that is all of whats bad in the world thay would be chosen to be the "sexual sacrifice to god" then they will be able to recieve "gifts" and be able to teach themselves to use 100% of their brain, 100% of the time (humans only use 10% of their brain at a time, but do use 100% of their brain, just not all at once) and when they achieve this, they become a "little god" and can do anything they wanted; read minds, levitate, 'jump plains of consciencness, walk on water...basically anything.

Many horrid rituals "because god said to" and many punishments which was actual torture because god said to.

I am fighting to gain control of my brain again. It literally works on its own without my control reciting their bible. Blame was finally shifted off of me and onto them after 7 years in therapy, here on this site last Jan. I was told by my therapist (as you can't really be diagnosed with something not in the DSM) that I had Stolkholm Syndrome. I worked through that now and I can call it abusive now. I struggle with other words like "horrible" or even "bad" but working on it. I have stopped the rituals. I still struggle with the punishments and don't have full control of my brain but working on it.

It is very hard to recover from growing up in a cult. That's for sure!