Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships

obedience-and-authority

• I began to surrender my vision, my mind, my personal experience, and my soul — my middle-class background now deemed at worst downright evil.

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• I remember the precise moment the switch flipped: 'There is nothing greater I could do for my child than give her to the divine mother.'

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trauma-and-survival

• I woke up almost every night certain he was about to enter my bedroom to assault or kill me — he had murdered a man and I knew that.

  TBY-001

• We engaged in sensory activities to wake ourselves from the numbness: eating good food, drinking, reading poetry, buying new clothes.

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self-and-identity

• I was unaware of who I was, what my values were, what I believed about God, and what was acceptable behavior within societal norms.

  TBY-007

• I realized I had just expressed an opinion — I knew something about myself: I didn't like that color. A little thing, but it felt so important.

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