People who have been subjected to exploitation, isolation and thought control in a cult and who work up the courage to leave, do so with many psychological and emotional wounds. Many of them seek out therapy to help recover from the damaging after-effects. Unfortunately, cult victims often report that therapists just do not seem to 'get' all that they endured in the cult, and all the challenges they face once out of the cult. In fact, many cult victims abandon therapy, feeling that their therapist just did not understand the the degree to which they had been controlled, repressed, exploited and abused. Many recount that they felt their experience seemed to be discounted as something they just needed to put behind them. Due to the advent of the Internet and the easy access to information it provides, more and more cult members are discovering just how much they have been deceived, coerced and abused. As they make their exit from high-control groups, extremist religions and cults, a whole new psychotherapy client population is looking for help to recover their emotional well-being, intellectual independence and ability to function in the world outside of the cult. Since most psychologists and psychotherapists do not receive much, if any, instruction about cult dynamics and the destructive effects of such intrusive dynamics on cult members, therapists may be ill-equipped to truly understand and help this unique and growing client population. With this book, Bonnie Zieman, a former cult member, a recently retired psychotherapist, and the author of four other books on recovery from high-control abuse, provides a useful reference tool for therapists who need to inform themselves about cult abuse and its aftermath. This one-of-a-kind book offers a summary outline of typical cult controls and the probable resulting effects on those subjected to them. Therapists can use this book as a primer to bring themselves up to speed on the topic - until such time as they decide if they want to take more formal training in order to help former cult members reclaim their authentic self and rebuild a self-directed life.

In an age and culture that places high value on personal freedom, it is shocking to discover how many intelligent, competent people find themselves caught in the suffocating, sticky webs of oppressive, high-control groups. Coercive, manipulative organizations can include groups such as: extremist fundamentalist sects, terrorist organizations, radical political movements, polygamist communes, human trafficking rings, doomsday cults, multi-marketing schemes, criminal gangs, and so many more. When brave souls dare to leave such high-control groups, they exit needing to reclaim their life, mind, identity, autonomy, emotional equilibrium and to heal the wounds that result from being manipulated, coerced, abused and exploited. The Challenge to Heal is designed to help anyone recover from the inevitable consequences of losing control over one's life - consequences such as issues with self-esteem, anger, learned helplessness, depression, fear, guilt, self-recrimination, psychosomatic ailments, to name but a few. Chapters in this unique recovery guide cover topics such as: understanding and managing the predictable challenges of breaking with a once valued belief system, Utopian goals, and fellow group members; learning to cope with the difficult emotions that will arise; dealing with gui

Drawing upon the clinical expertise of professionals and the personal experiences of those formerly involved in high-intensity mind-control groups, this book is a comprehensive guide to the cult experience. Michael Langone and his colleagues provide practical guidelines for helping former cult members manage the problems they encounter when leaving cults.

Many studies have been published about the effects of shunning or ostracism on the person shunned but there are few books, if any, written specifically to offer help to the individual suffering from this sort of inhumane treatment. Granted there are books about how to cope with being bullied and/or marginalized in the workplace or at school. This book, however, directs its help to people who are subjected to mandated, open-ended shunning by religions, quasi-religions, cults and other extreme groups. Mandated shunning requires that members of a group reject, ignore, isolate and refuse to associate with, or even talk to the person "marked" by the group's leadership. Members of these groups or cults are expected to shun members of their own families if they dare to question dogma or refuse to participate in certain group activities or practices. Enforced ostracism removes all sense of belonging and community from the person ostracized. Mandated shunning weaponizes a person's need for belonging against them. It is an anti-social punishment that has been the cause of much suffering, including many attempted suicides and successful suicides. This book, of course, cannot remove the mandate for shunning against a person, but it will give the person many ways to cope with the psychological and emotional effects of being rejected and disowned. Readers will learn how to restore an inner sense of safety, security, and calm after losing family, friends and resources normally supplied by community. This book will also explain how simple strategies can down-regulate the fight/flight or freeze states of the autonomic nervous system when one loses all access to beloved family members. Due to the adversity and stress of mandated shunning, many who suffer under its merciless application suffer from anxiety, panic, anger, guilt, depression, and suicidal ideation. This book offers helpful techniques to cope with and minimize these debilitating effects of having family and friends arbitrarily torn away. Anyone being ostracized will experience social isolation for a while. This book offers many practical suggestions on how to reach out and build a new social network. There are many things that can be done while being subjected to prolonged shunning to cope with the loneliness and grief and to learn how to create a meaningful life. This survival guide is designed for former members of groups that shun such as The Church of Scientology, The Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, FLDS, Hasidism, Islam, etc., etc. It matters not which group is excluding and shunning you - the strategies to deal with the isolation, grief, trauma, and despair are the same. If you find yourself alone and lonely suffering under this cruel practice of shunning, this book can act as a companion and survival guide. Many of us have survived shunning and are now thriving despite still being shunned. SHUNNED: A Survival Guide will help you survive and thrive too.

The author, raised as Jehovah's Witness, outlines the challenges of leaving the sect and provides valuable advice to others who have recently, or wish to leave.

Respected historian and Scottish Freemason Cooper offers a rare, inside look at the secret brotherhood of the Freemasons. Readers will discover the true role the order has played throughout history, its purposes, symbolism and beliefs, and more.

Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.