My first relationship when I was fifteen was with a girl. At the time, I did not identify as a lesbian because I didn’t know whether I had a preference for females or not. I simply loved my girlfriend regardless of her gender. But I knew that I felt strongly that all forms of love…

After leaving the cult, in addition to cooking, I also had great difficulty taking care of my child. Again, taking care of kids was one of the prescribed activities for women in the church and I felt allergic to it.

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Laura E Anderson’s book, When Religion Hurts You, where she identifies high control religions (HCRs) as potential sources of complex trauma.

Dr. Steven Hassan describes “thought stopping” as a technique cult members are taught to use in cults that exert mind control.

I was anxious about the idea of starting therapy and finding a good therapist.