Can Cult Survivors Change the World?

A Simple Roadmap to Global Recovery

Sometimes I find myself saying outlandish things. It feels good to blurt these days, after spending eighteen years under the tutelage of a controlling leader where I learned not to trust anything I said unless I was parroting his doctrine. (And I mean this literally — I was taught to censor every word that came out of my mouth.) Today, blurting sometimes gets me into trouble and creates situations where I feel compelled to circle back and clarify what I meant. This essay arises from one such jabber.

“When enough cult survivors share their story, we will change the world!” I said, filled with conviction, at a meeting of collaborators for #igotout.org. I realized this was a culty thing to say, but then again, was it? Cult leaders gain traction through grandiose statements — they know exactly how to stir emotions to nudge people to sign up for whatever they are selling, be it saving the world, rescuing starving children or protecting ourselves from the evils of …fill in the blank. Hyperbole, grandiosity and over simplification are three standbys in the cult leader’s tool box. All three exist — at least through suggestion –in my statement quoted above.

How the heck can I make such a proclamation when my profession is in cult recovery and education? By all accounts it appears that I am using cultic…