#cult-escape

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Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
18 hours ago

Not everyone who avoids asking for help is proud. Some of them asked once, received it with a lecture attached, and learned that the cost of support was a small erosion of standing they could never quite earn back. - Silicon Canals

Asking for help can lead to unintended consequences that affect relationships and self-perception.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
9 hours ago

When the Body Heals: Recovery From Relational Stress

Emotional stressors can lead to chronic stress, affecting immunity and increasing autoimmune disease risk, but healing can occur after relational stress ends.
Relationships
fromScary Mommy
1 day ago

37 Phrases To De-Escalate An Argument, According To Real Therapists

Knowing how to de-escalate arguments can help maintain healthy relationships and improve communication.
Parenting
fromSlate Magazine
1 day ago

My Mom Got a Call That I Was in a Horrific Accident. What She Did Next Can't Be Undone.

Scammers exploit emotional vulnerabilities, making it crucial to educate and protect against future scams.
fromFast Company
2 days ago

What to do after a life-defining mistake

The only thing worse than making a mistake is keeping it bottled up inside. Learning from the mistakes of others could help you embark on the healing journey of sharing and working through a mistake of your own, with someone you trust.
Books
Berlin music
fromPsychology Today
2 days ago

When Music Was Used to Deceive, Control, Survive

Yom HaShoah commemorates the 6 million Jews and 5 million others who perished in the Holocaust, reflecting on music's dual role in history.
fromTruthout
2 days ago

Rupture and Repair Under Fascist Conditions

"We have a great opportunity in our movements to learn how to be opponents without being enemies," says Tanuja Jagernauth. This perspective emphasizes the importance of maintaining respect and understanding even amidst conflict.
Social justice
Toronto Maple Leafs
fromDefector
4 days ago

What's The Value Of An Ass-Kicking Freely Offered? | Defector

Hockey fights have become less frequent due to a shift towards safety, yet they still serve a purpose in team bonding.
#conversion-therapy
Film
fromLGBTQ Nation
4 days ago

23 films that expose the reality of conversion therapy - LGBTQ Nation

Conversion therapy is inhumane, ineffective, and continues to have lasting emotional and cultural effects on individuals and society.
Right-wing politics
fromLGBTQ Nation
2 weeks ago

This psychologist was a key supporter of conversion therapy in the 90s. He changed his mind. - LGBTQ Nation

Psychologist Warren Throckmorton reversed his support for conversion therapy after encountering evidence of its inefficacy, becoming a vocal critic and exposing connections between conversion therapy resurgence and Christian nationalism.
Film
fromLGBTQ Nation
4 days ago

23 films that expose the reality of conversion therapy - LGBTQ Nation

Conversion therapy is inhumane, ineffective, and continues to have lasting emotional and cultural effects on individuals and society.
Right-wing politics
fromLGBTQ Nation
2 weeks ago

This psychologist was a key supporter of conversion therapy in the 90s. He changed his mind. - LGBTQ Nation

Psychologist Warren Throckmorton reversed his support for conversion therapy after encountering evidence of its inefficacy, becoming a vocal critic and exposing connections between conversion therapy resurgence and Christian nationalism.
fromPsychology Today
6 days ago

7 Lessons for When Your Attempts to Control Outcomes Fail

Many situations contain irreducible uncertainty. No matter how many variables we try to control, we can't reduce uncertainty to zero. It's inherent in the messiness of life.
Productivity
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 day ago

Start Strong But Never Finish? 4 Causes and 4 Solutions

Starting strong and quitting is common due to tedium, poor planning, and discouragement; recognizing patterns and seeking support can help overcome this.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
3 days ago

Not everyone who chooses a partner with visible problems is making bad decisions. Some of them are choosing people whose damage is louder than their own, because as long as they're fixing someone else, nobody turns the spotlight around and asks what broke them. - Silicon Canals

People often choose partners with visible problems to avoid confronting their own internal issues.
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

Partnership on the Spiritual Path

Devon Hase states, 'People are trying desperately to fix, optimize, or escape their way out of relationship difficulty - and suffering more for the effort. Social media has made this worse! We're surrounded by images of perfect partnerships while quietly drowning in our own ordinary struggles.' This highlights the pressure couples feel in the age of social media.
Mindfulness
Social justice
fromPsychology Today
5 days ago

The Psychology of Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking is a severe human rights violation, often misunderstood, with survivors criminalized instead of protected and rooted in societal norms.
#empathy
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 day ago

How to Help Someone Have an Empathy Makeover

Empathy can be developed through structured reflection and practice, enhancing mental health and relationship dynamics.
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago
Psychology

The Impact of Detached Reactions to Tragedy

Detached responses to tragedy lower accountability and hinder empathy, while specific, caring responses promote genuine concern and action.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 day ago

How to Help Someone Have an Empathy Makeover

Empathy can be developed through structured reflection and practice, enhancing mental health and relationship dynamics.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

The Impact of Detached Reactions to Tragedy

Detached responses to tragedy lower accountability and hinder empathy, while specific, caring responses promote genuine concern and action.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 days ago

When Parts Begin to Merge: Inside Integration

Integration is a complex, lived experience involving reorganization of the self, requiring safety and support systems for healing from complex trauma.
Social justice
fromwww.theguardian.com
6 days ago

My mom, the cult leader: She told us what to wear, when to pray, how we would have sex. We were prisoners'

Sarah Green's realization of her mother's abusive actions in their religious community led to her questioning the beliefs she was raised with.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day ago

Psychology says people who apologize constantly without realizing it are more damaged than they appear - because they internalize blame and absorb conflict, a survival response from childhood, which never switches off even when they're safe - Silicon Canals

Excessive apologizing often stems from childhood experiences of mistreatment and can lead to chronic self-blame in adulthood.
Mindfulness
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

Seen, Unseen, and Still Anxious: The Psychology of Texting

Texting anxiety stems from unanswered messages creating mental loops of uncertainty, leading to repeated checking and worry.
#trauma
fromDefector
2 weeks ago

The New Evangelists | Defector

Seyfried's performance as Ann Lee lets the viewer in on the production of faith-particularly, an overt faith. Bearing witness to such performance leads to basic questions about people and the way that we live.
Film
Psychology
fromHuffPost
3 days ago

8 Sneaky Signs You're Being Emotionally Manipulated

Emotional manipulation often manifests through subtle control, leading to confusion and anxiety in relationships.
#mental-health
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 days ago

There's a specific exhaustion that belongs to people who spent decades being exactly what everyone needed them to be - and then one day realized they couldn't remember what they needed - Silicon Canals

People-pleasing leads to losing one's identity and can result in profound exhaustion and disconnection from self.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 days ago

There's a specific exhaustion that belongs to people who spent decades being exactly what everyone needed them to be - and then one day realized they couldn't remember what they needed - Silicon Canals

People-pleasing leads to losing one's identity and can result in profound exhaustion and disconnection from self.
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

45 Breakup Strategies: How Most People End Relationships

Research identifies and ranks 45 breakup strategies, revealing common behaviors people use to end romantic relationships.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

The Atheist's Guide to Surviving End Times

Non-religious people experience apocalyptic anxiety from modern crises despite disbelieving End Times prophecy, requiring meaning-making through psychological and social resources rather than faith.
Yoga
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

Twisted Yoga: how a search for enlightenment turned into a dangerous cult

A tantra yoga guru orchestrated an international cult involving sexual exploitation, trafficking, and rape across multiple countries before facing arrest and charges in 2023.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
3 days ago

People Don't Just Update Beliefs, They Test Them

Understanding psychological change requires recognizing the role of control and mastery in actively pursuing change despite familiar limitations.
Mindfulness
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

When the World Feels Scary, These 2 Questions Can Help

Grounding techniques effectively manage anxiety and enhance personal agency by focusing on the present and what can be controlled.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
4 days ago

Psychology says the reason walking away from disrespectful people feels like guilt instead of freedom is because you were raised in an environment where your comfort was never a valid reason to make someone else uncomfortable - and unlearning that equation is the hardest boundary work there is - Silicon Canals

Walking away from disrespectful relationships is essential for personal peace, despite feelings of guilt rooted in past conditioning.
UK news
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

ChatGPT driving rise in reports of satanic' organised ritual abuse, UK experts say

ChatGPT is facilitating increased reports of organised ritual abuse in the UK, with survivors using AI as a therapeutic tool to process experiences of satanic sexual violence and seek support services.
#manipulation
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

5 Manipulation Tactics You Might Not See Until It's Too Late

Gaslighting, guilt-tripping, moving the goalposts, and triangulation are manipulative tactics that undermine reality and self-worth in relationships.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

I'm 44 and the most powerful thing I ever learned about dealing with manipulative people is that silence - actual, sustained, unapologetic silence - makes them unravel in ways that confrontation never does - Silicon Canals

Silence can effectively disrupt manipulative dynamics by refusing to engage in confrontational exchanges.
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

5 Manipulation Tactics You Might Not See Until It's Too Late

Gaslighting, guilt-tripping, moving the goalposts, and triangulation are manipulative tactics that undermine reality and self-worth in relationships.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

I'm 44 and the most powerful thing I ever learned about dealing with manipulative people is that silence - actual, sustained, unapologetic silence - makes them unravel in ways that confrontation never does - Silicon Canals

Silence can effectively disrupt manipulative dynamics by refusing to engage in confrontational exchanges.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

Caring for the Part of You That Wants to Die

Suicide ideation affects 15.6% of U.S. adults, with significant risk factors including mental disorders, trauma, and social circumstances.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

New Research: Some People Really Do Fall for Corporate BS

Employees impressed by corporate gibberish perform poorly in decision-making and confuse it with business savvy.
Mindfulness
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

The Experience of Inner Liberation

True freedom emerges when words and actions are no longer controlled by fear, enabling authentic self-expression aligned with personal values.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
5 days ago

Outsmarting Depression: A 6-Step Roadmap to Personal Renewal

Depressive symptoms, often dismissed as everyday blues, can escalate quickly and disrupt life, highlighting the importance of recognizing and addressing mental health issues.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

Why We Don't Change-Even When We Know What's Wrong

Insight alone is insufficient for change; real experiences are necessary to challenge ingrained beliefs and expectations.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Breaking Free From Childhood Patterns

Childhood patterns of beliefs, behaviors, and emotions are easily introduced to our young, malleable psyches through immediate family members, relatives, teachers, clergy, and coaches who present prescribed ways to live. The beliefs we inherit describe convictions about religion, work, money, and relationships, including how to relate to emotions through either suppression or expression.
Miscellaneous
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

When Dissociation Changes the Rules of Therapy

Therapists face common fears and challenges when treating dissociation, requiring a collaborative approach rather than control.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
5 days ago

The Fear of Being Canceled Activates an Ancient Alarm

Therapists are observing a new anxiety disorder characterized by a fear of public shaming and ostracism, termed akyronophobia.
Relationships
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

How Gaslighters Con Their Partners into Believing Them

Gaslighting is deliberate manipulation where someone convinces you your memory is wrong, exploiting memory's natural fallibility to control partners in close relationships.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

Religious Trauma, Attachment, and Leaving Faith

Many people leave religion due to a deeper pull towards life and a mismatch between their inner experience and rigid faith structures.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

When the Well Is Poisoned

Poisoning the well is an ad hominem attack that preemptively discredits someone by introducing negative information before they speak, contaminating audience perception and trust.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
5 days ago

Psychology says the worst part of people-pleasing isn't the exhaustion - it's realizing that no one actually knows you because you never gave them the real version - Silicon Canals

People-pleasing leads to exhaustion and prevents genuine intimacy, as it creates a façade that others connect with instead of the true self.
fromTruthout
1 month ago

The Science of Unlearning And Why Organizers Need It

Real change rarely happens through debate or persuasion. Instead, transformation grows out of relationships, shared struggle, cognitive dissonance, and practice. Together, Kelly and Lewis explore what organizers can learn from the science of neuroplasticity, the role of rupture and confrontation, and why movements need to focus less on 'changing minds' and more on creating conditions where people can unlearn harmful beliefs and step into collective action.
Social justice
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
5 days ago

People who always offer to help but never ask for it aren't generous in the way you think. They've built an entire identity around being needed because somewhere early they learned that usefulness was the only reliable protection against being left. - Silicon Canals

Compulsive helpers often act out of fear rather than generosity, stemming from childhood experiences that condition them to seek safety through being needed.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
5 days ago

The people who seem impossible to read aren't guarded because they don't trust you. They're guarded because the last time they were fully transparent, someone used the information as a map to the exact place that would hurt the most. - Silicon Canals

Betrayal trauma occurs when trusted individuals violate trust, leading to emotional guardedness and a rewire of disclosure circuitry.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
6 days ago

Still Waiting to Hear "You Were Right"?

The desire for validation stems from past neglect and devaluation, creating a painful emotional wound that seeks recognition and worth.
#identity
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Psychology says the reason most people never truly change isn't laziness - it's that they've built an identity around their flaws that they don't know who they'd be without them - Silicon Canals

People struggle to change not due to laziness, but because their flaws are integrated into their identity, making change feel like a threat to the self.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago
Psychology

I Am No One, and That's Changed Everything

Realizing the self is not defined solely by roles or achievements enables psychological flexibility and deeper, less attached relationships with self and others.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

Psychology says the reason most people never truly change isn't laziness - it's that they've built an identity around their flaws that they don't know who they'd be without them - Silicon Canals

People struggle to change not due to laziness, but because their flaws are integrated into their identity, making change feel like a threat to the self.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

The people who stay calm when everyone else panics aren't brave. They learned very early that someone in the room had to function, and their body volunteered before their mind had a choice. The cost shows up decades later in ways no one connects back to that original moment. - Silicon Canals

Childhood trauma physically alters immune and metabolic systems with measurable biological damage lasting decades, while children often develop crisis-management responses that exact long-term physiological costs.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Quintessential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Trauma of Evil

been ignored, neglected, minimized, or dismissed by mainstream psychology but can no longer be denied or avoided without serious consequences. As C.G. Jung (1961) presciently put it, "Today we need psychology for reasons that involve our very existence. . . . We stand face to face with the terrible question of evil and do not even know what is before us let alone what to pit against it."
Philosophy
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

How to Let Go of the Need to Say "I Told You So"

The urge to say 'I told you so' stems from unmet validation needs rather than genuine helpfulness, and resisting this impulse through the observing self demonstrates psychological maturity and protects relationships.
Wellness
fromBig Think
2 months ago

The surprising case for denial as a path toward resilience

A flexible, accepting mindset enabled Richard Cohen to live a rich, purposeful life despite severe illness and bleak medical pronouncements.
fromPsychology Today
4 weeks ago

The Deception of Depression

Depression is insidious. For people suffering from depression, joy is elusive. Depression is not only a general feeling of sadness or being down and out. It is a serious condition and needs attention. People suffering from depression cannot just get over it and move on. They need support, healing, and to discover the epicenter of their pain.
Mental health
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

I'm 44 and I realized I have no one to call in an emergency - not because I burned bridges, but because I spent decades being the person everyone else called, and when I finally needed someone, the phone just rang and rang - Silicon Canals

Prioritizing others' needs while neglecting your own support system creates isolation and vulnerability when you need help most.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

People who apologize when someone else bumps into them aren't just being polite. They're running a program that was installed so early they don't even hear it anymore, and it sounds like: your comfort matters more than my space. - Silicon Canals

Chronic over-apologizing stems from childhood conditioning where caregivers' emotional states were prioritized over the child's own needs, creating a nervous system reflex that persists into adulthood.
Miscellaneous
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

First-Gen Growth Can Feel Like Belonging and Betrayal

First-generation individuals confront family expectations and unspoken mandates, balancing gratitude and obligation while pursuing opportunities that can create misunderstanding and guilt.
Mental health
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

How did I believe that? A cult survivor looks back at his lost years

A man spent 10 years in a gnosticism-based cult that controlled thoughts, sexuality, and behavior through guilt, false prophecies, and spiritual manipulation before eventually escaping and becoming a psychologist.
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

People who seem like they don't care what others think almost always went through a very specific period where they cared so much it nearly destroyed them. The indifference isn't natural. It's scar tissue that learned to look like freedom. - Silicon Canals

Research in psychological resilience suggests this kind of adaptation is a capacity that develops in response to adversity, not in the absence of it. Resilience isn't a factory setting. It's forged under heat. The person who seems unbothered at the dinner party, who shrugs off criticism with genuine ease, who doesn't need to win the argument: they almost always went through a chapter where they cared so deeply about someone else's opinion that it warped the shape of their days.
Psychology
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

The hardest part of healing isn't facing what happened to you. It's grieving the version of yourself that had to exist because of it. - Silicon Canals

Therapy's hardest work involves grieving the adaptive self—the survival identity you constructed—rather than confronting initial trauma, requiring surrender rather than courage.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Road From Rebellion to Reverence

By the time people reach their seventh decade, they have learned many lessons. From a psychological standpoint, they understand what really matters. They have learned what to let go of. They know what they need to be happy. They also acknowledge the importance of being kinder to themselves and how relationships and experiences are more important than possessions. They tend to reflect on lessons learned and often recover more easily from adversity. They also focus on wanting the best for their loved ones.
Mindfulness
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

The art of the late apology: 7 things that happen when someone finally says sorry after 10, 20, or 30 years - and why psychologists say the apology that comes decades late is often the only one that actually changes anything - Silicon Canals

Long-delayed apologies from estranged people can trigger profound emotional release and healing by allowing the nervous system to finally resolve years of stored tension from unresolved conflicts.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

You Can't Think Your Way Out of a Rupture

Tomás had lived in the city for about 20 years, but he grew up in Venezuela, where family life could be intense, political opinions were spoken openly, and knowing when to speak and when to stay quiet was often a matter of survival rather than preference. Daniela grew up in a very different family. Her parents talked constantly-about politics, values, and what they believed was happening in the world.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

The people who walk away quietly were usually the ones who tried the longest before leaving - Silicon Canals

Research on relationship dissolution - whether romantic, familial, or professional - consistently shows that the person who ultimately leaves has usually been signalling distress for a very long time. A study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that people go through a prolonged "disillusionment" phase before ending close bonds, marked by repeated attempts to address problems before emotionally disengaging.
Psychology
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Psychology of Religious Exit

Leaving a high-demand religious community dissolves one's interpretive framework, causing profound psychological trauma and pain similar to physical injury.
#covert-narcissism
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Therapy, Estrangement, and the Power to Shape Meaning

Therapists' frameworks shape how family experiences are interpreted and can make estrangement feel justified without explicit instruction.
Mental health
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

My cultural awakening: Losing My Religion by REM helped me escape a doomsday cult

A woman spent two decades in the Children of God cult, enduring strict control, sexual regulation, propaganda, and growing disillusionment as apocalyptic prophecies failed.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

When Did We Lose the Art of Containment?

Practicing emotional containment—holding feelings to choose when and whom to share with—reduces distress and avoids exhausting performative oversharing on social media.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Growth Is an Unlearning Process

Meaningful transformation begins with un-becoming: releasing inherited identities, beliefs, and adaptive survival strategies to create space for authentic, embodied growth.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Power of Beliefs: How to Stop Surrendering Your Agency

When Serena Williams strode onto the Wimbledon grass, her legendary power was never in question. Her serve was crushing. Her backhand was unstoppable. But she wouldn't go to the net. She'd see a short ball, the kind that screams "approach," and she would hesitate to volley and miss the point. Serena was not playing at her full potential because of a story in her head.
Psychology
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

What Does 'Care' Mean During Times of Social Instability?

Care is fluid and adaptive; emotional signals like anger, numbness, and fatigue indicate needs and limits, and individual care requires collective support for survival.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Why People Avoid Their Feelings-and It's Not Always a Problem

People respond to relational pressure by quiet self-restraint, assertive control, or inward collapse, each serving as distinct self-protective strategies.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Selves We Show the World

I took a psychiatry class years ago, and during lectures my professor used to say, " We all have a diagnosis." We used to laugh at that. It sounded provocative. But what if he wasn't joking? What if diagnosis is not something "they" have, but something that exists on a spectrum we all live on? When we started our practice at a psychiatric facility, I saw an unsettling scene in the hallway.
Mental health
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Story You Keep Telling Yourself and How to Rewrite It

Identity is the sum of the memorable life stories people tell themselves and others, shaping behavior, perception, and future development.
Psychology
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

The Upside of Not Fitting In

Feeling like an outsider often signals growth potential and builds resilience, creativity, and original thinking through discomfort rather than indicating failure.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Problem With Coercive Control

"Coercive control" is the term for a diabolical relationship pattern that can have devastating consequences. It occurs when one person unreasonably interferes with another person's free will and liberty (Pisarra, 2022). The seriousness of coercive control is being increasingly acknowledged, and in some places, it is now a criminal offence. As heinous as coercive control is, the dynamics of controlling may be key to understanding what is occurring.
Psychology
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