It has been nearly decades since my severe, and protracted childhood trauma finally ended. While the shock, and the emotional pain of this part of my past is not as intense as it once was, and while I know what I suffered, was suffered by others as well, I feel alone in surviving my experiences. I have met 2 people in my entire life who also endured such horrific, unendurable trauma. They were managing to survive also, and I hope they still are. I wanted to stay in contact so we could learn from each other how to do more than survive, but neither unfortunate souls were able to do so. The reasons are complex, and all I can say is life just got in the way.

I hope to meet other survivors, perhaps able, and willing to share their experiences, and maybe together, we can possibly learn to do more than survive. I am alone in dealing with my trauma, but clearly there are others who managed to make it, despite all the cards stacked against every one of us.

I invite anyone, and everyone who reads what I’ve written here, to please feel free to contact me in this group. We are all soldiers drafted in a war, and we fight for our lives without allies. Let us join hands, comrades in arms, so we can learn from each other how we all have survived.

I mean like, so obscure your not even sure the cult is real type deal, I'm curious if anyone has encountered such an oddity, things not really known by most except those who have encountered them personally. If you feel safe with sharing, I'd like to hear about your experiences. If you don't want to speak publicly about it but are okay with sharing, my DMs should be open.

Please know I seek to hear all experiences, both those who merely ran into cult members and little more, and those who got fully indoctrinated (and have hopefully escaped since)

live in a major city, I left the church 2 years ago having been in te church for 1 year. I occasionally see members preaching even 30 minutes from the church location. I hadva crush on a lady but the church doesn't permit guys from talking to women inside, so I never had much opportunity to talk to her. But recently I saw her preaching with a member in a location I frequently go by and it was the first time I had a conversation with her. She even remembered me. But I was explaining to her why I left between the guys trying to someone control me and the love bombing, not to mention censoring outside information. What is interesting is despite her being in the church for over 3 years I dont think she is fully gone mentally unlike most members. She just need a bit of reasoning. I know she is devoted given the amount of time spent but it still bothers me seeing her that way. I would even consider going back to try and get her out but those people genuinely irritate me with fake love bs. Problem is I don't even know how long i could tolerate it.

Has anyone found themselves drawn to a "new" religion that they haven't grown up with? I say this as someone who was conceived and born to parents who met inside a global cult.

I don't know if I have been dipping my toes into different institutions as a process of elimination this whole time. Every time I get past a certain point, I experience intense cognitive dissonance because I crave the order and discipline from an external source, but it always comes down to this: I find myself unable to accept God as a higher power. I don't think that I actually want to worship God. At the same time, I find that the term atheist doesn't quite align with what I feel myself to be.

It's not exactly straightforward with all the psychological chaos. But what I have noticed is that there isn't really an allowance for those who suffer from religious trauma. It tends to be: find a different expression for your higher power. Or, just have faith. Even a tiny bit.

I recently converted to a new religion and found myself really questioning my choices. On the surface, it felt like it made sense for cultural and ancestral reasons. Again, it boiled down to this: God, as an entity, is a deal breaker for me. I was also experiencing waves of mania, so it seemed that I wasn't exactly " mentally sober" when I made that choice.

Does anyone else have any such experiences?

I grew up in a Children Of God environment, im 21 now still trying to process it all. most of the abuse happened before the age of 12. anyways people knew I was in a cult before I did disturbing how that works. People at school noticed how id speak symbolically all the time, and my teachers. theyd be unsettled. I remember "flirty fishing" to my teacher having 0 idea I thought I was just being nice. It's fucked up. He was scared. anyone else?

About 7 years ago, my brother told me that he'd been approached by a certain group. He said that he wasn't interested in joining this group.

HOWEVER, around the same time, he had become obsessed with certain things, and is still CONSUMED by certain things that should not, and do not, occupy the minds of most people to the extent that they concern him every waking moment of his existence.

Additionally, he has been relentlessly trying to force his beliefs on me, and tells me that I have psychological impediments to accepting the "truth,"when I tell him that I don't care to discuss such things. He thinks it's his misison in life to get me to believe as he does. I have told him umpteen times, that I simply do not care one way or the other and he cannot accept.it. I feel like I'm being harassed and I need a restraining order.

He talks about nothing else with other people, even strangers. He reads about nothing else. He looks at videos and sends me myriad videos all day long! At this point, I think he belongs in a mental instutioon, not for his beliefs, but for the obsession that the beliefs have created.

I truly think that he was brainwashed by a cult and I have no idea what to do about it.

Hi, I’m writing this because I’ve been struggling for years to find anyone who truly understands the kind of situation I went through. In my early 20s, when I was emotionally very vulnerable, I became involved with an older artist who acted as a mentor figure.

Through that connection, I entered a small artistic community that, at the time, felt meaningful and unique. Over time, however, the situation radically shifted. What initially felt like guidance and support became something much more controlling. There was abuse and violence, and there were no clear boundaries between work, personal life, and loyalty. The structure revolved strongly around one central person, and over time my independence — and even my connections to friends and family — were gradually eroded.

Looking back, the dynamic resembles what people describe as coercive control or a “cult-like” environment — although it wasn’t religious, but built around art, identity, and belonging.

I was in that situation for over 15 years. The hardest part for me now is not only what happened, but what came after. I am no longer in contact with the people from that environment, and attempts to reconnect have not worked at all. It feels like there is no shared space to process what happened, and that sometimes makes me question my own experience. So I wanted to ask: Has anyone else been in a similar situation, especially in a creative or artistic context?

And if so, how have you made sense of it afterwards — especially if you don’t have contact with others who were involved? Thank you for reading.

There seems to be a growing problem in Brisbane. That few people are talking about. More and more cult-like Christian communities seem to be developing and especially targeting younger people.

As someone who has been to a few of these cult-like places in Brisbane, I thought I'd put together a small list of cults and cult-like groups to avoid for anyone thinking of joining a church. This is obviously not a comprehensive list.

ICC Brisbane (Yeronga)

- An offshoot of the Melbourne ICC

- High pressure group that isolates members from family and pressures members into giving a high percentage of their salary to the church (https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualMelbourne/comments/1jr51tk/toxic_melbourne_church_of_christ_icoc/)

- Currently running 'Engage Brisbane' meetups on Friday nights

Christ Embassy Brisbane (Acacia Rdige)

- Spread a lot of conspiracies about vaccines, covid, 5G and more, spread by both their head pastor and Brisbane church (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/oct/06/christian-tv-channel-fined-by-ofcom-over-covid-conspiracy-theories)

- High Pressure tactics used to get people to donate and isolate members from their families

Sincheonji Brisbane

- Cult led by Lee Man Hee who teaches that he is the "Promised Pastor" and a chosen messenger of Jesus Christ on Earth". He was arrested two days ago.

- High pressure group that targets primarily university students, pressures them to leave their studies, families, donate money to the chuch and worship Lee Man Hee

World Mission Society Church of God

- Also a cult trying to recruit university students

- Tries to get its followers to believe that Ahn Sahng-hong, a South Korean man was the second coming of Christ

I “survived” a UK based cult (closest description) which has caused me almost unimaginable levels of suffering and pain.

I’ve realised that to protect myself, I have to disown my entire family and virtually every “friend” I’ve ever had.

I can imagine there are people here in similar situations.

What do you tell people about your past? How did you begin forming new connections?