aftereffects of mind-control

Cracking the Cult Code for Therapists: What Cult Victims Want Their Therapist to Know

/ bonniezieman

Have you been wanting to find a therapist to help you with your recovery from your years in a cult? Perhaps you found a therapist only to discover once working with them that the therapist had little, if any, understanding of the dynamics and controls experienced in cults, nor the emotional after-effects of having been deceived, controlled, exploited and shunned? It seems you are not alone.

Every week in FB groups for cult survivors you can read reports from frustrated therapy clients describing how their therapist, although well-intentioned, really has no idea what their client has been through in a cult, and sometimes even seem to minimize or discount it.

I have written a well-received book to help ex-cult members in, or entering into, therapy. It’s entitled, “Cracking the Cult Code for Therapists: What Every Cult Victim Wants Their Therapist to Know”. It has been a welcome resource for therapists as they find themselves working with more and more with this unique and growing client population.

If you would like to offer your therapist, a more comprehensive understanding of cult dynamics, abuses and the ensuing psychological effects, check out this book on Amazon HERE. Use the “Look Inside” option to check out the Table of Contents to determine if this book is one you would like to your therapist to acquire for their library.

Friends and family members unfamiliar with cults and the psychological aftermath for people exiting them can also better understand what their loved one has endured and the challenges they now face, by reading this book.

If you don’t feel you need to share a book with your therapist to help bring them up to speed on the damaging effects of cult abuse, you can still download my free two-page document that offers a brief overview of how cults operate and the damage they do to members’ emotions, self-esteem and sense of competence in the world HERE. Of course, a more comprehensive description is offered in the book.

Testimonial

“Bonnie Zieman has created an easy to understand, quick reference tool [Cracking the Cult Code for Therapists: What Every Cult Victim Wants Their Therapist to Know] to help therapists understand clients who have cult involvement… Each chapter defines the techniques used and the effects on the person. She pulls together research to define a cult and their techniques, and uses examples from various cults to illustrate her points.

Zieman discusses the after-effects of love-bombing, isolation, identity formation, control, threats, fears and repression of needs, and much more. She does a good job explaining the differing needs of people who join cults as adults and those who are born in. She does not tell therapists how to treat the client, but shows them the possible issues that may need to be addressed during the therapeutic process. This book can be given to therapists by ex-cult members to ease the transition into therapy.

I hope this book becomes mandatory reading for students preparing to join the ranks of therapists…”  ~Amazon Customer

Challenge Thoughts of Suicide

/ bonniezieman

Here’s a new way to think of suicidal thoughts. The following paragraphs are excerpted from the first page of Chapter 14 in my new book “The Challenge to Heal“.

“Chapter 14  –  Challenge Thoughts of Suicide

The after-effects of having been in a deceptive and manipulative group, and then choosing to leave, are many and powerful. Feelings such as the ones examined in the last chapter can seem overwhelming – to such an extent that one may feel driven to thinking of suicide to find relief.

If you find yourself dwelling on an impulse to end your life – and actually formulating a plan to do so – you need to seek professional help. Don’t let shame, pride or fear prevent you from seeking the help you need. There are professionals who understand your situation, who are trained in ways to support you, who know how to help you to deal with the despair and hopelessness until the dark clouds part and the sun breaks through again.

Suicidal thoughts are, in fact, like a hungry parasite inside your head demanding that you submit to its insatiable yearning to feed on negativity. Don’t be seduced into believing the twisted reasoning, nor the masochistic impulses of these demanding, parasitic thoughts. They are not you and they have a voracious need to control you and feed off of you.

This rogue, parasitic, suicidal thinking pattern does not speak the whole truth about you or your circumstances and you must not identify with it, or even accept its thoughts and impulses as true. Think of it as a foreign ‘entity’ (like a controlling, parasitic cult) trying to co-opt your life and have you do its bidding. Do not let it take over and radicalize your mind. Do not let this extreme, negative thinking pattern indoctrinate you with its macabre appetite for death. Just as when you were seduced and conditioned by an extremist group, you can begin to believe that the implanted, ‘alien’ thoughts are your own and that you should act on them.

These destructive thoughts seem to have a life of their own and are not unlike an extremist group trying to recruit you for a suicide mission – but in this case it wants you to be both the terrorist and the victim.”

 

“The Challenge to Heal” is available at Amazon.com