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Unfortunately, depending on how long you stayed with the cult, and how vulnerable your mind was when you were with them, you might need to be deprogrammed. Deprogramming refers to the undoing of affects due to psychological programming. Deproramming must be voluntary and is often called exit counseling. If they got you when you were vulnerable, perhaps due to a traumatic experience, your senses might come back to you shortly after the psychological drama wears off. Also, if you leave the cult at an early stage and reintroduce yourself to the normal world again, deprogramming might come natural. But for some, the programming might be too instilled within the brain and formal deprogramming measures might need to be taken.
One of the most important tools cult members and potential cult members have in deprogramming themselves is real education. Please educate yourselves. Remember, you've been brainwashed with lies and falsehoods. The more educated you are, the more mentally empowered you are, and through this empowerment, you will be able to make better and informed decisions when you are face to face with a cultic situation. In order to educate yourself, put down the Bible, and read books about real science. Learn about cults and what effects they can have on you. Real knowledge, and not the superstitious garbage that you were being fed in the cult, will help you get your life back to normal.
The first thing you have to do in order to be deprogrammed is to actually admit that you've been programmed. This is not an easy thing to admit. It can be embarrassing, after all. Sometimes, ex-cult members also try to ignore their past and pretend like it didn't happen. But, the path to recovery and helping others is to admit to yourself that you were in fact a victim.
Time can help to naturally deprogram you, but while time is healing you, there are several things you can do to help yourself deal with it. We are not ones to put much trust in the psychology field, but it might be helpful to some persons, so you might want to look into psychological therapy. Sit with a psychologist and talk about your experiences. We wouldn't recommend you seeking medicine for this, but you need to do what is necessary.
Something related that can help is to find some sort of support group for victims of cults, or just get involved in community programs that will help you make yourself feel good again. A great way to do something like this is to join social network websites such as Facebook or Twitter. You will meet several persons who might be able to help you. In any case, you have an entire world that can see your thoughts. Several victims of the 4th Watch do that very thing.
But there are also other forms of therapy. A useful therapeutic tool can be writing down your thoughts. This helps to put everything in perspective for you and gives you a chance to express yourself in ways that will positively change your way of thinking. Get a journal, and write down your thoughts. Create a file in your computer. We don't want you to be dwelling on the past, as we have already mentioned, but sometimes the past just won't go away, and facing it is an appropriate solution. Also, writing down your thoughts help you to remember what lessons you might have learned.
When going through a deprogramming process, use positive affirmations and keep repeating to yourself that you no longer believe what they taught you. Tell yourself that you are no longer a prisoner of their world of superstition. And don't forget to love yourself, and to thank yourself for getting away, and remind yourself during all of this that you are free and are not a victim anymore.
If the cult was threatening or abusive, then whatever you do, stay away from members of the cult. They will try to bring you back into their world of dangerous superstition and you cannot give in. A good way to help keep you out of the cult and for you to stay within reason, is to try to associate yourself with persons who do not engage in cultic behavior. Stay close to friends, persons who are of a sound nature and are not superstitious. Persons like these will be able to remind you about normalcy, and how superstitions can ruin your life. They can remind you as to why you left your cult in the first place and why you shouldn't go back. If you start to stray, these persons can help talk some sense back into you. And if you're smart, you will listen.
While you're working on deprogramming yourself, do the following:
Think about what possible negative consequences there are in abandoning reason in order to believe in fairytales. Think about what they did to you. How do you feel about being lied to? How do you feel about constantly being told you were a bad person and that you were not worthy of God's love or to live, and that God would put you in Hell if you did not believe in what you were taught to believe? What problems do you believe there could be in putting more hope into prayer than in constructive action? How would you feel about risking your health by believing God will heal you, rather than seek medical help? How do you feel about being tricked into giving up your money, time, and effort for promises that never come true? What do you think about wasting so many days of your life praying and spending your time in church for a god who isn't there, when instead you could be out living your life and doing the world some good? How do you feel about the religious constantly putting your friends down and telling you to stay away from them? What do you think about being exposed to psychological attacks, being subjected to various forms of brainwashing and manipulation? What are your thoughts about being pushed to cry and forced to sing, only to make you more vulnerable to psychological programming? How do you feel about you and your children being taught incorrect Bronze Age ideologies and facts, while rejecting science and thus limiting social progress? Do you want to believe that immoral things like murder, torture, and rape are in fact moral? Would you want to live your life constantly trying to alter your reality in order to defend immorality? How do you suppose you would feel having your heart broken by a fabricated friendship? Would you like to enter a lifestyle in which you might not ever be able to get out of? How do you feel being gossiped about by those who you believed were your friends? Do feelings of depression, sickness, and rape appeal to you? What would you say if you were told that you must believe what someone else believes in or else you'll be thrown in eternal fire? And then, how would you feel if you later found out that all of this which you accepted and embraced in your life was all done for the benefit of one man?; a cult leader...
Ask yourself a very important question. Is this what you want in life? Ask yourself if your life is better inside the cult, or if you could have a potentially better one outside it. Do you really need the cult? Is this really the only way to happiness? Think. Are you happy now? If you are happy, think about those who your cult might be targeting. While you're happy, are the homosexuals who your cult might despise happy? Does your cult hate black persons? While you might be happy, how would these persons feel? These are the kinds of things you need to think about and ask yourself.
And look again at your cult leader. Think long and hard about this. Is this guy really a prophet? Was he really sent by God? Do you honestly believe he is the one true leader of all Christians? Have you ever asked him what makes him qualified for this role? Have you ever questioned his judgment? Have you ever tested him? Think, does he really need your money? When he tells you that giving money to him can bring you miracles, do you honestly believe that is the case, or do you think that maybe he is just another one of the thousands of scam artists out there? Do you really need him?
Deprogramming isn't always easy, but is always necessary for those who lost. One important thing to always remember and to keep in mind is that you can do it. Take the advice given here and never give up!
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