Cult Hackers

Jake Vaughn from the Alt Worldly YouTube Channel talks about his waking up process from the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the difficulties associated with it, as well as his health challenges, complicated by his faith as a youth. The second half of the episode takes a different tack as we look at what could controversially be described as "the funny side of growing up in a cult". Support the podcast fo...

Do some born-in cult members experience greater harm than others because they happen to have certain personality traits? Psychology suggests that we inherit at least some of our personality traits through our genes. What are the implications for people raised in a cult? How does the presence of certain traits affect how we respond to cult indoctrination? This week Celine and Stephen look at how we...

Erika Bornman, author of Mission of Malice talks to us about her life growing up in Kwasizabantu, a non-denominational Christian Group she describes as a cult. As a child and a young woman she endured physical and mental abuse, was groomed by her church 'counsellor' and witnessed horrendous abuses. In her early twenties she managed to escape but at great personal cost. Erika's story is emotional,...

Two completely different topics today on the podcast.    Time Stamp 00:00: Segment 1. The medical condition and psychological impact of serious acne and Stephen and Celine’s experience of this as children and adults.   Time Stamp 25:00: Segment 2. The Wasted Years: After leaving a cult or other high demand group it’s easy to look back and feel angry at the wasted years. Is there a way to work thro...

The guest today is Min Grob from CCChat Magazine. Min experienced a coercively controlling relationship and talks about the behaviours and methods used by perpetrators. This is a companion piece to this week's Gaslight episode.  Mom’s website https://coercivecontrol.co.uk/ Book referenced by Min Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trauma-Recovery-Aftermath-Violence-Politica...

The 1940's film Gaslight about the systematic attack by a man on his wife's psychological wellbeing, provided us with the phrase gaslighting. Today Sarah joins Stephen to review the movie and to explore how this tactic is used in coercively controlling relationships and in cults. 

Darren Slade has a fascinating story. Although not raised in a religious household as a young person he loved religious studies and his ambition was to become a pastor and Christian apologist. An ambition he achieved until he started to doubt his beliefs. Today he is the President of The Center for Religious Research and an atheist. He talks about his life and his research into religious trauma as...

What is science? How does it work? Can we trust it? Who does it? And can we trust the scientists? All this and more in today's big subject discussion. Plus a short and slightly bizarre Tweet of the Week.

Today's guest is Brent Lee who describes himself as a recovering conspiracist of 15 years. Brent explains how he became drawn into a Grand Conspiracy, his journey out and the reasons he now feels he must talk about his own experience. Stephen and Celine also discuss how society might deal with this phenomena. Support the podcast https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout Brent Lee TV https://yo...

The Milgram experiments of the 1960s tried to answer the question of how seemingly normal people can do the most awful things. These experiments have been part of Psychology 101 for years and the subject of many a documentary. What are these experiments? And what can they tell us about how people behave in cults? Stephen also discusses sometimes difficult feelings ex members may have about things...

Sapphire Phoenix was raised as an 'exemplary' Jehovah's Witness until he found himself disfellowshipped and outside the organisation and his circle of family and friends. Sapphire talks about his experience and the realization that he wanted a different life. Now a singer-songwriter we feature two of his latest tunes. Instagram: @officialsapphirephoenix              

Today Celine and Stephen talk about being wrong and why it's so often hard to accept. They look at the psychology of being wrong and how some cognitive biases may feed into the reasons why we don't always notice it when we are. Celine and Stephen also start the show with a side discussion about the joy of watching young people listen to progressive rock music for the first time, Virtual Reality, s...

Growing up as a Jehovah's Witness or other fundamentalist religious group members are taught a particular view about the role of women, but what does the Bible really say? Upon leaving we have decisions to make about what our opinion now is and how that might affect our decisions and attitudes. Today Celine and Stephen talk again to Producer Bob, a born in ex Jehovah's Witness about her experience...

Does the 2014 movie Whiplash starring Miles Teller and JK Simmons depict a cultic relationship? One of our favourite movies with fabulous music great acting and a compelling story the movie is the story of a young man's rise to jazz drumming greatness, but there's a darker side to the story? On today's podcast we explore whether what we are watching is a sort of cult or at least a coercive relatio...

It's a fascinating and emotional episode this week, as Lizzie tells us about her life being raised within an Amish community in Ohio and how she ran away to start a new life. Lizzie is now a Health Coach with her own business called Undiet Yourself. Lizzie's Website: https://undietyourself.live/ Lizzie's Instagram: @lizzieens    Become a Patron to receive early access and exclusive content for jus...

Recorded just before Christmas Day, Stephen's favourite podcasts of the year plus other recommendations to help make sense of a complicated, confusing but wonderful thing we call the world. Happy New Year to all our listeners from Stephen and Celine. Video version available at https://youtu.be/1jywnBWcx2A Featured Podcasts Top Ten Podcasts Very Bad Wizards - pod.link/557975157 Timesuck - pod.link/...

As a Jehovah's Witness dad didn't really 'do' New Year, but upon leaving he observed the common tradition of the New Year's Resolution. What does the research suggest about how effective they are and what makes them more likely to be successful? We also discuss a 'tweet of the week' addressing the question of whether all religions are cults.  Become a patron for just £1 per month ($1:50)   Links h...

Early in 2021 Stephen talked to his daughter, Celine about his life as a Jehovah's Witness, being raised in the group, getting married to a fellow JW, struggling with doubts and finally leaving around the time she was born. The story originally spanned three separate episodes so this Christmas we've put all three together into a single episode.

Sarah, joins Stephen for our Christmas Special as we think about the joys and 'tricky bits' of celebrating Christmas after leaving a cult, especially one that banned it. We think back to our own experience and how we came to feel about it. We finish with a song Celine and I recorded back in 2019. Video for the song can be accessed here .  Get the benefits of early access and exclusive content by b...

Clint Heacock was raised in a Fundamentalist Christian group. As a young man he studied theology and Bible studies in various academic settings and completed his PHD in 2011 with his dissertation being a rhetorical-critical study of the book of Ezekiel. He is a former pastor of an Evangelical church and served in full time ministry.  He moved to the UK and started a podcast called 'The Preacher's...

The term 'Self Efficacy' describes the amount of belief an individual has that they can achieve something. In study after study the degree of self efficacy is a great predictor of whether the individual will achieve the goal. But it's in the interests of a coercive individual or group to reduce the belief that you can achieve goals that are not of use to them. How do cults increase self efficacy i...

This week in the series of Cults as Organizations Stephen explores Herzberg's Two Factors, and Expectancy Theory, often used in Organizational Psychology,  to understand what motivates teams and individuals in the workplace, and applies these to high controls groups and cults.   References Grant, A. M., & Shin, J. (2012). Work motivation: Directing, energizing, and maintaining effort (and research...

Patrick Ryan found himself deeply involved in Transcendental Meditation during the 1970s until he started to believe he was part of a harmful group. He is now a cult mediation specialist, otherwise known as exit counselling. He is also the head of TM-EX, an organization of ex-members of Transcendental Meditation and has worked extensively with The International Cultic Studies Association. He is al...

Today Celine and Stephen explore dreams. Religion, psychoanalysis, neuroscience and psychology all attempt to explain what happens when we dream and whether they mean anything. Stephen also talks about how one dream by a ancient King had a profound impact on millions of people including himself. Why not become a patron of just £1 (or equivalent in your currency) https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldi...

Today is a very personal episode with a very special guest because it's Sarah, Celine's mum and Stephen's wife. Warning that the episode contains some stories about familial abuse, threats and suicide attempts. Sarah talks openly about her difficult childhood, becoming a mum and dealing with matters of faith. Stephen and Sarah also talk about how they met and the hurdles they had to overcome both...