"Getting out of a 'cult' is not something that you recover from, it is something you are strengthened by." -- Alanzo
From the discipline of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the only scientifically validated talk therapy, cognitive distortions are exaggerated or irrational thought patterns that are believed to perpetuate the effects of psychopathological states, especially depression and anxiety.
Scientology itself is filled with cognitive distortions. But I have found that many Ex-Scientologists develop cognitive distortions on Scientology after they get out, and especially on their former selves as Scientologists. This can lead to anxiety and depression in Ex-Scientologists. But more importantly it can lead to you lying to yourself about your own life and who you actually are.
You can learn to identify your own cognitive distortions on Scientology in your thinking and self-talk. I believe this is a vital activity for any Ex-Scientologist. It can be extremely rewarding, leading to many insights about yourself, bringing you peace and stabilizing your moods after Scientology.
Below are some posts that pertain to the ideas of cognitive distortions on Scientology.
Adopting the beliefs of the anti-cult movement dramatically changes the views and attitudes of those who experience a loss of faith. Those changes have a profound effect on how Exes make sense of their own past. So we must ask: How helpful is the ideology of the anti cult movement in making sense of your […]
There’s a point in your evolution as an Ex which is exactly like when you woke up from all the untrue things in Scientology: As an Ex, it’s that point when you wake up from all the untrue things in Anti-Scientology, as well.
I used to think that as long as I was not in the cult of Scientology any more, I would never fall into the unquestioning, partisan mindset that I had adopted when I was a Scientologist.
To dismiss that part of your life, to wall it off under labels of “delusional Scientologist” or “weak” or “crazy loon” is to remain in a dissociative state – to continue living a fractured life with some of the best parts of you buried underneath a wall of self-hatred and shame.
A Post-Ex has integrated the arguments, and “truths”, he made as a Scientologist with the arguments, and “truths”, he made as an Ex/Anti-Scientologist. He has seen the disconnects and the contradictions there, and repaired them. He no longer walks around with an opposite self inside him, with which he is at war.
The human mind has certain biases which routinely, and falsely, color the perceptions of people called cognitive biases. One of the most important for a former cult member to know about is called the “hindsight bias”, or the “I knew it all along” effect.
An interesting article written about victims of abuse from Slate.com on February 8th 2014 by Samantha Gelmer, the woman who was sexually abused as a 13 year old by the film director Roman Polanski. Her message, while written within the context of sexual abuse, applies just as strongly to anyone who has experienced religious and […]
Social scientists who study minority religions have observed that the main activity of the anti-cult movement is to create a moral panic around a targeted minority religion strong enough to make governments react. Members of the anti-cult movement accomplished this in Waco in the 1990’s, and the resulting catastrophe woke up people in government to their responsibility […]
If you were not abused in Scientology, and you say so in the various social media platforms on the Internet, then you can be accused of being heartless to those who were. A common way to avoid that is to forget your own viewpoint and to take up other peoples’ problems of abuse as your […]
Don’t catastrophize Scientology or your experiences in it. Always work to keep your experiences in Scientology in perspective.
Celebrity anti-Scientology is a hell of a drug. Presenting all your trauma, over and over to a sympathetic audience on TV can create and maintain your whole self-identity for you. And it can get you all the status & fame you desire. But is it good for you?
This scene, from the hilarious and insightful movie on actors and acting – Tropic Thunder – shows 2 actors (Ben Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr) dialoguing about the dangers of playing a mentally retarded character, and the serious damage (LOL) it can do to you if you get too immersed in it. The message of […]
This is an excerpt from sociology professor Eileen Barker at the London School of Economics. A link to the full pdf is provided below. I post it because it is a different view of ‘cults’ than we are given in the standard anti-cult movement’s narrative. I think this different, more objective view is healthier for […]
How gullible can some Ex-Scientologists get? Jon Atack wrote a post on Tony Ortega’s blog, accusing everyone who was ever involved in Scientology of being gullible. I commented about Jon’s broad-brushed generality of anyone who ever called themselves a Scientologist. It gave me the chance to use the word “hootenanny” (twice), and I have been […]
A cool even head is always smarter and more effective at eradicating abuse, if it does exist, than a hotheaded ideologue. And it will be harder to manipulate you. Good luck out there.
Tony Ortega is one of the most valuable critics of Scientology ever. But is he so biased that, over time, you can start to live in a delusional world about Scientology? I think so.
There is a claim made by many anti-Scientologists, such as Tony Ortega, Mike Rinder, Chris Shelton and others, that the Church of Scientology paid social scientists and other academics in the field of religion to alter their research and to write articles favorable to Scientology. Since objective scientific research is important to critical thinking about […]
People need simplistic explanations for Scientology because it’s too much work to understand it. They just want Scientology to be a cult & Hubbard to be a con man because it’s easier to think with that way. Even an Ex-Scientologist can go through a period where this is what they want. In the long run, […]
Vicar, in his short but excellent comment over on Mark C Rathbun’s blog, wrote: “I would have to think that the deeper one follows Ron and presses on in this search for his native state, the more likely they are moving away from ever realizing it and being at peace. Its a collapsed bridge. Run.” […]
After being an Ex-Scientologist for 18 years, I’ve identified what I think are the top 5 things that, over time, become the most toxic and corrosive about being an Ex-Scientologist. I’m pretty sure most all Ex-Scientologists have experienced these, too. The trick is to not let them destroy you.
In my race to lose friends and influence fewer people, I have to write one more post about the breathless and distorted interpretations of Scientology experiences by Tony Ortega. Yesterday, Tony Ortega wrote a blog post entitled “Even the local Scientology mission is hiding a horror show of abuse: Kelly Jordan tells her tale”. The […]
A valued contributor to this blog, Richard, said something that made me realize a whole bunch of things about Tony Ortega and his Underground Bunker, ESMB, and all the other outlets of the Anti-Scientology Mafia Network (ASMN) Richard wrote: “Classifying all people participating on the Underground Bunker as cultists seemed to have a shock effect, […]
There are some very common ways that you can become a hypocrite as an anti-Scientologist. After being an anti-Scientologist myself for so long, I have identified a few of those ways of thinking so that you can avoid being a hypocrite as an Anti-Scientologist.
Do you remember when you finally awoke to find yourself thinking with the Scientology mindset? You were horrified to wake up and realize that your thought patterns and emotional habits followed the Scientology ideology. And do you remember all the work you needed to do to un-condition yourself from that? And do you remember all […]
I think it is important to document the new trend among anti-Scientologists, started by Mike Rinder of Scientology and the Aftermath, of calling all Scientologists “vermin”. After doing their best to keep Scientology from opening a new organization in Ireland, and failing miserably – but stirring up a lot of hatred for Scientology there – […]
There is a point at which this metaphor becomes an exercise in thought-stopping: A person accepts it as an explanation for why Scientologists do what they do in the way that Larry and other anti-Scientologists describe, and that’s all you need to know. It seems to explain everything when, in fact, it explains very little.
There is no substitute for being willing & able to see things from someone else’s perspective when you are in a disagreement or dispute with them.
I believe if an Ex-cultist is to fully graduate from his former cultic thinking and keep evolving and growing in a constructive manner after the cult, he should teach himself to listen to criticism, and carefully determine if there might be something true in it.
There’s a really good book, written by a former CIA analyst, called “The Thinker’s Toolkit”. This book contains 14 tools of structured analysis which can be used to help you figure things out. A structured analysis is a technique that police detectives, FBI agents, CIA Analysts, and others use to investigate something without letting emotions, […]
Scientologists aren’t squirreling Scientology when they apply Fair Game to their “enemies”, they are applying 100% standard Scientology. Thus, I contend that all fanaticism, criminality, and abuse that comes from Scientologists, either in the Church or in the Independent field, stems directly from following the written words and taped lectures of L Ron Hubbard. If […]
Alanzo is an Ex-Scientologist who sees the same tribalism he escaped in Scientology rising up in Anti-Scientology.
Out of all the lessons he learned by escaping Scientology, he learned one lesson harder than any other: Never let your tribe do your thinking for you.
Alanzo writes from the battlefield of the war between Scientology & Anti-Scientology.
