I was recruited into a cult as a teenager. Here’s how it happened

July 31, 2026 — 7:00pm

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Today, as a clinical psychologist, I work with people leaving fleeing religious abuse. But 20 years ago, I was in a cult myself.

At 16, curious about the world and my place in it, I started attending courses in astral travel and self-knowledge. I was funnelled from course to course with other attendees – each of the classes presenting more beliefs about a mysterious spiritual transformation.

Within six months, I was in deep – immersed in a cult which held some extreme beliefs. These included a conviction that emotions were entities from another dimension that needed to be eliminated for one to become spiritually “conscious”. The group’s leader was held as the only living god and betraying him meant an eternity in hell. We were forbidden from going to places like bars, other spaces of worship and cinemas because they would sully our energies.

Within a year, I had absorbed the view that everyone was going to hell and the only thing that mattered was spreading the group’s teachings. I was a fully fledged cult member.

Although I was young, if you’d asked me then whether I was susceptible to joining a cult, I would have scoffed. I had been an avowed atheist and sceptic who understood the world through the lens of science; a stance I have reverted to since. However, my scepticism quickly dissolved after my first introduction to the group’s teachings.

Laws failing to protect cult survivors, inquiry........

© The Age