This episode is dedicated to American psychiatrist and author Robert Jay Lifton, who recently passed after decades of research into the psychology of totalism. “Doctrine over person” is one of Lifton’s eight criteria of thought reform; it’s widely considered to be a defining characteristic of the cultic headspace. But how exactly does it function? Meet T Brown. In 1997, T entered a Sufi group as a free-thinking, openly gay man. But he eventually discarded his personal eccentricities, married a woman, and became a public defender of the group’s apolitical, anti-vax ideology. In this episode, T shares how his life became “occupied” by the guru’s teachings. When the pandemic gave him the space he needed, T finally separated from the group after 23 years, and the journey of cult recovery began. Five years later, T is completing his doctoral dissertation and is debuting the performance of "A Cult Piece" at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. He tells us how the cult mindset impacted his choices, his family, and his sense of self. And he shares what it was like coming out of the cult (and to his wife) to re-enter the real world, free and disoriented. This episode is a deep dive into the paradox that often defines the journey of cult recovery. The end is just the beginning. Embodiment informs critical thinking. Art imitates life. And audacious self-acceptance slowly and steadily dispels a once all-consuming ideology.

Learn more about T Brown by visiting his QuitYourCult YouTube channel.

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The stories and opinions shared in this episode are based on personal experience and are not intended to malign any individual, group, or organization.

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