Donna Stevenson was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and describes herself as a "happy Witness", but her experiences as a young woman in the organization left her with many questions. Donna eloquently describes what happened, her struggles with her faith and her journey out of the organization and life afterwards.

Warning: This episodes includes discussion about sexual assault

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Advice about Trauma

Mind 

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/trauma/overcoming-barriers/

NHS

https://www.england.nhs.uk/london/our-work/help-and-support/

As a Jehovah's Witness Stephen was raised to be a pacifist. Upon leaving the group ex members find themselves trying to make sense of how to think about war and whether it can be justified. Celine and Stephen explore the concept of the "just war", how we remember people who have died in wars and how for a moment the world appeared to get close to a rules based system for mutual benefit. Also the show introduces a new feature, showcasing the music and performances of ex JWs or ex members of other high control groups. Today it's a band called TICNOTOC from Warrington, Cheshire in the UK with their track; Who rattled your cage?

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TICNOTOC website

https://www.ticnotoc.com/

BBC Podcast - In Our Time

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/just-war/id463701671?i=1000097068534

In organisational studies, "Wicked problems" are a type of problem that's hard to define and wickedly difficult to solve. In this month's Cults as Organisations Stephen asks whether cults can be described in this way and what can be done by governments to protect people while maintaining religious freedoms.

This is an audio version of Stephen's blog. You can read the blog here:

https://medium.com/@SteEvilSheep/what-should-we-do-about-cults-a-wicked-problem-ea062a99015c

Gillie Jenkinson PhD is a leading accredited psychotherapist, specialising in cult recovery and recovery from spiritual abuse. She shares with us the four step framework she uses to help people recovering from cult experiences. We discuss the framework, the work done at each stage and the roles of the individual and the counsellor. We also ask about the special challenges of the born-in member and their sense of identity and self, as well as hear about Gillie's own experience inside a religious cult.

We really enjoyed talking to one of the most relevant and knowledgeable voices in this area.

Gillie Jenkinson Hope Valley Counselling Website

https://www.hopevalleycounselling.com/writing-media

Producer Bob and Stephen review the Voltaire lecture given by Nichola Raihani about how deeply embedded is the instinct to cooperate. We discuss questions like; why do human beings go through the menopause, how do Meerkats teach their young, how do cleaner fish police customer service and how are a store in the UK that cuts keys and mends shoes leading the way in prisoner rehabilitation. 

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Nichola Raihani's book is called, The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jonathan Cape (3 Jun. 2021)

Angela Lathwell was raised in the Children of God cult. She describes speaking out about the cult as the last taboo for ex members and we are honoured that she has decided to tell her story on the 'What should I think about..?' podcast. 

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In 1605 Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In 2005 the Wachowskis adapted V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving and John Hurt. Today on November 5th 2021 we review the film inspired by the historical event and dig into its meaning and the actual history behind the event - plus some interesting little tidbits too.

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Back in the 16th Century a woman began to dance - but couldn't stop. Others began to join her and a plague was declared and according to some reports, 15 people a day died of exhaustion. As weird as it seems it's not an isolated case, over the years similar phenomena have been observed. What causes this? What does it tell us about human behaviour? Is there anything that it might tell us about cultic groups? Plus a little spooky Tweet of the Week.

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Today we welcome John and Seamus from The Free Thought Prophet Podcast. Seamus talks about his 'Near Death Experience' and how it converted him to atheism. We also talk about John's journey out of the Catholic Church, reasons people leave religion behind, the hostile reaction in some places to atheism and why atheists don't always get along. It's a wide ranging and fascinating conversation with two of the podcast world's leading freethinkers.

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The psychology of learning. How cults shape what people think, what they do and when they do it. Stephen and Celine explore three ways of understanding learning within High Controls Groups, Coercive Relationships and Cults.

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Reference

Miell, D., Phoenix, A., & Thomas, K. (2002). Mapping psychology 1. The Open University.