Yes, I have been part of one from age 17 to in my 30s. I don't want to appear in search results by mentioning the name literally, but it is a Scandinavian-based

Yes, I have been part of one from age 17 to in my 30s. I don't want to appear in search results by mentioning the name literally, but it is a Scandinavian-based religious cult. I found a way out very slowly by connecting to other people with different ideas. It started with coaching from a psychologist and, funny enough, volunteering in a homeless community. Homeless people don't really care about me or what I think, which was very liberating. My wife grew up in the cult, and her father was one of the leaders. This made it difficult for her, but she shared my doubts and we were lucky we could do this process of leaving together. Other couples divorced on these things. We lost nearly all contact with her family, but we were again lucky to being able to build a new network around us. Leaving the cult had so much impact on our lives, we could never foresee it. Which was good, because we may never have done it is we knew beforehand. It has been 10-11 years now and the dust is finally settling. I am convinced that this was the right step for us, but I can never bear the responsibility of recommending others to go this same painful path. Sorry, there is way more to this story than this paragraph. If I can help someone by sharing more, we could communicate in some other way. Also, I'm not native English, so don't read nuances where they're not intended :)