“We are all free, completely free. We can each do any damn thing we want. Which is more than most of us dare to imagine.”
- Jean-Paul Sarte
There are many resources out there on this topic. We have curated a list of resources that at least one of us has used and found helpful.
Books for cult psychoeducation
Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan
Cults in Our Midst by Margaret Singer
Escaping Utopia by Janja Lalich
Recovering Agency by Luna Lindsey
Take Back Your Life! by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias
Terror, Love and Brainwashing by Alexandra Stein
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism by Dr. Robert Jay Lifton
Trauma and Recovery by Dr. Judith Herman
Books on Orthodox Judaism
All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen
Becoming Un-Orthodox by Lynn Davidman
Brazen by Julia Haart
Changing the Immutable by Marc Shapiro
Cut Me Loose by Leah (Jericho) Vincent
Disobedience a novel by Naomi Alderman
Foreskin’s Lament by Sholom Auslander
Gaytheist by Lonnie Mann
Hidden Heretics by Ayala Fader
Hush by Eishes Chayil
Off the Derech by Ezra Cappell and Jessica Lang
The Book of Seperation by Tova Mirvis
The Ladies Auxiliary a novel by Tova Mirvis
The Rabbi’s Daughter by Reva Mann
Uncovered by Leah Lax
Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
Books about other cults and high control groups
American Cult by Robyn Chapman
Educated by Tara Westover
Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
Leaving the Witness by Amber Scorah
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Books about atheism and skepticism
Behave by Robert Sapolsky
Being Wrong by Katheryn Schulz
Breaking the Kuzari by Second Son
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
Letter to a Christian Nation and Waking Up by Sam Harris
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
Documentaries about Orthodox Judaism
Code of Silence and Breaking the Silence
Leaving the Ultra Orthodox - Jews Seeking a New Life in Germany
Let There Be Light by Meni Philip
My Unorthodox Life (reality show)
Unorthodox (documentary about seminary/yeshiva year)
Documentaries about other cults
Films or TV about cults and cult life
Articles
DARVO, psychological manipulation to protect abusers
Elad Nehorai’s writing, especially this piece
List of logical fallacies and how they work
Orthodox Judaism is a Cult by Lonnie Mann, a comic
Our interview with Lonnie Mann
Videos
JEW by Ari Shaffir
Rabbi’s Daughter Interview by Chasya
Torn and Why I Left Judaism by Rebecca Goldstein
Why I Left an Evangelical Cult by Dawn Smith
Podcasts
A Better Life interview with Ari Hershowitz
This American Life: A Not So Simple Majority and Stuck in the Middle and Chip in My Brain and Pieces by Sholom Auslander
Death Sex and Money interview with JONAH survivors and activists
Philosophize This! Podcast
Radio Lab Finding Yourself and Match Made in Marrow
The Longest Shortest Time: Schpitzle’s Secret
The Turning: the Sisters Who Left
Thereafter interview with Elad Nehorai: Rethinking Judaism
Other resources on cults, leaving religion, skepticism, abuse, and related topics
Was I in a high control group? A self assessment
#igotout
FB Respectfully Debating Judaism