If you have your own story of being in a cult or a high control group, or if you've had an experience with manipulation or abuse of power you'd like to share, leave us a message on our hotline number at 513-900-2955.

Or shoot us an email at TrustMePod at gmail.com.

Trust me. Do you trust me?

Trust me. I'm like a smart person. I've never lied to you. I've never had lied.

If you think that one person has all the answers, don't!

Welcome to TrustMe, the podcast about cults, extreme belief, and the abuse of power from two formerly indoctrinated people who've actually experienced it. I'm Lola Blanc, and I am Megan Elizabeth.

This week our guest is Rachel Bernstein. She is a therapist, cult specialist, and the host of fellow cult podcast indoctrination, excellent podcast from more academic perspective.

So today we're going to talk about what healing looks like after coming out of a cult, what the common themes she sees are in recovery from manipulation, and what the signs are that someone might be in a high control group or manipulative relationship.

We'll also touch on dissociation as a trauma response, advice for anyone who's loved one might be in a cult, and let it's like for her dealing with survivor stories every day. That would be tough.

Indeed, indeed.

Okay, there's so much information here. She's awesome. Before we talk to her though, I have to know.

What is the coolest thing that's happened to you this week, Megan?

Oh, boy. Okay. Well, the holiest thing that happened to me this week was caused by me.

The first time this has happened on the podcast, I'm excited about that. So basically we had Rachel on the podcast. She was so informative.

That's this episode that you're listening to now. And she told me, hey, I have a group for cult survivors that goes on tonight. You know, you can join it. And I was like, I need this more than anyone has ever needed anything on the face of the earth.

I cannot fucking wait. And then I just found myself running the dumbest errand and looking at the time and being like, I just missed the group.

I think my unconscious is trying to keep me in the cult of me or just keep you out of the cult of recovering.

Right. You're childhood. Wow. I mean, I was just stuck in traffic on sunset for no fucking reason.

I'm like, what time is it? I hope I'm in time for the group. And it's like, nope, the group started 10 minutes ago. You weirdo. Why did you do that?

In fairness, you probably could have joined from the car, considering it's on Zoom.

So what would you would you have joined 10 minutes late? Because I felt a little too shy. Yeah, you're right. If I had gone previously, and like wasn't new to it, then I would, but otherwise I would maybe feel like I wouldn't want to disrespect anyone. Yeah.

No, that's fair. That's fair. When I'm the new person anyway, even if I'm doing normal things and on time, I'm so nervous that I'm just like falling over everything. And yeah, it's not good.

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