I am a new member and have seen some similar posts to my experience. My sister became involved in New Ageism around 2018 and I heard about it through her husband who contacted my family out of concern she was disappearing to weekend retreats with people he did not know. Over the past three years she has been to group sessions with a man who has followers who pay him to channel light language, as well as about three other light language 'Galactic Shamans' on Facebook both from Australia and the US. I have observed a drastic change in her since 2018 particularly through her social media posts and the groups she is involved in. She has begun to call herself a Pleiadian, an Earth Angel, and Archangel and feels she can read minds and control world events. She talks about her work in the Matrix (whatever that is) and Ascension and disturbingly thinks she is under surveillance by Five Eyes counterintelligence, AI and demons who constantly attack her and her two teenage boys. She calls herself a 'targeted individual.'

Needless to say, this interest affected her marriage and she decided that she wanted a divorce about 18 months ago. Her leaders will tell her to let go of people who no longer serve her and she obliges. Her poor husband ended up in a psych ward five times out of the stress and I visited him out of concern and we discussed how they would draw her further in the more her marriage disintegrated.

As all this was unravelling, about eight months ago I contacted her by text to ask how her husband was and she lied and told me that he was in a psych ward for an aneurysm. I asked her why doctors put him in a psych ward for a suspected brain bleed and she sent me an angry defensive message about how she wanted a break from me. She has since cut me off. When her husband was in hospital his family tried to find him by ringing all the local hospitals and she cut them off as well. They went to her place and she got abusive and told our mother that they are stalking her.

I reported her to Family Services for the risk to her children. I have also been seeing a psychologist at my university for the stress of this (I am doing a PhD in social movements, go figure). He is quite right that you cannot tell if this is mental illness or brainwashing without her getting assessed and it is impossible for me to force her. I cannot talk to our mother about it because he is 89 and seems to be in denial about my sister's behaviour.

I suppose my question is: will she come back from this? I guess the answer would depend on if she is mentally ill. I have no idea what else to do.

Sorry my post is so long. Thanks for your support.

Sydneygirl,

I have done intervention work regarding groups called "cults" since 1982. This has included hundreds of interventions, some in Australia.

It is very important to have your sister assessed by a mental health professional. Though such a professional may be unfamiliar with the persuasion techniques cultic groups use and not recognize their undue influence.

Having said that, no one can deprogram mental illness.

In some situations people have become delusional and even experienced psychotic breaks as a result of cult involvement and resulting stress.

It will be difficult, but it is necessary to separate what can be attributed to undue influence and what may be a preexisting mental health issue.

Sydneygirl,

I don't know of anyone in Australia. But here is a link to some resources in the United States that can be helpful.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Hi Sydney Girl,

I agree with Rick Ross - it's difficult to tell if your sister mentally ill or under undue influence. Possibly it could be that both metal illness and cultic influence are working in tandem with each other.

How are her children and do you have any contact with them? If you have their mobile phone numbers you could try making contact to see if they are worried about their mother - they could be a good source of information for you, depending on their ages and maturity and how much they trust you.

Another person you could contact is your sister's G.P, who might be able to do something for you. In Australia it only takes two people to have someone "certified" for psychiatric assessment, I believe. That means they can be held in a psych hospital against their will for I think 24 hours, while they undergo a compulsory psychiatric assessment. One person would be a doctor and the other person could be anyone (ie, you).

If you can't contact your sister's G.P, then your own G.P. would be a good option. They will let you know realistically what your options for helping your sister are. It all comes down to whether or not your sister really does believe that she is an archangel etc, which would indicate that she is delusional, or whether this is all fun and games for her.

Does your sister work? Is she able to pay the bills? The problem is that a lot of people live pretty weird lives and still manage to get by somehow and so there is not much we can do about it.

I wrote here on the forum about my own very strange friend "Jeff" a while back. He seemed to be starting his own cult out of his country property and had a lot of interest from the local alternative cohort here in our town. I was worried about him because his beliefs were becoming more and more extreme and people were encouraging his bizarre behavior. I thought he would deteriorate into madness pretty quickly, actually. But he is still going strong!

Just the other day he was telling me how he had begun drinking turpentine to rid himself of yeast infections ????? He was advising others of this course of action and people were actually listening to him. There really is not much I can do to help him, unfortunately.

The main thing is to look after yourself, Sydney Girl, and put yourself and your health first.

Let us know how you go.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for your supportive and constructive replies. It is probably easier to respond to individual comments in one post.

As for getting her mental health assessed, this is why I rang Family Services and they told me they would recommend family counseling but the nature of privacy means I do not know if local mental health workers followed up on this. I am not familiar with our mental health laws because like the US we have a Federal Government and States, so I can look into these. I know from the experience of my friends with adult children with mental health, there is only so much people can do if an adult with mental health issues refuses help. The only person who was next of kin and had some power was her husband (they have not yet divorced) but he has his own issues. If I needed a second person to certify my sister that would be tricky because her GP practiced alternative medicine and was a flake. My mother is not able to be the second person to certify her. There's no one to care for her two kids if she is put in a hospital against her will so I have to think about that. I am not in the position to look after them full time and their father is unable to.

My sister is living off her husband's pension from work in their home that they own so at the present does not need to find a job (she has not worked for some years because of chronic fatigue) and can easily fly under the radar. Her Facebook posts are articulate and not at all rambling or incoherent and she is able to function in other aspects of her life that is what confusing me about this. I know things are going to come to a head soon because they are selling the house.

I can try talking to other free mental health support services here and see what they suggest. They would know more than my GP. I am loathe to contact her children (I have thought about this) because it would get back to my mother and I have to look after her frail health. I thought of approaching my nephews' school but I have to do it anonymously because it would get back to her and my mother.

RR - thanks for the resources and your website is a good place for me to find some information. Last year I contacted someone in Australia who deals with cults but I cannot recall who they are. There were no support groups that they knew of but I can keep looking.