Are you the member of a family affected by a cult? Is your loved one involved in a destructive group? What coping skills have you developed? How do you deal with the situation day-to-day?

My sister has ties to Chabad and my nephew was Bar Mitzvah'd by them. Worse, my uncle does or did some work for Chabad and he thinks they're wonderful.
Personally, I just distanced myself from all of them. Especially, my uncle. Everytime I'd talk to him, all of a sudden he'd tell me to go to Lubavitch.
When I got my job at AT&T years ago, I got it just in time to flee Crown Heights. My uncle told me "there's a Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Morris Town." I avoid them like the plague.
The best thing for me is this site where I can broadcast my past and talk about things in an unintimidating way.

I am a member of Masterpath, and I am leaving as of the end of this year. I still believe in the teachings and feel there is a lot of truth to be found there, but I do not believe in the leader. My son and daughter-in-law are/were also members and are also leaving. We are not devastated. We feel it was a good experience, but fortunately, we were able to see through a lot of the deception and get out. We have a strong spiritual base and faith in God and therefore, we were able to leave with no really traumatic emotional scars. I wish I had a way to help those who decide to leave their groups for whatever reason, but unfortunately I don't. All I can say is that one needs to truly believe that God watches over us. I can't speak for the other paths, but if anyone has questions about Masterpath, I would try to help.

I tried to post a couple of times but something went wrong. I'm in the process of leaving Masterpath. If anyone has been there, I'd be happy to talk to you.

I was just dumped by an ex-boyfriend for a cult...not sure if it is but the way he is acting is really different from what he was before all of this happened...he told me that when he started the first day with these people at their house he felt broken...soon after that we broke up because he told me we weren't equally yoked... now he is with a girl in that group and he is getting sucked in more and more everyday...i guess there's nothing i can do about it..

Well, I was born into mine, and I can honestly say it has torn us apart. My dad is on his third wife (all of which he met through the cult), my mum has been really entrenched with them and gets huge workloads shoved on her year after year, for which she gets nothing (she's unemployed) - my sister never joined and hardly ever talks to us. We lost our home, all our income (they started businesses with other cult members and lost everything), and worst of all each other but nobody seems to care. It hasn't damaged their loyalty to the cult one bit, they are that obsessed with all the lies. I've been out for about two years and I find it so hard, I don't talk to my family much and they stopped being able to love me when I left. I've tried to be my mum's 'carer' and help her out but every time she takes a step, she runs back to them. She's too scared of being alone to leave. It's not quite the same as 'losing' a loved one to a cult because I never had them in the first place. I hate cults, they're so insidious.

My daughter has been in a Cult for ten years. She is involved in the Infinity group, "Forms of yellow remember" now called Hermes. They are based in Australia. She has been there three times.
She left her boys, then 6 and 9. Two sets of Grandparents picked up the slack. The boys were devestated, as we all were.
The cult had a branch in Madison Wi. She lived in a group home, and worked in there Center. They were closed down by the government in around 2003. She moved back in our area and had more to do with her family, but still is in it. She has spent over $20,000 on this crap, and just now is claiming bankruptcy. Our family has bailed her out countless times, which we will never recover. We want to have a relationship, so we all shut our mouths.
Our grandson, 18 is now over in Australia being brainwashed more. He is due home sometime this month. I can't question him because he will take it that I'm attacking his mother.
It is a horrible scam, where they sell waters, bubblers, houses, lotions, etc. Everything is prices out of this world. The Saturn Bubbler cost $7,000. She has one. Also a "house" that cost over $500.
This has really affected our family, and our hearts go out to other families with members in Cults.
Heart sick Mom

I can sympathize with your situation old dame my case is nowhere near as extreme as what your family is going through but my daughter has been involving herself more and more in a meditation group for the last year or so. Nothing drastic, she still talks to her family and visits regularly but I am concerned as to where it can lead to. There is a lot of information on these fourms that I am finding helpful.

Trying to cope with 3 kids in Landmark Forum. watching them waste all their money and become like zombies more and more.