I am not here so much concerned with them as I am with those who, often after a great deal of inner turmoil, leave such groups. Having lost faith in what was once a primary source of meaning and guidance, the former believer feels lost and overwhelmed. While not all groups go so far as to prohibit contact with those who leave, the former member is unlikely to be well regarded by the faithful. The psychological effects of membership in a restrictive religious group often persist long after the outward severing of ties. Many ex-members experience a chronic sense of dissatisfaction coupled with difficulties in finding new sources of meaning and direction.
Authoritarian groups encourage the distrust of one's own judgment.
Many former members despair in being unable to recapture the certainty that came with unquestioning acceptance of the group's teachings. Fundamentalist doctrines emphasize human imperfection, maintaining that there is no possibility for doing good without the assistance of divine grace which alone renders an individual acceptable to God. Belief that pride in oneself is sinful is often internalized as a persistently negative self image. Sexual inhibitions, compulsions, frustration, and guilt tend to linger long after negative beliefs about sex have been consciously rejected. Having been taught to regard every impulse as potentially evil, the former group member may have little capacity for spontaneity and lack the means for genuine self-expression.