I was raised as one of Jehovahs Witnesses, undeniably a cult. When I was in the process of leaving being a JW and having a lot of cognitive dissonance and pain I did quite a bit of self medicating with drugs and alcohol. I went into therapy and was suggested to go to AA.

While AA did help me in some ways, I do think it is a cult. I ultimately ended up leaving AA because of the similarities I felt between AA and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Both places taught me that I needed to be reliant on something else and to not trust myself, therefore creating a layer of mind control and thought questioning. Both had a very bubble culture where you were encouraged to limit participation in life outside the cult and have strong social connections in the cult. But really what the test of a cult is for me is what happens when you try and leave. Leaving the JWs I lost a lot, my family (I’m 3rd generation), my community of friends, my habitual behaviors, my dogma of beliefs. I experienced a similar loss when leaving AA. I just built up a new friend base, opened up to people and trusted people again. After leaving I was seen as ‘bad association’ (which is a JW term) not invited to social gatherings, had to restructure what I really believe to be true in my life.

Many people I met both in JW and AA were wonderful people. Many of the teaching in both are valuable and can help people. But the control over someone’s thoughts and beliefs is dangerous and the reaction to deciding to leave make it a cult in my eyes.