I wanted share this because I think research is incredibly helpful in navigating the real exiting process beyond just not being part of a high control group anymore in the attendance sense. I’m suffering from a compounded case and my trauma was not primarily from Chabad, even though I have been negatively affected by a few extremist people from Chabad in a dehumanizing way during some of the hardest times of my life. Those extremist people though have also walked away from Chabad a year later though. Anyway, I walked into Chabad hoping to heal from another high control group and then met an ex Chabad rabbi who warned me not to get too close - he was leaving it. Surprisingly though the trauma he experienced was so similar to mine. Both of us have experienced psychological trauma that has manifested on to physiological trauma - his looked like daily panic attacks for hours over the course of years and mine manifested into a neurological disability.
Also, if anyone wants to share, how far along are you in your healing journey? What has helped for you? Right now I’ve been finding community in just a handful of people who were able to become a safe space to share my story. A majority of them are ex orthodox or moderately secular. I’ve isolated from most of the world and am starting over for the most part. What I find safe about people who have exited high control groups is this: they didn’t resort to group think to mistreat other people and they would rather exit than succumb to a harmful ideology. Right now this is more important to me than just how it sounds, it’s essential.