I compare being an Ex-JW to being a survivor of the Titanic. As the years go by you become an object of curiousity. Nobody really understands except others who were there and experienced it.
For all practical purposes, it is a totally unique experience, mindset and injury. Yes--it is an injury. Or maybe one of those diseases like malaria that flare up now and then.
I look on JWn as a family.