Simon,
I agree with your last statement. I learned soon after leaving WT Land that there is not necessarily a real bond between X-JW's. People leave or get kicked out for many different reasons. Some turn around and join other controlling cults, some sink into drugs and other immoralities, some even commit suicide. One thing I have noticed also in people that I have known, the majority take up smoking cigarettes, even if they never smoked a day in their life before. ( I never felt that smoking cigarettes should have been a DF offense, I just agree with most that it is not a healthy habit).
I realize that there is a lot of anger built up inside one when they realize TTATT, there certainly was in me, but I strive to be a better person than the one I was while in WT Land. I will never get entirely over the emotional and mental scars from life in the WT but I manage pretty well