I am brand new to this site, I don't know why I never searched on the web for other ex-jw's, I just never did. It does help to know that there are so many others out there who experienced the same treatment, terror, and out and out bull@#$% I did.
I was one of those unfortunate brought up in the "truth" and I bought it hook line and sinker because it was all I knew. I finally left at age 28, I am 58 now and honestly still get the scary's about "armageddon" although, I would rather than die with the sinners than live in that everlasting hell they describe. My own mother still tells me that unless I change and return, she will be burying my bones after the birds pick the flesh off.
It took me a long time to realize how conditioned I was. How literally brainwashed. I know live a relatively normal life and worry more about the bushites than the wbts, but it is always back there.