BALAAMSASS- Excellent article ! Thanks for posting.I was in it from birth, exited 16 years ago , and it takes enormous effort through re-educating oneself to build back up our self esteem as human beings. I think many of us, including myself will be working on getting our real selves back for the rest of our lives.
One thing that really helped me after I left was not using the JW language and lingo like refusing to say " the truth ", or " brothers & sisters " , or " the friends " or " light gets brighter " - any of that stuff mentally puts those images back in our heads. Thus the extreme importance of newly exiting JW's to STOP attending meetings as soon as possible. So these phrases won't trigger our former cult mentality as much.
Because physiologically the brain neurotransmitters are used to being hit with these common JW images, and once those images aren't engaged anymore, and replaced with other ideas and research or hobbies like researching ancestry, golfing, shopping, studying secular history, anything informative and interesting, it can help.
It still takes time, but it can engage our minds in a different direction. Thanks for sharing this my friend, we are all working on it, especially if we were in it from birth. Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper