Amazon Prime Free Trial
FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button and confirm your Prime free trial.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited FREE Prime delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-11% $22.14$22.14
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$18.81$18.81
FREE delivery January 16 - 23
Ships from: Blue Vase Books Sold by: Blue Vase Books
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample
Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships Paperback – November 7, 2023
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Purchase options and add-ons
Updated and revised, including a new section on the Troubled Teen Industry
Cult victims and those who have experienced abusive relationships often suffer from fear, confusion, low self-esteem, and post-traumatic stress. Take Back Your Life explains the seductive draw that leads people into such situations, provides insightful information for assessing what happened, and hands-on tools for getting back on track.
- Print length426 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 7, 2023
- Dimensions6 x 1.07 x 9 inches
- ISBN-13979-8989227907
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
Take Back Your Life is a must-read for everyone who wants to understand the powerful appeal that cults have for so many ordinary people, using so many disguises, with so many subtle tactics. This book's wisdom is vital for us all.
-Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
Take Back Your Life is a book I have continuously and highly recommended to my clients since it was first published. As a therapist who has worked for over thirty years with those who have endured manipulation, coercion and emotional abuse, this book is a wealth of information and highlights specific scenarios that are both incredibly powerful and profoundly relatable to this population. Dr. Janja Lalich is a gifted writer who writes with wisdom, experience and compassion.
-Rachel Bernstein, LMFT, MSEd, Host of IndoctriNation Podcast
For many years there has been no book I have recommended more to the many cult survivors I have spoken with than the original version of Take Back Your Life. I am thrilled that Dr. Lalich has given us a newly updated version of this brilliant, indispensable volume. Until now there has been no single book more comprehensive, more insightful and more helpful for those recovering from cult trauma than this-and now it is even better than before. Given the dramatic rise in cults and cult-like groups I've seen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this new edition could not be more needed, more timely and more welcome.
-Daniel Shaw, Psychoanalyst and Author of Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation
This book has been the most important resource in my healing journey. It puts language to how abuses of power can corrupt any group and how to recover once you are able to extract yourself. It's the first thing I recommend to fellow cult or abuse survivors.
-Sarah Edmondson, Author of Scarred: The Cult That Bound My Life, Podcaster, A Little Bit Culty
Take Back Your Life is an invaluable resource and steadfast companion for those embarking on the healing journey after experiencing cultic abuse. It expertly details the dynamics inherent in controlling environments, thereby supporting the reader in gaining perspective while inspiring them to do as the title recommends: reclaim the life that got tangled in coercive manipulation. The focus on the healing process makes it an indispensable guidebook, providing survivors with the tools to rebuild their lives on their own terms. Through the practical wisdom of personal experience and decades in the field, Lalich provides an unparalleled, no-nonsense guide for survivors. Take Back Your Life is a must read for those whose lives have been harmed by cultic, religious, or institutional abuse.
-Gerette Buglion, Author, Cult Recovery Educator and Consultant, Co-Founder of #igotout.org
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B0CN4YDB1T
- Publisher : Lalich Center on Cults & Coercion; 3rd ed. edition (November 7, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 426 pages
- ISBN-13 : 979-8989227907
- Item Weight : 1.38 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.07 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #592,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #199 in Sociology Books on Abuse
- #324 in Religious Cults (Books)
- #920 in Abusive Family Relationships
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Janja Lalich, Ph.D. is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in self-sealing, or closed, systems (cults, human trafficking, situations of coercive influence and control, ideological extremism), with a particular focus on recruitment, indoctrination, and methods of influence and control. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico and has been studying the social psychology of controversial groups and exploitative and abusive relationships for 30+ years. Dr. Lalich has written and lectured extensively, has advised the international intelligence community on extremism and indoctrination, and has served as consultant and expert witness in civil and criminal cases.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book's content helpful and thought-provoking. They appreciate its comprehensive, pragmatic discussion of how to deal with problems and provide clear steps and guidance towards healing. The book covers every imaginable situation and is recommended for anyone needing to recover from any type of abuse.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book's content helpful, thoughtful, and life-changing. They say it's a great read for anyone who has been under the influence of a cult or an abusive relationship. The book is relatable and an invaluable resource for recovering cultists and people involved in abusive relationships.
"This is a wonderful resource—I’ve recommended it to so many people. Also got the Audible version." Read more
"...It will also provide guidance and understanding to many unaddressed relationship issues: your life will be all the better for reading this...clearly..." Read more
"This book provides concrete insights backed up by research and science...." Read more
"This book is a must read for anyone recovering for leaving a cult, or an abusive relationship...." Read more
Customers find the book helpful. They say it provides comprehensive and practical advice on how to deal with problems. The descriptions are easy to understand, covering all situations and aspects of going through the process.
"...The author does not leave any stones unturned; this book is straight-forward, user-friendly, and a must read for anyone who wants to understand more..." Read more
"...From mini cults to full blown movements , the descriptions will set you free!..." Read more
"...of the abusive relationship, group leader, and provides steps to take for a full and complete recovery process...." Read more
"Very helpful in my quest for understanding. Easy to understand. Written for the survivor of cult life and abuse. I would recommend this book...." Read more
Customers find the book helpful for recovering from abuse. It covers all aspects of recovery, providing clear guidance and steps towards healing.
"...Lalich and Madeleine Tobias did a marvelous job, leading the reader through the process of healing and understanding the hardships and pain they've..." Read more
"...group leader, and provides steps to take for a full and complete recovery process...." Read more
"...happened to you, how to cope, and give you clear steps and guidance towards healing." Read more
"...Masterfully written and complete, touching all the bases of recovery." Read more
Reviews with images
Downplays Black Magic Cults
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2024This is a wonderful resource—I’ve recommended it to so many people. Also got the Audible version.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2013I was raised in a cult and have experienced unrelenting pain as a result. To further the pain, I am around people (therapists included) who don't have a solitary clue about cults and how a person trying to forge a new life after leaving one struggles with things many people don't even know exists. This book is spot on about everything you experience; in reading it, I felt more understood than ever...and I know I am not alone in the frightening journey (with all the unknowns) of taking back my life. Dr. Lalich provides a plethora of resources and the book stands alone as a complete guide to understanding your experience and moving on from it. As I turned each page, I felt soothed and slowly, the hope is returning. I am still afraid, but I now have an excellent "friend" in the form of a book with a message that truly helps. The author does not leave any stones unturned; this book is straight-forward, user-friendly, and a must read for anyone who wants to understand more about people in general. This book can help far more than those of us who have been in cults. It will also provide guidance and understanding to many unaddressed relationship issues: your life will be all the better for reading this...clearly, I highly recommend it. Stay open-minded and open-hearted and you will be happy you did. This book is replete with much needed wisdom for all of us.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024This book provides concrete insights backed up by research and science. It is also extremely validating and grounding to me as a toxic relationship survivor. I think every therapist working with trauma should read this book.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2011This book is a must read for anyone recovering for leaving a cult, or an abusive relationship. I've read many books on this subject matter, is this one is by far one of the best. Identifying a cult, or a mind-controlling environment is always a simple matter, and more so leaving a high-demand or controlling group. Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias did a marvelous job, leading the reader through the process of healing and understanding the hardships and pain they've been through, helping them cope with the introduction to a new life style and a completely foreign and new environment. I can't stress enough how beneficial this book was for me, it was shocking to read how my experience was so similar to so many, and how many of the symptoms I've been dealing with are known psychological effects in the field of cultic studies. Reading this book is almost like a having a close friend holding your hand and guiding you through your own healing process and opening your eyes to the reclaiming your freedom and your choices in life.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2013Few understand the power of the cult-behavior which has inflicted our social portrait in America. Most people believe that only so-named cults are perpetrating such control behaviors, but it reaches into individual families, into church leadership, and into all strata of out of balance personal relationships. This is a way to check yourself, or a loved one, and to develop anti-venom to begin to be free. Thoughtful reading.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2015If you read this book, you will be forever a critical thinker, able to see what's what! Holy cow🐂
Ever feel like you have been under the influence ? As I read this book, a life time of branding and news, political, religious, new age marketing and advertising with charismatic leaders,seminars, corporations and groups are now exposed for what they are. From mini cults to full blown movements , the descriptions will set you free!
I might give this book a sub subtitle of "no longer under the influence"! Even if you never got involved with a cult, this book explains how people rise to level of leadership where people follow, like Hitler, bin laden, guru's, cult leaders, terrorist leaders and movements, politicians, multi level marketing,
This book will deprogrammed even the most loyal advocate. The truth will actually set you free! With the crazy terrorist attacks that are going on in the world , this book gives anyone a clear view of how this can happen and how education and exposure of the leaders will be the only way to end it. Everyone should read this book.
Love
Marilyn
- Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2011If you or someone you know are considering exiting a cult or abusive relationship or have recently done so, Take Back Your Life is a must purchase. It gives you the tools and support information necessary to identify the characteristics of the abusive relationship, group leader, and provides steps to take for a full and complete recovery process. I'm not too certain how I would have been able to begin taking back my life without having purchased and read Take Back Your Life.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2013I was a member of a martial arts "school" for over twenty years and as a result of without ever realizing it became indoctrinated into a life style that cost me just about everything I had! Not so much financially, but as a person. I never questioned the "master" because to do so was seen as sacreligious. Only by realizing the truth about it all have I hagan to search for the solution.
This book was written as though my experience was the guideline for its inception and the authors insight and help have made it possible to recover and move on with my life. I could not possibly stress the importance of reading this book if you or someone you know has been in a cult or fallen prey to "wolves in sheep's clothing"!
Top reviews from other countries
- Taranjeet-KaurReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing so glad finally read!
A brilliant read that has helped me unpack a controlling unhealthy relationship and six years in an unhealthy yoga system too! It's a book I always recommend to leavers.
- GizzyReviewed in Canada on October 19, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written
It wasn't for me, but could certainly help others.
- Tuff TaffyReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! A Life-Changing book.
This book has changed my life! It gave me the confidence to realise that what happened to me in the cult was not my fault. I am going to read it again in a year's time to see how I have progressed in my attitude to life. I would encourage anybody who has been in a cult to buy this book, as it could help you to move on in life & put the past behind you.
- Miss E J Field-RaynerReviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars If you're recovering from a cult or an abusive relationship then this book is a must have.
It gives great insight into the powerful appeal of cults and gives clear and healing advice about recovery. Highly recommend.
- jon atackReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars essential reading
I've spent over three decades talking with cult members, and for anyone who has been involved in a cult or fanatical movement of any kind, this is an easily understood roadmap to recovery. If you or someone you love has been involved in a 'high demand' or totalist group this is one of the must read books - along with Steve Hassan's new edition of Combating Cult Mind Control.