Two years before Julie Greene entered the mental health system, she briefly encountered a religious cult while hitchhiking. She figured out on her own that the cult had brainwashed her. She attempted to alert others of the dangers of staying there, by passing secret notes. She is the only person she knows of to voluntarily leave the Moonies. In fact, they booted her out for insubordination.
In Julie’s recent book, not yet finished, she draws parallels between the brainwashing of the cult and “psychotherapy” as was done to her in the mental health system. After over 30 years of brainwashing, confinement, drugging, and other tortures, she suddenly had an epiphany in 2012. She spent the two years in a desperate struggle for freedom.
She knows now the mental health system was perhaps a wrong turn on the path of life, or perhaps a Road Less Traveled, yet she doesn’t regret having this unusual experience. She feels there is value in telling her story. Her original motto was, “Never, ever shut up.” Her new motto is “Believe in possibility.”
Julie originally studied music education and composition. She studied at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Bennington College. Now, she holds a BFA from Emerson College in Writing, Literature, and Publishing, summa cum laude, and an MFA from Goddard College in Creative Writing, focusing on memoir. She self-published a book while still an undergraduate. Her master’s thesis, This Hunger Is Secret, was published by Chipmunkapublishing in 2010 and 2012. She is a four-time National Novel Writing Month winner. She studied stand-up comedy in 2009. She enjoys performing and reading her works to an audience. She writes daily, and enjoys running and fixing computers. She has knowledge and first-hand experience with severe eating disorders. Her desire to help others who have had similar experiences is unshakable. She is currently working on a third college degree.
Today, Julie is 57 years old and has started life over in South America with her little dog, Puzzle. She is free of the coercion and force of the System. She takes no psychiatric medications, and never sees a therapist. She says it wasn’t an easy road to take, and certainly an unpopular one, yet she is more happy and healthier than she has been in a long time. It is her wish that others may likewise be blessed with a second chance.
Julie’s links:
