Table 1.

Respondents’ characteristics and exit stories at the time of interviews

Respondent characteristics	Reasons for leaving	Exit process	Current ties with JW friends/family
John (PP1), 25-year-old white male born into the JW faith. Inactive for four years. Social support after leaving	John left the JWs through choice because he felt that he could not live the life he wanted within the JW faith. He felt the organisation was overly strict, strongly discouraging further education and limiting life choices, commenting that “it’s not what I believe worship to God should be like”. He describes his previous faith as: “a mesh of conformity and self-regulation” that he would never return to	John decided to stop attending religious services and fade out of the faith together with his mother and brother. He felt that having support eased the transition out of the faith commenting that “we grew stronger…supported each other personally rather than through a construct of religion”	John lost a significant number of family relationships which included with his sister, father, grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins he had previously been close to. He surmised that they “…that did not think we made the right decision; they keep their distance from us now”. John felt that relationships with all other family members, including his mother and brothers remained intact, and felt that his relationship with these individuals had improved because of leaving together, commenting “we got to know each other better”
Sue (PP2), 51-year-old white female born into the JW faith. Disfellowshipped aged 25 years with no social support, and reinstated age 26 years, then disassociated (resigned) 28 years ago	Sue was disfellowshipped from the JWs against her will a few days after her wedding, due to JW leadership viewing her marriage as “adulterous”. She said that this was because her new husband had not been divorced on “scriptural grounds” according to JW doctrine and was therefore not “free to marry”, constituting her as an “adulteress”. Two years after reinstatement into the JWs, Sue disassociated herself from the JWs along with her husband (28 years ago), because she no longer believed the doctrine	Sue found her first exit from the faith very difficult because she still believed the doctrine when she was disfellowshipped. Commenting on her level of devotion she said: “I was 101% JW, didn’t question anything, believed it 100%”. The second time she exited, it was through choice. She comments “because I had started attending a church, they were trying to disfellowship me. So, it was either jump or be pushed, so in some ways it wasn’t our choice, but I didn’t want them to do that (disfellowship) to me again”	Family relationships including parents, both sisters, all nephews and nieces were all lost. Sue comments “all my family and friends were still in it (JWs), so the rejection, how they felt about me, how they treated me, nothing changed” Sue compared the loss of all of her friends and family to a plane crash, commenting: “Overnight, it was like everybody that I knew in my life had got on a jumbo jet and it had gone down over the Atlantic … but there was no closure because everyone was still living their lives”
Jo (PP3), 72-year-old white female converted at age 27 years by JWs who came knocking on her door. Left the JWs voluntarily in 1993, (with social support) age 47 years as she no longer believed the doctrine and felt there was no love there	Jo left the JWs 24 years ago for two reasons. First, she decided there was no love in the congregation, describing church elders as “three demons, like bulldogs … seething with anger”. Second, having become convinced that the world would end in 1975: “Armageddon was coming in 1975, me and the children were going to be saved”. She became suspicious when this did not happen and finally walked out 18 years later, never to return to the JWs	Jo decided to stop attending religious services and to fade out of the faith. Because she no longer believed the doctrine and did not have many JW friends, exit was not challenging. She comments “I felt very lonely…I met Mark that night, as they say…one door closes, another door opens…I was on my own but determined to make friends”	In 1993 when Jo left the JWs, she did not experience shunning until 2011. She recollects the night when her family (her son, his wife, and their three children) failed to arrive for a meal: “I’d cooked the dinner and they hadn’t even told me…that was the start of it…I tried every day after that”. Still being shunned at the time of interview she comments “I haven’t seen him in six years, he’s not my son”. Jo still has a good relationship with her daughters who left the JWs with her in 1993
Sophie (PP4), 38-year-old white female, born and raised in the Jewish faith, converted to the JWs at university, aged 20 years. Disfellowshipped twice, finally exiting the faith in 2013	Sophie did not want to leave the JWs but was disfellowshipped twice. The first time (1998) for having sex before marriage, and the second time (2011) for exposing domestic violence. Sophie finally quit trying (and failing) to get reinstated five times before 2013, after researching the JW religion. Since then she found support in the ex-JW Facebook community, commenting “I am mixing with a lot of ex-JWs and other cult survivors…using my critical thinking skills to break it down”	Sophie did not want to leave (disfellowship) the JWs and found the exit process very challenging. Resulting in hospitalisation with “reactive psychosis” as a result of perceived unjust treatment, she said of her situation: “I was disfellowshipped for exposing domestic violence, so it felt very unjust”. She had been told by the church leaders not to report the domestic violence to the police as “exposing domestic violence goes against what Watchtower want to present themselves as”	Although both of her children were attending JW meetings when she was disfellowshipped, her 18-year-old daughter refused to comply with shunning her mother and also left the JWs. Sophie lost custody of her ten-year old son for five years saying that “it caused a lot of mental instability… my JW husband took custody of my son… after he abused my daughter”. At the time of interview both her children remained outside the religion. Sophies parents are Jewish, so her relationships with them remained strong. She lost all of her JW friends
Claire (PP5) in her sixties, white female, who was raised a JW from infancy. Disfellowshipped twice with no social support. Left the JWs 30 years ago	Claire was disfellowshipped twice from the JWs, first when she was 15 years of age, and a second time at age 30 years, after fleeing an abusive marriage. After her second reinstatement she left the JWs voluntarily deciding she no longer believed the doctrine	Claire found exiting from the JWs difficult. As an isolated 15 year old she recalls “it was very difficult, all your friends, all the people you know are JWs, so the only way back is to go back, which involved sitting at the back of the hall being ignored by everybody”. Commenting on the second time it happened she said “when you’re disfellowshipped, you are made to feel repugnant, like a dog returning to its vomit…you feel a lesser person, stripped of everything and all the friends you had…you’re a nothing…and a nobody”. Although leaving 32 years ago, only in recent years has she found limited “recovery” through Facebook groups for ex-JWs, commenting “I can’t express enough really how much that has helped me”	At the time of interview, Claire was being shunned by her (JW) eldest son, commenting “he lives literally ten minutes away. I don’t think I’ve seen him for nine months”. She talks about her JW daughter who permits very limited contact. “her comments to me are very brief and she’ll make an excuse she has to go”. From her second marriage Claire had a son who committed suicide after being disfellowshipped from the JWs. She also has two other children with whom she maintains good relationships
Joanne (PP6), 48-year-old female. Raised from infancy in the JWs. Disfellowshipped with no sources of support	When she was disfellowshipped in 2013 for sex outside of marriage, Joanne was a firm believer in JW doctrine, and had originally intended to be reinstated into the faith. During the time of her interview, however, she expressed a hatred for the JW religion, due to the shunning she had experienced. She exclaimed that now she had overcome her fear of “Armageddon”, she has no desire to return to the JWs, commenting “you live your whole life in fear of Armageddon…that you’re going to die”	Joanne found the exit process challenging as she remained a believer when she was disfellowshipped in 2013 commenting “I really strongly believed in it and never stopped believing in it until recent years”. Describing her former self as highly sociable, she found losing relationships especially challenging. As an only child, she particularly grieves the loss of her mother, stating: “if your own mother can turn around and do that, then I have no faith in people…I have nothing…I have lost everything”	When she was disfellowshipped, Joanne lost relationships with two of her three children, who wanted to remain JWs, and felt compelled to comply with mandatory shunning. Joanne’s son was disfellowshipped shortly after her, and their relationship had been restored. Her mother and daughter, at the time of the interview, were still shunning her. Her youngest son was seven when she left the JWs and she described their relationship as strong