Dec 1
Dr. Tamara MC is a cult, child marriage, and human trafficking Lived Experience Expert who advocates for girls and women to live free from gender-based violence worldwide. Married off at 12, Tamara has firsthand experience with fundamentalist cults, giving her valuable insight into how these organizations operate. She now uses her experience combined with her PhD in applied linguistics to research and educate others on how language is used to manipulate vulnerable populations.
Join my conversation with the delightful Dr. Tamara MC to hear about her harrowing story and the bravery it took to leave, how ADHD, autism, OCD, and complex PTSD contributed to both her confinement and her freedom, ways to identify when a community is exhibiting cult-like behavior, and how to find optimism in the face of hopelessness.
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"We all have the right to believe what we believe, but it becomes a problem when we expect other people to believe what we believe."
- Dr. Tamara MC
"I am just all about freedom. Freedom of choice, freedom for a woman to be anything that she wants to be, to study anything that she wants, to love whomever she wants. And to decide what she wants to do if she wants to work in the home or not work in the home, whatever it is. So for me, I guess it's really about freedom of all sentient beings."
- Dr. Tamara MC
"I feel so much calmer since I was diagnosed, like there's a name to what I was experiencing. I didn't know the vocabulary for what that was, but it was just this feeling that I always felt different. And so just having that vocabulary, it's so wonderful."
- Dr. Tamara MC
- Dr. Tamara shared her story of survival as a child bride.
- Dr. Tamara was diagnosed with ADHD at 51 years old after being tested on a computer test called the CPT.
- Dr. Tamara believes their ADHD is cerebral, with their mind going a million miles a minute, and they struggle with inattentive ADHD symptoms such as not being able to shut off thoughts and ideas.
[13:12 - 34:05] ADHD, pickleball, and TV shows
- Dr. Tamara struggles to keep track of the score in pickleball games, finding it hard to concentrate on the ball and score.
- Dr. Tamara discusses the overlap between ADHD and autism, sharing personal experiences of constantly seeking new stimuli and experiencing sensory overload.
- Tamara shares her experience of being diagnosed with ADHD at 50 years old, after being undiagnosed and misunderstood for most of her life.
- Dr. Tamara describes growing up in a cult in Texas, where they were isolated from the outside world and had limited access to education and media.
- Dr. Tamara was in a cult at 12 years old and married a leader who was 20 years older, despite feeling unsafe and unloved in the relationship.
- Language manipulation is highlighted as a key factor in vulnerable populations, as children grow up without knowing any different and adults teach them what to believe.
Website: https://tamaramc.com/
https://muckrack.com/tamaramc/portfolio
https://linktr.ee/tamaramc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TamaraMC11
Twitter: @TamaraMCPhD
Instagram: @tamaramcphd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamaramcphd/
