Woman raised under same 'cult-like' religion as the Duggar family opens up about the HORRORS she faced - detailing how she shrank to just 90LBS after being DENIED treatment for an eating disorder

A woman who was raised under the same 'cult-like' religion as the Duggar family has opened up about the horrors she faced - detailing how she shrank to just 90lbs after being denied treatment for an eating disorder.

Oceana, who did not disclose her last name, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast to discuss her experience of the Institute In Basic Life Principles (IBLP).

The controversial church, which was founded by shunned minister Bill Gothard in the 1960s, has previously come under scrutiny over its teachings and was the subject of the explosive Shiny Happy People documentary.

Oceana, based in Las Vegas, said that she was not offered the necessary help to deal with her eating disorder in her early teens and was instead sent to a training camp where she began to self-harm.

Oceana, who did not disclose her last name, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast to discuss her experience of the Institute In Basic Life Principles

The controversial church, followed by the Duggar family, has previously come under scrutiny over its teachings and was the subject of the explosive Shiny Happy People documentary

IBLP was founded by shunned minister Bill Gothard in the 1960s - with a series of allegations since arising 

Oceana began by talking host Shelise Ann Sola through some of the main teachings of the IBLP starting with its 'umbrella of authority' with 'God at the very top.'

'God is the umbrella of protection and then underneath that is the father and it is a funnel-down hierarchy,' Oceana said.

'Under the father is the mother. The mother has to submit to the father completely and underneath the mother are all of the children.

'The gist of it is if you're underneath that umbrella following God's design for authority and submitting to all of your authorities all the way up you'll be safe, you'll be protected, your life will go smoothly - almost like it's a magic charm.

'But if you step out from under that umbrella then you're exposed, you're not protected and all of Satan's fiery arrows can get you. Then you're more susceptible to sin, you're more susceptible to bad things happening.

'It really fosters this environment where you want to pretend to be perfect and that everything is going well because if it's not going well then you're bad.'

Oceana described it as a 'very unhealthy environment,' which was 'very patriarchal, very misogynistic.'

She explained that women were not allowed to be in leadership positions, adding: 'It was all about controlling women.'

Oceana, based in Las Vegas, said that she was not offered the necessary help to deal with her eating disorder in her early teens and was instead sent to a training camp where she began to self-harm

She began by talking host Shelise Ann Sola (pictured) through some of the main teachings of the IBLP starting with its 'umbrella of authority' with ' God at the very top'

She said this was manifested in many ways including control over sexuality - instructing women what to wear, insisting that they cover up and teaching them their bodies are sinful.

'If a man is looking at us and lusting after us it's not that man's problem, it's not that man's fault for being a creep or a predator, it was always the woman's fault,' she dished.

'"Well, you did something to cause it, you were acting flirtatious or you were dressing in a way that caused him to stumble so it's your fault.'

Oceana said the power structure 'attracted and bred predators' as she explained: 'The man has the last say in everything. His word goes... It's very unequal, very much a power imbalance for sure.'

She referenced the Duggars' eldest son Josh who admitted to molesting numerous underage women, including four of his siblings, in the 2010s.

He was also sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for his child porn conviction - but this has since been extended.

'A lot of people - including my parents - said Josh Duggar was a rare case, a rare bad apple - but he is not,' Oceana said.

'There are Josh Duggars everywhere in this cult. They thrive in this cult.'

She said the IBPL culture meant 'normal sexual urges or behaviors are so oppressed that it really almost encourages weird stuff - encourages weird perversions in some people.'

Josh Duggar was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for his child porn conviction 

'It really just breeds an unhealthy, unnatural curiosity,' she added.

Oceana herself said she had 'terrible, sexualized interactions with men' from a young age, which she branded as 'creepy, scary and weird.' 

Elsewhere, the podcast guest said her own parents would 'oscillate between how strict they would be and as we got older they did get more progressive especially as the cracks in the façade started to show before we eventually left [the religion].'

Oceana, who has six other siblings, explained that she believed her mom and dad had 'too many kids' in line with the teachings of the IBLP, which discouraged the use of protection or abortion.

'I'm happy that we're all here. I'm happy that I have all my siblings. I can't imagine life without them and I wouldn't want any of them not to be here but my parents I do think had too many kids,' she said.

'I don't think they were physically, emotionally, mentally able to care for all of us which is another huge problem that you do see within this cult.'

She added: 'Corporal punishment was definitely something that my parents practiced....

'I guess it was common in the cult for spanking all the way up into adulthood to occur and sometimes husbands were spanking their wives.

'But I never saw my dad ever in my life put his hands on my mom and we were only spanked up until the age of 13.'

She was often disciplined with a wooden spoon or spatula for acting out but insisted: 'My parents are not bad people. They were doing the best that they could and I think they were very stressed and very overwhelmed.'

Oceana, who was enrolled in the IBPL homeschooling program, said that her eating disorder started in her early teens and stemmed from feeling a 'lack of control.'

'The eating disorder started technically I think around the age of 10. That's when I started noticing in ballet class that I look different from the other girls - all of their stomachs were flat and mine kind of poked out a little,' she said.

'I didn't know that it was normal for your stomach to stick out and I was just like "why is my stomach not like that" so I started being very conscious of my weight and my body and started sucking my stomach in at that point.

'But the actual behaviors didn't happen until I was maybe closer to 12 or 13. It definitely started with restricting and just being very hyper aware of my body, not wanting to gain weight, not wanting to be fat.

'I don't specifically remember being taught to stay slim and attractive...  but I do wonder if it was out there and it was still seeping into my consciousness because I was so hyper aware of my appearance and my body.

'That's another thing in this cult - appearance is very, very much hype focused on. Not just being modest... but also we were supposed to portray a certain image.'

She explained: 'Initially, they did take me to the doctor when they found out I had the eating disorder that I was really trying to hide and the doctor recommended therapy.

'I asked my mom when we got back home, I was like, "okay am I going to do therapy?" She was like "no absolutely not."'

Oceana reportedly asked at the time: 'Well, mom if I don't get therapy, how are my problems going to get fixed?'

She shared: 'I remember [my mom] said "Problems? What problems? You don't have any problems. You just need to eat more."

'Everything was just these Band-Aid solutions or like "you need to be right with God, you need to pray more, you need to read your bible more." Stuff like that's just not healthy.'

Oceana continued: 'In this culture, we are not taught to go to outside sources so therapy is highly discouraged to put it mildly.

'Therapy would be considered sinful - to go outside of the church, outside of the cult to literally an outsider who is of the world.

'We were taught first of all they can't possibly help you because they're not coming at it from a biblical perspective.

'It's not that you need therapy it's that you need to get right with God - and that's literally what my mom told me.

'At one point she was like, "if you were just right with God, if you were more godly, you wouldn't have an eating disorder, it would just go away."'

Oceana, who weighed just 90lbs at aged 15, was sent to a training center in an attempt to resolve her eating disorder. 

She said: 'I was there for three months and at that point it kind of clicked like, "oh I think I might be here because I'm a bad kid," and again I'm not bad, just dealing with mental health issues from growing up in a traumatic environment.

'It was a terrible, terrible experience honestly.'

Oceana candidly shared that it was there that she began 'heavily self-harming,' explaining: 'It was obvious. I knew that people knew because I saw them look at the self-harm scars that I was trying to hide on my wrist with bracelets and things.

'No one said anything. To this day I'm like, "Why did no one say anything? Why did no one try to help me?"

'I'm actively cutting myself in my room at night, why didn't someone try to help me? I don't understand that at all. I clearly needed help.'

She concluded about the experience: 'There was nothing positive that I got out of it whatsoever.

'I really can't think of anything that I learned and I didn't even make good connections with people just because of the fact that I was so so shy and so socially awkward.'