The Cult Awareness and Information Centre is an Australian organization dedicated to raising awareness about cult-like groups.  The site contains a number of resources, including a collection of articles for people leaving a cult.  One of these, entitled The Immediate Benefits of Leaving Mormonism (though it applies to all cults), is a well-articulated discussion of the positive emotions one gets from finally letting go of the strict, confining belief systems of cult-like groups.  I thought the author’s comments on the relief one feels from no longer feeling you are superior to the rest of humanity were particularly astute.