The question as to whether or not Mormonism is a cult is a contentious one, but despite your definitions, one thing is for certain, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a high demand faith and as such the exercise of agency and decision making is a charged issue. Luna Lindsey Corbden’s book ‘ Recovering Agency’ addresses the question of agency in Mormonism.
Wherever you are in relation to the LDS Church, it is useful to understand the science of belief and how we can indeed cultivate healthy cognitive responses to life’s most vexing questions, so that (as Luna argues), ‘we can relieve ourselves of:
“feelings of depression, guilt, shame, exhaustion, phobias, magical thinking, passive-aggressive behaviour, and hidden familial abuse.'”