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Study Resources Repairing the Soul
Psychological Manipulation, cult groups, sects, and new
religious movements
Cultic Studies Study Resources
Recovery
Repairing the Soul After a Cult Experience
Janja Lalich, M.A.
1/2
I was recruited into a cult in 1975 when I was 30 years old. The
previous year I returned to the United States after having spent
almost four years in exile abroad, where I lived the most serene
life on an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. If
someone had told me that within a year I would be deeply involved
and committed to a cult, I would have laughed derisively. Not me! I
was too independent, too headstrong, a lover of fun and freedom.
I was told that we would be unlike all other groups on the Left
because we were led by women and because our leader was brilliant
and from the working class. I was told that we would not follow the
political line of any other country, but that we would create our
own brand of Marxism, our own proletarian feminist revolution; we
would not be rigid, dogmatic, sexist, racist. We were new and
different - an elite force. We were going to make the world a better
place for all people.
The reality, of course, was that our practical work had little if
anything to do with working-class ideals or goals. Our leader was an
incorrigible, uncontrollable megalomaniac; she was alcoholic,
arbitrary, and almost always angry. Our organization, with the word
democratic prominent in its name, was ultra-authoritarian,
completely top down, with no real input or criticism sought or
listened to. Our lives were made up of 18-hour days of busywork and
denunciation sessions. Our world was harsh, barren, and unrewarding.
We were committed and idealistic dreamers who were tricked into
believing that such demanding conditions were necessary to transform
ourselves into cadre fighters. We were instructed that we were the
“uninstructed” and that we must take all guidance from our leader
who knew all. We were never to question any orders or in any way
contradict or confront our leader. We were taught to dread and fear
the outside world which, we were told, would shun and punish us. In
fact, the shunning and punishment was rampant within; but, blinded
by our own belief, commitment, and fatigue, in conjunction with the
group’s behavior-control techniques, I and the others succumbed to
the pressures and quickly learned to rationalize away any doubts or
apprehensions.
I remained in that group for more than 10 years.
When I got out of the cult in early 1986, I had to begin life anew.
I was a decade behind in everything. Both my parents had died, and I
had lost touch with former friends. I had to play catch up, so to
speak, culturally, socially, economically, emotionally, and
intellectually. But most important of all, I had to repair my soul.
Who am I? How could I have committed the many unkind acts while in
the group? Where do I belong now? What do I believe in now? Will I
ever restore my faith in myself and in others? These are the kinds
of questions and dilemmas that troubled me. Over time, and most
recently through my contact and work with former members of many
types of cults, I’ve come to see that the single most uniform aspect
of all cult experiences is that it touches, and usually damages, the
soul, the psyche.
I define a cult as a particular kind of relationship; it can be a
group situation or between two people. Within that relationship
there is an enormous power imbalance, but more than that, there is a
hidden agenda. There is deception, manipulation, exploitation, and
almost certainly abuse, carried out and/or reinforced by the use of
social and psychological influence techniques meant to control
behavior and shape attitudes and thinking patterns. A cult is led by
a person (or sometimes two or three) who demands all veneration, who
makes all decisions, and who ultimately controls most aspects of the
personal lives of those who are cleverly persuaded that they must
follow, obey, and stay in the good graces (i.e., the grips) of the
leader.
Cult leaders and cult recruiters capture the hearts, minds, and
souls of the best and brightest in our society. Cults are looking
for active, productive, intelligent, energetic individuals who will
perform for the cult by fund-raising, by recruiting more followers,
by operating cult businesses and leading cult seminars. In the 1960s
and 1970s it was perhaps more typical for cults to recruit primarily
young people; this is no longer so. Today, cults recruit the young
and old alike and everyone in between. With anywhere from three to
five thousand cults active in the United States today, it is quite
likely that a cult recruiter has been knocking on your door or that
you have unwittingly answered a cult’s advertisement for a course, a
workshop, a lecture, a book or tape, or some other product.
Today’s cults are so sophisticated in their recruitment and
indoctrination techniques that their methods go far beyond what
anybody imagined in the 1950s when certain scholars and researchers
were studying and writing about thought-reform programs and
systematic behavior-control processes. Cults today have perfected
their approaches and refined their manipulations. They had to -
after all, recruiting and retaining bright people isn’t easy. And
this is again where the soul comes in.
Cults appeal to that part of ourselves that wants something better;
a better world for others or a better self. These are the genuine,
heartfelt desires of decent, honest human beings. Cult recruiters
are trained in how to play on those desires, how to make it look as
though what the cult has to offer is exactly what you’re interested
in. Cults can be formed around almost any topic, but there are nine
broad categories: religious, Eastern-based, New Age, business,
political, psychotherapy/ human potential, occult, one-on-one, and
miscellaneous (such as lifestyle or personality cults).
All cults, no matter their stripe, are a variation on a theme, for
their common denominator is the use of coercive persuasion and
behavior control without the knowledge of the person who is being
manipulated. They manage this by targeting (and eventually
attacking, dissembling, and reformulating according to the cult’s
desired image) a person’s innermost self. They take away you and
give you back a cult personality, a pseudo personality. They punish
you when the old you turns up, and they reward the new you. Before
you know it, you don’t know who you are or how you got there; you
only know (or you are trained to believe) that you have to stay
there. In a cult there is only one way - cults are totalitarian, a
yellow brick road to serve the leader’s whims and desires, be they
power, sex, or money.
When I was in my cult, I so desperately wanted to believe that I had
finally found the answer. Life in our society today can be
difficult, confusing, daunting, disheartening, alarming, and
frightening. Someone with a glib tongue and good line can sometimes
appear to offer you a solution. In my case, I was drawn in by the
proposed political solution - to bring about social change. For
someone else, the focus may be on health, diet, psychological
awareness, the environment, the stars, a spirit being, or even
becoming a more successful business person. The crux is that cult
leaders are adept at convincing us that what they have to offer is
special, real, unique, and forever - and that we wouldn’t be able to
survive apart from the cult. A person’s sense of belief is so dear,
so deep, and so powerful; ultimately it is that belief that helps
bind the person to the cult. It is the glue used by the cult to make
the mind manipulations stick. It is our very core, our very belief
in our self and our commitment, it is our very faith in humankind
and the world that is exploited and abused and turned against us by
the cults.
 
It Hurts
Jan Groenveld
IT HURTS to discover you were deceived - that what you thought was
the “one true religion,” the “path to total fredom,” or “truth” was
in reality a cult.
IT HURTS when you learn that people you trusted implicitly - whom
you were taught not to question - were “pulling the wool over your
eyes” albeit unwittingly.
IT HURTS when you learn that those you were taught were your
“enemies” were telling the truth after all — but you had been told
they were liars, deceivers, repressive, satanic etc and not to
listen to them.
IT HURTS when you know your faith in God hasn’t changed - only your
trust in an organization - yet you are accused of apostasy, being a
trouble maker, a “Judas”. It hurts even more when it is your family
and friends making these accusations.
IT HURTS to realize their love and acceptance was conditional on you
remaining a member of good standing. This cuts so deeply you try and
suppress it. All you want to do is forget - but how can you forget
your family and friends?
IT HURTS to see the looks of hatred coming from the faces of those
you love - to hear the deafening silence when you try and talk to
them. It cuts deeply when you try and give your child a hug and they
stand like a statue, pretending you aren’t there. It stabs like a
knife when you know your spouse looks upon you as demonised and
teaches your children to hate you.
IT HURTS to know you must start all over again. You feel you have
wasted so much time. You feel betrayed, disillusioned, suspicious of
everyone including family, friends and other former members.
IT HURTS when you find yourself feeling guilty or ashamed of what
you were - even about leaving them. You feel depressed, confused,
lonely. You find it difficult to make decisions. You don’t know what
to do with yourself because you have so much time on your hands now
- yet you still feel guilty for spending time on recreation.
IT HURTS when you feel as though you have lost touch with reality.
You feel as though you are “floating” and wonder if you really are
better off and long for the security you had in the organization and
yet you know you cannot go back.
IT HURTS when you feel you are all alone - that no one seems to
understand what you are feeling. It hurts when you realize your self
confidence and self worth are almost non-existent.
IT HURTS when you have to front up to friends and family to hear
their “I told you so” whether that statement is verbal or not. It
makes you feel even more stupid than you already do - your
confidence and self worth plummet even further.
IT HURTS when you realize you gave up everything for the cult - your
education, career, finances, time and energy - and now have to seek
employment or restart your education. How do you explain all those
missing years?
IT HURTS because you know that even though you were deceived, you
are responsible for being taken in. All that wasted time…….. at
least that is what it seems to you - wasted time.
THE PAIN OF GRIEF
Leaving a cult is like experiencing the death of a close relative or
a broken relationship. The feeling is often described as like having
been betrayed by someone with whom you were in love. You feel you
were simply used.
There is a grieving process to pass through. Whereas most people
understand that a person must grieve after a death etc, they find it
difficult to understand the same applies in this situation. There is
no instant cure for the grief, confusion and pain. Like all grieving
periods, time is the healer. Some feel guilty, or wrong about this
grief. They shouldn’t — It IS normal. It is NOT wrong to feel
confused, uncertain, disillusioned, guilty, angry, untrusting -
these are all part of the process. In time the negative feelings
will be replaced with clear thinking, joy, peace, and trust.
YES - IT HURTS BUT THE HURTS WILL HEAL WITH TIME, PATIENCE &
UNDERSTANDING
 
Coming Out of the Cults
Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D.
(Excerpted from “Coming Out of the Cults,” Psychology
Today, January, 1979)
Most ex-cult members we have seen struggle at one time or another
with some or all of the following difficulties and problems. Not all
have all of these problems, nor do most have them in severe and
extended form.
Depression. With their 24-hour regime of ritual, work, worship, and
community, the cults provide members with tasks and purpose. When
members leave, a sense of meaninglessness often reappears. They must
also deal with family and personal issues left unresolved at the
time of conversion.
But former members have a variety of new losses to contend with.
They often speak of their regret for the lost years and feel a loss
of innocence and self-esteem if they come to believe that they were
used, or that they wrongly surrendered their autonomy.
Loneliness. Leaving a cult also means leaving many friends, a
brotherhood with common interests, the intimacy of sharing a very
significant experience, and having to look for new friends in an
uncomprehending or suspicious world.
Indecisiveness. Some groups prescribe virtually every activity: what
and when to eat, wear, and do during the day and night, showering,
defecating procedures, and sleep positions. The loss of a way of
life in which everything is planned often creates a “future void” in
which they must plan and execute all their tomorrows on their own.
Certain individuals cannot put together any organized plan for
taking care of themselves, whether problems involve a job, school,
or social life. Some have to be urged to buy alarm clocks and
notebooks in order to get up, get going, and plan their days.
Slipping into Altered States. Recruits are caught up in a round of
long, repetitive lectures couched in hypnotic metaphors and exalted
ideas, hours of chanting while half-awake, attention-focusing songs
and games, and meditating. Several groups send their members to bed
wearing headsets that pipe sermons into their ears as they sleep,
after hours of listening to tapes of the leader’s exhortations while
awake. These are all practices that tend to produce states of
altered consciousness, exaltation, and suggestibility.
When they leave the cult, many members find that a variety of
conditions—stress and conflict, a depressive low, certain
significant words or ideas—can trigger a return to the trancelike
state they knew in cult days. They report that they fall into the
familiar, unshakable lethargy, and seem to hear bits of exhortations
from cult speakers. These episodes of “floating”—like the flashbacks
of drug users—are most frequent immediately after leaving the group,
but can still occur weeks or months later.
Blurring of Mental Acuity. Most cult veterans report—and their
families confirm—subtle cognitive inefficiencies and changes that
take some time to pass. Many former cult members have to take simple
jobs until they regain former levels of competence.
Fear of the Cult. Most of the groups work hard to prevent
defections: some ex-members cite warnings of heavenly damnation for
themselves, their ancestors, and their children. Since many cult
veterans retain some residual belief in the cult doctrines, this
alone can be a horrifying burden.
When members do leave, efforts to get them back reportedly range
from moderate harassment to incidents involving the use of force.
Many ex-members and their families secure unlisted phone numbers;
some move away from known addresses; some even take assumed names in
distant places.
Fear may be most acute for former members who have left a spouse or
children behind in the cults that recruited couples and families.
Any effort to make contact risks breaking the link completely. Often
painful legal actions ensue over child custody or conservatorship
between ex- and continuing adherents.
The Fishbowl Effect. A special problem is the constant watchfulness
of family and friends, who are on the alert for any signs that the
difficulties of real life will send the person back. Mild
dissociation, deep preoccupations, temporary altered states of
consciousness, and any positive talk about cult days can cause alarm
in a former member’s family. Often the ex-member senses it, but
neither side knows how to open up discussion.
New acquaintances and old friends can also trigger an ex-cult
member’s feelings that people are staring, wondering why he/she
joined such a group.
The Agonies of Explaining. Why one joined is difficult to tell
anyone who is unfamiliar with cults. One has to describe the
subtleties and power of the recruitment procedures and how one was
indoctrinated. Most difficult of all is to try to explain why a
person is unable simply to walk away from a cult, for that entails
being able to give a long and sophisticated explanation of social
and psychological coercion, influence, and control procedures.
Guilt. According to our informants, significant parts of cult
activity are based on deception, particularly fund-raising and
recruitment. The dishonesty is rationalized as being for the greater
good of the cult or the person recruited. As they take up their
personal consciences again, many ex-members feel great remorse over
the lies they have told, and they frequently worry over how to right
the wrongs they did.
Perplexities about Altruism. Many of these people want to find ways
to put their altruism and energy back to work without becoming a
pawn in another manipulative group. They wonder how they can
properly select among the myriad contending organizations—social,
religious, philanthropic, service-oriented, psychological—and remain
their own boss.
Elite No More. “They get you to believing that they alone know how
to save the world,” recalled one member. “You think you are in the
vanguard of history . . . As the chosen, you are above the law . . .
” Clearly one of the more poignant comedowns of postgroup life is
the end of feeling a chosen person, a member of an elite.
 
 
 
Cultic Studies Study Resources
Recovery
Coping With Trance States: The Aftermath of Leaving
Patrick L. Ryan
Trance states, derealization, dissociation, spaceyness…What are
they? What strategies can we use to cope with them?
Trance states: By trance states, we mean dissociation,
depersonalization and derealization.
In the group we called it spacing out or higher/altered states of
consciousness.
All humans have some propensity to have moments of dissociation.
However, certain practices (meditation, chanting, learned processes
of speaking in tongues, prolonged guided imagery, etc.) appear to
have ingrained in many former members a reflexive response to
involuntarily enter altered states of consciousness.
Even after leaving the group and ceasing its consciousness-altering
practices, this habitual, learned response tends to recur under
stress.
For some former members this can be distressing and affect their
functioning. When this happens, it tends to impair one’s
concentration, attention, memory and coping skills.
Many former members coming from prolonged consciousness-altering
groups find that the intensity, frequency and duration of the
episodes decrease when they deliberately and consistently use the
strategies outlined below.
It is important to note that when one is tired, ill, or under stress
the feelings of spaceyness, dissociation, depersonalization and
derealization may temporally return.
By developing the ability to immediately label these states and
attempting the following strategies, one can return to consistent
state of mental functioning.
DEFINITIONS
from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM-III):
Dissociative Disorders
The essential feature is a sudden, temporary alteration in the
normally integrative functions of consciousness, identity, or
motor behavior. If the alteration occurs in consciousness,
important personal events cannot be recalled.
If it occurs in identity, either the individual’s customary
identity is temporarily forgotten and a new identity is assumed,
or the customary feeling of one’s own reality is lost and replaced
by a feeling of unreality. If the alteration occurs in motor
behavior, there is also a concurrent disturbance in consciousness
or identity.
Atypical Dissociative Disorder (300.15)
Trance-like states, derealization unaccompanied by
depersonalization, and those more prolonged dissociated states may
occur in persons who have been subjected to periods of prolonged
and intense coercive persuasion (brainwashing, thought reform, and
indoctrination while captive of terrorists or cultists).
Depersonalization Disorder (300.60)
The essential feature is the occurrence of one or more episodes of
depersonalization that cause social or occupational impairment.
The symptom of depersonalization involves an alteration in the
perception or experience of the self so that the usual sense of
one’s own reality is temporarily lost or changed. This is
manifested by a sensation of self-estrangement or unreality, which
may include the feeling that one’s extremities have changed in
size, or the experience of seeming to perceive oneself from a
distance. In addition, the individual may feel “mechanical” or as
though in a dream. Various types of sensory anesthesia and feeling
of not being in complete control of one’s actions, including
speech, are often present.
Associated features
Derealization is frequently present. This is manifested by a
strange alteration in the perception of one’s surroundings so that
a sense of the reality of the external world is lost. A perceived
change in the size of shape of objects in the external world is
common. People may be perceived as dead or mechanical.
Other common associated features include dizziness, depression,
obsessive ruminations, anxiety, fear of going insane, and
disturbance in the subjective sense of time. There is often the
feeling that recall is difficult or slow.
EX-MEMBERS’ COPING STRATEGIES
Maintain a routine.
Make change slowly: physical, emotional, nutritional,
geographical, etc.
Monitor health, including nutrition, medical checkups. Avoid
drugs and alcohol.
Daily exercise reduces dissociation (spaceyness, anxiety and
insomnia).
Avoid sensory overload. Avoid crowds or large spaces without
boundaries (shopping malls, video arcades, etc.).
Drive consciously without music.
Reality orientation
Establish time and place landmarks such as calendars and
clocks.
Make lists of activities in advance. Update lists daily or
weekly. Difficult tasks and large projects should be kept on
separate lists.
Before going on errands, review list of planned activities,
purchases and projects. Mark items off as you complete them.
Keep updated on current news. News shows (CNN, Headline News
talk radio) are helpful because they repeat, especially if
you have memory/concentration difficulties.
Reading
Try to read one complete news article daily to increase
comprehension.
Develop reading “stamina” with the aid of a timer.
Increasing reading periods progressively.
Sleep interruptions
Leave TALK radio/ television, news programs (not music) on
all night. (Preferably not Rush, though.)
Don’t push youself. Dissociation is an acquired habit, so it will
take time break.
 
 
 
 
Post-Cult After Effects
Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D.
After exiting a cult, an individual may experience a period of
intense and often conflicting emotions. She or he may feel relief to
be out of the group, but also may feel grief over the loss of
positive elements in the cult, such as friendships, a sense of
belonging or the feeling of personal worth generated by the group’s
stated ideals or mission. The emotional upheaval of the period is
often characterized by “post- cult trauma syndrome”:
spontaneous crying
sense of loss
depression & suicidal thoughts
fear that not obeying the cult’s wishes will result in God’s
wrath or loss of salvation
alienation from family, friends
sense of isolation, loneliness due to being surrounded by
people who have no basis for understanding cult life
fear of evil spirits taking over one’s life outside the cult
scrupulosity, excessive rigidity about rules of minor
importance
panic disproportionate to one’s circumstances
fear of going insane
confusion about right and wrong
sexual conflicts
unwarranted guilt
The period of exiting from a cult is usually a traumatic experience
and, like any great change in a person’s life, involves passing
through stages of accommodation to the change:
Disbelief/denial: “This can’t be happening. It couldn’t have
been that bad.”
Anger/hostility: “How could they/I be so wrong?” (hate
feelings)
Self-pity/depression: “Why me? I can’t do this.”
Fear/bargaining: “I don’t know if I can live without my group.
Maybe I can still associate with it on a limited basis, if I
do what they want.”
Reassessment: “Maybe I was wrong about the group’s being so
wonderful.”
Accommodation/acceptance: “I can move beyond this experience
and choose new directions for my life” or…
Reinvolvement: “I think I will rejoin the group.”
Passing through these stages is seldom a smooth progression. It is
fairly typical to bounce back and forth between different stages.
Not everyone achieves the stage of accommodation / acceptance. Some
return to cult life. But for those who do not, the following may be
experienced for a period of several months:
flashbacks to cult life
simplistic black-white thinking
sense of unreality
suggestibility, ie. automatic obedience responses to
trigger-terms of the cult’s loaded language or to innocent
suggestions
disassociation (spacing out)
feeling “out of it”
“Stockholm Syndrome”: knee-jerk impulses to defend the cult
when it is criticized, even if the cult hurt the person
difficulty concentrating
incapacity to make decisions
hostility reactions, either toward anyone who criticizes the
cult or toward the cult itself
mental confusion
low self-esteem
dread of running into a current cult-member by mistake
loss of a sense of how to carry out simple tasks
dread of being cursed or condemned by the cult
hang-overs of habitual cult behaviors like chanting
difficulty managing time
trouble holding down a job
Most of these symptoms subside as the victim mainstreams into
everyday routines of normal life. In a small number of cases, the
symptoms continue.
* This information is a composite list from the following sources:
“Coming Out of Cults”, by Margaret Thaler Singer, Psychology
Today, Jan. 1979, P. 75; “Destructive Cults, Mind Control and
Psychological Coercion”, Positive Action Portland, Oregon, and
“Fact Sheet”, Cult Hot-Line and Clinic, New York City.
Study Guides Navigation - Recovery
 
 
Coming Out of the Cults
Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D.
(Excerpted from “Coming Out of the Cults,” Psychology
Today, January, 1979)
Most ex-cult members we have seen struggle at one time or another
with some or all of the following difficulties and problems. Not all
have all of these problems, nor do most have them in severe and
extended form.
Depression. With their 24-hour regime of ritual, work, worship, and
community, the cults provide members with tasks and purpose. When
members leave, a sense of meaninglessness often reappears. They must
also deal with family and personal issues left unresolved at the
time of conversion.
But former members have a variety of new losses to contend with.
They often speak of their regret for the lost years and feel a loss
of innocence and self-esteem if they come to believe that they were
used, or that they wrongly surrendered their autonomy.
Loneliness. Leaving a cult also means leaving many friends, a
brotherhood with common interests, the intimacy of sharing a very
significant experience, and having to look for new friends in an
uncomprehending or suspicious world.
Indecisiveness. Some groups prescribe virtually every activity: what
and when to eat, wear, and do during the day and night, showering,
defecating procedures, and sleep positions. The loss of a way of
life in which everything is planned often creates a “future void” in
which they must plan and execute all their tomorrows on their own.
Certain individuals cannot put together any organized plan for
taking care of themselves, whether problems involve a job, school,
or social life. Some have to be urged to buy alarm clocks and
notebooks in order to get up, get going, and plan their days.
Slipping into Altered States. Recruits are caught up in a round of
long, repetitive lectures couched in hypnotic metaphors and exalted
ideas, hours of chanting while half-awake, attention-focusing songs
and games, and meditating. Several groups send their members to bed
wearing headsets that pipe sermons into their ears as they sleep,
after hours of listening to tapes of the leader’s exhortations while
awake. These are all practices that tend to produce states of
altered consciousness, exaltation, and suggestibility.
When they leave the cult, many members find that a variety of
conditions—stress and conflict, a depressive low, certain
significant words or ideas—can trigger a return to the trancelike
state they knew in cult days. They report that they fall into the
familiar, unshakable lethargy, and seem to hear bits of exhortations
from cult speakers. These episodes of “floating”—like the flashbacks
of drug users—are most frequent immediately after leaving the group,
but can still occur weeks or months later.
Blurring of Mental Acuity. Most cult veterans report—and their
families confirm—subtle cognitive inefficiencies and changes that
take some time to pass. Many former cult members have to take simple
jobs until they regain former levels of competence.
Fear of the Cult. Most of the groups work hard to prevent
defections: some ex-members cite warnings of heavenly damnation for
themselves, their ancestors, and their children. Since many cult
veterans retain some residual belief in the cult doctrines, this
alone can be a horrifying burden.
When members do leave, efforts to get them back reportedly range
from moderate harassment to incidents involving the use of force.
Many ex-members and their families secure unlisted phone numbers;
some move away from known addresses; some even take assumed names in
distant places.
Fear may be most acute for former members who have left a spouse or
children behind in the cults that recruited couples and families.
Any effort to make contact risks breaking the link completely. Often
painful legal actions ensue over child custody or conservatorship
between ex- and continuing adherents.
The Fishbowl Effect. A special problem is the constant watchfulness
of family and friends, who are on the alert for any signs that the
difficulties of real life will send the person back. Mild
dissociation, deep preoccupations, temporary altered states of
consciousness, and any positive talk about cult days can cause alarm
in a former member’s family. Often the ex-member senses it, but
neither side knows how to open up discussion.
New acquaintances and old friends can also trigger an ex-cult
member’s feelings that people are staring, wondering why he/she
joined such a group.
The Agonies of Explaining. Why one joined is difficult to tell
anyone who is unfamiliar with cults. One has to describe the
subtleties and power of the recruitment procedures and how one was
indoctrinated. Most difficult of all is to try to explain why a
person is unable simply to walk away from a cult, for that entails
being able to give a long and sophisticated explanation of social
and psychological coercion, influence, and control procedures.
Guilt. According to our informants, significant parts of cult
activity are based on deception, particularly fund-raising and
recruitment. The dishonesty is rationalized as being for the greater
good of the cult or the person recruited. As they take up their
personal consciences again, many ex-members feel great remorse over
the lies they have told, and they frequently worry over how to right
the wrongs they did.
Perplexities about Altruism. Many of these people want to find ways
to put their altruism and energy back to work without becoming a
pawn in another manipulative group. They wonder how they can
properly select among the myriad contending organizations—social,
religious, philanthropic, service-oriented, psychological—and remain
their own boss.
Elite No More. “They get you to believing that they alone know how
to save the world,” recalled one member. “You think you are in the
vanguard of history . . . As the chosen, you are above the law . . .
” Clearly one of the more poignant comedowns of postgroup life is
the end of feeling a chosen person, a member of an elite.
 
 
 
 
Issue:Vol. 1, No. 1
Title:From the Editor
Author:Patrick Ryan
WELCOME TO AFF NEWS
It is with great pleasure that we launch AFF News, a new
publication aimed at serving the growing population of former
cult members.
In the past AFF’s staff and associates wrote or contributed to
five books and numerous articles addressing the recovery needs
of former members. We have organized two recovery conferences
and numerous workshops for former cult members across the
United States.
AFF professionals have recently gone to Japan where they have
helped educate people there about cults, and several books
authored by AFF associates have been translated into Japanese
and other languages.
Because of our expanding international work, we now use the
name AFF (formerly the American Family Foundation).
The AFF News advisory board includes Rick Larsen (Australia)
and Dieter Rohman (Germany). Rick and Dieter will contribute
their insights on and experience with the unique cultural
recovery issues of our non-American audience.
In future issues, in addition to articles focusing on
recovery, we will profile the members of our advisory board so
that you will get to know them.
Our goal is to keep you informed of the special issues that
affect former members of cultic groups, as well as tell you
about the services AFF provides for ex-members, their
families, and concerned professionals.
AFF News will be published six times a year. It will be sent
free to current subscribers of the
Cult Observer, as well as to thousands of former cult members.
AFF News will announce upcoming lectures and programs on
cult-related topics. Tell us about any events in your area, so
that we may keep our readers informed.
If you know former members or others who may interested in AFF
News, please let us know so that we may send them a
complimentary subscription, or give them our address so they
can write us to get on the mailing list. Please note that our
mailing list is kept confidential.
As a former ten-year member of a cultic group, I am pleased to
serve as the editor of AFF News. I welcome your suggestions.
Patrick Ryan
[ top ]
Individual Differences Affecting Recovery
Each person’s experience with a cult is different. Some may dabble
with a meditation technique but never get drawn into taking
“advanced courses” or moving to the ashram. Others may quickly give
up all they have, including college, career, possessions, home, or
family, to do missionary work in a foreign country or move into cult
lodgings.
After a cult involvement, some people carry on with their lives
seemingly untouched; more typically, others may encounter a variety
of emotional problems and troubling psychological difficulties
ranging from inability to sleep, restlessness, and lack of direction
to panic attacks, memory loss, and depression. To varying degrees
they may feel guilty, ashamed, enraged, lost, confused, betrayed,
paranoid, and in a sort of fog.
Assessing the Damage
Why are some people so damaged by their cult experience while others
walk away seemingly unscathed? There are predisposing personality
factors and levels of vulnerability that may enhance a person’s
continued vulnerability and susceptibility while in the group. All
these factors govern the impact of the cult experience on the
individual and the potential for subsequent damage. In assessing
this impact, three different stages of the cult experience—before,
during, and after—need to be examined.
Before Involvement
Vulnerability factors before involvement include a person’s age,
prior history of emotional problems, and certain personality
characteristics.
During Involvement
Length of time spent in the group
There is quite a difference in the impact a cult will have on a
person if she or he is a member for only a few weeks, as compared to
months or years. A related factor is the amount of exposure to the
indoctrination process and the various levels of control that exist
in the group.
Intensity and severity of the thought-reform program
The intensity and severity of cults’ efforts at conversion and
control vary in different groups and in the same group at different
times. Members who are in a peripheral, “associate” status may have
very different experiences from those who are full-time, inner-core
members.
Specific methods will also vary in their effect. An intense training
workshop over a week or weekend that includes sleep deprivation,
hypnosis, and self-exposure coupled with a high degree of
supervision and lack of privacy is likely to produce faster changes
in a participant than a group process using more subtle and
long-term methods of change.
Poor or inadequate medical treatments
A former cult member’s physical condition and attitude toward
physical health may greatly impact postcult adjustments.
Loss of outside support
The availability of a network of family and friends and the amount
of outside support certainly will bear on a person’s reintegration
after a cult involvement.
Skewed or nonexistent contact with family and former friends tends
to increase members’ isolation and susceptibility to the cult’s
worldview. The reestablishment of those contacts is important to
help offset the loss and loneliness the person will quite naturally
feel.
After involvement
Various factors can hasten healing and lessen postcult difficulties
at this stage. Many are related to the psycho-educational process.
Former cult members often spend years after leaving a cult in
relative isolation, not talking about or dealing with their cult
experiences. Shame and silence may increase the harm done by the
group and can prevent healing.
Understanding the dynamics of cult conversion is essential to
healing and making a solid transition to an integrated postcult
life. ing session.
Engage in a professionally led exit counselling session.
Educate yourself about cults and thought-reform techniques.
Involve family members and old and new friends in reviewing and
evaluating your cult experience.
See a mental health professional or a pastoral counselor, preferably
someone who is familiar with or is willing to be educated about
cults and common postcult problems.
Attend a support group for former cult members.
The following sets of questions have proven helpful to former cult
members trying to make sense of their experience.
Reviewing your recruitment
1. What was going on in your life at the time you joined the group
or met the person who became your abusive partner?
2. How and where were you approached?
3. What was your initial reaction to or feeling about the leader or
group?
4. What first interested you in the group or leader?
5. How were you misled during recruitment?
6. What did the group or leader promise you? Did you ever get it?
7. What didn’t they tell you that might have influenced you not to
join had you known?
8. Why did the group or leader want you?
Understanding the psychological manipulation used in your group
1. Which controlling techniques were used by your group or leader:
chanting, meditation, sleep deprivation, isolation, drugs, hypnosis,
criticism, fear. List each technique and how it served the group’s
purpose.
2. What was the most effective? the least effective?
3. What technique are you still using that is hard to give up? Are
you able to see any effects on you when you practice these?
4. What are the group’s beliefs and values? How did they come to be
your beliefs and values?
Examining your doubts
1. What are your doubts about the group or leader now?
2. Do you still believe the group or leader has all or some of the
answers?
3. Are you still afraid to encounter your leader or group members on
the street?
4. Do you ever think of going back? What is going on in your mind
when this happens?
5. Do you believe your group or leader has any supernatural or
spiritual power to harm you in any way?
6. Do you believe you are cursed by God for having left the group?
Excerpted from Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery
from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Madeleine Tobias and Janja
Lalich (Hunter House Publishers, (800)266-5892). ©1994. Reprinted
with permission. Also available from AFF’s Electronic Bookstore,
or ask for at your local bookstore.
AFF News Navigation
[ AFF News Home ] [ Up ] [ “Individual Differences Affecting
Recovery” ] [ “Post-Cult Problems: An Exit Counselor’s
Perspective” ] [ “Pitfalls To Recovery” ] [ Vol. 2, No. 2,
1986 ] [ “Crazy” Therapies: What are They? Do They Work? ] [
We Weren’t Crazy; We Were Fooled, Honor the Dead by Helping
the Living ] [ “We Own Her Now” ] [ “1997 AFF Annual Confrence
Report” ] [ Annual Report, Vol. 6, No. 3 ] [ Problem Solving
An Approach for the Cult-Impacted Family ] [ Recovering From a
Political Cult ] [ Why We Need To Become Spiritual
Consumerschological Manipulation ]
[ top ]
 
Issue:Vol.1, No. 2
Title:From the Editor
Author:Patrick Ryan
From the Editor
From the Editor of AFF News
I have just returned from the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) national
conference in White Plains, NY. I remember my first CAN National
Conference in Kansas City (1986). I was a hurting ten-year ex-member
feeling confused and isolated. The experience, support, and strength
I gained at my first FOCUS group have stayed with me. I finally had
found people who understood what had happened to me, why it
happened, how it happened. I was offered suggestions and support
that helped me grow beyond my group experience. That was nine years
ago and much has changed in my life.
I am often asked why do you keep working with former members.
Interacting with the ex-members at this year’s conference reminds my
why. The support and experience that ex-members share is invaluable.
Over the years the resources available and the tools for recovery
have developed, expanded, and evolved.
In this issue of AFF News we begin exploring some of the issues that
ex-members face in leaving a cult and suggest some resources for
recovery.
AFF offers many resources to assist the ex-member: AFF conferences,
Post-Cult Recovery Workshops, support groups, books, videotapes, and
referrals to knowledgeable professionals.
I also want to warmly welcome a new member to our AFF News advisory
board, Pascal Zivi, who lives and works in Japan.
Patrick Ryan
Post-Cult Problems: An Exit Counselor’s Perspective
Classification of Ex-Members
There are several classifications of ex-members, based on how they
left the cult. Former members usually fit into one of the following:
1. Those who had interventions.
2. Those who left on their own, or walkaways
3. Those who were expelled, or castaways
Walkaways and castaways need the most help in understanding their
recovery process. Former members who were cast out of a cult are
especially vulnerable; often they feel inadequate, guilty, and
angry. Most cults respond to any criticism of the cult itself by
turning the criticism around on the individual member. Whenever
something is wrong, it’s not the leadership or the organization,
it’s the individual. Thus, when someone is told to leave a cult,
that person carries a double load of guilt and shame. Sometimes
walkaways also carry a sense of inadequacy. Often they can think
through these feelings intellectually, but emotionally they are very
difficult to handle.
Tools for Recovery
In my experience, the most helpful tool for recovering ex-cult
members is learning what mind control is and how it was used by
their specific cult. Understanding that there are residual effects
from a mind control environment — and that these effects are often
transitory in nature — helps diffuse the anxiety. Clients,
especially walkaways and castaways, feel relieved when they learn
that, given the situation, what they are experiencing is normal and
that the effects will not last forever.
Also integral to the recovery process is developing an attitude that
there are some positives to be gained from the cultic experience.
When former members learn about mind control, they can use that
understanding to sort through their cultic experience, to see how
they came to change their behavior and beliefs as a result of mind
control. They can then assess what out of that experience is good
and valid for them to hold onto.
When former members live in an area where there is an active support
group meeting, it is often helpful for them to participate. Support
group meetings provide a safe place for ex-members to discuss
concerns with others who are dealing with similar issues. In this
environment, no one will look at them like they have two heads.
Common Issues in Post-Cult Recovery
Some of the recovery issues that keep recurring in my work with
ex-cult members are:
1. Sense of purposelessness, of being disconnected. They left a
group that had a powerful purpose and intense drive; they miss the
peak experiences produced from the intensity and the group
dynamics.
2. Depression.
3. Grieving for other group members, for a sense of loss in their
life.
4. Guilt. Former members will feel guilt for having gotten
involved in the first place, for the people they recruited into
the group, and for the things they did while in the group.
5. Anger. This will be felt toward the group and/or the leaders.
At times this anger is misdirected toward themselves.
6. Alienation. They will feel alienation from the group, often
from old friends (that is, those who were friends prior to their
cult involvement), and sometimes from family.
7. Isolation. To ex-cult members, no one “out there” seems to
understand what they’re going through, especially their families.
8. Distrust. This extends to group situations, and often to
organized religion (if they were in a religious cult) or
organizations in general (depending on the type of cult they were
in). There is also a general distrust of their own ability to
discern when or if they are being manipulated again. This
dissipates after they learn more about mind control and begin to
listen to their own inner voice again.
9. Fear of going crazy. This is especially common after “floating”
experiences (see point 18 below for explanation of floating).
10. Fear that what the cult said would happen to them if they left
actually might happen.
11. Tendency to think in terms of black and white, as conditioned
by the cult. They need to practice looking for the gray areas.
12. Spiritualizing everything. This residual sometimes lasts for
quite a while. Former members need to be encouraged to look for
logical reasons why things happen and to deal with reality, to let
go of their magical thinking.
13. Inability to make decisions. This characteristic reflects the
dependency that was fostered by the cult.
14. Low self-esteem. This generally comes from those experiences
common to most cults, where time and again members are told that
they are worthless.
15. Embarrassment. This is an expression of the inability to talk
about their experience, to explain how or why they got involved or
what they had done during that time. It is often manifested by an
intense feeling of being ill-at-ease in both social and work
situations. Also, often there is a feeling of being out of synch
with everyone else, of going through culture shock, from having
lived in a closed environment and having been deprived of
participating in everyday culture.
16. Employment and/or career problems. Former members face the
dilemma of what to put on a resume to cover the blank years of
cult membership.
17. Dissociation. This also has been fostered by the cult. Either
active or passive, it is a period of not being in touch with
reality or those around them, an inability to communicate.
18. Floating. These are flashbacks into the cult mind-set. It can
also take on the effect of an intense emotional reaction that is
inappropriate to the particular stimuli.
19. Nightmares. Some people also experience hallucinations or
hearing voices. A small percentage of former members need
hospitalization due to this type of residual.
20. Family issues.
21. Dependency issues.
22. Sexuality issues.
23. Spiritual (or philosophical) issues. Former members often face
difficult questions: Where can I go to have my spiritual (or
belief) needs met? What do I believe in now? What is there to
believe in, trust in?
24. Inability to concentrate, short-term memory loss.
25. Re-emergence of pre-cult emotional or psychological issues
26. Impatience with the recovery process.
In my experience, there is no difference in the aftereffects
experienced by those people who had family interventions or those
who walked away or were expelled from a cult. Most ex-cult members —
no matter the method of leaving the cult — had some or all of these
residuals. The difference is that the individuals who had
interventions are more prepared to deal with them, and especially
those who went to a rehab facility.
It is important to note and to bring to the attention of the ex-cult
member that each individual’s recovery process is different and
there is no “How To Recover from a Cultic Experience.” In fact, the
desire for a quick and easy recovery may be in itself a residual
effect of the cult.
Excerpted from “Post-cult Problems: An Exit Counselor’s
Perspective” by Carol Giambalvo, in Recovery from Cults: Help for
Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse, edited by Michael D.
Langone (1993. W.W. Norton & Company.) Reprinted with permission.
Also available from AFF Electronic Bookstore, or ask for it at
your local bookstore.
[ top ]
AFF’s research indicates that
at least two million Americans are members of cultic or other
psychologically abusive groups;
tens of thousands of people leave such groups every year;
a majority of these persons experience some level of psychological
distress after leaving their groups;
the distress is often directly related to their abusive
experiences in the group; and
only a tiny percentage of former group members seek help from
experts knowledgeable about cults and psychological abuse,
primarily because they don’t know these resources exist.
Through AFF’s Project Recovery, AFF staff and associates put out
five books, dozens of articles, and four videotapes. AFF also
conducted two recovery conferences and five recovery workshops, and
continues to develop a variety of resources.
Project Outreach seeks to make former members aware of current and
future resources that might help or interest them, their friends,
and their families.
Help AFF assist these former members by increasing awareness of
AFF’s resources. We offer former cult members a complimentary,
one-year subscription to AFF News Briefs, while funds are available.
Please send us the names of any former members that may be
interested in receiving AFF News Briefs, or tell them to write us
for a free subscription.
[ top ]
Introducing reFOCUS
reFOCUS is a network of referral and support for former members of
closed, high-demand groups, relationships, or cults. We offer
referrals to other former members of similar or the same groups, to
other former members in your local area, to support groups, to
appropriate professionals, to resources for recovery, to recovery
workshops, and to support organizations. We also offer support over
the Internet through our World Wide Web site:
http://www.refocus.org.
Our newsletter, the reFOCUS Forum, is published quarterly (yearly
subscriptions are $10). In order to set up a base of information and
referral, we ask subscribers to fill out a questionnaire. We welcome
personal accounts and articles submitted for our newsletter. You can
obtain a questionnaire and reach reFOCUS at P.O. Box 2180, Flagler
Beach, FL 32136; Tel: (904) 439-7541; e-mail: carol2180@aol.com.
[ top ]
Suggested Reading
Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual
Abuse Edited by Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., this book includes a
diverse group of contributors from the fields of psychotherapy,
nursing, exit counseling, pastoral counseling, and the law, as well
as personal accounts by former cult members.
Recovery from Cults examines the history of the cult phenomenon, the
nature of thought reform and psychological influence, the
psychological literature on post-cult distress, why people leave
cults, exit counseling and deprogramming, and how to facilitate
recovery.
Recovery from Cults provides necessary background information and
practical guidelines that can help former cult members effectively
manage the problems they encounter when leaving cults.
Published by W.W. Norton & Company
This 432-page landmark book is a must-read for ex-members, their
families, and helping professionals.
Order from AFF.
[ top ]
Send for
Cultic Studies Journal A semiannual, multidisciplinary journal that
seeks to advance the understanding of cultic processes.
Cult Observer Reviews media investigations and reports on cultic
groups and psychological manipulation.
After the Cult: Recovering Together A 25-minute videotape developed
by AFF’s Project Recovery. Ten ex-cult members share their moving
and dramatic personal stories, tell how they have moved on with
their lives, and suggest strategies for facing the future
realistically.
AFF also has Information Packets on more than 30 groups. Request
AFF’s complete catalog of books, periodicals, and videos.
 
 
Issue:Vol. 2, No. 1
Title:From the Editor of AFF News
Author:Patrick Ryan
From the Editor of AFF News
In my work as a thought reform consultant I am continually
confronted with the difficulty families have in understanding their
loved one’s group involvement. I often see families struggling to
understand a group, it’s appeal, why we joined, and why we stayed.
In an attempt to help, families can unwittingly make mistakes. This
is why it is valuable for families to become educated about groups,
for our sake, and theirs. It must be remembered that families are
victims of cults.
In this issue of AFF News, Dr. Paul Martin of Wellspring Retreat and
Resource Center examines some of the myths surrounding group
involvement and helpful strategies families can use to assist in our
recovery. Dr. Martin also addresses the concept of floating, the
postcult experiences of altered states of consciousness that often
affect former members.
I am pleased to announce AFF’s new workshop: How to Help a Loved One
Affected by a Cult. This workshop will give families an opportunity
to learn how to more effectively communicate and support current and
former members.
Patrick Ryan
[ top ]
Pitfalls To Recovery
Each person suffering from trauma or injury usually has the capacity
to recover. In this chapter, I will point out some pitfalls on the
road to recovery from the trauma of cultic involvement, and then
provide some guidelines for speeding up the recovery process…
[I want to state the myths surrounding the cultic experience] …
because it is very important for recovering …[former members]
…to recognize them. If one leaves a cult and surrounds himself or
herself with some well-intended people trying to help but believing
in one or more of these myths, the recovery process may be delayed
or sidetracked.
The Six Myths About Cultism
Ex-cult members do not have psychological problems. Their problems
are wholly spiritual.
Ex-cult members do have psychological disorders. But these people
come from clearly “non-Christian” cults.
Both Christians and non-Christian cultic groups can produce
psychological problems, but the people involved must have had
prior psychological problems that would have surfaced regardless
of what group they joined.
While normal non-Christians may get involved with cults,
born-again evangelical Christians will not. Even if they did,
their involvement would not affect them quite so negatively.
Christians can and do get involved in these aberrational groups,
and they can get hurt emotionally, but all they really need is
some good Bible teaching and a warm, caring Christian fellowship.
Perhaps the best way for former cult members to receive help is to
seek professional therapy with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or
other mental health counselor.
As parents … [or as an ex-member] … who has left a cult, it is
crucial that you do not subscribe to these myths. If you or anyone
connected with [an ex-member] holds these false beliefs and
communicates them, there will be a double sense of victimization.
The first sense of victimization is from the cult itself. The …
[ex-member] … feels hurt, betrayed, confused, angry, violated,
anxious, and perhaps depressed as a result of their cult experience.
The second sense of victimization comes when friends, helpers, or
family perpetuate the myths about cultism. These myths work
themselves out in everyday conversation in such questions and
comments as:
I certainly could think of some others who might join a cult,
but you were the last person I would have expected.
Why go to counseling? You know you were deceived in your
spiritual walk. What you need to do is repent of your sins so
that the deceiver cannot tempt you…
…People who join these groups are troubled or have come from
dysfunctional homes. I guess I was wrong in assuming you
didn’t have those problems…