6 Traits of an Abusive Cult
Abusive groups have these six things in common.
By Amy Green
The word “cult” can have different meanings. This article uses Jan Groenveld's “universal definition” and is about what Steven Hassan calls a “destructive” (as opposed to benign) cult. These groups are considered harmful because their practices (detailed in this article) are all well-documented as causing significant physical, financial, social, and/or psychological harm. There are widely varying degrees of harmful practices from one group to another; they are not all equally “bad” in their practices or treatment of their members, and the harm done is not equally severe in all cases. In addition, different people respond differently; one person may be very damaged by something that has little or no effect on another person. Meaningful relationships, experiences and character growth can and do occur within a cult environment. But cults’ unethical practices cause overall more harm than good to their members, though the degree of harm may vary from group to group and person to person.
Cults are not only religious. Any group, whether its central cause is religious, political, commercial, psychology-based, “self-improvement,” and the like is considered to be a cult if it practices the control mechanisms detailed in the BITE model (section 3).
The characteristics described below are well-defined, well-documented, and backed by overwhelming historical, factual and eyewitness evidence.
1. Cults have a pyramid-structured system of leadership, with one person at the very top and then people below him or her, and people below them, and on down, in a specifically defined “chain of command.” There is virtually no autonomy in decision or policy-making; important decisions and policies are made from the top down. This pyramid structure and the identity of the very top leader(s) may be openly acknowledged and well known by all the members, or it may be obscured to the average member (some cults are not open with their members about the leadership structure and will sometimes even claim there is none); the point is that it exists. In this paper, the term “member” refers to any person in the organization who is below the top leader by one or more “degrees.”
2. The top leader of a cult has certain distinguishing characteristics. Although some cults may have more than one person at the very top (especially if the founder of the group has died and others have taken over its leadership), usually it is just one person. He or she:
3. Cults exercise strong control over their members using specific, well-documented methods. This control is exercised in order to promote dependency and obedience to the leader or cause. It is not necessary for every single method to be present in a group in order for the members to be harmfully controlled. If a group does many or most of them, then without a doubt, it is a destructive cult.
"Based on research and theory by Robert Jay Lifton, Margaret Singer, Edgar Schein, Louis Jolyon West, and others who studied brainwashing in Maoist China as well as cognitive dissonance theory by Leon Festinger, Steven Hassan developed the BITE Model to describe the specific methods that cults use to recruit and maintain control over people. “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control."
Click here to read the detailed list of control methodology used by destructive cults.
4. Members of cults develop a new identity and personality which is very different from the identity and personality they had before joining the group. Members suppress any self-identity that is separate from their membership in the group. Family and friends who knew the person prior to their membership in the group often say that the person is no longer “themselves.” In his book The Discipling Dilemma, Dr. Flavil Yeakley details his research on personality “convergence” within various religious cults. He found that:
“…there was a clear convergence in a single type. There was a clear pattern of changing from introversion (I) to extraversion (E), from intuition (N) to sensing (S), from thinking (T) to feeling (F), and from perceiving (P) to judging (J). [INTP to ESFJ]. …Those who were the least likely to change were those who already were ESFJs. Those who were the most likely to change were those who started as the opposite type, INTP. The more a person differed from the ESFJ model, the more likely that person was to change on more of the MBTI scales.”
The above quote is referencing the Myers-Briggs personality models. According to Dr. Yeakley,
“Changes in psychological type do not indicate normal healthy growth. Such changes indicate some pressure in the environment that causes people to deny their true type and try to become like someone else. It is not healthy to pressure a person to deny his or her true type and become a copy of someone else. …Mainline denominations typically recognize and respect individual differences. They value this diversity. They encourage individuals to become what they are uniquely capable of becoming and not mere copies of someone else. This is not the case, however, with certain manipulative sects. It is conformity that they value, not diversity. They tend to make people over after the image of a group leader, the group norm, or what the group regards as the ideal personality. Such pressure to falsify type is one of the reasons for the psychological damage often experienced by their members. They are made to feel guilty for being what they are and inferior for not being what the group wants them to be. As the gap between the real self and the pretended self grows larger and larger, the self esteem of these members sinks lower and lower. They become frustrated and depressed. They may develop serious emotional problems. They may become so dependent on the control exercised by their leaders that they engage in irrational behavior. …The result is a falsification of type which robs its victims of their real selves and makes them into inferior, frustrated copies of other people. …A reversal of type often proves exceedingly harmful to the physiological well-being of the organism, often provoking an acute state of exhaustion.”
In addition to a personality change, there is also an extreme attitude/paradigm shift. Members of cults believe that they alone in the entire world have the “answers” or “solutions” for spiritual, financial or any other kind of “success.” This belief creates an inherent self-righteousness towards all non-members, and this “us-and-them” mentality alienates them from even those non-members with whom they used to be close.
5. Members’ lives are centered around the group. Members believe and are constantly reminded that there is no higher purpose in their lives than the activities that they do for and with the group. A cult becomes the member’s new “family” and takes a higher priority in members’ lives than even their biological families, including their own children. (Mistreatment, abuse—physical, emotional or sexual—and neglect of the children of members is sadly very common in many if not most cults.)
In some cults, members live communally in cult-provided housing, work directly for the cult, and depend on the group for their basic physical needs; in others members work in regular jobs and live in separate housing, perhaps with roommates who are also members. Sleep deprivation and food (or nutrition) deprivation are common. Sexual or physical abuse is also practiced in some cults. In the most extreme and publicized cases, members make the ultimate “sacrifice” and literally lose their lives or take others’ lives in service to the group’s cause (such as in the tragic deaths and suicides which occurred in the People’s Temple at Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate, and the suicide-murders routinely committed by the members of the terrorist cult Al-Qaeda).
In all cases, members give extreme amounts of time, money and energy to the group, to the detriment of other aspects of their lives including their careers, families, finances, and mental and physical health. An overwhelming number of tragic and often shocking personal stories are documented (in books, websites, videos, etc) of the toll that this kind of lifestyle takes on the lives of members and their loved ones—even if the members themselves do not fully or consciously realize the extent or impact of it. Although members sincerely believe that they are doing or submitting to all of these things of their own free will and for the betterment of mankind, this kind of extreme and usually debilitating personal sacrifice is really the result of the controlling belief systems and mechanisms that are in place in these groups as described in section #3 above.
6. The recruiting, retention and fundraising practices of a cult are aggressive, deceptive and unethical. The central focus and activity in most cults is recruitment; i.e. growing the membership of the group. Members are trained to be very aggressive in recruiting “for the cause.” In most groups, bringing new people into the group is considered by members to be their primary mission in life. In the case of religious cults, the motivation is their belief that only members of the group are saved (or enlightened, or on the path of nirvana, etc.) and everyone else is destined for hell (or its non-Christian equivalent). This is a common belief in many religions, but unlike in benign groups, in a cult an extreme level of personal pressure is put on each member to convert others, and members are held personally responsible if people are not converting to the group. A member’s success or failure at recruitment is seen as a core sign of personal or spiritual success or failure. This weight of total personal responsibility for all the people on the planet is a tremendous and constant pressure of burden on the member. In many groups, members who consistently do not bring in new members (or contribute large sums of money) are sometimes even asked to leave the group because they are unproductive and therefore a burden to the group.
All cults employ deception as a central part of their recruiting and fund-raising methods to one degree or another. Members are openly or subtly taught to be deceitful about the group. In some cults there is even a catchphrase used to refer to this practice, such as “heavenly deception” (a phrase used by the Moonies). The deceit can be in the form of distorting the truth, hiding the truth, outright lying, or fraud, and is usually a combination of all of those. The reason for the deceit is actually quite logical. One can see that deceit is necessary in order to win new people over to an unhealthy group because 1) most cults have a bad public reputation and people may have heard bad reports, and 2) the very fact that their beliefs and practices are abusive would keep people from joining, if people knew up front what would be required of them, how they would be treated, and all of the group’s peculiar methodology and beliefs. So instead of full disclosure up front (which is the practice of any healthy, normal organization), the recruitment process is a subtle introduction to the group in stages, only revealing bits of truth at a time. Cults train their members very specifically and carefully how to win new members with step-by-step methods from which no deviation is usually permitted.
There are various deceitful methods employed in the recruitment and fund-raising efforts of cults, such as:
In addition, cults use specific techniques in an unethical way during the recruitment process which are designed to break down a person’s internal and external resistances to the group. These techniques have been scientifically shown to be extremely effective in weakening a person’s self-will and interfering with their normal decision-making processes (one of the earliest examinations of these techniques is described in Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China by R.J. Lifton.) For example, outreach events may involve activities which produce a ‘mind-altering state’ in the recruit (literally altering a person’s conscious state of mind), such as hypnosis, chanting, meditation, neuro-linguistic programming or food or sleep deprivation. These activities in and of themselves are benign and can even be beneficial when used in the right setting and in the right way, but cults use them to manipulate a person while in this highly suggestive mental state. Another ‘breaking-down’ tactic is separating the recruit from friends and family; for example, a days-long retreat in a secluded location from which the recruit has no means of distancing himself, by perhaps convincing the recruit to carpool so he can’t drive away from the event.
No matter the particular techniques used in each group (and there are many more besides the examples cited above), cults always exercise unethical influence of some kind on recruits in order to get them to join the group. And they continue to use unethical methods to retain and control members. To a member, the importance of bringing in new members is so high that “the ends justify the means.” The member believes that it is okay to be unethical (although the limits on unethical behavior vary from group to group) in order to ultimately save the person’s soul or lead them to the true path to success or happiness, which can only happen if the person joins the group. This rationale serves to justify even very extreme recruiting methods; for example, the Children of God cult routinely practiced what they called “flirty fishing:” having sex with a recruit as part of their efforts to convert them to the group.
One last important note on recruitment: Cults use highly refined and effective methods of persuasion, influence and marketing in their recruitment efforts. It is a statistical fact (based on the known demographics of members) that anyone, regardless of their background, childhood, intelligence level, mental state or religious knowledge, can be recruited into a cult. Contrary to popular belief, cult membership is not a result or indication of social inferiority, mental/emotional instability, bad relationships with family, or weakness of character. The most common denominator of new recruits is simply that they are going through some sort of transition in their lives. Most cult members are intelligent, influential and successful people, simply because that is the type of person that cults actively and aggressively work to recruit. Cults often target college campuses because these are full of the “brightest and best” members of society, and also because people in this age group are particularly open to new ideas and new friendships and looking for social acceptance, and their life views are still in flux.
Part of the success of cults is attributable to the fact that most people believe that they themselves (or their college-age children) “know better” and would never “fall prey” to that sort of group. But in reality, the only reliable safeguard against being recruited into a cult is a direct and detailed knowledge of how cults operate. If someone doesn’t have that knowledge, then they are much more susceptible. People who have never been members of a cult should be extremely wary, and people who are former members of a cult should not blame themselves or feel that they must be in some way “inferior” because they were “duped.” It can happen to anyone. Cults are more prevalent in our society and pose a higher threat than most people realize: “An estimated 5 to 7 million Americans have been involved in cults, or cult-like groups. The total number of these groups ranges from 3,000 to 5,000. It is hard to get a precise number as cults change their names, splinter off into other groups, or shut down in one area only to open back up in another. There are approximately 180,000 new cult recruits every year.” Since they recruit heavily at colleges, parents should also take the time to educate their teenagers about cults, and college students should learn how to spot cults on campus.
The Aftereffects of a Cult
The good news is that most people do end up leaving cults and don’t stay in them for their entire lives. The aftereffects on people who leave a cult can be many. Psychological effects can include depression, anxiety, bad dreams or other sleep problems, anger issues, and residual feelings of worthlessness, shame or fear; these can also be indicative of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (additional symptoms of which include nightmares, flashbacks, dissociation, suicidal thoughts, and anti-social tendencies, among other things), a subset of which is now called Religious Trauma Disorder to apply to victims of religious abuse. They may believe that because they have left the group, they have no hope of anything good happening to them, or that a relationship with their higher power is no longer possible. Or they may feel betrayed by or reject all belief in their higher power, or alter their religious views. They may have trouble socializing and relating to others. Cult members can also suffer from psychosomatic chronic physical illnesses, which often improve as part of the cult recovery process. Most also have to work to repair their finances, marriages, families, careers and other life situations.
Many people who leave cults do not ever realize that they were in one. They try to “move on” with their lives and to “normalize” (consciously or unconsciously), but the mental, emotional and spiritual effects of the cult are likely to retain a hold in their lives because either they are unaware of them or they don’t know the source of them. They may see these traits in themselves and try to overcome them, but without knowing the source, full healing is difficult and might not be possible. They have physically left the group, but they may still retain the paradigm of the cult inside themselves. In addition, these people are much more likely to return to the group or join another similarly abusive and controlling group.
If you want to help someone whom you believe may be in a cult, you must first learn how to effectively interact with the person. Most of the time, the instinctive reactions of family and friends of cult members are counter-productive and only serve to entrench the member deeper into the cult. There are very specific methods that must be used in trying to help someone leave a cult, and to learn these methods it is imperative to speak with a cult counselor or at least read literature by cult counselors, such as the excellent book Freedom of Mind by Steven Hassan.
If a person comes to believe that he or she is in a cult or abusive group, the first and most important step is to leave the group. In his article "Abusive Churches: Leaving Them Behind," Pat Zukeran says, “When you realize you are in an authoritarian church, it is best to leave and make a complete break. Many members remain, thinking their presence will help change the situation, but this is highly unlikely. In fact, remaining may perpetuate the existence of the organization.” This holds true for any cult or abusive group.
After leaving, the next vital step is to consciously work toward recovery. It has been historically shown that time alone does not necessarily heal the particular wounds of having been in a cult, and the former member must actively take steps toward recovery. Even with a conscious effort being made, it takes an average of five years for most people to fully recover from an experience in a cult. There are many resources available to help former members recover from their experience in the group.
By Amy Green
The word “cult” can have different meanings. This article uses Jan Groenveld's “universal definition” and is about what Steven Hassan calls a “destructive” (as opposed to benign) cult. These groups are considered harmful because their practices (detailed in this article) are all well-documented as causing significant physical, financial, social, and/or psychological harm. There are widely varying degrees of harmful practices from one group to another; they are not all equally “bad” in their practices or treatment of their members, and the harm done is not equally severe in all cases. In addition, different people respond differently; one person may be very damaged by something that has little or no effect on another person. Meaningful relationships, experiences and character growth can and do occur within a cult environment. But cults’ unethical practices cause overall more harm than good to their members, though the degree of harm may vary from group to group and person to person.
Cults are not only religious. Any group, whether its central cause is religious, political, commercial, psychology-based, “self-improvement,” and the like is considered to be a cult if it practices the control mechanisms detailed in the BITE model (section 3).
The characteristics described below are well-defined, well-documented, and backed by overwhelming historical, factual and eyewitness evidence.
1. Cults have a pyramid-structured system of leadership, with one person at the very top and then people below him or her, and people below them, and on down, in a specifically defined “chain of command.” There is virtually no autonomy in decision or policy-making; important decisions and policies are made from the top down. This pyramid structure and the identity of the very top leader(s) may be openly acknowledged and well known by all the members, or it may be obscured to the average member (some cults are not open with their members about the leadership structure and will sometimes even claim there is none); the point is that it exists. In this paper, the term “member” refers to any person in the organization who is below the top leader by one or more “degrees.”
2. The top leader of a cult has certain distinguishing characteristics. Although some cults may have more than one person at the very top (especially if the founder of the group has died and others have taken over its leadership), usually it is just one person. He or she:
- Is the final and sole authority, rule-maker and rule-enforcer, over the group. (Again, this may not be realized by all the members of the group, although in most of these groups it is made clear.)
- Is almost always the founder of the group.
- Is extremely charismatic and convincing.
- Claims that he or she has found the best (usually the only) way to God / prosperity / nirvana / inner peace, etc. (i.e. some ultimate life goal) and is able to convince others of this.
- Does not suffer or sacrifice as his or her followers do.
- Is above scrutiny and criticism.
- Can make his or her followers do practically anything, often including unethical and/or illegal acts, based on the conviction that it is for a greater good, or it is justified somehow.
- If Christian, rejects standard Bible study methods and instead uses faulty interpretation, misuses passages, or even rewrites his or her own version.
- Has the traits defined by psychologists as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. (In his book Jihad and Sacred Vengeance: Psychological Undercurrents of History psychiatrist Peter A. Olsson compares leaders of known cults including Jim Jones, David Koresh, Shoko Asahara, Marshall Applewhite, Luc Jouret, Joseph Di Mambro and Osama bin Laden and asserts that each of these individuals fit at least eight of the nine criteria for NPD.) More recently, a new term is being used that better fits a cult leader description: Malignant narcissism, a combination of NPD with some other traits.
3. Cults exercise strong control over their members using specific, well-documented methods. This control is exercised in order to promote dependency and obedience to the leader or cause. It is not necessary for every single method to be present in a group in order for the members to be harmfully controlled. If a group does many or most of them, then without a doubt, it is a destructive cult.
"Based on research and theory by Robert Jay Lifton, Margaret Singer, Edgar Schein, Louis Jolyon West, and others who studied brainwashing in Maoist China as well as cognitive dissonance theory by Leon Festinger, Steven Hassan developed the BITE Model to describe the specific methods that cults use to recruit and maintain control over people. “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control."
Click here to read the detailed list of control methodology used by destructive cults.
4. Members of cults develop a new identity and personality which is very different from the identity and personality they had before joining the group. Members suppress any self-identity that is separate from their membership in the group. Family and friends who knew the person prior to their membership in the group often say that the person is no longer “themselves.” In his book The Discipling Dilemma, Dr. Flavil Yeakley details his research on personality “convergence” within various religious cults. He found that:
“…there was a clear convergence in a single type. There was a clear pattern of changing from introversion (I) to extraversion (E), from intuition (N) to sensing (S), from thinking (T) to feeling (F), and from perceiving (P) to judging (J). [INTP to ESFJ]. …Those who were the least likely to change were those who already were ESFJs. Those who were the most likely to change were those who started as the opposite type, INTP. The more a person differed from the ESFJ model, the more likely that person was to change on more of the MBTI scales.”
The above quote is referencing the Myers-Briggs personality models. According to Dr. Yeakley,
“Changes in psychological type do not indicate normal healthy growth. Such changes indicate some pressure in the environment that causes people to deny their true type and try to become like someone else. It is not healthy to pressure a person to deny his or her true type and become a copy of someone else. …Mainline denominations typically recognize and respect individual differences. They value this diversity. They encourage individuals to become what they are uniquely capable of becoming and not mere copies of someone else. This is not the case, however, with certain manipulative sects. It is conformity that they value, not diversity. They tend to make people over after the image of a group leader, the group norm, or what the group regards as the ideal personality. Such pressure to falsify type is one of the reasons for the psychological damage often experienced by their members. They are made to feel guilty for being what they are and inferior for not being what the group wants them to be. As the gap between the real self and the pretended self grows larger and larger, the self esteem of these members sinks lower and lower. They become frustrated and depressed. They may develop serious emotional problems. They may become so dependent on the control exercised by their leaders that they engage in irrational behavior. …The result is a falsification of type which robs its victims of their real selves and makes them into inferior, frustrated copies of other people. …A reversal of type often proves exceedingly harmful to the physiological well-being of the organism, often provoking an acute state of exhaustion.”
In addition to a personality change, there is also an extreme attitude/paradigm shift. Members of cults believe that they alone in the entire world have the “answers” or “solutions” for spiritual, financial or any other kind of “success.” This belief creates an inherent self-righteousness towards all non-members, and this “us-and-them” mentality alienates them from even those non-members with whom they used to be close.
5. Members’ lives are centered around the group. Members believe and are constantly reminded that there is no higher purpose in their lives than the activities that they do for and with the group. A cult becomes the member’s new “family” and takes a higher priority in members’ lives than even their biological families, including their own children. (Mistreatment, abuse—physical, emotional or sexual—and neglect of the children of members is sadly very common in many if not most cults.)
In some cults, members live communally in cult-provided housing, work directly for the cult, and depend on the group for their basic physical needs; in others members work in regular jobs and live in separate housing, perhaps with roommates who are also members. Sleep deprivation and food (or nutrition) deprivation are common. Sexual or physical abuse is also practiced in some cults. In the most extreme and publicized cases, members make the ultimate “sacrifice” and literally lose their lives or take others’ lives in service to the group’s cause (such as in the tragic deaths and suicides which occurred in the People’s Temple at Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate, and the suicide-murders routinely committed by the members of the terrorist cult Al-Qaeda).
In all cases, members give extreme amounts of time, money and energy to the group, to the detriment of other aspects of their lives including their careers, families, finances, and mental and physical health. An overwhelming number of tragic and often shocking personal stories are documented (in books, websites, videos, etc) of the toll that this kind of lifestyle takes on the lives of members and their loved ones—even if the members themselves do not fully or consciously realize the extent or impact of it. Although members sincerely believe that they are doing or submitting to all of these things of their own free will and for the betterment of mankind, this kind of extreme and usually debilitating personal sacrifice is really the result of the controlling belief systems and mechanisms that are in place in these groups as described in section #3 above.
6. The recruiting, retention and fundraising practices of a cult are aggressive, deceptive and unethical. The central focus and activity in most cults is recruitment; i.e. growing the membership of the group. Members are trained to be very aggressive in recruiting “for the cause.” In most groups, bringing new people into the group is considered by members to be their primary mission in life. In the case of religious cults, the motivation is their belief that only members of the group are saved (or enlightened, or on the path of nirvana, etc.) and everyone else is destined for hell (or its non-Christian equivalent). This is a common belief in many religions, but unlike in benign groups, in a cult an extreme level of personal pressure is put on each member to convert others, and members are held personally responsible if people are not converting to the group. A member’s success or failure at recruitment is seen as a core sign of personal or spiritual success or failure. This weight of total personal responsibility for all the people on the planet is a tremendous and constant pressure of burden on the member. In many groups, members who consistently do not bring in new members (or contribute large sums of money) are sometimes even asked to leave the group because they are unproductive and therefore a burden to the group.
All cults employ deception as a central part of their recruiting and fund-raising methods to one degree or another. Members are openly or subtly taught to be deceitful about the group. In some cults there is even a catchphrase used to refer to this practice, such as “heavenly deception” (a phrase used by the Moonies). The deceit can be in the form of distorting the truth, hiding the truth, outright lying, or fraud, and is usually a combination of all of those. The reason for the deceit is actually quite logical. One can see that deceit is necessary in order to win new people over to an unhealthy group because 1) most cults have a bad public reputation and people may have heard bad reports, and 2) the very fact that their beliefs and practices are abusive would keep people from joining, if people knew up front what would be required of them, how they would be treated, and all of the group’s peculiar methodology and beliefs. So instead of full disclosure up front (which is the practice of any healthy, normal organization), the recruitment process is a subtle introduction to the group in stages, only revealing bits of truth at a time. Cults train their members very specifically and carefully how to win new members with step-by-step methods from which no deviation is usually permitted.
There are various deceitful methods employed in the recruitment and fund-raising efforts of cults, such as:
- Members are taught to avoid disclosing certain information about the group (or even to initially lie about the group) until the “appropriate” time in the recruitment process.
- Activities organized to attract non-members may be advertised so as not to appear as if they are related to the group. Members may host “fun” activities and invite non-members without letting them know that it’s an organized group function, but rather saying that it is just an impromptu gathering of friends… or hold a “casual non-denominational bible study” on a college campus whose affiliation to the group is not made known to the non-members in attendance. These meetings are usually very “staged;” members are instructed on what to say or not to say, how to interact, what to wear, even what type of food to bring (such brand-name soda), of course all unknown to the visitor, who would never conceive of such a thing happening.
- In all meetings in which non-members may be present, members are taught to be extremely cheerful, attentive and giving, so as to give the visitors a good impression.
- Members are never permitted to say anything negative about the group to any non-members for any reason. To do so is an extreme act of disloyalty toward the group.
- Fund-raising efforts may include members asking for donations or selling items ostensibly for a charity, when in reality the funds collected are going in whole or in part to support the cult group. (Although in some groups members are consciously lying “for the cause,” in other groups members may not be aware that the money is not actually going to charitable efforts and this knowledge may be reserved for the higher-up leaders.)
- Many cults use “front groups” to conceal their identity and draw people in through a “back door” or raise money fraudulently. The Church of Scientology, for example, has several different highly organized front groups including business consulting firms, drug awareness and literacy programs for teens, and the like. The official names of these front groups often change as soon as their real affiliation becomes more publicly recognized. People who participate in these programs are not told that they are run by Scientology, but the beliefs of Scientology are subtly introduced and taught in these groups in order to get people “hooked in” to their belief system. (Tom Cruise was recruited into Scientology through a literacy program.) The Moonies own and run the newspaper The Washington Times, which has a respectable circulation among members of our federal government. In some groups, charitable entities are created whose affiliation with the group is kept as secret as possible, and funds raised for the charity are often “diverted” away from the charitable cause and used instead for direct support of the group.
In addition, cults use specific techniques in an unethical way during the recruitment process which are designed to break down a person’s internal and external resistances to the group. These techniques have been scientifically shown to be extremely effective in weakening a person’s self-will and interfering with their normal decision-making processes (one of the earliest examinations of these techniques is described in Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China by R.J. Lifton.) For example, outreach events may involve activities which produce a ‘mind-altering state’ in the recruit (literally altering a person’s conscious state of mind), such as hypnosis, chanting, meditation, neuro-linguistic programming or food or sleep deprivation. These activities in and of themselves are benign and can even be beneficial when used in the right setting and in the right way, but cults use them to manipulate a person while in this highly suggestive mental state. Another ‘breaking-down’ tactic is separating the recruit from friends and family; for example, a days-long retreat in a secluded location from which the recruit has no means of distancing himself, by perhaps convincing the recruit to carpool so he can’t drive away from the event.
No matter the particular techniques used in each group (and there are many more besides the examples cited above), cults always exercise unethical influence of some kind on recruits in order to get them to join the group. And they continue to use unethical methods to retain and control members. To a member, the importance of bringing in new members is so high that “the ends justify the means.” The member believes that it is okay to be unethical (although the limits on unethical behavior vary from group to group) in order to ultimately save the person’s soul or lead them to the true path to success or happiness, which can only happen if the person joins the group. This rationale serves to justify even very extreme recruiting methods; for example, the Children of God cult routinely practiced what they called “flirty fishing:” having sex with a recruit as part of their efforts to convert them to the group.
One last important note on recruitment: Cults use highly refined and effective methods of persuasion, influence and marketing in their recruitment efforts. It is a statistical fact (based on the known demographics of members) that anyone, regardless of their background, childhood, intelligence level, mental state or religious knowledge, can be recruited into a cult. Contrary to popular belief, cult membership is not a result or indication of social inferiority, mental/emotional instability, bad relationships with family, or weakness of character. The most common denominator of new recruits is simply that they are going through some sort of transition in their lives. Most cult members are intelligent, influential and successful people, simply because that is the type of person that cults actively and aggressively work to recruit. Cults often target college campuses because these are full of the “brightest and best” members of society, and also because people in this age group are particularly open to new ideas and new friendships and looking for social acceptance, and their life views are still in flux.
Part of the success of cults is attributable to the fact that most people believe that they themselves (or their college-age children) “know better” and would never “fall prey” to that sort of group. But in reality, the only reliable safeguard against being recruited into a cult is a direct and detailed knowledge of how cults operate. If someone doesn’t have that knowledge, then they are much more susceptible. People who have never been members of a cult should be extremely wary, and people who are former members of a cult should not blame themselves or feel that they must be in some way “inferior” because they were “duped.” It can happen to anyone. Cults are more prevalent in our society and pose a higher threat than most people realize: “An estimated 5 to 7 million Americans have been involved in cults, or cult-like groups. The total number of these groups ranges from 3,000 to 5,000. It is hard to get a precise number as cults change their names, splinter off into other groups, or shut down in one area only to open back up in another. There are approximately 180,000 new cult recruits every year.” Since they recruit heavily at colleges, parents should also take the time to educate their teenagers about cults, and college students should learn how to spot cults on campus.
The Aftereffects of a Cult
The good news is that most people do end up leaving cults and don’t stay in them for their entire lives. The aftereffects on people who leave a cult can be many. Psychological effects can include depression, anxiety, bad dreams or other sleep problems, anger issues, and residual feelings of worthlessness, shame or fear; these can also be indicative of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (additional symptoms of which include nightmares, flashbacks, dissociation, suicidal thoughts, and anti-social tendencies, among other things), a subset of which is now called Religious Trauma Disorder to apply to victims of religious abuse. They may believe that because they have left the group, they have no hope of anything good happening to them, or that a relationship with their higher power is no longer possible. Or they may feel betrayed by or reject all belief in their higher power, or alter their religious views. They may have trouble socializing and relating to others. Cult members can also suffer from psychosomatic chronic physical illnesses, which often improve as part of the cult recovery process. Most also have to work to repair their finances, marriages, families, careers and other life situations.
Many people who leave cults do not ever realize that they were in one. They try to “move on” with their lives and to “normalize” (consciously or unconsciously), but the mental, emotional and spiritual effects of the cult are likely to retain a hold in their lives because either they are unaware of them or they don’t know the source of them. They may see these traits in themselves and try to overcome them, but without knowing the source, full healing is difficult and might not be possible. They have physically left the group, but they may still retain the paradigm of the cult inside themselves. In addition, these people are much more likely to return to the group or join another similarly abusive and controlling group.
If you want to help someone whom you believe may be in a cult, you must first learn how to effectively interact with the person. Most of the time, the instinctive reactions of family and friends of cult members are counter-productive and only serve to entrench the member deeper into the cult. There are very specific methods that must be used in trying to help someone leave a cult, and to learn these methods it is imperative to speak with a cult counselor or at least read literature by cult counselors, such as the excellent book Freedom of Mind by Steven Hassan.
If a person comes to believe that he or she is in a cult or abusive group, the first and most important step is to leave the group. In his article "Abusive Churches: Leaving Them Behind," Pat Zukeran says, “When you realize you are in an authoritarian church, it is best to leave and make a complete break. Many members remain, thinking their presence will help change the situation, but this is highly unlikely. In fact, remaining may perpetuate the existence of the organization.” This holds true for any cult or abusive group.
After leaving, the next vital step is to consciously work toward recovery. It has been historically shown that time alone does not necessarily heal the particular wounds of having been in a cult, and the former member must actively take steps toward recovery. Even with a conscious effort being made, it takes an average of five years for most people to fully recover from an experience in a cult. There are many resources available to help former members recover from their experience in the group.
Within a healthy religious environment, family bonds are upheld and even strengthened, questioning of the leader and basic tenets is accepted, and the leader lives in a similar manner to the followers. One is offered all the information necessary to make an educated decision about joining, and once involved, people can choose the amount of involvement that feels right to them. A cultic environment tears families apart, does not accept any questioning, and has a leader who claims to have an exalted position and to be above reproach. The cult is designed to solely advance its own goals, to abuse the members’ trust, and to use fear and shame to manipulate the followers. It freely utilizes deceptive techniques while recruiting new members and fundraising, misuses scripture, and declares other belief systems as false. Because it is not under the umbrella of a recognized religion, there is no governing body and the leader is, therefore, free to do as he or she pleases.” - Ashok Rathore
When our own thoughts are forbidden, when our questions are not allowed and our doubts are punished, when contacts and friendships outside of the organisation are censored, we are being abused for an end that never justifies its means. When our heart aches knowing we have made friendships and secret attachments that will be forever forbidden if we leave, we are in danger. When we consider staying in a group because we cannot bear the loss, disappointment and sorrow our leaving will cause for ourselves and those we have come to love, we are in a cult." - Deborah Layton, a Jonestown survivor
NOTE: Some of the largest and best-known U.S. groups which are considered to be cults (although the fact that they are cults may not be realized by the public at large) and were not mentioned in this paper are the Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists and AmWay.