cult recovery 101

Times Calls Reparative Therapy "Pseudopsychiatry"

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012 In an editorial in today’s edition, theNew York Times condemns as dangerous so-called reparative therapy, which its adherents claim can change homosexuals into heterosexuals, labeling it “absurd, potentially harmful, pseudopsychiatry.”  The paper published the editorial in response to its article a few days earlier describing psychiatrist Robert Spitzer, M.D.’s,…

Men Sue Reparative Therapy Center Over Psychological Harm

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 Four young men have taken the rare step of suing a facility that provides so-called “reparative therapy,” and the individuals who run it, claiming that the techniques used to “cure” their homosexuality included ones that inflicted psychological damage. The suit was filed yesterday in Hudson County (N.J.) Superior Court…

Deprogramming: A Case Study Part II: Conversation Analysis

Steve K. Dubrow-Eichel, Ph.D. RETIRN Philadelphia Abstract This article continues the examination of a successful deprogramming of an International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) devotee (cultist) described in Cultic Studies Journal Special Issue Vol. 6, No. 2. The deprogramming was observed and audiotaped. A sample consisting of 1,938 speech fragments…

Deprogramming: A Case Study Part 1: Personal observations of the Group Process

This special issue of the Cultic Studies Journal is, to our knowledge, the only professional, detailed analysis of deprogramming, a central source of controversy in cultic studies.  The observer of the deprogramming, Dr. Steve Dubrow-Eichel, completed this study as part of his doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Cult Formation

Cult Formation Robert J. Lifton, M.D. John Jay College Abstract Cults represent one aspect of a worldwide epidemic of ideological totalism, or fundamentalism.  They tend to be associated with a charismatic leader, thought reform, and exploitation of members.  Among the methods of thought reform commonly used by cults are milieu…