How do people get trapped in cults? One tool cults use is emotional and mental coercion to exercise undue influence keeping people stuck in the group. Even without physically holding people prisoner, it is possible to hold them by building a closed system of beliefs and isolating them from other ideas.
refers to attempts by cult leaders to manipulate their followers by creating an environment in which the cult members doubt their own thoughts, observations, interpretations, and memories.
I work with many people who were terrified about getting help again and waited for years to come for therapy or participate in my support group because their last counseling experience had been so traumatizing, abusive and manipulative.
It’s human nature to make up stories, and we all make up our own story. We piece it together with the events we feel shaped our lives. Once we have a fixed story, we learn to play the role of the protagonist.
Opus Dei, Legionaries of Christ/ Regnum Christi Federation, Neo-Catechumenal, Charismatics, Focolarini
Dr. Britton provides more details about the resistance she came up against in the science and meditation communities after publishing data that contradicted their narratives of meditation as an infallibly positive pursuit.
and schizotypal disorders. While these symptoms can affect all former cult members, they are particularly problematic among young people who have left cults, and especially those born into one
I argue that efforts required by former Ultra Orthodox Jews to adjust to
Clinical psychology and professional counseling can serve as a profound aid in cult recovery, training in the counseling professions often leaves new clinicians unequipped to handle lasting questions of faith and self-trust in the aftermath of spiritual abuse.
Based on my investigation into the Zion Society cult in northern Utah where 32 children were rescued after years of sexual abuse by the 120-member group.