72 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019
Leaving Psychologically—Breaking the Confluential Trance
Gillie Jenkinson
Psychotherapist at Hope Valley Counselling, Derbyshire, UK
Abstract1
In this paper, I offer an additional explanation
for the state of trance many cult members
experience—the confluential trance. These
concepts arose from doctoral research into what
helped 29 former cult members recover from an
abusive cult experience (Jenkinson, 2016). I
address a new concept, and whilst it applied to
some participants and potentially applies to
coercive cults more broadly, further research is
required to establish the veracity of this concept
and whether it is generalizable across former-
member populations. I discuss how the
confluential trance may make it psychologically
difficult to leave an abusive cult, and I explore
how some of my doctoral-research participants
experienced this altered state and broke free
through formal and informal interventions.
Whilst the term trance is applied ubiquitously
and across a spectrum of states, and more often
in relation to hypnotic trance, I adopt the term
to imply an “altered state of consciousness” in
which an individual becomes suggestible, lacks
critical thinking, and is therefore more
“vulnerable to social influence”
(Galanter,1989, p. 65).
Within a Gestalt-psychotherapy theoretical
framework, the confluential trance is shown to
be a result of a merged state—confluence—
which results in the cult member becoming open
to introjecting the cult ideology without
“chewing it over.” I hypothesize that the
resulting confluential trance is further
explanation of why the cult leader/ship and
thought reform have such a deep impact on
many.
1 This article is all my own work and has not been submitted or
published elsewhere. Much of it arises out of my PhD thesis,
which is published on the University of Nottingham theses
website.
Keywords: confluential trance, former member,
abusive cult, thought reform, exit counseling,
Gestalt
There has been considerable discussion in the
cultic-studies field about trance states, altered
states of consciousness, and whether hypnotic
states are induced in members. When I
conducted doctoral research, I identified another
potential area of induced trance state—the
confluential trance. I explore this aspect of
trance in this paper.
I have identified four phases of recovery and
growth that a former member needs to move
through to build an authentic, autonomous
identity and recover. The former member needs
to do the following in the respective phases:
• Phase 1: Leave physically and
psychologically.
• Phase 2: Cognitively understand the cult
dynamics and cult mindset.
• Phase 3: Emotionally heal the harm caused
to both first-generation adults and those
adults born or raised in cults, including
trauma and loss address precult
vulnerabilities where relevant.
• Phase 4: Recognize that oneself is
recovered—"I am myself again”—and
realize posttraumatic growth.
In this paper, I address Phase 1 only. I explain
some Gestalt concepts, suggest how the
confluential trance may evolve, and then show
how it can be broken. I demonstrate how there is
a need for the individual to break through the
merged state (confluence) and the confluential
trance in order to leave psychologically. I show
how the former member needs to create
differentiation between self, others, and the
environment field (i.e., all or any aspects of that
which is in his life) and restore the contact
boundary. I explain these concepts in more This

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019 73
article is all my own work and has not been
submitted or published elsewhere. Much of it
arises out of my PhD thesis, which is published
on the University of Nottingham theses
website.depth throughout.
The Contact Boundary, Interruptions to
Contact, and Confluence
Gestalt conceptualizes the identity as comprising
the “personality,” the relatively knowable,
verbalizable aspect of the individual (Philippson,
2001, p. 38), and the “self,” the ever-changing
active process of “contacting the present” (Perls
et al., 1951, p. 37). Gestalt theorizes that the self
is created at the contact boundary (the skin is
analogous with the contact boundary)—i.e., the
boundary between the individual and others. In a
coercive and abusive cult, the individual in
many cases is not able to grow at the contact
boundary one aspect of himself is predominant
(the cult pseudo identity Jenkinson, 2008). The
individual is fixed and not growing. To leave
psychologically, he must begin to reinstate the
contact boundary and build his authentic,
autonomous identity.
As the individual contacts, or becomes aware of,
the various stages of the contact cycle, moment
by moment, he grows (see Figure 1, based on
Clarkson, 1999).
Figure 1. The cycle of Gestalt formation and destruction.
Imagine two people as circles completing this
cycle with each other, meeting, going through
these various stages, and withdrawing (this is
contact). The merging of confluence (imagine
two overlapping circles) interrupts this contact at
the contact boundary (it is an “interruption to
contact”), as occurs when one is a cult member
and so, to one degree or another, the authentic
identity stops growing and developing.
If the cycle is therefore not completed (items 1
through 7 in Figure 1) and there is a constant
flow of “unfinished business” (Clarkson, 1999,
p. 48)—that is, if the individual cannot adjust
fully and creatively to the circumstances, he
becomes stuck at a point on the cycle, in an
incomplete or “fixed Gestalt” (Clarkson, 1999,
p. 49).
The psychological energy of the person
becomes bound or repressed out of
awareness. This repression then drains
away resources available for
experiencing life, in its richness in the
here-and-now with full psychological
Self
3. Mobilization
7. Withdrawal 2. Awareness
1. New Sensation
4. Action 5. Final Contact
6. Satisfaction