International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 35
complementary teams that include both trained
professionals and amateurs.
In addition, cult deprogramming or exit
counselling most often involves the cooperation
of the subject’s actual family members (as
opposed to the new “family” members of the
cult). This practice suggests a similar need in
subject-focused government deradicalization (or
diversion) programs.
Further, deradicalization program researchers,
educators, and trainers have paid insufficient
attention to the lessons they might learn from
cult deprogramming and exit counselling. In one
paper that reviewed literature on both
deprogramming and “deganging,” the authors
queried the focus on challenging group ideology
in extant subject-deradicalization programs and
argued that further research is required around
affiliation motivations they noted that,
similarly, “deprogramming focuses virtually
exclusively on challenging the ideology of the
cult in question” (Morris, Eberhard, Rivera, &
Watsula, 2010, p. 7).
424F
7 But the authors relied on
a particularly dated critique of deprogramming,
and certainly more academic output on the work
of contemporary exit counselling is necessary
for access by psychologists seeking to play a
constructive role in the many embryonic
programs being commissioned by
governments.
425F
8
From a layman’s perspective, it seems that
affiliation factors might lead some followers to
self-sacrifice for a cause but for them to
deliberately attack innocent victims with knives
at close quarters takes a particularly zealous
mindset, one we might associate with the
popular term brainwashing, reinforced by peer-
group pressures. The ability for individuals to
suppress any normal compassion and instinctive
revulsion suggests a bloodlust inculcated by
psychological indoctrination into a death cult.
7 The authors rely on some dated literature and focus on
deprogramming, with all its pejorative connotations, rather than
the contemporary usage of exit counselling.
8 I acknowledge the excellent work being done by Rod Dubrow-
Marshall (UK) in bringing the work of ICSA and the cultic-studies
movement to the attention of the EU’s Radicalization Awareness
Network (RAN), and in particular to the RAN Exit Working Group
cochaired by Judy Korn (Germany) and Robert Örell (Sweden).
So historical cult deprogramming, contemporary
work by psychologists and former followers on
voluntary exit counselling, or both (see Steven
Hassan, 2012)
426F
9 need to be thoroughly evaluated
and adapted if appropriate to suit current
realities within deradicalization programs,
wherein authorities, through the use of
compulsory-control orders, can require
attendance, which, depending on the quality of
the programs, might improve success rates.
In addition, even the critics of mind control or
brainwashing seem to accept the idea that,
whether the processes involved are
psychological (including thought reform) or
sociological, or a mixture of both (affiliation
factors), there is a great deal of attrition (people
leaving groups). Although no program will ever
achieve the levels of deradicalization one might
hope for, significant underutilized human
intelligence potentially is available from both
apostates and family and friends of converts.
The need is to make this information more
accessible and help professionals learn to make
better use of it, whether to extricate individuals
from destructive environments or to inform
policy responses in order to suppress the harmful
potential of deviant groups.
Countering Violent Extremism: Law-and-
Order Legislation
In Australia, despite the similarities and overlap
between cultic studies and studies of terrorism,
government responses to problems identified in
the two fields are very different. Considerable
resources are expended on law-and-order
responses to terrorism, yet governments are
hesitant to embrace the broader regulation of
cults, sects, and new religious movements.
Governments seem reluctant to regulate the
general sector that encompasses religion and
belief, of which these sometimes-problematic
groups are seen to form an intrinsic component,
unless it is for the purpose of handing out
9 Hassan has developed the Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA),
which “is non-coercive and empowers individuals by giving them
the tools they need to detect and remove undue influence from
their own minds” (Hassan, n.d., online at https://
freedomofmind.com/strategic-interactive-approach/).
complementary teams that include both trained
professionals and amateurs.
In addition, cult deprogramming or exit
counselling most often involves the cooperation
of the subject’s actual family members (as
opposed to the new “family” members of the
cult). This practice suggests a similar need in
subject-focused government deradicalization (or
diversion) programs.
Further, deradicalization program researchers,
educators, and trainers have paid insufficient
attention to the lessons they might learn from
cult deprogramming and exit counselling. In one
paper that reviewed literature on both
deprogramming and “deganging,” the authors
queried the focus on challenging group ideology
in extant subject-deradicalization programs and
argued that further research is required around
affiliation motivations they noted that,
similarly, “deprogramming focuses virtually
exclusively on challenging the ideology of the
cult in question” (Morris, Eberhard, Rivera, &
Watsula, 2010, p. 7).
424F
7 But the authors relied on
a particularly dated critique of deprogramming,
and certainly more academic output on the work
of contemporary exit counselling is necessary
for access by psychologists seeking to play a
constructive role in the many embryonic
programs being commissioned by
governments.
425F
8
From a layman’s perspective, it seems that
affiliation factors might lead some followers to
self-sacrifice for a cause but for them to
deliberately attack innocent victims with knives
at close quarters takes a particularly zealous
mindset, one we might associate with the
popular term brainwashing, reinforced by peer-
group pressures. The ability for individuals to
suppress any normal compassion and instinctive
revulsion suggests a bloodlust inculcated by
psychological indoctrination into a death cult.
7 The authors rely on some dated literature and focus on
deprogramming, with all its pejorative connotations, rather than
the contemporary usage of exit counselling.
8 I acknowledge the excellent work being done by Rod Dubrow-
Marshall (UK) in bringing the work of ICSA and the cultic-studies
movement to the attention of the EU’s Radicalization Awareness
Network (RAN), and in particular to the RAN Exit Working Group
cochaired by Judy Korn (Germany) and Robert Örell (Sweden).
So historical cult deprogramming, contemporary
work by psychologists and former followers on
voluntary exit counselling, or both (see Steven
Hassan, 2012)
426F
9 need to be thoroughly evaluated
and adapted if appropriate to suit current
realities within deradicalization programs,
wherein authorities, through the use of
compulsory-control orders, can require
attendance, which, depending on the quality of
the programs, might improve success rates.
In addition, even the critics of mind control or
brainwashing seem to accept the idea that,
whether the processes involved are
psychological (including thought reform) or
sociological, or a mixture of both (affiliation
factors), there is a great deal of attrition (people
leaving groups). Although no program will ever
achieve the levels of deradicalization one might
hope for, significant underutilized human
intelligence potentially is available from both
apostates and family and friends of converts.
The need is to make this information more
accessible and help professionals learn to make
better use of it, whether to extricate individuals
from destructive environments or to inform
policy responses in order to suppress the harmful
potential of deviant groups.
Countering Violent Extremism: Law-and-
Order Legislation
In Australia, despite the similarities and overlap
between cultic studies and studies of terrorism,
government responses to problems identified in
the two fields are very different. Considerable
resources are expended on law-and-order
responses to terrorism, yet governments are
hesitant to embrace the broader regulation of
cults, sects, and new religious movements.
Governments seem reluctant to regulate the
general sector that encompasses religion and
belief, of which these sometimes-problematic
groups are seen to form an intrinsic component,
unless it is for the purpose of handing out
9 Hassan has developed the Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA),
which “is non-coercive and empowers individuals by giving them
the tools they need to detect and remove undue influence from
their own minds” (Hassan, n.d., online at https://
freedomofmind.com/strategic-interactive-approach/).
