38 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017
suicidal and destructive tendencies and feelings
of loss and grief (Almendros, Carrobles, &
Rodríguez-Carballeira, 2007 Coates, 2010
Dahlen, 1997 Lalich &Tobias, 2006 Langone,
1994, 1996 Martin, 1993a, 1993b Moyers,
1994 Singer, 2003).
Research has been sparse concerning those who
were born and raised in cults, or SGAs.
Researchers who focused on SGAs have
discovered they were more likely to experience
physical, sexual, and emotional abuse neglect
attachment disorders lack of education and
marketable job skills and lack of decision-
making and socialization skills. SGAs were also
more likely to suffer from anxiety, posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), depression, low self-
esteem, and suicidal ideation (Furnari, 2005).
Researchers have found that more than one third
of counselors will work with cult survivors some
time during their therapeutic work, but they are
ill-prepared to do so (Lottick, 2005). Most of the
current literature addresses reasons first-
generation cult survivors join and leave cultic
groups and how to counsel these survivors
(Furnari, 2005 Goldberg, 2006 Langone, 1996
McCabe et al., 2007). The purpose of this study
was to address the void in the literature
concerning individuals born and raised in
religious cults, their experiences being raised in
and leaving their respective groups, and the
experiences they faced integrating into the
outside world. The purpose for collecting SGAs’
experiences was to increase the understanding
and competence of professional therapists and
counselors when counseling with these
individuals. This paper represents a synthesis of
the published dissertation study I conducted
(Matthews, 2012).
Method
I undertook a qualitative, constructivist,
grounded-theory approach, with the goal of
identifying lived experiences (Creswell, 2007)
and underlying meanings (Mertens, 2005) of
individuals born in, raised, and leaving religious
cult. Currently, no theory exists to explain the
experiences of SGA cult members thus,
grounded theory provided a method for
discovering and conceptualizing frameworks,
themes, categories, and theory emerging from
the data (Charmaz, 1983 Glaser, 1965). A
constructivist researcher seeks to establish
meaning from participants, realizing the
impossibility of researcher neutrality, and
constructs data based on the interacting realities
of both participant and researcher (Charmaz,
2003). A constructivist, grounded-theory
researcher seeks to determine how study
participants construct and see themselves within
their world (Black, 2009 Chamarz, 2008).
Researcher positionality can influence the data
gathered and analyzed. I took both an emic, or
first-hand, lived-experience view, and an etic, or
outsider view of the research environment
(Eppley, 2006). I spent 43 years living inside a
cultic group, being privy to the manipulation and
thought-control techniques utilized by a cultic
group. As an outsider who left more than ten
years ago, I am no longer aware of or part of
cultic life. Eppley (2006) described other
individuals who have taken both an emic and
etic view of being both in and outside of the
Amish community and regarded the success of
these researchers based on their fluidity in
positionality, in that they were able to flow back
and forth from being both understanding insiders
and disengaged outsiders.
Participants
I utilized purposeful and snowball sampling
(Mertens, 2005) in bringing together SGA
former cult members as participants in this
study. Participants were 18 years of age or older
and met the definition of a cult as defined by
Singer (2003). I gathered 15 former cult
members from referrals from therapists, ICSA,
and cult-support groups. All participants, when
notified of the study by the referrals, contacted
me to let me know of their interest in the study.
Thirteen participants representing eight different
cults came from Bible-based cults, with two
coming from Eastern-origin religious cults. All
participants described themselves as Caucasian,
and they lived in the United States of America or
Canada there were 14 females and one male
(n =15), and they ranged in age from 18 to 56
years. All had been out of their cults from 2
years to 16 years. Four participants reported
growing up in a closed community or
suicidal and destructive tendencies and feelings
of loss and grief (Almendros, Carrobles, &
Rodríguez-Carballeira, 2007 Coates, 2010
Dahlen, 1997 Lalich &Tobias, 2006 Langone,
1994, 1996 Martin, 1993a, 1993b Moyers,
1994 Singer, 2003).
Research has been sparse concerning those who
were born and raised in cults, or SGAs.
Researchers who focused on SGAs have
discovered they were more likely to experience
physical, sexual, and emotional abuse neglect
attachment disorders lack of education and
marketable job skills and lack of decision-
making and socialization skills. SGAs were also
more likely to suffer from anxiety, posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), depression, low self-
esteem, and suicidal ideation (Furnari, 2005).
Researchers have found that more than one third
of counselors will work with cult survivors some
time during their therapeutic work, but they are
ill-prepared to do so (Lottick, 2005). Most of the
current literature addresses reasons first-
generation cult survivors join and leave cultic
groups and how to counsel these survivors
(Furnari, 2005 Goldberg, 2006 Langone, 1996
McCabe et al., 2007). The purpose of this study
was to address the void in the literature
concerning individuals born and raised in
religious cults, their experiences being raised in
and leaving their respective groups, and the
experiences they faced integrating into the
outside world. The purpose for collecting SGAs’
experiences was to increase the understanding
and competence of professional therapists and
counselors when counseling with these
individuals. This paper represents a synthesis of
the published dissertation study I conducted
(Matthews, 2012).
Method
I undertook a qualitative, constructivist,
grounded-theory approach, with the goal of
identifying lived experiences (Creswell, 2007)
and underlying meanings (Mertens, 2005) of
individuals born in, raised, and leaving religious
cult. Currently, no theory exists to explain the
experiences of SGA cult members thus,
grounded theory provided a method for
discovering and conceptualizing frameworks,
themes, categories, and theory emerging from
the data (Charmaz, 1983 Glaser, 1965). A
constructivist researcher seeks to establish
meaning from participants, realizing the
impossibility of researcher neutrality, and
constructs data based on the interacting realities
of both participant and researcher (Charmaz,
2003). A constructivist, grounded-theory
researcher seeks to determine how study
participants construct and see themselves within
their world (Black, 2009 Chamarz, 2008).
Researcher positionality can influence the data
gathered and analyzed. I took both an emic, or
first-hand, lived-experience view, and an etic, or
outsider view of the research environment
(Eppley, 2006). I spent 43 years living inside a
cultic group, being privy to the manipulation and
thought-control techniques utilized by a cultic
group. As an outsider who left more than ten
years ago, I am no longer aware of or part of
cultic life. Eppley (2006) described other
individuals who have taken both an emic and
etic view of being both in and outside of the
Amish community and regarded the success of
these researchers based on their fluidity in
positionality, in that they were able to flow back
and forth from being both understanding insiders
and disengaged outsiders.
Participants
I utilized purposeful and snowball sampling
(Mertens, 2005) in bringing together SGA
former cult members as participants in this
study. Participants were 18 years of age or older
and met the definition of a cult as defined by
Singer (2003). I gathered 15 former cult
members from referrals from therapists, ICSA,
and cult-support groups. All participants, when
notified of the study by the referrals, contacted
me to let me know of their interest in the study.
Thirteen participants representing eight different
cults came from Bible-based cults, with two
coming from Eastern-origin religious cults. All
participants described themselves as Caucasian,
and they lived in the United States of America or
Canada there were 14 females and one male
(n =15), and they ranged in age from 18 to 56
years. All had been out of their cults from 2
years to 16 years. Four participants reported
growing up in a closed community or
