parts—anxiety reactions, flashbacks, body pain,
involuntary movements, intermittent or
persistent numbness or spaciness, and other
sensory experiences—will remain sensitive to
internal and external cues as long as they are
unintegrated (Lanius, Bluhm, Lanius, &Pain,
2006 Sartory et al., 2013). They will
reverberate in our associative memory networks
(Hebb, 1949) with thematically similar events,
which triggers a set of neural connections that in
turn leads to what we often refer to as
“symptoms” (Shapiro, 2001).
These cues, and the experiences they trigger,
resemble the original overwhelming scene. At
first, Michael reported that Linda’s mocking
voice would “come out of nowhere.” This
experience was an auditory flashback, a
hallmark of PTSD. But we soon discovered the
trigger. The aural flashback occurred whenever
Michael entered a doorway in a quiet area. The
set of connections was quiet→door→Linda’s
voice→betrayal→shaky body sensations→
feelings of fear. Michael would also become
irritable after one or two dates with women he
was seeing. This was a stuck “fight” response
triggered when he was out with a woman. As
Michael was frozen at the door during the
betrayal trauma, his shocked nervous system had
blocked his ability to fight. These responses are
the unfinished behavioral strivings that keep
repeating, looking for completion and mastery.
In psychoanalytic thinking, this pattern is
labeled repetition compulsion.
Michael shared that, at that moment at the door,
energy raced through his body but he couldn’t
move. The energy “had nowhere to go.”
Michael couldn’t remember how he confronted
Linda and the leader, or how he left the building.
He was spaced out. He also reported feeling
ashamed and guilty, as if this betrayal was his
fault—a meaning distortion typical in traumatic
stress reactions. Later, Michael’s friends’
attitudes and comments about his being taken so
easily resonated with and confirmed this
distortion, which deepened his shame and guilt.
Michael presented with PTSD symptoms.
Clinicians and researchers who work with
trauma survivors understand traumatic reactions
from a neuroscientific perspective, which
includes varied types of dissociation,
reexperiencing, and problems in integrative
brain functions that impact memory
consolidation, actions, and personality
organization (Courtois &Ford, 2009 Dell &
O’Neil, 2009 Sartory et al., 2013 Van der Hart,
Nijenhuis, &Steele, 2006), For the purpose of
this paper, I am referring to symptoms of the
two most widely accepted trauma categories,
PTSD as delineated in the DSM5 manual, and
C-PTSD, to denote the psychological sequelae
of prolonged, repeated trauma. Although the
DSM does not currently list C-PTSD as a
diagnosis, it is poised to become one in the
ICD11 in 2015 (Singh, 2012). The C-PTSD
category is widely used in psychological and
neurobiological research. C-PTSD is also
defined and highlighted by the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (available at
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/
complex-ptsd.asp).
Not all people who experience overwhelming or
life-threatening events develop PTSD. The
National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-
R) conducted interviews of a nationally
representative sample of American adults and
found that lifetime prevalence of PTSD among
adult Americans is 6.8% (Kessler et al., 2005).
The survey also found the lifetime prevalence of
PTSD among men to be 3.6% and among
women, 9.7% (National Comorbidity Survey,
2005). Prevalence rates for a more high-risk
population—in this case, military personnel,
post-deployment—fall between 10% and 25%
(Hoge et al., 2004 Thomas et al., 2010).
Results of research on former cult members
reported rates of PTSD in a sample of former
members in Spain at 27.9% (males) to 43.6%
(females). In the United States, a study listed
PTSD in former members at 61.4% for males
and 71.3% for females (Almendros, C., 2006
Carrobles, J. A., Almendros, C., Rodriguez-
Carballeira, A., &Gámez-Guadix, M. (2010).
The Power of Relational Trauma
Shock, timing, and the ability to move
distinguish the stress reactions of Michael and
Peter, but it’s likely that an important difference
in their experience is that Michael’s trauma was
interpersonal. Numerous studies indicate that
14 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014
involuntary movements, intermittent or
persistent numbness or spaciness, and other
sensory experiences—will remain sensitive to
internal and external cues as long as they are
unintegrated (Lanius, Bluhm, Lanius, &Pain,
2006 Sartory et al., 2013). They will
reverberate in our associative memory networks
(Hebb, 1949) with thematically similar events,
which triggers a set of neural connections that in
turn leads to what we often refer to as
“symptoms” (Shapiro, 2001).
These cues, and the experiences they trigger,
resemble the original overwhelming scene. At
first, Michael reported that Linda’s mocking
voice would “come out of nowhere.” This
experience was an auditory flashback, a
hallmark of PTSD. But we soon discovered the
trigger. The aural flashback occurred whenever
Michael entered a doorway in a quiet area. The
set of connections was quiet→door→Linda’s
voice→betrayal→shaky body sensations→
feelings of fear. Michael would also become
irritable after one or two dates with women he
was seeing. This was a stuck “fight” response
triggered when he was out with a woman. As
Michael was frozen at the door during the
betrayal trauma, his shocked nervous system had
blocked his ability to fight. These responses are
the unfinished behavioral strivings that keep
repeating, looking for completion and mastery.
In psychoanalytic thinking, this pattern is
labeled repetition compulsion.
Michael shared that, at that moment at the door,
energy raced through his body but he couldn’t
move. The energy “had nowhere to go.”
Michael couldn’t remember how he confronted
Linda and the leader, or how he left the building.
He was spaced out. He also reported feeling
ashamed and guilty, as if this betrayal was his
fault—a meaning distortion typical in traumatic
stress reactions. Later, Michael’s friends’
attitudes and comments about his being taken so
easily resonated with and confirmed this
distortion, which deepened his shame and guilt.
Michael presented with PTSD symptoms.
Clinicians and researchers who work with
trauma survivors understand traumatic reactions
from a neuroscientific perspective, which
includes varied types of dissociation,
reexperiencing, and problems in integrative
brain functions that impact memory
consolidation, actions, and personality
organization (Courtois &Ford, 2009 Dell &
O’Neil, 2009 Sartory et al., 2013 Van der Hart,
Nijenhuis, &Steele, 2006), For the purpose of
this paper, I am referring to symptoms of the
two most widely accepted trauma categories,
PTSD as delineated in the DSM5 manual, and
C-PTSD, to denote the psychological sequelae
of prolonged, repeated trauma. Although the
DSM does not currently list C-PTSD as a
diagnosis, it is poised to become one in the
ICD11 in 2015 (Singh, 2012). The C-PTSD
category is widely used in psychological and
neurobiological research. C-PTSD is also
defined and highlighted by the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (available at
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/
complex-ptsd.asp).
Not all people who experience overwhelming or
life-threatening events develop PTSD. The
National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-
R) conducted interviews of a nationally
representative sample of American adults and
found that lifetime prevalence of PTSD among
adult Americans is 6.8% (Kessler et al., 2005).
The survey also found the lifetime prevalence of
PTSD among men to be 3.6% and among
women, 9.7% (National Comorbidity Survey,
2005). Prevalence rates for a more high-risk
population—in this case, military personnel,
post-deployment—fall between 10% and 25%
(Hoge et al., 2004 Thomas et al., 2010).
Results of research on former cult members
reported rates of PTSD in a sample of former
members in Spain at 27.9% (males) to 43.6%
(females). In the United States, a study listed
PTSD in former members at 61.4% for males
and 71.3% for females (Almendros, C., 2006
Carrobles, J. A., Almendros, C., Rodriguez-
Carballeira, A., &Gámez-Guadix, M. (2010).
The Power of Relational Trauma
Shock, timing, and the ability to move
distinguish the stress reactions of Michael and
Peter, but it’s likely that an important difference
in their experience is that Michael’s trauma was
interpersonal. Numerous studies indicate that
14 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014
