relational trauma is likely more traumatizing
than many physical events (Briere, Hodges, &
Godbout, 2010 Butaney, Pelcovitz, &Kaplan,
2011 Freyd, 1998).
In a study by Briere and colleagues (2010) of
adults who were abused as children, familial
emotional abuse was more highly correlated
with adult nervous-system dysregulation and
avoidant behavioral symptoms than was physical
abuse within the family or sexual abuse by a
nonfamily member. Professionals who work
with traumatized clients often recognize that,
even when a client develops PTSD as a result of
a powerful physical event, the individual’s
reactions to the event bear an interpersonal
marker. When a therapist asks a client, “What
was the worst part of the experience?,” the
therapist will invariably get a relational answer.
Whether the event was a physical assault, a mass
disaster, or a war experience, clients say things
like “I was alone” “I felt attacked and
betrayed” “My brother couldn’t get to the
hospital on time” “My partner was unhelpful”
and so on.
In small ways, our individual survival responses
(to fight or to flee) can be immobilized by group
survival responses, the social self. This is what
we call stress. If, after an individual has worked
long hours on a difficult job, a boss gives a poor
evaluation, the individual can’t run out of the
room or physically attack the boss. Doing this
would likely cause more trouble for the
individual on the job, and the response may feel
immoral to him. As humans, we are challenged
daily by threats of real or imagined hurts and
abandonments by the people around us, which
mobilize both our need to connect and at the
same time our need to protect ourselves. The
stress reaction is the tension caused by the
conflict between the fight-or-flight survival
reaction and the need for connection, another
example of the gas and the brake engaging at the
same time. This is an alternate
conceptualization of Freud’s hypothesis that
symptoms are a result of conflicts between the
ego (social selves) and the id (animal selves)
(Freud, 1961). This conflict is why individuals
seek exercise, meditation, television viewing,
dancing at a club, or a glass of wine at the end of
the day. These are activities that can reregulate
our nervous systems after a day of managing
these conflicts at home and at work.
In cultic groups, this social pressure is constant.
The verbal abuse, physical abuse, and neglect
can be severe in high-demand groups. There is
often limited or no ability for one to physically
leave the stifling other(s). And once a person is
indoctrinated, it’s often impossible to leave the
demands that have become part of one’s own
way of thinking. This is not stress that can be
worked out at the end of the day. This is
traumatic stress that overwhelms and gets stuck
as a result of social and emotional captivity.
Judith Lewis Herman, a pioneer in trauma
theory and treatment, explains that captivity
conditions in cults can be like those in slave
camps or concentration camps (1992b). Cult
leaders and group members often behave
erratically, sometimes criticizing and punishing,
sometimes loving and supporting. This pattern
is described in studies regarding Stockholm
syndrome wherein those who are captive
become traumatically attached to their captors,
sometimes within days (Ochberg, 2005). There
is some evidence that this phenomenon of
traumatic attachment has its origins in primate
evolution (Cantor &Price, 2007).
Overwhelming interpersonal abuse and
manipulation coupled with being trapped or
immobilized by internalized fears and traumatic
attachments are factors that can lead to the most
serious trauma reactions. Thus, cult
involvement has the potential to be one of the
most highly traumatizing of human experiences.
The adored leader, the traumatizing narcissist,
perpetrates trauma using guilt and shame to
dominate members and fulfill her needs (Shaw,
2013). Guilt and shame are painful but
necessary emotions that may have evolved to
help socialize developing children to belong, fit
in, and be a part of the larger group. These
emotions likely augment group cohesion and
survival (Norenzayan &Shariff, 2008). Because
humans all carry guilt, shame, and altruism,
those who are not sociopathic have the potential
to be manipulated (Cialdini, 1984). Cult leaders,
who are narcissistic and often sociopathic,
manipulate with aplomb.
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 15
than many physical events (Briere, Hodges, &
Godbout, 2010 Butaney, Pelcovitz, &Kaplan,
2011 Freyd, 1998).
In a study by Briere and colleagues (2010) of
adults who were abused as children, familial
emotional abuse was more highly correlated
with adult nervous-system dysregulation and
avoidant behavioral symptoms than was physical
abuse within the family or sexual abuse by a
nonfamily member. Professionals who work
with traumatized clients often recognize that,
even when a client develops PTSD as a result of
a powerful physical event, the individual’s
reactions to the event bear an interpersonal
marker. When a therapist asks a client, “What
was the worst part of the experience?,” the
therapist will invariably get a relational answer.
Whether the event was a physical assault, a mass
disaster, or a war experience, clients say things
like “I was alone” “I felt attacked and
betrayed” “My brother couldn’t get to the
hospital on time” “My partner was unhelpful”
and so on.
In small ways, our individual survival responses
(to fight or to flee) can be immobilized by group
survival responses, the social self. This is what
we call stress. If, after an individual has worked
long hours on a difficult job, a boss gives a poor
evaluation, the individual can’t run out of the
room or physically attack the boss. Doing this
would likely cause more trouble for the
individual on the job, and the response may feel
immoral to him. As humans, we are challenged
daily by threats of real or imagined hurts and
abandonments by the people around us, which
mobilize both our need to connect and at the
same time our need to protect ourselves. The
stress reaction is the tension caused by the
conflict between the fight-or-flight survival
reaction and the need for connection, another
example of the gas and the brake engaging at the
same time. This is an alternate
conceptualization of Freud’s hypothesis that
symptoms are a result of conflicts between the
ego (social selves) and the id (animal selves)
(Freud, 1961). This conflict is why individuals
seek exercise, meditation, television viewing,
dancing at a club, or a glass of wine at the end of
the day. These are activities that can reregulate
our nervous systems after a day of managing
these conflicts at home and at work.
In cultic groups, this social pressure is constant.
The verbal abuse, physical abuse, and neglect
can be severe in high-demand groups. There is
often limited or no ability for one to physically
leave the stifling other(s). And once a person is
indoctrinated, it’s often impossible to leave the
demands that have become part of one’s own
way of thinking. This is not stress that can be
worked out at the end of the day. This is
traumatic stress that overwhelms and gets stuck
as a result of social and emotional captivity.
Judith Lewis Herman, a pioneer in trauma
theory and treatment, explains that captivity
conditions in cults can be like those in slave
camps or concentration camps (1992b). Cult
leaders and group members often behave
erratically, sometimes criticizing and punishing,
sometimes loving and supporting. This pattern
is described in studies regarding Stockholm
syndrome wherein those who are captive
become traumatically attached to their captors,
sometimes within days (Ochberg, 2005). There
is some evidence that this phenomenon of
traumatic attachment has its origins in primate
evolution (Cantor &Price, 2007).
Overwhelming interpersonal abuse and
manipulation coupled with being trapped or
immobilized by internalized fears and traumatic
attachments are factors that can lead to the most
serious trauma reactions. Thus, cult
involvement has the potential to be one of the
most highly traumatizing of human experiences.
The adored leader, the traumatizing narcissist,
perpetrates trauma using guilt and shame to
dominate members and fulfill her needs (Shaw,
2013). Guilt and shame are painful but
necessary emotions that may have evolved to
help socialize developing children to belong, fit
in, and be a part of the larger group. These
emotions likely augment group cohesion and
survival (Norenzayan &Shariff, 2008). Because
humans all carry guilt, shame, and altruism,
those who are not sociopathic have the potential
to be manipulated (Cialdini, 1984). Cult leaders,
who are narcissistic and often sociopathic,
manipulate with aplomb.
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 15
