for the therapist to understand this process and
explore the impact of this loss.
My own coming-of-age experience allows me,
to a lesser extent, to identify with these feelings.
I look back on my younger, activist self of the
sixties and remember that nothing made me feel
as “high” as participating in a civil-rights or
peace march with others who shared my
mission. In my early twenties, my life could be
focused on this single-minded goal in a manner
in which my older self would not be. Some of
my contemporaries were dying in Vietnam, and
my identity as an activist gave me protection
against the uncertainty about life ahead. I
believe that, at that time of life, I might have
been vulnerable to the “charms” of a
charismatic, narcissistic cult leader purporting
what appeared to be my own worldview. Today,
when I hear certain songs, I still get the chills as
I tap into feelings from those heady years.
Farber points out how cults induce dissociation
through the use of a wide array of techniques,
including meditation, relaxation, chanting,
biofeedback, hypnosis, self-hypnosis, and
visualization. I would add music and singing, as
well as lecturing. The excessive use of these
techniques results in a shutting down of the
critical-thinking process. Coupled with these
techniques, recruits are encouraged to actively
suppress normal emotional responses, which are
relabeled as “negative” or “selfish.” This
suppression serves to numb the recruits’ access
to genuine emotions. At the same time, recruits
are in the midst of a world of true believers, in
total unity, following a charismatic, narcissistic
leader, who takes full credit for their altered
state. In that moment, the leader provides them
with a new message that is the key to their
salvation. This manipulation results in the
creation of a new reality for recruits.
Farber focuses on the research of Conway and
Siegelman, whose theory of the “snapping”
process she uses to explain how these techniques
create sudden synaptic connections and
neurochemical changes in the areas of the brain
where thinking and awareness, as well as
imagination and long-term memory, are
concentrated (Conway and Siegelman, 1995).
Current theorists often miss this important
addition to our understanding of the
transformation process. I would add both the
work of Lifton (1989) and of Lalich, who was
the first to demonstrate how cult recruitment is a
two-person process, with the cult member’s
participation in this process (2004). Since this
book is about ecstasy and mania, I would also
note Shaw’s understanding of how the cult
leader’s utilization of the manic defense allows
him to feel omnipotent rather than shameful, and
how the narcissistic cult leader is dependent on
followers as objects for the projection of his own
shameful feelings (Shaw 2003).
Farber illuminates the theories she provides in
her book by numerous case examples. She also
provides firsthand experiences of cultic
phenomena by several experts in the cult field:
She includes Patrick Ryan’s experience with
Transcendental Meditation (TM), Joe Szimhart’s
insights into the new-age movement, and Amy
Siskind’s study of a therapy cult. Farber
discovers that entrance into a cult parallels
entrance into her own experience of ecstasy.
That is, entrance into ecstasy usually occurs
when the recruit is experiencing vulnerability at
a time of stress or transition. Potential recruits
are lured by the cult’s promise of transforming
their lives. Farber wisely cautions therapists
who work with former cult members to consider
that initial symptoms might be ascribed to the
individuals’ troubling, often traumatic, cult
experience rather than to early life experiences
or to other personality factors. Furthermore,
Farber provides examples from her work with a
former cult member to demonstrate how her
encouragement to put feelings into words gave
her patient more control over her emotions as
the process moved her away from dissociation.
Farber discusses her own therapeutic approach
gleaned from years of experience. Ecstasy
seekers (often those who are addicted to drugs,
alcohol, cutting, risky sexual practices,
gambling, etc.) initially might demonstrate an air
of bravado, but they often are needy people in
disguise. When those who suffer from an
addiction try to renounce it, they might use
another addictive-like behavior to protect their
defensive structure. They have an underlying
need to block out psychic pain. As addicts, they
suffer from ecstasy rather than from pain.
62 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014
explore the impact of this loss.
My own coming-of-age experience allows me,
to a lesser extent, to identify with these feelings.
I look back on my younger, activist self of the
sixties and remember that nothing made me feel
as “high” as participating in a civil-rights or
peace march with others who shared my
mission. In my early twenties, my life could be
focused on this single-minded goal in a manner
in which my older self would not be. Some of
my contemporaries were dying in Vietnam, and
my identity as an activist gave me protection
against the uncertainty about life ahead. I
believe that, at that time of life, I might have
been vulnerable to the “charms” of a
charismatic, narcissistic cult leader purporting
what appeared to be my own worldview. Today,
when I hear certain songs, I still get the chills as
I tap into feelings from those heady years.
Farber points out how cults induce dissociation
through the use of a wide array of techniques,
including meditation, relaxation, chanting,
biofeedback, hypnosis, self-hypnosis, and
visualization. I would add music and singing, as
well as lecturing. The excessive use of these
techniques results in a shutting down of the
critical-thinking process. Coupled with these
techniques, recruits are encouraged to actively
suppress normal emotional responses, which are
relabeled as “negative” or “selfish.” This
suppression serves to numb the recruits’ access
to genuine emotions. At the same time, recruits
are in the midst of a world of true believers, in
total unity, following a charismatic, narcissistic
leader, who takes full credit for their altered
state. In that moment, the leader provides them
with a new message that is the key to their
salvation. This manipulation results in the
creation of a new reality for recruits.
Farber focuses on the research of Conway and
Siegelman, whose theory of the “snapping”
process she uses to explain how these techniques
create sudden synaptic connections and
neurochemical changes in the areas of the brain
where thinking and awareness, as well as
imagination and long-term memory, are
concentrated (Conway and Siegelman, 1995).
Current theorists often miss this important
addition to our understanding of the
transformation process. I would add both the
work of Lifton (1989) and of Lalich, who was
the first to demonstrate how cult recruitment is a
two-person process, with the cult member’s
participation in this process (2004). Since this
book is about ecstasy and mania, I would also
note Shaw’s understanding of how the cult
leader’s utilization of the manic defense allows
him to feel omnipotent rather than shameful, and
how the narcissistic cult leader is dependent on
followers as objects for the projection of his own
shameful feelings (Shaw 2003).
Farber illuminates the theories she provides in
her book by numerous case examples. She also
provides firsthand experiences of cultic
phenomena by several experts in the cult field:
She includes Patrick Ryan’s experience with
Transcendental Meditation (TM), Joe Szimhart’s
insights into the new-age movement, and Amy
Siskind’s study of a therapy cult. Farber
discovers that entrance into a cult parallels
entrance into her own experience of ecstasy.
That is, entrance into ecstasy usually occurs
when the recruit is experiencing vulnerability at
a time of stress or transition. Potential recruits
are lured by the cult’s promise of transforming
their lives. Farber wisely cautions therapists
who work with former cult members to consider
that initial symptoms might be ascribed to the
individuals’ troubling, often traumatic, cult
experience rather than to early life experiences
or to other personality factors. Furthermore,
Farber provides examples from her work with a
former cult member to demonstrate how her
encouragement to put feelings into words gave
her patient more control over her emotions as
the process moved her away from dissociation.
Farber discusses her own therapeutic approach
gleaned from years of experience. Ecstasy
seekers (often those who are addicted to drugs,
alcohol, cutting, risky sexual practices,
gambling, etc.) initially might demonstrate an air
of bravado, but they often are needy people in
disguise. When those who suffer from an
addiction try to renounce it, they might use
another addictive-like behavior to protect their
defensive structure. They have an underlying
need to block out psychic pain. As addicts, they
suffer from ecstasy rather than from pain.
62 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014
