20 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012
her to bask in his reflective glory and regain her
equilibrium in her continued need for perfection
and importance.
I began to feel affected by Katie’s emotions
about her actions while she was in her cult.
Katie displayed and expressed sadness and guilt
about having cut off ties with her family, and
particularly about not having attended her
father’s funeral. She began to grieve the loss of
her father, who had been replaced by her cult
leader for so many years. Her father had been
the angriest family member about her
involvement in the group, and her leader used
the angry reaction of her father to demean him
as a distant, selfish, and angry man. In therapy,
Katie began to focus on how her father might
have been reserved, but he was a responsible
man who worked hard to support his large
family. Furthermore, we discussed his anger
about her involvement in the cult and alienation
from the family, anger that seemed justified and
certainly was not a “distant” reaction. In
spending sessions in sadness about the loss of
her father, Katie also was able to focus on how
she had modeled herself after him. He had a
high standard of behavior for himself and for
her. However, although her tendency to be the
good, perfectionist daughter seemed to be
modeled after her father, it also seemed to be
based on an ideal self rather than a real sense of
self. Katie had established a character that
defended against contradictory or uncomfortable
emotions and uncertainties. Her defended self
was, in part, a self that Winnicott has described
as the “false self” (1965). Katie had found a
group that would help her defend against pain
from the loss of esteem she experienced when
she was a new schoolteacher, and against her
guilt from her brother’s suicide attempt. The
cult leader valued Katie’s qualities and, by
placing her in a position of authority, enabled
her to be rewarded as long as she accepted a new
belief system.
Emphasis on Cultic Control and Client’s
Reaction
Initially, to help her better understand the
process that led to the change of her moral code,
I also provided Katie with basic information in
therapy about how mind control worked in her
cult to enhance the leader’s charismatic
domination. This information appeared to help
Katie dramatically, as it helps many who are in a
confused, shameful state when they leave cults.
Despite her intelligence, Katie’s idealism and
the rigid quality of her previous defenses and of
her sheltered previous life left her unable to spot
a malignant narcissist at work. Our full
discussion of her leader’s use of manipulation,
deception, and shaming to induce her to serve
his needs, initially and throughout her time in
the group, helped her understand that this was an
interactive, two-person process.
According to Lalich’s concept of “bounded
choice,” two complex processes are occurring
simultaneously in such situations: conversion
and commitment. Lalich states, “…there is
fusion between the ideal of personal freedom (as
promised in the stated goal of the group or its
ideology) and the demand for self-renunciation
(as prescribed by the rules and norms)” (2004).
In other words, the cult leader demands proof of
loyalty to his beliefs and the cult recruit
believes that, by renouncing her previously held
views (which now become devalued), she is
attaining the path to purity.
As demonstrated with Katie, potential recruits
usually are going through a transitional stage of
life—being separated from loved ones because
of travel, college, or employment losing a
family member through death or divorce or
dealing with a natural disaster. A member of the
group usually hides the group’s true doctrine and
approaches these susceptible recruits. For
example, the leader told Katie she would work
for him publishing motivational materials.
However, once she was in the cult, instead of
doing the promised work, she became a security
guard who also was tasked with photocopying
the leader’s lectures.
If recruits such as Katie knew in advance the
extent of that which would be required of them,
they most likely would be reluctant to join.
Those who are indoctrinated are unaware of the
recruitment process, which subjects them to a
range of strategies, such as long periods of
lecturing, praying, sermonizing, chanting, or
meditation. (In Katie’s case, indoctrination
occurred through her leader’s constant
her to bask in his reflective glory and regain her
equilibrium in her continued need for perfection
and importance.
I began to feel affected by Katie’s emotions
about her actions while she was in her cult.
Katie displayed and expressed sadness and guilt
about having cut off ties with her family, and
particularly about not having attended her
father’s funeral. She began to grieve the loss of
her father, who had been replaced by her cult
leader for so many years. Her father had been
the angriest family member about her
involvement in the group, and her leader used
the angry reaction of her father to demean him
as a distant, selfish, and angry man. In therapy,
Katie began to focus on how her father might
have been reserved, but he was a responsible
man who worked hard to support his large
family. Furthermore, we discussed his anger
about her involvement in the cult and alienation
from the family, anger that seemed justified and
certainly was not a “distant” reaction. In
spending sessions in sadness about the loss of
her father, Katie also was able to focus on how
she had modeled herself after him. He had a
high standard of behavior for himself and for
her. However, although her tendency to be the
good, perfectionist daughter seemed to be
modeled after her father, it also seemed to be
based on an ideal self rather than a real sense of
self. Katie had established a character that
defended against contradictory or uncomfortable
emotions and uncertainties. Her defended self
was, in part, a self that Winnicott has described
as the “false self” (1965). Katie had found a
group that would help her defend against pain
from the loss of esteem she experienced when
she was a new schoolteacher, and against her
guilt from her brother’s suicide attempt. The
cult leader valued Katie’s qualities and, by
placing her in a position of authority, enabled
her to be rewarded as long as she accepted a new
belief system.
Emphasis on Cultic Control and Client’s
Reaction
Initially, to help her better understand the
process that led to the change of her moral code,
I also provided Katie with basic information in
therapy about how mind control worked in her
cult to enhance the leader’s charismatic
domination. This information appeared to help
Katie dramatically, as it helps many who are in a
confused, shameful state when they leave cults.
Despite her intelligence, Katie’s idealism and
the rigid quality of her previous defenses and of
her sheltered previous life left her unable to spot
a malignant narcissist at work. Our full
discussion of her leader’s use of manipulation,
deception, and shaming to induce her to serve
his needs, initially and throughout her time in
the group, helped her understand that this was an
interactive, two-person process.
According to Lalich’s concept of “bounded
choice,” two complex processes are occurring
simultaneously in such situations: conversion
and commitment. Lalich states, “…there is
fusion between the ideal of personal freedom (as
promised in the stated goal of the group or its
ideology) and the demand for self-renunciation
(as prescribed by the rules and norms)” (2004).
In other words, the cult leader demands proof of
loyalty to his beliefs and the cult recruit
believes that, by renouncing her previously held
views (which now become devalued), she is
attaining the path to purity.
As demonstrated with Katie, potential recruits
usually are going through a transitional stage of
life—being separated from loved ones because
of travel, college, or employment losing a
family member through death or divorce or
dealing with a natural disaster. A member of the
group usually hides the group’s true doctrine and
approaches these susceptible recruits. For
example, the leader told Katie she would work
for him publishing motivational materials.
However, once she was in the cult, instead of
doing the promised work, she became a security
guard who also was tasked with photocopying
the leader’s lectures.
If recruits such as Katie knew in advance the
extent of that which would be required of them,
they most likely would be reluctant to join.
Those who are indoctrinated are unaware of the
recruitment process, which subjects them to a
range of strategies, such as long periods of
lecturing, praying, sermonizing, chanting, or
meditation. (In Katie’s case, indoctrination
occurred through her leader’s constant
