International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012 21
lecturing.) The group employs this
bombardment of the senses, plus some degree of
isolation from the outside world and restriction
of communication within the group, to increase
the impact of the message. If successful, it
moves recruits into a state of intense anxiety and
confusion in which they are induced to abandon
previous coping mechanisms hence, they
inevitably enter into a dissociative state, which
is reinterpreted as being some form of a “higher
state” to promote their veneration of the leader
and acceptance of the ideas presented.
Therefore, we can view these situations as
traumatic, in which the recruits enter a
disoriented and dissociated state (splitting off
uncomfortable thoughts and feelings), which is
rewarded by their development of hypercredulity
(that is, a willingness to believe or trust too
readily without adequate evidence). The result
of this process is deployability in members of a
totalistic group (Singer and Lalich, 1995 Stein,
2007). In fact, Katie recalled feeling
overwhelmed and “spacy” but, based upon the
cult leader’s redefinition of her experience, she
attributed these feelings to being elevated
spiritually by her leader’s message.
In writing about these groups, Lifton (1961)
states that they “demand that character and
identity be reshaped, not in accordance with
one’s special nature or potentialities, but rather
to fit the rigid contours of the doctrinal mold”
(p. 431). At the beginning of the recruitment
process, the group presents the doctrine most
acceptable to the recruit. Over time, however,
the recruit’s traditional values and religion are
devalued, and the leader’s message becomes
more and more extreme. Along with the
presentation of new ethical standards, the group
devalues and demonizes the recruit’s old friends
and family members. The cult becomes the
recruit’s new family, and the cult leader
becomes the recruit’s perfect God. Members are
induced to believe that they must follow their
leader’s directives in order to survive and to gain
purity. In addition to the techniques previously
described to increase receptivity to the leader’s
message, group pressure, deception,
intimidation, and the practices of environmental
manipulation and constant positive and negative
reinforcement coalesce to develop a new
“pseudo-identity” that is formed above the
original personality (West and Martin, 1996).
We also can theorize that the recruit’s increased
anxiety generates the defense of identification
with the aggressor. This was a term Ferenczi
(1933) coined to describe an automatic survival
response to being overwhelmed by a threat.
Anna Freud (1936) elaborated on Ferenczi’s
(1933) concept in addressing how the victims
defend themselves by becoming victimizers
themselves. However, as in my client’s
example, even with pressure to move toward this
defense, some recruits experience periods of
conflict about having taken on the victimizer’s
role when this role contrasts sharply with
previously held beliefs (see below).
Additionally, instead of taking on this role in
total, recruits choose aspects of it based on the
uniqueness of their particular personalities.
Therefore, as the recruits take on certain
attributes of the cult leader, each identification
pattern would have its own distinctive relational
dimensions, including a sense of self-with-other,
that would be influenced by the particular
interactional process and personalities of each of
the participants involved.
Katie described how, in the cult, she lost her
previously held sense of self. Boundaries were
blurred as each member was considered merely
a small part of the “body,” only there to serve
the leader’s needs. Lalich (2004) describes how
cult members initially experience some sense of
relief in the renunciation of self. She notes that
finding the answer is experienced as a personal
relief (see pp. 14–16).
As Katie reflected upon the processes that had
occurred in the cult, she reported that, by the
time the greater contradictions began and the
stealing and cutting off of all connections with
family members or anyone outside the group had
occurred, the members were linked in to a blind
trust of the leader. She said that she smothered
her concerns with rationalizations that the goal
was all-important and anything was justified to
accomplish the purpose. The world was so
corrupt that drastic measures were needed to
effect real change. In the end, in the not-too-
distant future, the group would be in a position
to lead the way for a healthier and nobler way of
lecturing.) The group employs this
bombardment of the senses, plus some degree of
isolation from the outside world and restriction
of communication within the group, to increase
the impact of the message. If successful, it
moves recruits into a state of intense anxiety and
confusion in which they are induced to abandon
previous coping mechanisms hence, they
inevitably enter into a dissociative state, which
is reinterpreted as being some form of a “higher
state” to promote their veneration of the leader
and acceptance of the ideas presented.
Therefore, we can view these situations as
traumatic, in which the recruits enter a
disoriented and dissociated state (splitting off
uncomfortable thoughts and feelings), which is
rewarded by their development of hypercredulity
(that is, a willingness to believe or trust too
readily without adequate evidence). The result
of this process is deployability in members of a
totalistic group (Singer and Lalich, 1995 Stein,
2007). In fact, Katie recalled feeling
overwhelmed and “spacy” but, based upon the
cult leader’s redefinition of her experience, she
attributed these feelings to being elevated
spiritually by her leader’s message.
In writing about these groups, Lifton (1961)
states that they “demand that character and
identity be reshaped, not in accordance with
one’s special nature or potentialities, but rather
to fit the rigid contours of the doctrinal mold”
(p. 431). At the beginning of the recruitment
process, the group presents the doctrine most
acceptable to the recruit. Over time, however,
the recruit’s traditional values and religion are
devalued, and the leader’s message becomes
more and more extreme. Along with the
presentation of new ethical standards, the group
devalues and demonizes the recruit’s old friends
and family members. The cult becomes the
recruit’s new family, and the cult leader
becomes the recruit’s perfect God. Members are
induced to believe that they must follow their
leader’s directives in order to survive and to gain
purity. In addition to the techniques previously
described to increase receptivity to the leader’s
message, group pressure, deception,
intimidation, and the practices of environmental
manipulation and constant positive and negative
reinforcement coalesce to develop a new
“pseudo-identity” that is formed above the
original personality (West and Martin, 1996).
We also can theorize that the recruit’s increased
anxiety generates the defense of identification
with the aggressor. This was a term Ferenczi
(1933) coined to describe an automatic survival
response to being overwhelmed by a threat.
Anna Freud (1936) elaborated on Ferenczi’s
(1933) concept in addressing how the victims
defend themselves by becoming victimizers
themselves. However, as in my client’s
example, even with pressure to move toward this
defense, some recruits experience periods of
conflict about having taken on the victimizer’s
role when this role contrasts sharply with
previously held beliefs (see below).
Additionally, instead of taking on this role in
total, recruits choose aspects of it based on the
uniqueness of their particular personalities.
Therefore, as the recruits take on certain
attributes of the cult leader, each identification
pattern would have its own distinctive relational
dimensions, including a sense of self-with-other,
that would be influenced by the particular
interactional process and personalities of each of
the participants involved.
Katie described how, in the cult, she lost her
previously held sense of self. Boundaries were
blurred as each member was considered merely
a small part of the “body,” only there to serve
the leader’s needs. Lalich (2004) describes how
cult members initially experience some sense of
relief in the renunciation of self. She notes that
finding the answer is experienced as a personal
relief (see pp. 14–16).
As Katie reflected upon the processes that had
occurred in the cult, she reported that, by the
time the greater contradictions began and the
stealing and cutting off of all connections with
family members or anyone outside the group had
occurred, the members were linked in to a blind
trust of the leader. She said that she smothered
her concerns with rationalizations that the goal
was all-important and anything was justified to
accomplish the purpose. The world was so
corrupt that drastic measures were needed to
effect real change. In the end, in the not-too-
distant future, the group would be in a position
to lead the way for a healthier and nobler way of
