Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 35
is highly susceptible to environmental influences as a result of parental de-identification.
Therefore, this is a time of life that the group or group leader can have a powerful influence.
Adolescents and young adults also are in a period of transition and may desire a sense of
community and acceptance at a time in their life when they are experiencing uncertainty
and/or anxiety about their identities and their futures. Therefore, this is a stage of
development wherein group membership and the new identifications made with group
members can be a progressive step of separation from the object, of childhood. As
mentioned previously, an adolescent becomes particularly vulnerable to cult recruitment at
a time when he or she is dealing with external and/or internal losses. Those who are
particularly susceptible to groups that turn out to be cults are typically those who are in
order to attack the recruits‘ identity and belief system and (6) pressuring recruits to meet a
new standard of perfection. These influence techniques attack the recruit‘s identity
structure, formed from identifications made with important figures in the recruit‘s life. That
is, without conscious awareness of this process, individuals are induced to let go of their
original identity and take on a new cultic identity and, by doing so, enter into a dissociative
state. This cultic identity enables the recruit to better cope with this recruitment process.
In viewing this situation psycho dynamically, it could be said that with the absence of an
anchor in the past, recruits defend against feeling anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted, and
confused by forming an identification with the cult leader—identification with the aggressor.
Anna Freud coined ―identification with the aggressor‖ in The Ego and the Mechanisms of
Defense, to describe how a child ―introjects some characteristic of an anxiety object and so
assimilates an anxiety experience which he has just undergone‖ (Freud, 1966, p. 113). This
defense was not only used to describe a process of childhood, but was seen as a defensive
maneuver used at later periods of life when the individual was undergoing high levels of
stress. For example, the defense of identification with the aggressor was later used to
understand how Jews imprisoned in concentration camps sought out discarded insignias and
torn shreds of SS uniforms with which to adorn their rags (West and Martin, 1994).
If this process is prolonged, the new cultic personality, initially formed as a role played in
response to stressful circumstances, will be superimposed upon the original personality
which, while not completely forgotten, will be enveloped within the shell of the new cultic
personality (West and Martin, 1994). This new cultic identification encapsulates the general
regression that occurs in recruits to cults. The pre-oedipal cult world is seen as black and
white and objects as good and evil. This view, which defines the cult world as the only true
path and the outside world (often including family and friends) as satanic, further binds the
recruit to the cult. This also has implications for memory of past relationships and events.
Typically, over time, life prior to the cult begins to be seen in a more negative light.
Furthermore, there is a sense of omnipotence gained by sharing with the all-powerful cult
leader (mother). This sense of omnipotence is experienced as euphoria by the recruit. The
boundaries have blurred and the recruit‘s sense of individuality is weakened.
Cult members become aware of the positive effect of belonging to a single-minded
community. Whitsett describes how this sense of belonging can be used as a powerful tool
to keep recruits in cults (Whitsett, pp. 363-375). However, the pressure for uniformity has a
regressive influence on the ego, precluding any type of critical assessment of this coercive
and highly suggestive experience. Recruits are actively discouraged from differentiating
their own thoughts and feelings from those of the group. This single-mindedness is
reinforced through a strict system of reward and punishment. There is constant pressure to
be obedient to the cult leader. If recruits have doubts or go against the cult leader‘s wishes,
they are humiliated or, worse, threatened with excommunication—which cult members
come to believe is being damned to Hell. Furthermore, their doubt is defined as a reflection
of their personal problems, not as reflection of deficiencies within the leader or the ideology,
Therefore, by punishing any expression of doubt, the leader induces cult members to
is highly susceptible to environmental influences as a result of parental de-identification.
Therefore, this is a time of life that the group or group leader can have a powerful influence.
Adolescents and young adults also are in a period of transition and may desire a sense of
community and acceptance at a time in their life when they are experiencing uncertainty
and/or anxiety about their identities and their futures. Therefore, this is a stage of
development wherein group membership and the new identifications made with group
members can be a progressive step of separation from the object, of childhood. As
mentioned previously, an adolescent becomes particularly vulnerable to cult recruitment at
a time when he or she is dealing with external and/or internal losses. Those who are
particularly susceptible to groups that turn out to be cults are typically those who are in
order to attack the recruits‘ identity and belief system and (6) pressuring recruits to meet a
new standard of perfection. These influence techniques attack the recruit‘s identity
structure, formed from identifications made with important figures in the recruit‘s life. That
is, without conscious awareness of this process, individuals are induced to let go of their
original identity and take on a new cultic identity and, by doing so, enter into a dissociative
state. This cultic identity enables the recruit to better cope with this recruitment process.
In viewing this situation psycho dynamically, it could be said that with the absence of an
anchor in the past, recruits defend against feeling anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted, and
confused by forming an identification with the cult leader—identification with the aggressor.
Anna Freud coined ―identification with the aggressor‖ in The Ego and the Mechanisms of
Defense, to describe how a child ―introjects some characteristic of an anxiety object and so
assimilates an anxiety experience which he has just undergone‖ (Freud, 1966, p. 113). This
defense was not only used to describe a process of childhood, but was seen as a defensive
maneuver used at later periods of life when the individual was undergoing high levels of
stress. For example, the defense of identification with the aggressor was later used to
understand how Jews imprisoned in concentration camps sought out discarded insignias and
torn shreds of SS uniforms with which to adorn their rags (West and Martin, 1994).
If this process is prolonged, the new cultic personality, initially formed as a role played in
response to stressful circumstances, will be superimposed upon the original personality
which, while not completely forgotten, will be enveloped within the shell of the new cultic
personality (West and Martin, 1994). This new cultic identification encapsulates the general
regression that occurs in recruits to cults. The pre-oedipal cult world is seen as black and
white and objects as good and evil. This view, which defines the cult world as the only true
path and the outside world (often including family and friends) as satanic, further binds the
recruit to the cult. This also has implications for memory of past relationships and events.
Typically, over time, life prior to the cult begins to be seen in a more negative light.
Furthermore, there is a sense of omnipotence gained by sharing with the all-powerful cult
leader (mother). This sense of omnipotence is experienced as euphoria by the recruit. The
boundaries have blurred and the recruit‘s sense of individuality is weakened.
Cult members become aware of the positive effect of belonging to a single-minded
community. Whitsett describes how this sense of belonging can be used as a powerful tool
to keep recruits in cults (Whitsett, pp. 363-375). However, the pressure for uniformity has a
regressive influence on the ego, precluding any type of critical assessment of this coercive
and highly suggestive experience. Recruits are actively discouraged from differentiating
their own thoughts and feelings from those of the group. This single-mindedness is
reinforced through a strict system of reward and punishment. There is constant pressure to
be obedient to the cult leader. If recruits have doubts or go against the cult leader‘s wishes,
they are humiliated or, worse, threatened with excommunication—which cult members
come to believe is being damned to Hell. Furthermore, their doubt is defined as a reflection
of their personal problems, not as reflection of deficiencies within the leader or the ideology,
Therefore, by punishing any expression of doubt, the leader induces cult members to
