Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 157
and Us is an expanded version of his earlier work, The Wrong Way Home, first published in
1990. This updated edition includes not only an insightful foreword by Doris Lessing, but
also a provocative discussion of issues facing us since the terrorist attack of September 11,
2001, in which the author ties together facets of cult phenomena and cult psychology, and
shows how they have an impact on people (officials, terrorists, and citizens alike) on both
sides of the present-day ―holy war.‖
Overall Deikman‘s position is that cult thinking resides in all of us simply because of the
elemental human desire for parental protection. As a psychiatrist, he sees this fundamental
vulnerability as the opening through which cult thinking can take hold. Therefore, in his
work of assessing relationships, situations, groups, organizations, he starts not with the
question, ―Is this group a cult?‖ but rather his focus is on ―How much cult behavior is
taking place?‖ (p. 2). For him, it‘s a given, as normal as mother, home, and apple pie. This
is a useful approach in that it helps to demystify the usually muddled view of the rather
ordinary (albeit concerted and directed) social-psychological techniques of influence and
control used by cults.
―Hugh‖ and ―Clara‖ are the subjects of chapter 2, which relates their story as they evolve
from unsuspecting recruits to devoted believers in a philosophical, quai-therapeutic, quasi-
spiritual group called ―Life Force.‖ The couple remained members of the group for nearly a
decade. Readers have an opportunity to see how these everyday influences in a cult context
can be used to comfort and assuage followers, as well as manipulate and control them, all
while fostering group conformity and obedience to the leader. Deikman deftly illustrates how
easily a person can succumb to these pressures, often without realizing the consequences
for oneself or one‘s relationships with others.
But Deikman‘s real purpose is to expose how ―cult behavior … operates unnoticed in
everyday life‖ (p. 3). His intent is to raise readers‘ awareness of the ordinariness and the
pervasiveness of this tendency, which he sees as a very real threat to our capacity to free
ourselves from ―the childhood world of vertical relationships and gain an eye-level
perspective‖ (p. 3), or what he sometimes calls a ―sense of realism.‖ To be clear, Deikman
is not saying that everyone is going to join a cult (although he surely believes that everyone
is susceptible to a cult‘s call). What he is saying is that the type of rigid and condemnatory
thinking found in cults can be found throughout ―normal‖ society, in ―ordinary social,
government, business, and professional groupings‖ (p. 2), in sum, in us all. Deikman
identifies four principal cult behaviors that comprise his analytical framework: (1)
dependence on a leader, (2) compliance with the group, (3) avoiding dissent, and (4)
devaluing the outsider. He devotes a chapter to each of these behaviors and strengthens his
argument with examples from the government, the military, large corporations, the media,
psychiatry and psychology, and religion. The effect is powerful, as the author succeeds in
illustrating that cult thinking and behavior is not something apart from us, but is integral to
our essence, our way of being, and therefore endemic to our very way of life.
So how do we escape cult thinking? Deikman offers some useful guidelines for recognizing
the patterns of defensiveness, accusation, self-deception, and self-righteousness that he
believes put one squarely on the path to cult behavior. By becoming more aware of how
such one-sidedness (or the close-mindedness of black-and-white thinking) is detrimental to
reason and a more realistic view of the world, readers will potentially avoid falling into Us-
versus-Them thinking and thereby avoid perpetuating cult behavior. In this time of political
polarization, increasing fundamentalism, and widespread tendencies toward hasty and harsh
judgments of ―others‖ – whether nonconformists, suspect foreigners, disaffected allies, or
domestic protestors and critics – Deikman‘s advice to think for ourselves, and to foster
dissent, is a useful prescription for what ails us.
and Us is an expanded version of his earlier work, The Wrong Way Home, first published in
1990. This updated edition includes not only an insightful foreword by Doris Lessing, but
also a provocative discussion of issues facing us since the terrorist attack of September 11,
2001, in which the author ties together facets of cult phenomena and cult psychology, and
shows how they have an impact on people (officials, terrorists, and citizens alike) on both
sides of the present-day ―holy war.‖
Overall Deikman‘s position is that cult thinking resides in all of us simply because of the
elemental human desire for parental protection. As a psychiatrist, he sees this fundamental
vulnerability as the opening through which cult thinking can take hold. Therefore, in his
work of assessing relationships, situations, groups, organizations, he starts not with the
question, ―Is this group a cult?‖ but rather his focus is on ―How much cult behavior is
taking place?‖ (p. 2). For him, it‘s a given, as normal as mother, home, and apple pie. This
is a useful approach in that it helps to demystify the usually muddled view of the rather
ordinary (albeit concerted and directed) social-psychological techniques of influence and
control used by cults.
―Hugh‖ and ―Clara‖ are the subjects of chapter 2, which relates their story as they evolve
from unsuspecting recruits to devoted believers in a philosophical, quai-therapeutic, quasi-
spiritual group called ―Life Force.‖ The couple remained members of the group for nearly a
decade. Readers have an opportunity to see how these everyday influences in a cult context
can be used to comfort and assuage followers, as well as manipulate and control them, all
while fostering group conformity and obedience to the leader. Deikman deftly illustrates how
easily a person can succumb to these pressures, often without realizing the consequences
for oneself or one‘s relationships with others.
But Deikman‘s real purpose is to expose how ―cult behavior … operates unnoticed in
everyday life‖ (p. 3). His intent is to raise readers‘ awareness of the ordinariness and the
pervasiveness of this tendency, which he sees as a very real threat to our capacity to free
ourselves from ―the childhood world of vertical relationships and gain an eye-level
perspective‖ (p. 3), or what he sometimes calls a ―sense of realism.‖ To be clear, Deikman
is not saying that everyone is going to join a cult (although he surely believes that everyone
is susceptible to a cult‘s call). What he is saying is that the type of rigid and condemnatory
thinking found in cults can be found throughout ―normal‖ society, in ―ordinary social,
government, business, and professional groupings‖ (p. 2), in sum, in us all. Deikman
identifies four principal cult behaviors that comprise his analytical framework: (1)
dependence on a leader, (2) compliance with the group, (3) avoiding dissent, and (4)
devaluing the outsider. He devotes a chapter to each of these behaviors and strengthens his
argument with examples from the government, the military, large corporations, the media,
psychiatry and psychology, and religion. The effect is powerful, as the author succeeds in
illustrating that cult thinking and behavior is not something apart from us, but is integral to
our essence, our way of being, and therefore endemic to our very way of life.
So how do we escape cult thinking? Deikman offers some useful guidelines for recognizing
the patterns of defensiveness, accusation, self-deception, and self-righteousness that he
believes put one squarely on the path to cult behavior. By becoming more aware of how
such one-sidedness (or the close-mindedness of black-and-white thinking) is detrimental to
reason and a more realistic view of the world, readers will potentially avoid falling into Us-
versus-Them thinking and thereby avoid perpetuating cult behavior. In this time of political
polarization, increasing fundamentalism, and widespread tendencies toward hasty and harsh
judgments of ―others‖ – whether nonconformists, suspect foreigners, disaffected allies, or
domestic protestors and critics – Deikman‘s advice to think for ourselves, and to foster
dissent, is a useful prescription for what ails us.
