Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 49
In more general terms, the idea that cults tend to promote an intense dependency is
implicit in a widely accepted definition of ―cult‖: ―group or movement that exhibits a great
or excessive dedication or devotion to some person, idea or thing and employing unethical
manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (isolation from former friends and
family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience,
powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical
judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, etc.),
designed to advance the goals of the group‘s leaders, to the actual or possible detriment of
members, their families, or the community‖ (Rosedale &Langone, 1985) (italics added).
The progressive appearance of such clinical situations—seemingly different from cultism—
has led the AIS therapeutic staff to a re-evaluate the assistance it offers. The field of work
has widened to include in our unit complementary services and professionals that could
attend to addictive situations without drugs.
In what follows, I will review some analogies between drug addiction and addictions without
drugs, as well as the links between them, and a description of some of the addictive
relationships that are witnessed among some followers of cults in comparison with non
chemical addictions.
Drug addiction and cultic involvement
The model of addiction is one of the possible paths to approach the clinical suffering of the
cult follower, especially current members. In Spanish, the term addiction designates an
―appointment, devotion or joining‖ (Real Academia, 1992) also, the term addict refers to
―enthusiast, prone or follower‖ (Casares, 1959).
On the other hand, phonetic similarities exist between ―follower” and ―addict” in Spanish (in
Spanish there are two words, ―adepto” and ―adicto” that address the link of a person to a
cult or to a drug).
But, there is another series of clinical phenomena that invite to this reflection: (a) drug
addicts often abandon addiction within the framework of a cult (b) some rehabilitation
groups present cultic factors (c) similarities in the discomfort felt once the drug (or group)
is abandoned (d) states of de-personalization that both addicts and cult followers
experience (e) links between emotional and cultic experience that ex-followers point to
and (f) the exchangeability of certain addictions.
In their study of cultic characteristics of organizations that seek to help drug addicts,
Rodríguez &González (1989) have clearly exposed other interesting parallelisms between
chemical addictions and cultic involvement. For these authors, both cases involve: (1)
previous phenomena that resurfaced with new elements in the second half of the 20th
Century (2) harmful effects on health (3) no specific predictive profile that would permit
determining who will become an addict or a cult follower and (4) adolescence and
childhood as the periods of greater vulnerability for being recruited emotional crisis
(mourning, frequently) can act as a vulnerability factor.
Although numerous coincidences between drug addiction and cultism exist, one of the main
distinctions—apart from the lack of a chemical substance—is that in the case of cult
dynamics a thought reform process unfolds and alters internal and external relations,
generating a state of pathological attachment in the follower (Perlado, 2002).
Addictive Relationships without Drugs
Despite the diversity of definitions of ―addiction,‖ there seems to exist some consensus that
addiction produces, in variable degrees, loss of control, a pathological dependency,
obsessive rumination in respect to the object of addiction, loss of interest in other activities
In more general terms, the idea that cults tend to promote an intense dependency is
implicit in a widely accepted definition of ―cult‖: ―group or movement that exhibits a great
or excessive dedication or devotion to some person, idea or thing and employing unethical
manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (isolation from former friends and
family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience,
powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical
judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, etc.),
designed to advance the goals of the group‘s leaders, to the actual or possible detriment of
members, their families, or the community‖ (Rosedale &Langone, 1985) (italics added).
The progressive appearance of such clinical situations—seemingly different from cultism—
has led the AIS therapeutic staff to a re-evaluate the assistance it offers. The field of work
has widened to include in our unit complementary services and professionals that could
attend to addictive situations without drugs.
In what follows, I will review some analogies between drug addiction and addictions without
drugs, as well as the links between them, and a description of some of the addictive
relationships that are witnessed among some followers of cults in comparison with non
chemical addictions.
Drug addiction and cultic involvement
The model of addiction is one of the possible paths to approach the clinical suffering of the
cult follower, especially current members. In Spanish, the term addiction designates an
―appointment, devotion or joining‖ (Real Academia, 1992) also, the term addict refers to
―enthusiast, prone or follower‖ (Casares, 1959).
On the other hand, phonetic similarities exist between ―follower” and ―addict” in Spanish (in
Spanish there are two words, ―adepto” and ―adicto” that address the link of a person to a
cult or to a drug).
But, there is another series of clinical phenomena that invite to this reflection: (a) drug
addicts often abandon addiction within the framework of a cult (b) some rehabilitation
groups present cultic factors (c) similarities in the discomfort felt once the drug (or group)
is abandoned (d) states of de-personalization that both addicts and cult followers
experience (e) links between emotional and cultic experience that ex-followers point to
and (f) the exchangeability of certain addictions.
In their study of cultic characteristics of organizations that seek to help drug addicts,
Rodríguez &González (1989) have clearly exposed other interesting parallelisms between
chemical addictions and cultic involvement. For these authors, both cases involve: (1)
previous phenomena that resurfaced with new elements in the second half of the 20th
Century (2) harmful effects on health (3) no specific predictive profile that would permit
determining who will become an addict or a cult follower and (4) adolescence and
childhood as the periods of greater vulnerability for being recruited emotional crisis
(mourning, frequently) can act as a vulnerability factor.
Although numerous coincidences between drug addiction and cultism exist, one of the main
distinctions—apart from the lack of a chemical substance—is that in the case of cult
dynamics a thought reform process unfolds and alters internal and external relations,
generating a state of pathological attachment in the follower (Perlado, 2002).
Addictive Relationships without Drugs
Despite the diversity of definitions of ―addiction,‖ there seems to exist some consensus that
addiction produces, in variable degrees, loss of control, a pathological dependency,
obsessive rumination in respect to the object of addiction, loss of interest in other activities
