Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 53
Exclusively focusing attention on the addictive power of the drug or on the manipulative
potential of the group, however, does not help the patient abandon his attachment any
quicker. In the case of cults, experience has shown that assessment based on information
(exit counseling) helps to unblock the intense dependency, but following this release, it is
necessary to elaborate the problem so as to determine the personal factors that play a role
and the degree of the group manipulation.
Beyond the theory, what interests us in therapeutic terms is to know if, in any given
patient, the addictive relationship is or is not the main problem. Despite all of this,
psychoanalytical professionals continue to debate whether addiction is a primary problem or
a secondary problem.
In the field of cults, experience shows us that in a high proportion of cases, cultic addiction
presents itself as the primary problem among some current members. So that it is pivotal to
resort to initial assessment about the group before designing any kind of psychotherapeutic
treatment.
The patient‘s relational diagnosis, beyond his addictive relationship, will help to better plan
his treatment. In the case of current cult members, it is not the same to propose an exit
counseling intervention on a psychotic patient than on a neurotic one, for example, which is
why it is especially important to dedicate the necessary time to the family in order to be
able to establish an initial relational diagnosis that will subsequently be put to the test with
the cult follower.
With exit counseling procedures, we intend to create a breach of doubt in the follower so
that he will at least entertain the possibility of seeing things from another perspective. In
other addictions, we try to turn the addiction into a symptom in the addict, meaning that he
views what is happening as a problem.
Cultic addiction, as with other types of addictive relationships, is founded on denial and the
absence of symptoms in the analytical sense (there is no experience of uneasiness about
problems that are viewed as such from the outside), so that we must previously carry out
some work with the current member based on exit counseling procedures about groups, in
order to be able to open breaches in the strong defenses that the subject presents, with the
aim of helping him enter into a therapeutic relationship that will offer an opening discussion
of cultic commitment and his internal world.
Enlarging the realm of addictions and relating group addiction with the family of behavioral
or social addictions opens up a new path of approaching the current cult member and in a
field of research which is still in need of further investigations.
References
Casares, J. (1959). Diccionario ideológico de la lengua española. Madrid: Gustavo Gili.
Cubero, P. (2001). El sectarismo como trastorno psiquiátrico. In AIS &SCS (Eds.), Libro de
Ponencias I Jornadas sobre el trastorno de dependencia grupal en los grupos de
manipulación psicológica. Barcelona, 17-24.
DeAngelis, T. (2000). Is Internet Addiction Real? Monitor on Psychology, 31 (4), 3-6.
Echeburúa, E. (2003). ¿Adicciones-…sin drogas?. Las nuevas adicciones: juego, sexo,
comida, compras, trabajo, Internet. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer.
Freud, S. (1897). Carta 55. In S. Freud. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu.
Freud, S. (1912). Sobre la más generalizada degradación de la vida amorosa. In S. Freud.
Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu.
Freud, S. (1928). Dostoievski y el parricidio. In S. Freud. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires:
Amorrortu.
Galanter, M. (1980). Psychological Induction into the Large-Group: Findings From a Modern
Religious Sect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 1574-1579.
Exclusively focusing attention on the addictive power of the drug or on the manipulative
potential of the group, however, does not help the patient abandon his attachment any
quicker. In the case of cults, experience has shown that assessment based on information
(exit counseling) helps to unblock the intense dependency, but following this release, it is
necessary to elaborate the problem so as to determine the personal factors that play a role
and the degree of the group manipulation.
Beyond the theory, what interests us in therapeutic terms is to know if, in any given
patient, the addictive relationship is or is not the main problem. Despite all of this,
psychoanalytical professionals continue to debate whether addiction is a primary problem or
a secondary problem.
In the field of cults, experience shows us that in a high proportion of cases, cultic addiction
presents itself as the primary problem among some current members. So that it is pivotal to
resort to initial assessment about the group before designing any kind of psychotherapeutic
treatment.
The patient‘s relational diagnosis, beyond his addictive relationship, will help to better plan
his treatment. In the case of current cult members, it is not the same to propose an exit
counseling intervention on a psychotic patient than on a neurotic one, for example, which is
why it is especially important to dedicate the necessary time to the family in order to be
able to establish an initial relational diagnosis that will subsequently be put to the test with
the cult follower.
With exit counseling procedures, we intend to create a breach of doubt in the follower so
that he will at least entertain the possibility of seeing things from another perspective. In
other addictions, we try to turn the addiction into a symptom in the addict, meaning that he
views what is happening as a problem.
Cultic addiction, as with other types of addictive relationships, is founded on denial and the
absence of symptoms in the analytical sense (there is no experience of uneasiness about
problems that are viewed as such from the outside), so that we must previously carry out
some work with the current member based on exit counseling procedures about groups, in
order to be able to open breaches in the strong defenses that the subject presents, with the
aim of helping him enter into a therapeutic relationship that will offer an opening discussion
of cultic commitment and his internal world.
Enlarging the realm of addictions and relating group addiction with the family of behavioral
or social addictions opens up a new path of approaching the current cult member and in a
field of research which is still in need of further investigations.
References
Casares, J. (1959). Diccionario ideológico de la lengua española. Madrid: Gustavo Gili.
Cubero, P. (2001). El sectarismo como trastorno psiquiátrico. In AIS &SCS (Eds.), Libro de
Ponencias I Jornadas sobre el trastorno de dependencia grupal en los grupos de
manipulación psicológica. Barcelona, 17-24.
DeAngelis, T. (2000). Is Internet Addiction Real? Monitor on Psychology, 31 (4), 3-6.
Echeburúa, E. (2003). ¿Adicciones-…sin drogas?. Las nuevas adicciones: juego, sexo,
comida, compras, trabajo, Internet. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer.
Freud, S. (1897). Carta 55. In S. Freud. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu.
Freud, S. (1912). Sobre la más generalizada degradación de la vida amorosa. In S. Freud.
Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu.
Freud, S. (1928). Dostoievski y el parricidio. In S. Freud. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires:
Amorrortu.
Galanter, M. (1980). Psychological Induction into the Large-Group: Findings From a Modern
Religious Sect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 1574-1579.
