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associated with the cultic environment (c) a small but growing body of research indicates
that at least a substantial minority of former cult members experience significant
adjustment difficulties. There also are indications that these difficulties cannot be ascribed
to demand characteristics. (p. 91)
I was involved in one of the few studies that have been able to include comparison groups
(Langone, 1996 Malinowski, Langone, &Lynn, 1999). In this study I compared a
population of former members of the International Churches of Christ, former Catholics, and
graduates of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. One component of the study used the Group
Psychological Abuse Scale to compare these three groups‘ perceptions of their group
environments. I reasoned that if the negative reports of former cult members resulted
merely from their being ―disgruntled‖ and ―ex,‖ then former Catholics should rate the
Catholic Church as former ICC members rate their group. Although the ex-Catholics rated
their former church more negatively than IV graduates (who left the group because of
graduation, not because they were unhappy with it), their ratings were still well below the
abuse-nonabuse cutoff point and were several standard deviations below the ratings of ex-
ICC members. A recent as yet unpublished study in Mexico, using a Spanish version of the
GPA, obtained virtually identical ratings from former Mexican Catholics and ICC members.
Counseling: Who Needs It and What Do They Need?
The psychological research findings on pre-cult counseling indicate that a sizeable minority
of cult joiners sought help before their group experience, but it is far from certain that they
are much different on this dimension from the general population:
Post-cult distress may at least in part reflect pre-cult psychopathology. This
suggestion is bolstered by findings concerning the percentage of cultists
reporting pre-cult psychological counseling: 7% (Barker, 1984), 30% (Spero,
1982), 30% (Galanter, Rabkin, Rabkin, &Deutsch, 1979), 38% (Galanter &
Bucklery, 1978), 42% (Langone, unpublished.), 59% (Knight, 1986), and
62% (Sirkin &Grellong, 1988). Averaged out, these studies indicate that
approximately one-third of former cultists had had counseling before joining
the cult, a finding that is very similar to Sirkin &Grellong‘s (1988) non-cult
comparison group of Jewish youth, 33% of whom had had counseling. It is
certainly possible that cult joiners tend to be somewhat more troubled
psychologically than nonjoiners. However, since a comprehensive National
Institute of Mental Health epidemiological study found that approximately
20% of the general population suffer from at least one psychiatric disorder
(Freedman, 1986), the level of psychopathology in the cult joiner population
may not be much greater than that of the population as a whole. Cult joiners
may simply be more willing to seek help, which could possibly contribute to
their susceptibility to cultic recruitment. Moreover, even if on the whole
cultists are more disturbed psychologically, a majority appear to have been
within the normal range psychologically before they joined their group.
(Martin, Langone, Dole, &Wiltrout, 1992, p. 222)
Langone (1992) found that 70% of his 308 subjects sought counseling after leaving their
groups, while 42% had received counseling prior to joining. Thus, it seems likely that a
significant percentage of former group members seek professional help after their group
experience.
Even if my prevalence estimate of 85,000 people joining and leaving cultic groups is much
higher than the reality (Langone, no date), it is clear, given the small number of
professionals with a cult expertise, that the vast majority of former cultists in psychotherapy
obtain help from professionals with no particular expertise related to cults. Although all else
being equal, I believe it is preferable that a therapist treating a former group member be

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familiar with the cult literature, I have often said that I would rather refer an ex-cultist to a
competent therapist, particularly one who has experience treating traumatized populations
such as battered women (see Ramirez-Boulette &Andersen, 1986 Ward, 2000) who knew
nothing about cults than to an incompetent therapist who had read everything ever
published on the subject.
Former cult members, like other psychotherapy populations, seek help because they are
distressed, because they have ―symptoms.‖ Specific symptoms can be treated in different
ways (e.g., depression‘s being treated successfully by pharmacotherapy, cognitive therapy,
interpersonal therapy). So it would not surprise me if most former cult members benefited
enough from psychotherapy that did not specifically address cult issues to get on with their
lives, even if they still have unfinished ―cult business‖ in one or more their mind‘s
―compartments.‖
Nonetheless, we do regularly encounter cases in which years of traditional therapy proved
ineffective. Sometimes people who have been out of their groups for 20 years or more
come to an ex-member workshop and experience an epiphany that leads to a therapeutic
breakthrough. They come to see that their enduring distress results in part from what was
―done to them,‖ not only from what they did. They will typically say something such as,
―Now I understand what happened to me.‖ They become liberated from the self-blaming
patterns into which their group had indoctrinated them.
Research Needs
Although we have learned a lot about cultic groups over the past 25 years, there are still
major gaps in our understanding. We need to carry out coordinated programs of research
that address the following areas:
 Further development of measures that assess group environments and the
perceptions people have about group environment.
 More effective measures of harm, particularly measures sensitive to the
identity and dissociative disturbances reported in the clinical literature.
 More complex assessment protocols designed to enhance treatment as well as
to collect data useful in research (Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, for
example, has been exemplary in integrating research and clinical goals).
 Psychologically sensitive participant observational studies of specific groups.
 Group-specific surveys (even simple ones can be valuable) that illuminate the
great variation, even among ex-member respondents, and that challenge us
to ask why X% of subjects said ―no‖ as well as why Y% of subjects said ―yes.‖
 Surveys of parents
 Surveys of scholars, helping organizations
 We always need more well written personal accounts, clinical case studies,
and clinical guidelines – but we need papers that struggle with greater levels
of complexity.
References
Aronoff-McKibben, J., Lynn, S. J., &Malinoski, P. T. (2000). Are cultic environments
psychologically harmful? Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 91-111. (Reprinted in Cultic
Studies Review, 1(3), 2002. Available at
http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/csr_member/mem_articles/mckibben_jodi_csr0103.
htm. )
Barker, E. (1984). The making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or choice. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.