Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, Page 4
here is with Diamond‘s dilemma. After one of Diamond‘s assistants infiltrates the cult, the
team determines that there is no other way but kidnapping to help Elizabeth‘s daughter,
who is already on her way from the United Kingdom. Diamond‘s team abducts the young
woman by forcing her into a van from a sidewalk where she was fundraising for the cult.
The old deprogramming stereotype in films about cult intervention since 1980 is all we see
again.2
Noncoercive interventions are too boring for the film industry and could hurt ratings. In any
case, the ―ethical‖ exit counselor Diamond is in an old dilemma: There is no happy
alternative to the stereotype if he and his team are to spare the daughter from coming
under the direct control of a leader known to have sex with vulnerable female members.
And who can resist a wonderful mother who borrowed money to save her daughter? I can
sympathize with Diamond because I‘ve been in that very situation many times. But
Diamond‘s chiding of Elizabeth has merit. Most deprogramming interventions, and nearly all
since 1992 in America, have been open meetings that the cult member can choose to end
and leave at any time.
The confusion regarding deprogramming and exit counseling among the general public
extends to a definition of cult. I often hear people use the ―c‖ word as if they know what it
means. Upon questioning, the average person entertains a basic notion of cult as a weird,
possibly dangerous group with weird rituals and weird people. Less-common yet persistent
perceptions are associations with Satanism, witchcraft, and demon possession. Dictionaries
are of some help, but most indicate that cult is an intense devotional system directed
toward a person, idea, or object. That definition covers a wide, somewhat innocuous
spectrum of religious activity. The definition also includes ―spurious group,‖ which is how
most folks understand the term. A lesser definition alludes to cult as a healing system based
on someone‘s dogma, or to an alternative treatment, as in shamanic healing. The
International Cultic Studies Association adopted a definition that fits its purposes, to
describe manipulative groups that harm some or most members:
Cult (totalist type): A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive
devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing
unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., 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.3
Note that in this paper I may use cult in its lesser definition as adopted by ICSA although
that definition violates the primarily neutral, academic application of the word.
Following, I propose a working model of the totalist cult as the term applies to what I do as
a deprogrammer or exit counselor. I often use deprogramming to cover all types of
intervention with cult members, including the noncoercive, open sessions that I now use
exclusively, and have used especially since 1992. I realize that use of this term might
irritate my exit-counselor colleagues who have fought long and hard to set a standard name
for noncoercive approaches. Like cult, the term deprogrammer has popular pejorative
implications. As the lady who hired Diamond in the film I mentioned above illustrates, most
people unfortunately continue to relate to deprogrammer and not to exit counselor, and
even much less so to the more obscure thought reform consultant term that a few of my
colleagues have adopted.
here is with Diamond‘s dilemma. After one of Diamond‘s assistants infiltrates the cult, the
team determines that there is no other way but kidnapping to help Elizabeth‘s daughter,
who is already on her way from the United Kingdom. Diamond‘s team abducts the young
woman by forcing her into a van from a sidewalk where she was fundraising for the cult.
The old deprogramming stereotype in films about cult intervention since 1980 is all we see
again.2
Noncoercive interventions are too boring for the film industry and could hurt ratings. In any
case, the ―ethical‖ exit counselor Diamond is in an old dilemma: There is no happy
alternative to the stereotype if he and his team are to spare the daughter from coming
under the direct control of a leader known to have sex with vulnerable female members.
And who can resist a wonderful mother who borrowed money to save her daughter? I can
sympathize with Diamond because I‘ve been in that very situation many times. But
Diamond‘s chiding of Elizabeth has merit. Most deprogramming interventions, and nearly all
since 1992 in America, have been open meetings that the cult member can choose to end
and leave at any time.
The confusion regarding deprogramming and exit counseling among the general public
extends to a definition of cult. I often hear people use the ―c‖ word as if they know what it
means. Upon questioning, the average person entertains a basic notion of cult as a weird,
possibly dangerous group with weird rituals and weird people. Less-common yet persistent
perceptions are associations with Satanism, witchcraft, and demon possession. Dictionaries
are of some help, but most indicate that cult is an intense devotional system directed
toward a person, idea, or object. That definition covers a wide, somewhat innocuous
spectrum of religious activity. The definition also includes ―spurious group,‖ which is how
most folks understand the term. A lesser definition alludes to cult as a healing system based
on someone‘s dogma, or to an alternative treatment, as in shamanic healing. The
International Cultic Studies Association adopted a definition that fits its purposes, to
describe manipulative groups that harm some or most members:
Cult (totalist type): A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive
devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing
unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., 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.3
Note that in this paper I may use cult in its lesser definition as adopted by ICSA although
that definition violates the primarily neutral, academic application of the word.
Following, I propose a working model of the totalist cult as the term applies to what I do as
a deprogrammer or exit counselor. I often use deprogramming to cover all types of
intervention with cult members, including the noncoercive, open sessions that I now use
exclusively, and have used especially since 1992. I realize that use of this term might
irritate my exit-counselor colleagues who have fought long and hard to set a standard name
for noncoercive approaches. Like cult, the term deprogrammer has popular pejorative
implications. As the lady who hired Diamond in the film I mentioned above illustrates, most
people unfortunately continue to relate to deprogrammer and not to exit counselor, and
even much less so to the more obscure thought reform consultant term that a few of my
colleagues have adopted.
