Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 14
the members by inflicting ongoing physical, sexual, and emotional punishment. Perlado‘s
discussion of the importance of two chance encounters as part of the creative unfolding of
the exit intervention reflects the recurring theme of tolerating uncertainty as a key criterion
of creativity.
Dana Wehle draws on neo-Kleinian and postmodern psychoanalytic theory to discuss her
primary concern—i.e., the individual‘s capacity for symbol creation and use as
characteristically human and intrinsic to creativity. From the neo-Kleinian school, she draws
on Segal, Bion, Winnicott, Milner, Grotstein, and others for whom emphases on the
emergence of subjective meaning through symbol creation and use, processes of
intermediation between internal and external realities, and development of a creative
relation to the world are central. She discusses two potential forms of unconscious
communication involving empathy—total and trial projective identification—the first of which
leads to loss of boundaries that allows for domination and submission, and the second of
which can be used to inform one about another‘s experience while maintaining autonomy.
From the postmodern school, Wehle draws on Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, and others,
emphasizing postmodern psychoanalysis‘ focus on broader culture and how the power of
language controls the individual, social relations, and society. Building on values such as the
relativity of meaning, an appreciation of uncertainty, and ―the presence of the absence‖
discussed in particular by Lacan, she discusses the music cult exited by Perlado by applying
four hypotheses she developed regarding the degree to which the following criteria of
creativity are met or impinged upon in open versus cultic environments: 1) mourning of
loss, 2) tolerance of lack/unfilling of gap, 3) tolerance of opposition, and 4) tolerance of
uncertainty.
Gillie Jenkinson, a psychotherapist and former cult member, draws on the psychological
theories of Winnicott, Perls, and Rogers, and on Lifton‘s eight criteria of mind control to
examine the way her own creativity was suppressed while in The Love of God Community.
She poetically writes that the member‘s ―creativity was hijacked for the purposes of the
group.‖ She refers to the singing, dancing, and beautiful needlework done by cult members
as products of cult-induced pseudo-creativity, in service to the needs of the group, while
they often suffered physical and emotional punishment used to exercise control over
individual members. Jenkinson notes that recovery from the cult experience means
reconnecting with the pre-cult personality and developing a post-cult identity, and presents
examples of her clinical work, including use of dreams and sand tray painting, to help her
clients access true creativity and begin to heal and move forward in their lives. She goes on
to say that the ―bounded choice‖ the cult member makes, reflected in part by the
development of cult-induced pseudo-creativity, may only be determined by each individual
from the perspective of post-cult recovery.
Colleen Russell is a psychotherapist and former cult member whose creatively written case
study makes palpable the nuances of how an environment can be either suppressive or
conducive to the unfolding of creativity. She draws on her personal experience of creativity
being suppressed while she was involved with Eckankar to present her belief that "corrective
emotional experiences"—a concept first posited by Franz Alexander and Thomas Morton
French that became a central element in Control-Mastery theory—are critical for recovery.
In addition to personal therapy, her own self-discovery was enhanced while she was
participating in an intensive acting studio, particularly in her applying ideas from a Jungian
perspective to her performance in Ingmar Bergman‘s short story ―The Touch.‖ She writes
that the safe community of the acting studio, in contrast to the repressive environment of
Eckankar, allowed a creative process of character study that enabled her to disconfirm the
internalized pathogenic beliefs and, she writes, ―helped me reconnect with myself and heal
from trauma.‖
the members by inflicting ongoing physical, sexual, and emotional punishment. Perlado‘s
discussion of the importance of two chance encounters as part of the creative unfolding of
the exit intervention reflects the recurring theme of tolerating uncertainty as a key criterion
of creativity.
Dana Wehle draws on neo-Kleinian and postmodern psychoanalytic theory to discuss her
primary concern—i.e., the individual‘s capacity for symbol creation and use as
characteristically human and intrinsic to creativity. From the neo-Kleinian school, she draws
on Segal, Bion, Winnicott, Milner, Grotstein, and others for whom emphases on the
emergence of subjective meaning through symbol creation and use, processes of
intermediation between internal and external realities, and development of a creative
relation to the world are central. She discusses two potential forms of unconscious
communication involving empathy—total and trial projective identification—the first of which
leads to loss of boundaries that allows for domination and submission, and the second of
which can be used to inform one about another‘s experience while maintaining autonomy.
From the postmodern school, Wehle draws on Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, and others,
emphasizing postmodern psychoanalysis‘ focus on broader culture and how the power of
language controls the individual, social relations, and society. Building on values such as the
relativity of meaning, an appreciation of uncertainty, and ―the presence of the absence‖
discussed in particular by Lacan, she discusses the music cult exited by Perlado by applying
four hypotheses she developed regarding the degree to which the following criteria of
creativity are met or impinged upon in open versus cultic environments: 1) mourning of
loss, 2) tolerance of lack/unfilling of gap, 3) tolerance of opposition, and 4) tolerance of
uncertainty.
Gillie Jenkinson, a psychotherapist and former cult member, draws on the psychological
theories of Winnicott, Perls, and Rogers, and on Lifton‘s eight criteria of mind control to
examine the way her own creativity was suppressed while in The Love of God Community.
She poetically writes that the member‘s ―creativity was hijacked for the purposes of the
group.‖ She refers to the singing, dancing, and beautiful needlework done by cult members
as products of cult-induced pseudo-creativity, in service to the needs of the group, while
they often suffered physical and emotional punishment used to exercise control over
individual members. Jenkinson notes that recovery from the cult experience means
reconnecting with the pre-cult personality and developing a post-cult identity, and presents
examples of her clinical work, including use of dreams and sand tray painting, to help her
clients access true creativity and begin to heal and move forward in their lives. She goes on
to say that the ―bounded choice‖ the cult member makes, reflected in part by the
development of cult-induced pseudo-creativity, may only be determined by each individual
from the perspective of post-cult recovery.
Colleen Russell is a psychotherapist and former cult member whose creatively written case
study makes palpable the nuances of how an environment can be either suppressive or
conducive to the unfolding of creativity. She draws on her personal experience of creativity
being suppressed while she was involved with Eckankar to present her belief that "corrective
emotional experiences"—a concept first posited by Franz Alexander and Thomas Morton
French that became a central element in Control-Mastery theory—are critical for recovery.
In addition to personal therapy, her own self-discovery was enhanced while she was
participating in an intensive acting studio, particularly in her applying ideas from a Jungian
perspective to her performance in Ingmar Bergman‘s short story ―The Touch.‖ She writes
that the safe community of the acting studio, in contrast to the repressive environment of
Eckankar, allowed a creative process of character study that enabled her to disconfirm the
internalized pathogenic beliefs and, she writes, ―helped me reconnect with myself and heal
from trauma.‖
