Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1 1985, Page 28
there is a neurophysiological (brain) component to cult conversion (AFF Appel,
1983 Burtner, 1980 Clark, 1979b Conway &Stegelman, 1978 Roche, 1979
Schwartz &Kaslow, 1981 Shubin, 1980 Spero, 1977 West &Singer, 1980).
d. Continuous utilization of ―not thinking‖ (Note 2) practices such as chanting,
Eastern religious (―mind emptying‖) types of meditation (Note 3,) or speaking in
―tongues‖ (AFF Appel, 1983 Buckley &Galanter, 1979 Clark, 1978‘, 1979b
Conway &Siegelman, 1978 Enroth, 1977 MacCollam, 1978 Shapiro, 1977
Singer, 1979 Spero, 1977 Stoner &Parke, 1977 Verdier, 1977 West &Singer,
1980 Yamamoto, 1977).
e. Religious mystical rituals, such as ―deliverance from demons‖ (Note 4) or
initiation into the cult with a renunciation of one‘s past life and/or acceptance of a
new identity/name (Burtner, 1980 Conway &Siegelman, 1978 West &Singer,
1980).
1. Indoctrination into and reinforcement of exclusive, closed ―family‖ system boundaries
(with dedifferentiation between the individual and the cult) via:
a. Doctrinal ―carrots‖ and ―sticks‖ -criticism of the world and family outside of the
cult (with Manichean, paranoid pseudo-logic cf. Galanter, 1983a, p. 988) offer
of salvation and absolute (sacred science/black and white) answers, usually as
flonly we‖ can provide it/thern (Clark, 1977, 1979b Galper in Aversa, 1976
Haack, 1978 Levine, 1980 Levine, 1979 Martin, 1979 Stoner &Parke, 1977
West &Singer, 1980) and suppression of doubt via forced listening (cf. Galper in
Aversa, 1976 Schwartz &Zemel, 1980 Verdier, 1977 Yamamoto, 1977) and
not allowing, or otherwise dissuading, idiographic expression (Clark, 1979b
Enroth, 1977 Etemad, 1978 Shapiro, 1977) or questions (Blackwell,
1980 Clark 1979b Enroth, 1977, 1979 Levine, 1980 Levine, 1979 MacCollam,
1979 Roche, 1979 Rothbaum, 1980 Stoner &Parke, 1980 Verdier, 1977).
b. Selective group reinforcement and punishment, i.e., the systematic application of
operant conditioning techniques using the rewards and punishments of peer
pressure to promote compliance to closed system rules and promote
dedifferentiation of ego boundaries (Blackwell, 1980 Clark, 1979a, 1979b
Enroth, 1977 Etemad, 1978 Galanter, 1983a Heller, 1982 Isser &Schwartz,
1980 MacCollam, 1979 Roche, 1979 Schwartz &Isser, 1980 Schwartz &
Kaslow, 1979, 1981 Spero, 1977, 1982 Stoner &Parke, 1977 West &Singer,
1980 Yamamoto, 1977).
The conversion process. In distinguishing two primary types of conversion, Salzman (1966)
saw the psychopathological type as being more abrupt than the maturational conversion.
Conway &Stegelman (1978), however, believed cult conversion could come through either
sudden transformation or a more gradual process, albeit the gradual conversion also ending
in an abrupt moment of transformation which they called the point of ―snapping.‖
Those who advocate a gradual process. contend that the individual recruit typically does
make voluntary choices to participate in the cult activities at various points along the way,
but that the induction of dissociation and dedifferentiation via isolation and thought
reform tactics disallows any serious consideration of the overall process (cf. Galanter,
Rabkin, Rabkin, &Deutsch, 1979 Gilmartin in Sage, 1976 Levine, 1980 MacCollam, 1980
Schwartz Kaslow, 1981). The cult milieu control tactics, therefore, promote disengagement
of the critical evaluative functions of the brain, which results from the individual‘s inability to
process an onslaught of conflicting information while under sensory bombardment and while
separated from his/her usual frames of reality/reference (Conway &Siegelman, 1978, p.
56).

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1 1985, Page 29
This is the moment of ―snapping‖ vulnerability, the mystical experience of simultaneous
mind expansion and dissociation. The cult takes advantage of this event through its
indoctrination tactics, which provide the ―answer‖ to the crisis (cf. Galanter‘s ―relief effect‖).
The ―answer,‖ however, has strings attached to it: The cult molds the individual in his
dissociative vulnerability according to its liking. This state is then maintained by a
continuation of the mental extension to, and deep emotional dependency upon, the cult.
Cult induced dissociation and the mystical experience. Dissociation can be seen as a form of
―macroscopic splitting‖ of the mind or ego (Grotstein, 1981, p. 10). Clark (1979b) noted
that these ―states of dissociation are in essence emergency states during which a number of
CNS functions, such as that of the autonomic nervous system, are changed or suspended‖
(p. 103). Pruyser (1977) referred to ―frozen emergency reactions--as ways of coping that
have become habitual long beyond the time they were originally needed in an erstwhile
stressful situation. Traits of this order are often ego-syntonic‖ (p. 343). Ego-syntonic forms
of dissociation, according to Grotstein (1981), are ―probably due to an adaptation of futility
in a compromised and constricted level of mental functioning‖ -functioning which is marked
by ―compromised reality testing which ignores distinctions‖ between the split halves (p.
110).
Spero (1982) saw severely impaired reality testing in cultists in dedifferentiated reality
frames: past-present, memory-dream, but particularly inner-outer and self-other (p. 338).
Spero‘s dedifferentiation may be likened to Beahrs‘ (1982) ―extension‖ or ―expansion,‖ i.e.,
―the process in which an individual‘s sense of selfhood extends beyond his physical
boundaries so that he experiences as self what is actually beyond‖ (P. 166).
It is most significant that Beahrs saw this extention in licertain religious or spiritual states of
mind‖ (p. 166) --the mystical experience or state (pp. 176-177). However, three important
differences must be pointed out between William James‘ mystical experience which Beahrs
referred to and the cult conversion experience. First, James‘ experience was expansive, but
it was not dissociative (i.e., involving macroscopic splitting of the mind). Second, it was
marked by its ―transiency--of short duration, the mystic state itself rarely lasting more than
a half-hour of clock time‖ (p. 177), in marked contrast to the frozen state of mind
maintained by cults. And third, the mystic state was not affected by compromised reality
testing. In this regard, the cult mind is closer to the ―symbiotic psychosis‖ which Beahrs
referred to, ―where a patient‘s sense of boundary between himself and non-self is so blurred
that reality testing becomes impossible‖ (p. 166 cf. Galanter, 1983a, p. 988).
Beahrs noted that ―individuals with problems in their sense of unity and multiplicity both
dissociate and extend simultaneously‖ (p. 167). Having a combination of both the mystic
state and the symbiotic psychosis, yet not quite being either, the extremist cult-induced
disorder may, therefore, be best explained via the simultaneous presence of Clark‘s
dissociation (or splitting) and Spero‘s dedifferentiation (or, extension or expansion).
Stages of Cult Departure
Physical departure from a cult may not be equated with mental freedom from its bondage.
While physical departure may be viewed as the necessary first step of any outside
intervention (e.g., deprogramming AFF, p. 63), it is often quite independent of the mental
process of withdrawal or deconversion, i.e., the unfreezing of the
dissociation/dedifferentiation of the cult mind set. In cases of voluntary departure, this
process actually begins prior to the physical withdrawal from the group. Furthermore, the
clinical picture presented to the therapist during this process of mental deconversion is sure
to be an ever-changing one.
For these reasons, some structure would be most helpful for the therapist attempting to
discern the most effective therapeutic goals, tasks, and focuses for each change in the