Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1989, Page 58
Family Responses to a Young Adult’s Cult Membership and Return
Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., A.C.S.W.
N.J. Institute
William Goldberg, M.S.W., A.C.S.W
Community Support Center, Pomona, NY
Abstract
This article deals with the process of a young adult child‟s cult involvement
and return from the family‟s perspective. Four overlapping stages
characterize the responses of most families: ignorance or denial, recognition,
exploration, and action. The family‟s emotional reactions while the cultist is
in the cult as well as out of the cult are discussed as are treatment
considerations. Also briefly discussed are situations involving adult children
with parents in a cult and the effects of parents‟ cult membership on young
children.
Several authors have discussed the experience of joining and leaving a cult from the
perspective of the former cultist (Clark, 1976 Singer, 1979 Clark, Langone, Schecter, &
Daly, 1981 Goldberg &Goldberg, 1982). However, few authors (Kaslow &Schwartz, 1983
Schwartz, 1986, Ross &Langone, 1988) have focused on the family‟s reaction to the
experience. This article will deal with the process of young adults‟ cult involvement and
return from the family‟s perspective.
The authors are clinicians who have seen more than four hundred cult members, former
cultists, and their families over a fourteen year period. These clinical contacts have led us
to the conclusion that cultic involvement, similar to other crises (Caplan, 1964), is both a
traumatic event and an opportunity for a healthy restructuring of the family‟s traditional
modes of interacting.
Families‟ responses to a member‟s cult involvement appear to go through four stages, each
of which has a different emotional pattern associated with it. The stages are: ignorance or
denial, recognition, exploration, and action. It is important to note that these stages do not
have rigid boundaries, and that, in some families, one or more of the stages are bypassed.
Stages
Ignorance or Denial
After a period of ignorance --that is, a period when the family has no information
concerning a member‟s cult involvement --most families pass through a stage of denial
prior to facing the conclusion that a member is, indeed, affiliated with a destructive cult.
Only after this conclusion is fully recognized, accepted, and understood do families react,
the reaction determining whether or not the family will take action, either subtle or
dramatic, toward extricating its member from the cult.
Ignorance, the first stage of the family‟s reaction, and the denial stage that follows may last
for several months or even years. A number of factors account for the family‟s delayed
recognition and acceptance of the fact that a family member is involved with a cult.
Parents generally come to grips with the maturation and growing independence of their
young adult children with a mixture of pride and sorrow. Healthy young adults value a
sense of their own autonomy and attempt to develop their own vision of the world that is
different from their parents‟ view. Blos points out that adolescents tend to use the defenses
of intellectualization and asceticism.
Family Responses to a Young Adult’s Cult Membership and Return
Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., A.C.S.W.
N.J. Institute
William Goldberg, M.S.W., A.C.S.W
Community Support Center, Pomona, NY
Abstract
This article deals with the process of a young adult child‟s cult involvement
and return from the family‟s perspective. Four overlapping stages
characterize the responses of most families: ignorance or denial, recognition,
exploration, and action. The family‟s emotional reactions while the cultist is
in the cult as well as out of the cult are discussed as are treatment
considerations. Also briefly discussed are situations involving adult children
with parents in a cult and the effects of parents‟ cult membership on young
children.
Several authors have discussed the experience of joining and leaving a cult from the
perspective of the former cultist (Clark, 1976 Singer, 1979 Clark, Langone, Schecter, &
Daly, 1981 Goldberg &Goldberg, 1982). However, few authors (Kaslow &Schwartz, 1983
Schwartz, 1986, Ross &Langone, 1988) have focused on the family‟s reaction to the
experience. This article will deal with the process of young adults‟ cult involvement and
return from the family‟s perspective.
The authors are clinicians who have seen more than four hundred cult members, former
cultists, and their families over a fourteen year period. These clinical contacts have led us
to the conclusion that cultic involvement, similar to other crises (Caplan, 1964), is both a
traumatic event and an opportunity for a healthy restructuring of the family‟s traditional
modes of interacting.
Families‟ responses to a member‟s cult involvement appear to go through four stages, each
of which has a different emotional pattern associated with it. The stages are: ignorance or
denial, recognition, exploration, and action. It is important to note that these stages do not
have rigid boundaries, and that, in some families, one or more of the stages are bypassed.
Stages
Ignorance or Denial
After a period of ignorance --that is, a period when the family has no information
concerning a member‟s cult involvement --most families pass through a stage of denial
prior to facing the conclusion that a member is, indeed, affiliated with a destructive cult.
Only after this conclusion is fully recognized, accepted, and understood do families react,
the reaction determining whether or not the family will take action, either subtle or
dramatic, toward extricating its member from the cult.
Ignorance, the first stage of the family‟s reaction, and the denial stage that follows may last
for several months or even years. A number of factors account for the family‟s delayed
recognition and acceptance of the fact that a family member is involved with a cult.
Parents generally come to grips with the maturation and growing independence of their
young adult children with a mixture of pride and sorrow. Healthy young adults value a
sense of their own autonomy and attempt to develop their own vision of the world that is
different from their parents‟ view. Blos points out that adolescents tend to use the defenses
of intellectualization and asceticism.
