Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1989, Page 14
Compartmentalization is a defense mechanism that typically involves a very circumscribed
aspect of the psychic structure, employed for the duration of a stressor (as when an
otherwise honest worker cheats without guilt on income taxes). Or it is a more general
defensive style closely associated with an overall personality pattern that is not very
amenable to change, even with intensive psychotherapy. Doubling, on the other hand,
involves a massive psychic restructuring, yet it can be relatively temporary and relatively
easily reversed. In and of itself, doubling is neither good nor bad.
In general terms, the adaptive potential for doubling is integral to the human psyche and
can, at times, be lifesaving: for a soldier in combat, for instance or for the victim of
brutality such as an Auschwitz inmate, who must undergo a form of doubling in order to
survive. But the “opposing self” can become dangerously unrestrained, as it did in the Nazi
doctors. (Lifton, 1986, p. 420.)
Doubling may be the process that some cultists experience during and following their
“conversions.” Deprogramming may be an “undoing” of doubling. Doubling also helps
explain the behavior of some cult leaders, especially within those cults that, like ISKCON,
have reputations for being especially violent and antisocial. In detailing the processes that
facilitate doubling, Lifton (1986) employed some of the same terminology he originally
introduced in Thought reform and the Psychology of Totalism (Lifton, 1961). Thus, doubling
may provide an alternative conceptual framework for synthesizing what sometimes appears
to be the “voluntary” nature of cult participation with the anecdotal evidence of covert social
manipulation and sudden personality change. Lifton (1986, p. 330) himself alluded to the
possible “comparison between violent contemporary cults…and the Nazi Auschwitz
structure” in facilitating doubling among leaders and followers alike.
Doubling can explain the ease with which a formerly law0abiding college student can
commit crimes: Following exposure to the thought-reform mechanisms of loading the
language and dispensing of existence, the cult “double” can behave antisocially. Lifton
(1986) found that nazi doctors avoided guilt not by eliminating conscience but by
“transferring” it to the double – the “Auschwitz self” with an inverted criterion for “good”
that included duty to the Nazi regime, “improving” concentration camp conditions,
accelerating the efficient operation of crematoriums, etc.
The doubled self “does the dirty work” for the entire self by rendering that
work “proper” and in that way protects the entire self from awareness of its
own guilt…”(p.421)
In doubling, one part of the self “disavows” another part. What is repudiated is not reality
itself…but the meaning of that reality. The Nazi doctor knew that he selected, but did not
interpret selections as murder. One level of disavowal, then, was the Auschwitz self‟s
altering the meaning of murder and on another, the repudiation by the original self of
anything done by the Auschwitz self (p. 422).
Thus, the Krishna devotee can commit fraud and “transcendental trickery” and his cult-self
will not feel guilty because the nature of “right” and “wrong” has been redefined. In fact,
doubling explains the irony of the cultist who feels guilty for not carrying out the cult
leader‟s insistence on committing crimes.
Among the psychological themes central to doubling in nazi doctors – and by extension, I
believe, to cultism – were (Lifton, 1986, pp. 439-475): (a) Deadly Logic and Sacred Science
– the ethos of reason that, given the “fact” that Jews were disease agents that polluted the
Aryan race, demanded eradication as the only “logical” solution (b) nature‟s Engine – the
individual doctor was merely a “tool” in a cosmically ordained and ultimately “natural” order
of life (c) the vision of Total Cure – the Nazis were motivated by a vision of ultimate evil to
their country, perpetrated by a demonic race (d) the Dispensing of Existence (e) the
Compartmentalization is a defense mechanism that typically involves a very circumscribed
aspect of the psychic structure, employed for the duration of a stressor (as when an
otherwise honest worker cheats without guilt on income taxes). Or it is a more general
defensive style closely associated with an overall personality pattern that is not very
amenable to change, even with intensive psychotherapy. Doubling, on the other hand,
involves a massive psychic restructuring, yet it can be relatively temporary and relatively
easily reversed. In and of itself, doubling is neither good nor bad.
In general terms, the adaptive potential for doubling is integral to the human psyche and
can, at times, be lifesaving: for a soldier in combat, for instance or for the victim of
brutality such as an Auschwitz inmate, who must undergo a form of doubling in order to
survive. But the “opposing self” can become dangerously unrestrained, as it did in the Nazi
doctors. (Lifton, 1986, p. 420.)
Doubling may be the process that some cultists experience during and following their
“conversions.” Deprogramming may be an “undoing” of doubling. Doubling also helps
explain the behavior of some cult leaders, especially within those cults that, like ISKCON,
have reputations for being especially violent and antisocial. In detailing the processes that
facilitate doubling, Lifton (1986) employed some of the same terminology he originally
introduced in Thought reform and the Psychology of Totalism (Lifton, 1961). Thus, doubling
may provide an alternative conceptual framework for synthesizing what sometimes appears
to be the “voluntary” nature of cult participation with the anecdotal evidence of covert social
manipulation and sudden personality change. Lifton (1986, p. 330) himself alluded to the
possible “comparison between violent contemporary cults…and the Nazi Auschwitz
structure” in facilitating doubling among leaders and followers alike.
Doubling can explain the ease with which a formerly law0abiding college student can
commit crimes: Following exposure to the thought-reform mechanisms of loading the
language and dispensing of existence, the cult “double” can behave antisocially. Lifton
(1986) found that nazi doctors avoided guilt not by eliminating conscience but by
“transferring” it to the double – the “Auschwitz self” with an inverted criterion for “good”
that included duty to the Nazi regime, “improving” concentration camp conditions,
accelerating the efficient operation of crematoriums, etc.
The doubled self “does the dirty work” for the entire self by rendering that
work “proper” and in that way protects the entire self from awareness of its
own guilt…”(p.421)
In doubling, one part of the self “disavows” another part. What is repudiated is not reality
itself…but the meaning of that reality. The Nazi doctor knew that he selected, but did not
interpret selections as murder. One level of disavowal, then, was the Auschwitz self‟s
altering the meaning of murder and on another, the repudiation by the original self of
anything done by the Auschwitz self (p. 422).
Thus, the Krishna devotee can commit fraud and “transcendental trickery” and his cult-self
will not feel guilty because the nature of “right” and “wrong” has been redefined. In fact,
doubling explains the irony of the cultist who feels guilty for not carrying out the cult
leader‟s insistence on committing crimes.
Among the psychological themes central to doubling in nazi doctors – and by extension, I
believe, to cultism – were (Lifton, 1986, pp. 439-475): (a) Deadly Logic and Sacred Science
– the ethos of reason that, given the “fact” that Jews were disease agents that polluted the
Aryan race, demanded eradication as the only “logical” solution (b) nature‟s Engine – the
individual doctor was merely a “tool” in a cosmically ordained and ultimately “natural” order
of life (c) the vision of Total Cure – the Nazis were motivated by a vision of ultimate evil to
their country, perpetrated by a demonic race (d) the Dispensing of Existence (e) the
