Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 32
Residential Treatment: The Potential for Cultic Evolution
David A. Halperin, M.D.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
Arnold Markowitz, M.S.W.
Cult Hotline and Clinic, New York
Abstract
Residential treatment centers give residents an opportunity to develop
psychologically within a close-knit, structured community. Certain
psychological and political processes, however, can on occasion lead
residential treatment centers to a cult-like culture of indoctrination and self-
suppression rather than a culture of self-awareness and education. Lifton‟s
(1961) analysis of totalistic systems is helpful in understanding how such an
evolution can take place. Specific examples of cultic residential treatment
centers are discussed to illustrate the processes under study.
The residential treatment center provides an invaluable holding environment where the
severely impaired are helped to develop intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal skills, and
the ability to function autonomously. In real and symbolic terms, the residential treatment
setting serves as a second-chance family. Here residents are given the opportunity to
experience and grow within a close-knit community with a goal of enhancing the sense of
self. As with all psychotherapeutic efforts, the individual‟s ultimate growth is the product of
an initial period of dependency and regression. In this context, responsible mental health
professionals have questioned whether or not the development of intense dependency
bonds may render individuals incapable of functioning outside of this “protective” setting.
This concern is especially acute when working with individuals so lacking in ego strength
that their primary mode of relating to the outside world often entails repeated abuse of
several substances.
The residential treatment center sponsored and staffed by mental health professionals is not
the only facility that attempts to work with the severely dysfunctional. A plethora of
“treatment” facilities have been created under the auspices of cult-like groups. Within these
rigidly structured environments, group processes are used in ways that lead to a diminution
of the individual‟s sense of self. Here indoctrination replaces education, and regression is
valued over independence or autonomy. This article examines the political and psychological
processes that encourage regression and the group processes within the residential
treatment center that sponsor the development of a culture of indoctrination rather than a
culture of self-awareness and education. It examines the group dynamics that may lead to
the transformation of a respected residential treatment center into a cult-like organization.
The Cult Group
Cults and cult-like groups function in ways that destroy the member‟s emotional autonomy.
Their modus operandi is reflected in their organization. The destructive cult group is
organizationally characterized by the following (Halperin, 1983a):
1. A current living leader who is venerated by his or her followers and claims to have been
chosen by God or some other supranatural force. In some cases, the leader may claim
access to knowledge of a psychological or political nature.
2. The cult leader often lives a very lavish lifestyle, whereas cult members are encouraged
to live a life of privation and austerity.

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 33
3. Deception is often used in recruitment and fund-raising. The use of deception is
sanctioned by a double standard.
4. All doubts are considered “evil.” Public confession of beliefs, questions, and thoughts of
the most private nature is encouraged. Members are censured and shamed for any
deviation --no matter how trivial --from the group‟s philosophy.
The continuing indoctrination processes within the destructive cult group simulate the
psychological climate described by Lifton in his Thought Reform and the Psychology of
Totalism (1961). In this significant work, Lifton comments that the potential for totalism is
ubiquitous, but he qualifies this by noting that
…this is most likely to occur with those ideologies which are most sweeping in
their content and most ambitious --or messianic --in their claims, whether
religious, political or scientific. And where totalism exists, a religion, a political
movement, or even a scientific organization becomes little more than an
exclusive cult. (p. 419)
Lifton enumerates eight conditions that potentiate effective totalistic control of the
individual. Lifton‟s analysis of these requisite conditions enables us to appreciate both the
recruitment processes used by destructive cult groups within the “treatment” facilities under
their control and the potential for cultic evolution within the residential treatment center.
The conditions that most directly affect cultic evolution in residential treatment centers are
discussed below.
Environmental Control
The most basic prerequisite for totalistic control of the individual is the domination of all
personal communications. Cults and cult-like groups completely control the individual‟s
communication with the noncult or outside world. This type of control facilitates the cult‟s
penetration of the individual‟s inner life and enables the group to dominate the individual‟s
communication with the self. Cults control all sources of information: radio, television, and
newspapers are either not available or their use is proscribed.
In addition, groups control when members eat, use the toilet, and when/if they sleep.
Sleep deprivation is a common practice. Most cult groups control the sexual activity of
members by demanding abstinence and/or selecting when and with whom the members can
be sexually active. Even with arranged marriages, partners are often separated and/or
pressured into extramarital affairs. By severing ties to family and friends and by
encouraging the individual to change schools and career choices, the destructive cult
increases the individual‟s sense of isolation and severs his or her access to reliable and
objective sources of information.
In a superficially analogous fashion, the residential treatment center may initially regulate
contact between the individual resident and the outside (often pathological) environment
that he or she came from. The residential treatment center, however, uses these controls in
a highly selective manner. No control is exercised over the individual‟s sources of
information (except when the source is clearly suspect, for example, a drug dealer).
Indeed, the focus is always on increasing the individual‟s meaningful contacts with the
outside world. Residents are usually encouraged to find employment outside the center. If
possible, they are enrolled in community schools participation in cultural and sports events
outside the center is facilitated. Home visits are allowed whenever appropriate.
When the residential treatment center is in an isolated setting, environmental controls can
develop to cult-like proportions if precautions are not taken. While the residential treatment
center may briefly discourage contact between the new resident and the pathological
external environment, the center‟s very isolation may discourage any contact between the
individual and the outside community or family. Severing ties to the extent that the