Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 35
traitor to be ostracized and humiliated. Doubters are publicly shamed to enforce conformity.
Reasoning and rational discourse are replaced with an atmosphere dominated by shame and
guilt. his process of public humiliation and the substitution of shame for doubt should be
alien to the residential treatment center whose only goal is to enhance the individual‟s
personal autonomy. Inappropriate actions cannot be justified by reference to a mystical
qua therapeutic imperative.
The residential treatment center is a place of moral (in the broadest sense of the word)
education. It is a forum in which to present the resident with alternate belief systems and
an enhanced sense that there is a good way of being in the world (Lothane, 1978).
Residents gain a sense of awareness of alternate paths in the world when staff members are
encouraged to voice their contradictory opinions and examine “arbitrary” treatment
decisions.
While the residential treatment center is a place where residents are presented with
precepts for actions (indeed, they may require detailed guidelines), it should not be an
environment where they are presented with arbitrary and punitive prescriptions.
Reeducation requires an appreciation of the values underlying choices, not the arbitrary
elimination of choice. Reeducation, unlike indoctrination, requires the creation of a holding
environment with boundaries defined by a permeable membrane not by an Iron Curtain.
When indoctrination is the goal of the “educational” process, the external world is inevitably
presented as a threat to the purity of the group‟s ideology. External sources of information
are treated with suspicion because they are judged primarily according to their potential for
diluting “the truth” rather than being judged objectively. Similarly, the resident‟s growth
and development may be regarded with suspicion, seen as a step in the direction of
“heresy.” Even acquiring personal skills or educational credentials may be discouraged. In
this world, growth is possible only at the expense of pure belief.
The Cult of Confession
An obsession with personal confession beyond any legal, religious, or therapeutic
boundaries is closely linked to the demand for purity. Cults create a milieu in which the
individual experiences intensified feelings of shame and guilt and is ultimately led toward
relief from pain by surrendering his or her individuality. Within this process, the alternation
of self-condemnation and purgation through confession leads to the creation of a false self
whereby individuals experience “pleasure” during self-degradation and ultimately attain a
sense of “oneness” by identifying with their persecutors and fellow confessors. The
indoctrination is complete when there is a final erosion of ego boundaries and a loss of
sense of self. This happens when the individual finally discards all previous belief systems,
replacing them with the ideology of the cult.
Staff may also be subject to the cult of confession. The supervisory process in the
residential treatment center requires sensitivity within the supervisor-supervisee
relationship. Narcissistic supervisors can manipulate staff meetings and supervisory sessions
into becoming arenas for public confession. In this context they may use personal material
to undermine the staff‟s self-confidence, thus creating a cultic atmosphere. Supervision may
be confused with “therapy” to obtain this material as the supervisor becomes a hybrid of
therapist cum administrator.
Treatment centers may require staff as well as residents to keep a personal diary of
thoughts, ideas, and feelings, in addition to reporting on their activities. Diaries may be
scrutinized by the directors and this private information may be shared with others in the
“therapeutic” community meetings. Because many of the staff of drug treatment centers are
themselves rehabilitated drug users it is particularly difficult for them to deal with this
abusive intrusiveness. For example, a staff member of a “therapeutic community” was
required to work 20-22 hours daily for $1.00/hr. Grateful for the help he had received from
traitor to be ostracized and humiliated. Doubters are publicly shamed to enforce conformity.
Reasoning and rational discourse are replaced with an atmosphere dominated by shame and
guilt. his process of public humiliation and the substitution of shame for doubt should be
alien to the residential treatment center whose only goal is to enhance the individual‟s
personal autonomy. Inappropriate actions cannot be justified by reference to a mystical
qua therapeutic imperative.
The residential treatment center is a place of moral (in the broadest sense of the word)
education. It is a forum in which to present the resident with alternate belief systems and
an enhanced sense that there is a good way of being in the world (Lothane, 1978).
Residents gain a sense of awareness of alternate paths in the world when staff members are
encouraged to voice their contradictory opinions and examine “arbitrary” treatment
decisions.
While the residential treatment center is a place where residents are presented with
precepts for actions (indeed, they may require detailed guidelines), it should not be an
environment where they are presented with arbitrary and punitive prescriptions.
Reeducation requires an appreciation of the values underlying choices, not the arbitrary
elimination of choice. Reeducation, unlike indoctrination, requires the creation of a holding
environment with boundaries defined by a permeable membrane not by an Iron Curtain.
When indoctrination is the goal of the “educational” process, the external world is inevitably
presented as a threat to the purity of the group‟s ideology. External sources of information
are treated with suspicion because they are judged primarily according to their potential for
diluting “the truth” rather than being judged objectively. Similarly, the resident‟s growth
and development may be regarded with suspicion, seen as a step in the direction of
“heresy.” Even acquiring personal skills or educational credentials may be discouraged. In
this world, growth is possible only at the expense of pure belief.
The Cult of Confession
An obsession with personal confession beyond any legal, religious, or therapeutic
boundaries is closely linked to the demand for purity. Cults create a milieu in which the
individual experiences intensified feelings of shame and guilt and is ultimately led toward
relief from pain by surrendering his or her individuality. Within this process, the alternation
of self-condemnation and purgation through confession leads to the creation of a false self
whereby individuals experience “pleasure” during self-degradation and ultimately attain a
sense of “oneness” by identifying with their persecutors and fellow confessors. The
indoctrination is complete when there is a final erosion of ego boundaries and a loss of
sense of self. This happens when the individual finally discards all previous belief systems,
replacing them with the ideology of the cult.
Staff may also be subject to the cult of confession. The supervisory process in the
residential treatment center requires sensitivity within the supervisor-supervisee
relationship. Narcissistic supervisors can manipulate staff meetings and supervisory sessions
into becoming arenas for public confession. In this context they may use personal material
to undermine the staff‟s self-confidence, thus creating a cultic atmosphere. Supervision may
be confused with “therapy” to obtain this material as the supervisor becomes a hybrid of
therapist cum administrator.
Treatment centers may require staff as well as residents to keep a personal diary of
thoughts, ideas, and feelings, in addition to reporting on their activities. Diaries may be
scrutinized by the directors and this private information may be shared with others in the
“therapeutic” community meetings. Because many of the staff of drug treatment centers are
themselves rehabilitated drug users it is particularly difficult for them to deal with this
abusive intrusiveness. For example, a staff member of a “therapeutic community” was
required to work 20-22 hours daily for $1.00/hr. Grateful for the help he had received from
