Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 36
the facility, he was unable to confront the program director‟s constant demands on him for
additional time, even though he had graduated from the program some years previously
and ostensibly was now a staff member. Any objections voiced to this exploitation were
routinely interpreted as manifesting his desire to return to drug use. In a very real sense,
this vignette illustrates the manner in which cults exploit individuals through their
adherence to a sacred dogma, load the language with reductionistic and simplistic phrases,
and require members to shape their identities and lives in accordance with the group‟s
demands. The group thus attempts to take on the role of ultimate dispenser of members‟
existence by making it impossible for them to live outside the group.
Psychotherapy Cults
The isolation of the residential treatment center with its population of severely damaged
individuals may lead staff and residents alike to seek dramatic solutions to therapeutic
problems through undue reliance upon a charismatic leader. This may foster a cultic
evolution. Temerlin and Temerlin (1982) noted that outpatient psychotherapy may also be
exploited to produce a cultic context. In such cases, therapists fail to maintain professional
boundaries between their patients and themselves. Thus, patients will be converted into
lovers, business partners, artistic patrons, and even therapists in training. Mental health
professionals usually appreciate that patients‟ idealization of the therapist represents a
positive transference phenomenon. Unfortunately, some mental health professionals fail to
recognize that transference may be very intense and instead they proceed to act out their
countertransference by encouraging patient submission and obedience to the therapist. The
idealizing transference is thus transformed into a cultic relationship. The end product is a
“therapeutic” cult in which interpretations are used exclusively to reinforce a closed system
of dependence on the therapist who controls his or her patients‟ personal lives with
dictatorial authority.
The Center for Feeling Therapy of southern California which flourished from 1971-81 is an
illustrative example. In this group, the “psychotherapists” selected their patients‟ sexual
partners, controlled how often they would have sex, regulated diets, and demanded that
pregnant patients have abortions. Indeed, during the group‟s 10 years of existence, no
children were born within the 350-member community. Dissolution of marriages and
severing of family ties were common. The group saw itself as an elite of psychologically
superior beings devoted to having feelings and expressing their feelings freely. The central
thesis of the Center was that in an “insane” world, mental health could come about only by
living within a “therapeutic” community where the individual could overcome sexual
“problems” such as monogamous marriage (Hochman, 1984).
The following example demonstrates the destructive activity of the Center for Feeling
Therapy:
Kathy K. initially went to the Center for a three-week intensive program for
marital problems. Her husband followed her to California when after three weeks
she failed to return either to her home or job. When he arrived in California he
was not allowed to live with her. Despite the Center‟s claims that its treatment
approaches enhanced intimacy and saved relationships, Kathy and her husband
were forced to live separately and to take other partners. Kathy‟s reluctance to
have extramarital affairs was labeled as a “clinging dependency” on her
husband. Eventually, she became severely depressed. On her return to New York
she was suicidal and sought treatment at the Cult Hotline and Clinic because she
hoped that it might help her to reestablish contact with her family.
Kathy K.‟s experience is, of course, not unique. Synanon presents another example of the
transformation of a “therapeutic community” into a cultic organization (Ofshe, 1980).
Synanon was started in the 1950s as a therapeutic community for the rehabilitation of

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 37
alcoholics and other substance abusers. Under the leadership of Charles Diederich, a
charismatic former substance abuser, Synanon developed into a highly controlled, tightly
organized authoritarian community. With the intention of expanding, Synanon members
began recruiting among disaffected middle class dropouts who were seeking to form a
utopian community. Many members sold their homes and businesses, turning the proceeds
over to the “Synanon Church.” These new members --“lifestylers” --subjected themselves
to abortions or vasectomies to abide by the group‟s dictate and to show a sign of
identification with their leader.
Children of members were subjected to extraordinary brutalization. J., a former member
who was enrolled at age 11 when her parents joined, eventually sought treatment at the
Cult Hotline and Clinic. She described how she was separated from her parents and received
no education. After enrollment, she was repeatedly raped by groups of men who were “in
charge” of the children. She described having been severely beaten when she attempted to
run away from Synanon. Isolation and degradation in confrontational stripping-down group
encounter sessions --the “Synanon Game” --also followed her attempts to escape. During
her initial consultation at the Cult Clinic, she reported anxiety-laden nightmares reflecting
her entrapment in the group. J.‟s fears and anxieties are similar to those reported by many
members and former members of other destructive cults. Like Kathy in the earlier example,
J.‟s story is not unique. Histories replete with descriptions of isolation, separation, and
degrading confrontation sessions have been reported by former members of other cult-like
groups, such as the Sullivanian Institute, another utopian “therapeutic” community (Lewin,
June 3, 1988).
Residents and Cult Members: Clinical Considerations
Cult members and residents of residential treatment centers share many clinical
characteristics, even though cult members are usually older and may appear to be more
sophisticated. Both cult members and residents often employ similar immature defense
mechanisms, such as splitting and projection. Both groups often show poor frustration
tolerance and faulty reality testing both employ magical thinking in dealing with their
problems. While the resident of a center may be attracted to grandiose pop cultural heroes
such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and so on, the cult member will be attracted to grandiose
gurus and/or pop ideology with its promise of becoming part of a new governing elite.
Residents and members alike frequently demonstrate severe problems with separation.
Both often have internalized unrealistic expectations of their families and/or society.
Indeed, in both cults and cult-like residential treatment centers, members are encouraged
to establish a symbiotic bond with the leader.
Initially, the residential treatment center may function as a leader-centered group where
both staff and residents feel compelled to adopt a regressive dependent posture toward the
group leader. This focus on the group leader may encourage the vulnerable director to see
himself as possessing a unique access to the arcana of therapy. Thus, the group may
transform its leader into a magus whose therapeutic wisdom will allow the staff and
residents to participate in a therapeutic endeavor with a goal that has been redefined from
the prosaic one of integration into society to the more magical one of rebirth.
Residential treatment centers often appear to work best when they are organized around
charismatic leaders who are able to lend some part of their enthusiasm, dynamism, and
therapeutic optimism to the staff and residents. However, the recent revelations about the
Orthogenic School and the activities of Bruno Bettelheim underscore the risks inherent in
entrusting an enterprise to the beneficence of a single gifted, charismatic leader.
Bettelheim‟s former staff have characterized him as a
...cult leader who would enter into a therapeutic relationship with staff members
to solidify his hold on them. “It‟s a story of how someone who‟s a very smart