Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1992, Page 66
groups. Yeakley‟s (1988) studies with the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) suggest that
cultists are subjected to great pressures toward conformity. Yet this study, clinical reports
(Ash, 1985 Clark, 1979 Singer, 1979), and Galanter‟s (1983) research strongly suggest
that the level of post-cult distress is quite high. These findings cause Langone to comment:
And yet the majority eventually leave [Barker, 1984]. Why? If they were
unhappy before they joined, became happier after they joined, were
pressured to remain, left anyway, and were more distressed than ever after
leaving, what could have impelled them to leave and to remain apart from the
group?
The inescapable conclusion seems to be that the cult experience is not what it
appears to be (at least for those groups that deem it important to put on a
“happy face”), either to undiscerning observers or to members under the
psychological influence of the group. Clinical observers, beginning with Clark
(1979) and Singer (1978), appear to be correct in their contention that
dissociative defenses help cultists adapt to the contradictory and intense
demands of the cult environment. So long as members are not rebelling
against the group‟s psychological controls, they can appear to be “normal,”
much as a person with multiple personality disorder can sometimes appear to
be “normal.” However, this normal-appearing personality, as West (1992)
maintains, is a pseudopersonality. When cultists leave their group, the flood
gates open up and they suffer. But they don‟t generally return to the cult
because the suffering they experience after leaving the cult is more genuine
than the “happiness” they experienced while in it. A painful truth is better
than a pleasant lie. (Langone, in press)
This study supports the clinical observations indicating that powerful cultic environments
distort personality (or, as West says, create pseudopersonalities) and induce dependency.
The disparity between the benign appearance of many cults and the harsh underlying reality
appears in bold relief when one examines certain individual cases. Subjects in this study
experienced various forms of abuse. Several subjects were repeatedly beaten. Others had
guns held to their head. Some were put on starvation diets. Some adults were held in their
rooms as punishment. Several women were raped. Several leaders, who presented as
“pastors,” “trained” some female subjects to be “good women” or “good wives” by
subjecting them to a program of diverse sexual “exercises,” which included group sex, oral
sex, baring one‟s breasts, intercourse, and, in one case, being urged to have sex with an
animal. One man reported that when he was a boy his pastor told him that God willed that
the boy should please the “pastor” by regularly performing fellatio on him.
Pre-Post Changes
The pre-post MCMI changes in this study further support the contention that dissociation is
central to the cult experience. The striking change in the personality scales and the
improvement in MCMI symptom scales between admission and followup of Wellspring clients
is inconsistent with the hypothesis that post-cult personality profiles and distress levels
reflect long-standing, pre-cult psychological difficulties. Treatment evaluation studies using
the MCMI simply do not indicate both marked personality changes and marked symptom
reduction. Indeed, this study reported the lowest test-retest correlations of any treatment
study using the MCMI. Rather than concluding that Wellspring‟s treatment program is
miraculous, or that the MCMI scales are very unstable, we conclude that the admission
personality profile and distress level do not, in a general sense, reflect longstanding
personality traits.
On the personality scales of the MCMI, a majority of Wellspring clients have Dependent as
the highest or second highest personality scale. Thirty-two of 66 (48.4%) clients had

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1992, Page 67
Dependent as the highest scale. Another 5 clients had Dependent as the second highest
scale (7.5%). And yet after treatment only 14 of 66 clients had Dependent as the highest
(21.2%) and 3 had Dependent as the second highest (4.5%) scale. Thus, after treatment
17 (25.8%) of the clients had Dependent as the first or second highest score on the first
eight scales of the MCMI-I, compared to 37 (56.1%) before treatment. In comparison, 24 of
66 (36.4%) of the clients had Compulsive-Conforming as the first or second highest scale at
Time I, whereas at Time II 25 of the 66 subjects (37.8%) still had Compulsive-Conforming
as the first or second highest scale.
There are only three possible explanations for these elevations: (1) cultic groups and/or
helping organizations tend to attract dependent-compulsive types, who for some unknown
reason achieve remarkable decreases in Dependent after 10-14 days of treatment (2) cultic
groups tend to produce and/or exacerbate dependent-compulsive types or (3) cultic groups
tend to harm dependent-compulsive types, who as a result of being harmed are more likely
to seek help from cult educational organizations. Regardless of which of these three
explanations or combination thereof is true, something sets the cultic environment apart
from other environments.
The change from pre- to post-treatment personality configuration, particularly the striking
drop in Dependent, supports explanation two. If the admission Dependent score reflected a
true personality dimension, one would not expect the dramatic change that occurs after a
treatment program averaging 10 to 14 days. One would expect such a change, however, if
the clinically derived theories of induced dependency as the distinguishing feature of cultic
environments were correct. Elevated Dependent scores at admission would reflect an
artificially induced personality change that, as clinical lore suggests, would respond readily
to intervention. This point of view is supported by Yeakley‟s (1988) finding that cult
members‟ scores on the MBTI converge toward a single type. The distribution of type scores
in non-cultic groups, on the other hand, was normal and showed no tendency toward
convergence, whereas in cultic groups “present and future distributions deviate increasingly
from the normal distribution” (p. 34). Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that
pressures toward increasing dependency may exist in the cult population.
The overall lack of personality profile stability as measured by test-retest correlations (see
Table 5) suggests that other aspects of cultists‟ personalities are also likely to change while
in the cult and to reorganize dramatically after leaving and seeking treatment. Further study
is clearly needed.
Implications for Treatment
That symptom scales such as Anxiety and Depression decrease substantially after treatment
is gratifying but not surprising. The Wellspring program is intensive, consisting of 4-6 hours
daily of individual counseling, group counseling, and didactic workshops. In addition there
are many informal discussions with other former cultists and the staff (of which a majority
themselves are former members), as well as time for independent study, reading, and
viewing or listening to Wellspring‟s collection of video- and audiotapes related to cultic
phenomena. Typically the program lasts 14 days. In addition to the therapy and didactic
hours, there is adequate time for rest and recreation, such as swimming hiking, fishing,
using the Ohio University athletic facilities, movies, malls, and restaurants.
The program is intensive, but also specialized. Much of the early segment of the treatment
program is geared to increasing ex-members‟ understanding about the dynamics of thought
reform and helping them explore how their group practiced thought reform and how the
thought reform program affected their personality and their relationship to the world outside
the cult. Thus, Wellspring uses a model that assumes that the cultic environment adversely
affects members. At its core it is educational, even though much therapeutic activity occurs.