Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1997, page 12
When one woman decided to leave both her arranged marriage and the ashram community,
she was sent before a tribunal of members, deemed unfit, and cast out. She was
condemned and warned not to expose any yogic secrets. The guru came personally to her
house and condemned her for seven lifetimes. Aided by the distance of the
excommunication, the support of her new partner, and counseling at a rape crisis center,
the woman was finally able to stop protecting the cult leader. After having given 20 years of
her life to a psychological con artist, at last she was able to see that yogic secrecy was not a
spiritual technique. She realized that the secrecy only served to shield her abuse and that of
many others. This realization put her on the path to recovery.
Aftereffects and Treatment
Besides the typical aftereffects of cult membership (see Tobias &Lalich, 1994), women who
are sexually exploited or abused in their cult have specific issues to confront. Even after
leaving the cult, they frequently continue to blame themselves, often still believing that they
deserved the abuse. Typically, they are still afraid to talk about their feelings for fear of
betraying sacred secrets. Often they carry a great deal of confusion about sex, intimacy,
and sexual relationships. In sorting through all of this, it becomes most important to help
the woman see that cultic manipulations were central to the sexual exploitation.
Most likely the sexual norms within the cult and the abuses perpetrated have become so
intertwined with the overall belief system that the victimized woman may not even
recognize what happened to her as exploitative or harmful. Clinical psychologist Margaret
Thaler Singer states that it is an “intellectual mistake” to equate the sexual abuse found in
cults with the sexual abuse in outside society. Sexual abuse in society is more random,
furtive, and associated with guilt, whereas sexual abuse in cults may be an integral, open,
and accepted part of the system (Singer, quoted in Gelman, 1993, p. 54). The interlocking
and penetrating nature of the cultic system of influence and the insidiousness of its effect
will certainly have a large impact on a person‟s recovery process.
Psychoeducation: One Approach to Recovery
In working with women who have been sexually manipulated, controlled, exploited, and/or
abused in their cult, I have found that the most helpful approach is to assist them in
understanding exactly how they were taken advantage of. Central to cult membership is the
idea of deception. I have yet to meet a person who went out and knowingly joined a cult.
Cult members are recruited, and deceptively so. If they knew what they were really getting
into, they would never have joined. Once they realize the nature of the psychological
swindle perpetrated on them, former cult members are less likely to continue with their
attitudes of self-blame, sense of failure, and self-deprecation. Time and again, that
realization has been key to the person‟s ability to recover from the loss, devastation, and
personal harm. The hurt and sense of betrayal may remain, but once the manipulation has
been exposed, life begins to seem a little more bearable.
Physical Safety
Because of the power dynamics of the cultic situation, safety and redress of wrongs are
generally hard to come by so long as the victim remains in the cultic environment. If there
was severe abuse or if a woman is escaping a particularly harmful cult situation, then she
should seek appropriate avenues of safety and assistance, such as finding a secure place to
stay, either with family, a trusted friend, or a women‟s shelter, and getting the necessary
medical help. If need be, she may want to go to or call a rape crisis center or the police.
Psychological Recovery
Without intending to minimize the destructive nature of sexual exploitation, I believe that
the approach with former cult members is essentially the same whether or not they have
When one woman decided to leave both her arranged marriage and the ashram community,
she was sent before a tribunal of members, deemed unfit, and cast out. She was
condemned and warned not to expose any yogic secrets. The guru came personally to her
house and condemned her for seven lifetimes. Aided by the distance of the
excommunication, the support of her new partner, and counseling at a rape crisis center,
the woman was finally able to stop protecting the cult leader. After having given 20 years of
her life to a psychological con artist, at last she was able to see that yogic secrecy was not a
spiritual technique. She realized that the secrecy only served to shield her abuse and that of
many others. This realization put her on the path to recovery.
Aftereffects and Treatment
Besides the typical aftereffects of cult membership (see Tobias &Lalich, 1994), women who
are sexually exploited or abused in their cult have specific issues to confront. Even after
leaving the cult, they frequently continue to blame themselves, often still believing that they
deserved the abuse. Typically, they are still afraid to talk about their feelings for fear of
betraying sacred secrets. Often they carry a great deal of confusion about sex, intimacy,
and sexual relationships. In sorting through all of this, it becomes most important to help
the woman see that cultic manipulations were central to the sexual exploitation.
Most likely the sexual norms within the cult and the abuses perpetrated have become so
intertwined with the overall belief system that the victimized woman may not even
recognize what happened to her as exploitative or harmful. Clinical psychologist Margaret
Thaler Singer states that it is an “intellectual mistake” to equate the sexual abuse found in
cults with the sexual abuse in outside society. Sexual abuse in society is more random,
furtive, and associated with guilt, whereas sexual abuse in cults may be an integral, open,
and accepted part of the system (Singer, quoted in Gelman, 1993, p. 54). The interlocking
and penetrating nature of the cultic system of influence and the insidiousness of its effect
will certainly have a large impact on a person‟s recovery process.
Psychoeducation: One Approach to Recovery
In working with women who have been sexually manipulated, controlled, exploited, and/or
abused in their cult, I have found that the most helpful approach is to assist them in
understanding exactly how they were taken advantage of. Central to cult membership is the
idea of deception. I have yet to meet a person who went out and knowingly joined a cult.
Cult members are recruited, and deceptively so. If they knew what they were really getting
into, they would never have joined. Once they realize the nature of the psychological
swindle perpetrated on them, former cult members are less likely to continue with their
attitudes of self-blame, sense of failure, and self-deprecation. Time and again, that
realization has been key to the person‟s ability to recover from the loss, devastation, and
personal harm. The hurt and sense of betrayal may remain, but once the manipulation has
been exposed, life begins to seem a little more bearable.
Physical Safety
Because of the power dynamics of the cultic situation, safety and redress of wrongs are
generally hard to come by so long as the victim remains in the cultic environment. If there
was severe abuse or if a woman is escaping a particularly harmful cult situation, then she
should seek appropriate avenues of safety and assistance, such as finding a secure place to
stay, either with family, a trusted friend, or a women‟s shelter, and getting the necessary
medical help. If need be, she may want to go to or call a rape crisis center or the police.
Psychological Recovery
Without intending to minimize the destructive nature of sexual exploitation, I believe that
the approach with former cult members is essentially the same whether or not they have
