Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1998, page 32
demonstrates that, despite the effectiveness of exit counseling in helping cult members
make a decision to leave their cults, exit counseling does not usually relieve the
psychological distress. This is not surprising because exit counseling is an educational
intervention designed to help clients reevaluate their group involvement, not to ―recover‖
from it. Consequently, a client‘s attending a residential treatment center after exit
counseling reflects not on the exit counseling‘s ineffectiveness, as the Passantinos imply,
but on the psychological needs of the client due to the aftereffects of cult involvement.
Recommending postcult counseling may be considered an ethical obligation of exit
counselors, not a sign of their inadequacy. Moreover, only a small percentage of exit-
counseled clients actually seek out residential postcult treatment.
All-or-Nothing Fallacy
In their book Witch Hunt, under the heading ―It‘s Not Always Either/Or,‖ the Passantinos
state: ―Another problem Christians often have in discerning between good and bad is the
tendency to miss some of the options‖ (Passantino &Passantino, 1991, p.113). Remarkably,
the article that concerns us relies on the all-or-nothing fallacy criticized by the Passantinos.
They suggest, for example, that all who subscribe to a mind-control model believe that
every cult member is completely under mind-control, and totally and always unable to think
for himself or herself.
No responsible researcher or practitioner subscribes to the mind-control model described by
the Passantinos. In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Robert J. Lifton wrote:
Behind this web of semantic ...confusion [regarding the definition of thought
reform] lies an image of ―brainwashing‖ as an all-powerful, irresistible,
unfathomable, and magical method of achieving total control over the human
mind. It is of course none of these things, and this loose usage makes the
word a rallying point for fear, resentment, urges toward submission,
justification for failure, irresponsible accusation, and for a wide gamut of
emotional extremism (1961, p. 4).
In Cults in Our Midst, Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich write:
Thankfully, these [thought reform] programs do not change people
permanently. Nor are they 100 percent effective. Cults are not all alike,
thought reform programs are not all alike, and not everyone exposed to
specific intense influence processes succumbs and follows the group. Some
cults try to defend themselves by saying, in effect, ―See, not everyone joins
or stays, so we must not be using brainwashing techniques.‖ Many recruits do
succumb, however, and the better organized the influence processes used,
the more people will succumb (1995, p. 61).
In an essay entitled ―Persuasive Techniques in Religious Cults,‖ Dr. Louis J. West wrote:
The persuasive techniques used by totalist cults to bind and exploit the
members, while not magical or infallible, are sufficiently powerful and
effective to assure the recruitment of a significant percentage of those
approached, and the retention of a significant percentage of those enlisted.
(1989, p.188).
The Passantinos’ Assumptions of Mind-Control
In a section headed, ―Assumptions of Mind-control,‖ the Passantinos contrast biblical
apologetics with psychological techniques. The authors suggest that postcult recovery
should involve conversion, but that the secular mind-control model concerns itself only with
the recovery of precult personality. These two notions, the biblical and the secular, cannot
be reconciled, according to the Passantinos. They assert that mind-control adherents do
demonstrates that, despite the effectiveness of exit counseling in helping cult members
make a decision to leave their cults, exit counseling does not usually relieve the
psychological distress. This is not surprising because exit counseling is an educational
intervention designed to help clients reevaluate their group involvement, not to ―recover‖
from it. Consequently, a client‘s attending a residential treatment center after exit
counseling reflects not on the exit counseling‘s ineffectiveness, as the Passantinos imply,
but on the psychological needs of the client due to the aftereffects of cult involvement.
Recommending postcult counseling may be considered an ethical obligation of exit
counselors, not a sign of their inadequacy. Moreover, only a small percentage of exit-
counseled clients actually seek out residential postcult treatment.
All-or-Nothing Fallacy
In their book Witch Hunt, under the heading ―It‘s Not Always Either/Or,‖ the Passantinos
state: ―Another problem Christians often have in discerning between good and bad is the
tendency to miss some of the options‖ (Passantino &Passantino, 1991, p.113). Remarkably,
the article that concerns us relies on the all-or-nothing fallacy criticized by the Passantinos.
They suggest, for example, that all who subscribe to a mind-control model believe that
every cult member is completely under mind-control, and totally and always unable to think
for himself or herself.
No responsible researcher or practitioner subscribes to the mind-control model described by
the Passantinos. In Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Robert J. Lifton wrote:
Behind this web of semantic ...confusion [regarding the definition of thought
reform] lies an image of ―brainwashing‖ as an all-powerful, irresistible,
unfathomable, and magical method of achieving total control over the human
mind. It is of course none of these things, and this loose usage makes the
word a rallying point for fear, resentment, urges toward submission,
justification for failure, irresponsible accusation, and for a wide gamut of
emotional extremism (1961, p. 4).
In Cults in Our Midst, Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich write:
Thankfully, these [thought reform] programs do not change people
permanently. Nor are they 100 percent effective. Cults are not all alike,
thought reform programs are not all alike, and not everyone exposed to
specific intense influence processes succumbs and follows the group. Some
cults try to defend themselves by saying, in effect, ―See, not everyone joins
or stays, so we must not be using brainwashing techniques.‖ Many recruits do
succumb, however, and the better organized the influence processes used,
the more people will succumb (1995, p. 61).
In an essay entitled ―Persuasive Techniques in Religious Cults,‖ Dr. Louis J. West wrote:
The persuasive techniques used by totalist cults to bind and exploit the
members, while not magical or infallible, are sufficiently powerful and
effective to assure the recruitment of a significant percentage of those
approached, and the retention of a significant percentage of those enlisted.
(1989, p.188).
The Passantinos’ Assumptions of Mind-Control
In a section headed, ―Assumptions of Mind-control,‖ the Passantinos contrast biblical
apologetics with psychological techniques. The authors suggest that postcult recovery
should involve conversion, but that the secular mind-control model concerns itself only with
the recovery of precult personality. These two notions, the biblical and the secular, cannot
be reconciled, according to the Passantinos. They assert that mind-control adherents do
