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 The expectation that a large proportion of personal time will be allocated to cult related
activities.
Environmental control also characterizes abusive political systems, such as that found in
Communist China in the 1950s (Lifton, 1961 Schein, Schneier, &Barker, 1961). Although
Lifton's notion of ―thought reform‖ referred to high-control processes used on Chinese
civilians as well as on American POWs, the term ―brainwashing‖ is sometimes used only to
describe what American pilots experienced upon capture by the Communists. The term is
used somewhat flippantly these days to describe almost any process of coercion or control.
However, the ―original‖ brainwashing involved severe physical deprivation and torture.
While there are some parallels between domestic violence and brainwashing such as
intermittent psychological and physical abuse, Romero (1985) lists some important
distinctions:
 An unknown enemy abused POWs. Victims of domestic violence share an intimate
relationship with their partner, and as such, sexual abuse is common, whereas there
was none reported in the former.
 The Chinese Communists had a specific goal, namely, ideological change. Domestic
violence perpetrators have no goal per se in the control of their partners.
 Because the Communists' goal was ideological change, there was a system of rewards
for right belief. For the battered woman, there is no reward she cannot accept a new
ideology and then be set free.
Upon release, a number of POWs held on to the enforced political beliefs, though only for a
time. In a new environment where critical thinking was allowed, any residue of political
belief gradually dissipated. This mirrors domestic violence and present-day cultic systems,
in that once the individual leaves the immediate environment, the traumatic effects
gradually weaken. In other words, the behavioral and attitude changes that cult members
experience are environment-dependent:
Once removed from such an environment, the person is able to interact with
others who permit and encourage the expression of criticisms and doubts,
which were previously stifled because of the normative rules of the reform
environment. (Ofshe, 1992, p.214).
Similarly, those women who can leave the abusive partner tend to be able to reverse their
learned helplessness, in contrast to those who stay and try to change the partner (Walker
1978). This highlights the importance of watching for a ―window of opportunity‖ when
dealing with a current victim of domestic violence or a current member of a toxic group.
The Sense of Self is Broken
Another parallel process that the author has noted is the thought-reforming environment's
effect on the sense of self. Ex-members of destructive groups and survivors of violence have
described the experience as a ―rape of the soul,‖ which leaves them feeling like an ―empty
shell with nothing inside.‖ Given that abusive systems attempt to mold central elements of
self, such as worldview, ego, and basic defenses (Ofshe &Singer, 1986), it should come as
no surprise to hear experiences of self-fragmentation. Schein et al. (1961) described a
tripartite process in their work with POWs:
Unfreezing – refers to the initial destabilizing of self through sleep deprivation, poor diet,
threats, degradation, etc. Before the POW could confess allegiance to Communist ideology,
previous alliances had to be severed or reinterpreted. As a violation of one‘s beliefs and the
desire to maintain internal consistency and integration collided, the sense of identity
fragmented.

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 37
Changing – once destabilized, the individual needed to restore equilibrium. The induced
―identity crisis‖ was resolved through the acceptance of new beliefs and attitudes. The
prisoner searched the environment and found a new identity in the cellmates and
interrogators.
Refreezing – the new belief system had to be constantly reinforced. As the sense of self is
largely constructed via our interactions with others, the Communist interrogators demanded
the constant reading of propaganda, competition between cellmates to excel in the study of
materials, etc. The individual was thus ―reborn‖ and his new identity nurtured and
rewarded.
The results ―brainwashing‖ were mixed rarely did former prisoners retain Communist
sympathies for long upon release. Their changed behavior was environment-dependent.
We see, then, the following important similarities between victims of thought reform
(whether prisoners of war or cult members) and domestic violence:
 A destabilizing of self
 An instillation of new beliefs about self and the world
 An environment that reinforces the new beliefs and a tendency to return to the previous
self once out of the controlling environment (although the process may take years).
A significant body of literature suggests that victims of prolonged emotional and
psychological coercion, such as outlined above, undergo a personality transformation to
cope with the self-fragmentation (Herman, 1992 Cushman, 1986 Boulette &Anderson,
1985). West and Martin (1994) use the term ―pseudo-identity‖ to describe this effect. Other
terms, such as ―identification with the aggressor‖ and ―Stockholm syndrome‖ have been
used to represent that radical transformation of personality in the face of overwhelming
trauma. In the domestic violence literature the ―battered woman syndrome‖ has been put
forth as a regularly recognizable set of symptoms that are produced by a violent, controlling
environment (Walker, 1993).
Is a domestic violence milieu a cult? If one defines a cult in behavioral terms, as I have, the
answer is ―yes,‖ and it is appropriate to call battered relationships ―cultic relationships.‖
Moreover, other ―nondomestic‖ relationships may be cultic in their dynamics, e.g.,
psychotherapy cults (Singer, Langone, &Temerlin, 1991).
A colleague recently asked if cults are patriarchal. Many do run along patriarchal lines and
research suggests that the majority of victims are female (see, for example, Chambers et
al., 1994, which found that 64% of members were female). While this aspect of the issue
deserves a paper in its own right, it is noteworthy that many of the power relations that
women experience in wider society are mirrored in the cultic systems we have discussed
here. Although I have here highlighted the environmental and psychological aspects of the
phenomenon, I reiterate the importance of including a political lens in addressing the
problem. The parallels I have drawn in this paper do have limitations, and in both the
domestic violence literature (Rhodes &McKenzie, 1998) and the cult literature (Zablocki,
1997), there debate continues.
Implications for Therapy
I have found three parallel issues that need to be addressed by both victims of relational
violence and cultic abuse (Ward, 2000):
Concept of Self
As previously mentioned, cultic relationships attempt to modify that part of us we call ―self.‖
Largely molded by our interactions with others and the immediate environment during our