Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 78
What Attracts People to USCs? How Can the Underlying Needs be Satisfied in
Healthy Ways?
This handout must be carefully prepared so that it does not appear to accuse the client of
weakness that led to his or her involvement. Instead, the intent is to assist the client in
identifying his or her own needs that motivated their original participation or delayed their
departure. By bringing awareness to these needs, the client may be able to find alternate
means of addressing the needs that still exist, and by doing so, he or she will increase
enjoyment of life. These needs and motivations may include:
Need for community
Need for structure or comfort
Belief in something pure
Participation cleanses personal impurity
Escape from a factor or factors in worldly life
Coercion and fear
Powerlessness, feeling dissociated, lack or suspension of critical thought
Children may have little choice or understanding of having a choice
Other, more ephemeral, motivations may also be included. Many who join USCs have some
degree of spiritual seeking. For those in groups with idealized leaders, the object of spiritual
seeking is made concrete in the embodiment of the teacher. The desire for this intimate
relationship with spirituality, God, or a representative of God is not new or necessarily
pathological. In Psalms (42:2) David said, ―As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so
panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall
I come and appear before God?‖ Another passionate example of the desire for the
experience of God can be found in the writings of Rumi from the Islamic tradition, ―Either
you see the Beloved or you lose your head!‖ (Rumi, p. 11). Many see the desire to see the
face of God as a blessing and path to health.
The presence of faith and community in one‘s life has even been shown to have many and
varied concrete health benefits (Koenig, McCullough &Larson, 2000). Examples can be
included in a handout to balance self-blame clients may hold due to their attraction to
spirituality and religion.
Techniques Used by Groups to Control Thought or Limit Critical Thinking
Singer‘s (1996) formulation of Thought Control has been described above. Shaw (1996)
paraphrases Lifton (1987) in another formulation that includes the following techniques: 1)
control of communication within the environment, 2) intentional deception to make it
appear that the leader has mystical power, 3) demand for purity, 4) required public
confessions, 5) dogmatic principles which are presented as unquestionable truth, 6) use of
simplistic clichés to distort complex concepts and limit critical thinking, 7) inducing
members to believe that doubts of the doctrine are evidence of personal defects or sins and
8) the leaders are the undisputed judges of deviance and deviance is not tolerated.
Additionally, there is a thorough description by Langone included on the reFOCUS website
(1998) under the title ―Deception, Dependency &Dread.‖ While lengthy and possibly more
relevant to communities that would be considered cults, it includes points that are likely to
be common (at least by degree) even for groups that are less extreme.
Again, the information presented in a handout could be balanced with discussion of methods
that may be similar to thought control, but can be used in beneficial ways. For example,
hypnosis, meditation, chanting and ritual are potentially harmful for some individuals and in
some USCs. Simultaneously, these techniques are increasingly incorporated in effective
health care (Emerson &Trexler, 1999 Kabat-Zin, 1990 Bourne, 1995).
What Attracts People to USCs? How Can the Underlying Needs be Satisfied in
Healthy Ways?
This handout must be carefully prepared so that it does not appear to accuse the client of
weakness that led to his or her involvement. Instead, the intent is to assist the client in
identifying his or her own needs that motivated their original participation or delayed their
departure. By bringing awareness to these needs, the client may be able to find alternate
means of addressing the needs that still exist, and by doing so, he or she will increase
enjoyment of life. These needs and motivations may include:
Need for community
Need for structure or comfort
Belief in something pure
Participation cleanses personal impurity
Escape from a factor or factors in worldly life
Coercion and fear
Powerlessness, feeling dissociated, lack or suspension of critical thought
Children may have little choice or understanding of having a choice
Other, more ephemeral, motivations may also be included. Many who join USCs have some
degree of spiritual seeking. For those in groups with idealized leaders, the object of spiritual
seeking is made concrete in the embodiment of the teacher. The desire for this intimate
relationship with spirituality, God, or a representative of God is not new or necessarily
pathological. In Psalms (42:2) David said, ―As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so
panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall
I come and appear before God?‖ Another passionate example of the desire for the
experience of God can be found in the writings of Rumi from the Islamic tradition, ―Either
you see the Beloved or you lose your head!‖ (Rumi, p. 11). Many see the desire to see the
face of God as a blessing and path to health.
The presence of faith and community in one‘s life has even been shown to have many and
varied concrete health benefits (Koenig, McCullough &Larson, 2000). Examples can be
included in a handout to balance self-blame clients may hold due to their attraction to
spirituality and religion.
Techniques Used by Groups to Control Thought or Limit Critical Thinking
Singer‘s (1996) formulation of Thought Control has been described above. Shaw (1996)
paraphrases Lifton (1987) in another formulation that includes the following techniques: 1)
control of communication within the environment, 2) intentional deception to make it
appear that the leader has mystical power, 3) demand for purity, 4) required public
confessions, 5) dogmatic principles which are presented as unquestionable truth, 6) use of
simplistic clichés to distort complex concepts and limit critical thinking, 7) inducing
members to believe that doubts of the doctrine are evidence of personal defects or sins and
8) the leaders are the undisputed judges of deviance and deviance is not tolerated.
Additionally, there is a thorough description by Langone included on the reFOCUS website
(1998) under the title ―Deception, Dependency &Dread.‖ While lengthy and possibly more
relevant to communities that would be considered cults, it includes points that are likely to
be common (at least by degree) even for groups that are less extreme.
Again, the information presented in a handout could be balanced with discussion of methods
that may be similar to thought control, but can be used in beneficial ways. For example,
hypnosis, meditation, chanting and ritual are potentially harmful for some individuals and in
some USCs. Simultaneously, these techniques are increasingly incorporated in effective
health care (Emerson &Trexler, 1999 Kabat-Zin, 1990 Bourne, 1995).
