3 VOLUME 8 |ISSUE 3 |2017
reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed
in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes,
values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships.
While sexuality can include all of these dimensions,
not all of them are always experienced or expressed.
Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of
biological, psychological, social, economic, political,
cultural, legal, historical, religious and spiritual
factors….
Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental
and social well-being in relation to sexuality it is
not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction
or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive
and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual
relationships, as well as the possibility of having
pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of
coercion, discrimination and violence…. (WHO, 2002)
For me, sex positivity incorporates the WHO definition and
guides my work. The starting point in my work is always
that sex is good and healthy, and has multiple purposes and
meanings. I seek to assist my clients in developing their own,
independent set of attitudes, values, and meanings I believe
it is vital that therapists provide a great deal of nonjudgmental
space within which clients can explore their sexualities along
with the influence their cultic experiences may or may not
have had on them. n
About the Author
Steve K. D. Eichel, PhD, ABPP, CST, ICSA
President, is Past-President of the American
Academy of Counseling Psychology and
the Greater Philadelphia Society of Clinical
Hypnosis. He is a licensed and Board-
certified counseling psychologist and
certified sex therapist whose involvement
in cultic studies began with a participant-
observation study of Unification Church training in its
Eastern seminary (in Barrytown, NY) in the spring of 1975.
His doctoral dissertation to date remains the only intensive,
quantified observation of a deprogramming. He was honored
with AFF’s 1990 John G. Clark Award for Distinguished
Scholarship in Cultic Studies for this study, which was
published as a special issue of the Cultic Studies Journal and
has been translated into several foreign languages. In 1983,
along with Dr. Linda Dubrow-Marshall and clinical social
worker Roberta Eisenberg, Dr. Eichel founded the Re-Entry
Therapy, Information &Referral Network (RETIRN), one of the
field’s oldest continuing private providers of psychological
services to families and individuals harmed by cultic practices.
RETIRN currently has offices in Newark, DE, Lansdowne, PA,
Pontypridd, Wales, and Buxton, England (UK). In addition to
his psychology practice and his involvement with ICSA, Dr.
Eichel is active in a range of professional associations. He has
coauthored several articles and book reviews on cult-related
topics for the CSJ/CSR. n
Notes
[1] “Less judgment, more curiosity” is from a bumper sticker
that is popular among members of the American Academy
of Psychotherapists.
[2] The exception is sex offenses, such as the sexual
engagement of children or minors. Most states and
jurisdictions mandate that such behaviors be reported, and
I always mention that requirement in my standard first-
session discussion of the limits of confidentiality.
[3] I am changing identifying information to protect the client’s
privacy.
[4] For a variety of reasons, I eschew the term sexual addiction
in favor of more accurate terms, such as compulsive sexual
behavior, hypersexuality, or even sexual compulsivity.
[5] I am highly ambivalent about this law as it pertains to past
sexual exploitation because I believe it is potentially harmful
to my current client for reasons that are too complex to
discuss in this article.
[6] The term gaslighting refers to a film noir about a husband
who develops and carries out a plan to make his wife
believe she is going insane, in order to ultimately get her to
commit suicide so he can inherit her wealth. In general, the
term refers to manipulating another by psychological means
to cause that person to question her own sanity.
References
Dubrow-Eichel, S., &Dubrow-Eichel, L. (1988). Trouble in
paradise: Some observations on psychotherapy with new
agers. Cultic Studies Journal, 5, 177–192.
Eichel, S. (2002). Saying good-bye to the guru: Brief intermittent
developmental therapy with a young adult in a high demand
group. In S. Cooper (Ed.), Casebook of brief psychotherapy with
college students (pp. 153–170). Binghamton, NY: Haworth.
Eichel. S. (2014, Spring). A sex therapy odyssey. Voices: The Art
and Science of Psychotherapy, 181, 5–12.
Eichel, S. (2016). Counseling former cultists: The brief
intermittent developmental therapy (BIDT) approach.
International Journal of Cultic Studies, 7, 1–14.
Hunt, N. (2016). A review of the evidence-base for harm reduction
approaches to drug use. Retrieved from https://www.hri.global/
files/2010/05/31/HIVTop50Documents11.pdf
Walters-Broadway, L. (2012). Effects of trauma on brain
function on women and children: Trauma informed practice
for advanced clinicians. Proceedings of the trauma and VAW
work symposium. Anselma House: Kitchener, Ontario. Retrieved
from http://vawforum-cwr.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/
proceedings_of_the_trauma_and_vaw_work_symposium_
june_15_2012.pdf, pp. 2–3.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2002, January). Defining
sexual health. Report of a technical consultation on sexual health
(pp. 28–31). Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.
reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed
in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes,
values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships.
While sexuality can include all of these dimensions,
not all of them are always experienced or expressed.
Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of
biological, psychological, social, economic, political,
cultural, legal, historical, religious and spiritual
factors….
Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental
and social well-being in relation to sexuality it is
not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction
or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive
and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual
relationships, as well as the possibility of having
pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of
coercion, discrimination and violence…. (WHO, 2002)
For me, sex positivity incorporates the WHO definition and
guides my work. The starting point in my work is always
that sex is good and healthy, and has multiple purposes and
meanings. I seek to assist my clients in developing their own,
independent set of attitudes, values, and meanings I believe
it is vital that therapists provide a great deal of nonjudgmental
space within which clients can explore their sexualities along
with the influence their cultic experiences may or may not
have had on them. n
About the Author
Steve K. D. Eichel, PhD, ABPP, CST, ICSA
President, is Past-President of the American
Academy of Counseling Psychology and
the Greater Philadelphia Society of Clinical
Hypnosis. He is a licensed and Board-
certified counseling psychologist and
certified sex therapist whose involvement
in cultic studies began with a participant-
observation study of Unification Church training in its
Eastern seminary (in Barrytown, NY) in the spring of 1975.
His doctoral dissertation to date remains the only intensive,
quantified observation of a deprogramming. He was honored
with AFF’s 1990 John G. Clark Award for Distinguished
Scholarship in Cultic Studies for this study, which was
published as a special issue of the Cultic Studies Journal and
has been translated into several foreign languages. In 1983,
along with Dr. Linda Dubrow-Marshall and clinical social
worker Roberta Eisenberg, Dr. Eichel founded the Re-Entry
Therapy, Information &Referral Network (RETIRN), one of the
field’s oldest continuing private providers of psychological
services to families and individuals harmed by cultic practices.
RETIRN currently has offices in Newark, DE, Lansdowne, PA,
Pontypridd, Wales, and Buxton, England (UK). In addition to
his psychology practice and his involvement with ICSA, Dr.
Eichel is active in a range of professional associations. He has
coauthored several articles and book reviews on cult-related
topics for the CSJ/CSR. n
Notes
[1] “Less judgment, more curiosity” is from a bumper sticker
that is popular among members of the American Academy
of Psychotherapists.
[2] The exception is sex offenses, such as the sexual
engagement of children or minors. Most states and
jurisdictions mandate that such behaviors be reported, and
I always mention that requirement in my standard first-
session discussion of the limits of confidentiality.
[3] I am changing identifying information to protect the client’s
privacy.
[4] For a variety of reasons, I eschew the term sexual addiction
in favor of more accurate terms, such as compulsive sexual
behavior, hypersexuality, or even sexual compulsivity.
[5] I am highly ambivalent about this law as it pertains to past
sexual exploitation because I believe it is potentially harmful
to my current client for reasons that are too complex to
discuss in this article.
[6] The term gaslighting refers to a film noir about a husband
who develops and carries out a plan to make his wife
believe she is going insane, in order to ultimately get her to
commit suicide so he can inherit her wealth. In general, the
term refers to manipulating another by psychological means
to cause that person to question her own sanity.
References
Dubrow-Eichel, S., &Dubrow-Eichel, L. (1988). Trouble in
paradise: Some observations on psychotherapy with new
agers. Cultic Studies Journal, 5, 177–192.
Eichel, S. (2002). Saying good-bye to the guru: Brief intermittent
developmental therapy with a young adult in a high demand
group. In S. Cooper (Ed.), Casebook of brief psychotherapy with
college students (pp. 153–170). Binghamton, NY: Haworth.
Eichel. S. (2014, Spring). A sex therapy odyssey. Voices: The Art
and Science of Psychotherapy, 181, 5–12.
Eichel, S. (2016). Counseling former cultists: The brief
intermittent developmental therapy (BIDT) approach.
International Journal of Cultic Studies, 7, 1–14.
Hunt, N. (2016). A review of the evidence-base for harm reduction
approaches to drug use. Retrieved from https://www.hri.global/
files/2010/05/31/HIVTop50Documents11.pdf
Walters-Broadway, L. (2012). Effects of trauma on brain
function on women and children: Trauma informed practice
for advanced clinicians. Proceedings of the trauma and VAW
work symposium. Anselma House: Kitchener, Ontario. Retrieved
from http://vawforum-cwr.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/
proceedings_of_the_trauma_and_vaw_work_symposium_
june_15_2012.pdf, pp. 2–3.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2002, January). Defining
sexual health. Report of a technical consultation on sexual health
(pp. 28–31). Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.
