5 VOLUME 6 |ISSUE 2 |2015
The Intervention Specialist’s Approach
By Joseph Szimhart
This presentation is about an intervention case with someone
who was not a member of a cultic group, but whose
experience and issues illustrate those that former members
and their families face. The case is a useful example of why
a cult interventionist should have not only a solid grasp and
definition of harmful cult behavior, but also an adequate grasp
of mental disorders and how to recognize and treat them.
My flexible model of a harmful cult has four basic elements:
a) Transpersonal attraction. Attractive devotional systems are
easy to get into but may be hard to leave. New recruits tend
to say things like I was filled with the Holy Spirit for days I knew
then that I found the truth I feel these are the most spiritual
people I ever met I felt like I was transported to another world
or it just felt right and I wanted to know more. A transpersonal
attraction is simply something that draws you to grow
beyond your limits, to become transcendent.
b) Exclusive leadership. After the ecstasy or deep insight, a
new recruit invariably turns to the environment in which
the experience happened for support, explanation, and
direction. Followers point to the leader as the ultimate
guide, but a subleader, personal spiritual friend, or “discipler”
might be the immediate teacher. A special relationship
develops. No one outside the group is good enough or
as reliable. Elitism filters into the recruit’s attitude, which
includes rejection of any challenges to the leader or the
devotional system.
c) Circular tension. An orbit of devotion sets in. The recruit feels
momentum at first, as if making progress, but soon finds
limits. Progress levels out. The recruit falls in line. Challenges
to leadership or questions about the group cause tension,
and to avoid tension, the recruit stays in place, orbiting the
foundation myth and following the leader’s suggestions by
sustaining daily rituals and continuing to sustain self-control
in behavioral, intellectual, emotional, financial, and physical
ways.
d) Exit perils. Anything outside the elite group milieu is tainted,
contaminated, ignorant, dangerous, or evil. Any member
who defects will encounter “exit costs,” which could be loss
of personal salvation or the best chance to serve humanity.
A defector risks becoming one of the lost and might be
shunned. The transcendent protection from disease, insanity,
corruption, failure, or evil will cease. Material investments
and community support may be lost, but the worst peril lies
in facing the anxious struggle to rediscover identity.
This 1991 case involved a 22-year-old woman whom I will call
Connie. She flew home in a psychotic state to Nebraska from
a Native American festival in Arizona. A concerned festival
attendee alerted Connie’s mother that he and others had put
Connie on a plane. A flight attendant sat with Connie the entire
way. By the time Connie got home, she withdrew into her
bedroom and remained there for 2 weeks, saying and eating
little, not seeming to care.
Her mother teased out that Connie believed she was inhabited
by someone called Lily, and that this entity or spirit was the
same spirit introduced by the popular New Age author, Ruth
Montgomery, especially in her 1986 memoir, Herald of the New
Age. Connie’s mother was deeply concerned because Connie
had no history of a mental breakdown before the festival. The
mother listed many books in Connie’s room that revealed her
deep interest in New Age pursuits, especially books by Carlos
Castaneda, Ruth Montgomery, Edgar Cayce, Paramahansa
Yogananda, José Arguélles, Alice A. Bailey, and the psychic
healer Barbara Brennan—with all of which I was familiar.
Days before contacting me, Connie’s mother, an evangelical
Christian, wondered whether a demon had taken over her
daughter. Her local minister interviewed Connie. He concluded
it was probably a cult or mental disturbance and suggested
psychological evaluation and therapy. Connie adamantly
refused to see a mental-health professional, insisting, “I am not
crazy.” She did not meet criteria for involuntary commitment.
Connie’s mother was referred to me through a local cult-
awareness worker. I agreed to meet with Connie, knowing that
we had no evidence that this was a typical cult case: There was
no identified group or leader, no devotional behavior, no hard
exit costs, and only a personal obsession with some New Age
authors. My intervention goals would be to help evaluate her
mental status, diffuse her dependence on delusional New Age
ideas, and encourage her to seek treatment.
Connie had one younger brother, age 20, who would be of
some help introducing me. Connie’s father was an alcoholic
who had never sought treatment. The mother would be my
main support throughout the intervention. I met with the
father in the living area before I met Connie, and before he
started drinking that day. He was a pleasant man but clearly
insecure. He readily agreed that his presence would be
counterproductive.
When I first met Connie in the family kitchen, she appeared
visibly depressed with a flat affect—her eye contact was poor
and she appeared distracted. She showed some emotion when
I told her I had a degree in fine arts and that I was a practicing
artist. One of the things I did during the first few hours with
her, at her request, was to quickly sketch her image in pencil.
She liked it and probably has it to this day. She also began
trusting my familiarity with the spiritual books she read. I was
not critical of anything at this initial stage.
Connie told me that she had attended the powwow as a way to
transformation after she had read a book by Carlos Castaneda.
Soon after arrival, she fell in with a friendly group that invited
her to a drumming and chanting circle. During a climactic
bonfire event on the third day, she danced with others around
the fire. When she told some of them she felt she could be
…a cult interventionist should
have not only a solid grasp …
of harmful cult behavior, but
also … of mental disorders…
The Intervention Specialist’s Approach
By Joseph Szimhart
This presentation is about an intervention case with someone
who was not a member of a cultic group, but whose
experience and issues illustrate those that former members
and their families face. The case is a useful example of why
a cult interventionist should have not only a solid grasp and
definition of harmful cult behavior, but also an adequate grasp
of mental disorders and how to recognize and treat them.
My flexible model of a harmful cult has four basic elements:
a) Transpersonal attraction. Attractive devotional systems are
easy to get into but may be hard to leave. New recruits tend
to say things like I was filled with the Holy Spirit for days I knew
then that I found the truth I feel these are the most spiritual
people I ever met I felt like I was transported to another world
or it just felt right and I wanted to know more. A transpersonal
attraction is simply something that draws you to grow
beyond your limits, to become transcendent.
b) Exclusive leadership. After the ecstasy or deep insight, a
new recruit invariably turns to the environment in which
the experience happened for support, explanation, and
direction. Followers point to the leader as the ultimate
guide, but a subleader, personal spiritual friend, or “discipler”
might be the immediate teacher. A special relationship
develops. No one outside the group is good enough or
as reliable. Elitism filters into the recruit’s attitude, which
includes rejection of any challenges to the leader or the
devotional system.
c) Circular tension. An orbit of devotion sets in. The recruit feels
momentum at first, as if making progress, but soon finds
limits. Progress levels out. The recruit falls in line. Challenges
to leadership or questions about the group cause tension,
and to avoid tension, the recruit stays in place, orbiting the
foundation myth and following the leader’s suggestions by
sustaining daily rituals and continuing to sustain self-control
in behavioral, intellectual, emotional, financial, and physical
ways.
d) Exit perils. Anything outside the elite group milieu is tainted,
contaminated, ignorant, dangerous, or evil. Any member
who defects will encounter “exit costs,” which could be loss
of personal salvation or the best chance to serve humanity.
A defector risks becoming one of the lost and might be
shunned. The transcendent protection from disease, insanity,
corruption, failure, or evil will cease. Material investments
and community support may be lost, but the worst peril lies
in facing the anxious struggle to rediscover identity.
This 1991 case involved a 22-year-old woman whom I will call
Connie. She flew home in a psychotic state to Nebraska from
a Native American festival in Arizona. A concerned festival
attendee alerted Connie’s mother that he and others had put
Connie on a plane. A flight attendant sat with Connie the entire
way. By the time Connie got home, she withdrew into her
bedroom and remained there for 2 weeks, saying and eating
little, not seeming to care.
Her mother teased out that Connie believed she was inhabited
by someone called Lily, and that this entity or spirit was the
same spirit introduced by the popular New Age author, Ruth
Montgomery, especially in her 1986 memoir, Herald of the New
Age. Connie’s mother was deeply concerned because Connie
had no history of a mental breakdown before the festival. The
mother listed many books in Connie’s room that revealed her
deep interest in New Age pursuits, especially books by Carlos
Castaneda, Ruth Montgomery, Edgar Cayce, Paramahansa
Yogananda, José Arguélles, Alice A. Bailey, and the psychic
healer Barbara Brennan—with all of which I was familiar.
Days before contacting me, Connie’s mother, an evangelical
Christian, wondered whether a demon had taken over her
daughter. Her local minister interviewed Connie. He concluded
it was probably a cult or mental disturbance and suggested
psychological evaluation and therapy. Connie adamantly
refused to see a mental-health professional, insisting, “I am not
crazy.” She did not meet criteria for involuntary commitment.
Connie’s mother was referred to me through a local cult-
awareness worker. I agreed to meet with Connie, knowing that
we had no evidence that this was a typical cult case: There was
no identified group or leader, no devotional behavior, no hard
exit costs, and only a personal obsession with some New Age
authors. My intervention goals would be to help evaluate her
mental status, diffuse her dependence on delusional New Age
ideas, and encourage her to seek treatment.
Connie had one younger brother, age 20, who would be of
some help introducing me. Connie’s father was an alcoholic
who had never sought treatment. The mother would be my
main support throughout the intervention. I met with the
father in the living area before I met Connie, and before he
started drinking that day. He was a pleasant man but clearly
insecure. He readily agreed that his presence would be
counterproductive.
When I first met Connie in the family kitchen, she appeared
visibly depressed with a flat affect—her eye contact was poor
and she appeared distracted. She showed some emotion when
I told her I had a degree in fine arts and that I was a practicing
artist. One of the things I did during the first few hours with
her, at her request, was to quickly sketch her image in pencil.
She liked it and probably has it to this day. She also began
trusting my familiarity with the spiritual books she read. I was
not critical of anything at this initial stage.
Connie told me that she had attended the powwow as a way to
transformation after she had read a book by Carlos Castaneda.
Soon after arrival, she fell in with a friendly group that invited
her to a drumming and chanting circle. During a climactic
bonfire event on the third day, she danced with others around
the fire. When she told some of them she felt she could be
…a cult interventionist should
have not only a solid grasp …
of harmful cult behavior, but
also … of mental disorders…
