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Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
undermining of the parental role leaves their children
susceptible to emotional and physical neglect or abuse.
The cult’s control processes, including long hours
of chanting and meditation aimed at achieving
enlightenment, induced dissociation, undermined
members’ critical thinking, and isolated them from
one another. Dissociation also rendered members
amenable to incorporating the leader’s harsh moral
code, enforced on everyone except the two punitive
leaders. Furthermore, the pressure to adapt to this
moral code created a conscience in members that
was severely judgmental of themselves and others,
including children, compelling them to behave in ways
to avoid feelings of badness or shame. The cult induced
a need to be “perfect” and “special” to advance in the
strict cult hierarchy. This demand reinforced members’
desperately anxious nervous systems.
The cult eradicated members’ sense of individuality and
personal agency by asserting that enlightenment is life’s
singular and urgent goal. The belief that each member
had to nurture their awakened kundalini (a dormant
spiritual energy at the base of the spine) created
pressure to strive for this unattainable ideal. These
control mechanisms reshaped members’ personalities
by providing them with a model of ideal behavior to
emulate. This preoccupation precluded them from
focusing on the cult’s troubling aspects.1 Members
invariably failed to achieve the cult’s ideal, and they
mitigated the resulting feelings of unworthiness or
self-disgust by defensively acting superior to others,
thus undermining cult members’ relationships with
everyone except the cult leader.
In the following, the author describes how Anika and
David came to understand the cult dynamics that
influenced their relationship and hindered their ability
to empathize with one another. By examining the impact
of cultic trauma on this mother–son relationship,
this paper will demonstrate how individuals born
and raised in such environments are traumatized by
cult dynamics and how cult trauma is transmitted
across generations. Finally, the paper will examine the
experiences of Anika, her husband, and David as they
left the cult and took steps toward recovery. While other
families may follow different developmental paths, the
1 According to Lifton, there is a “demand for purity” in cults,
and people are pressured to change their beliefs to conform to
the group norm (1961).
author believes that the intergenerational dynamics
experienced by this family are relevant to many cult
families.
A Family Therapy Session
Anika and her husband were members of a support
group co-facilitated by the author and William
Goldberg. She contacted the author requesting a family
therapy session for herself, her husband, David, and his
sister. Anika had become concerned upon discovering
that David viewed her as “cold.” She wished to better
understand David’s perspective. For the first time,
Anika explored with her son the factors that led to
her dissociation and incorporation of the cult belief
system, and David discussed how his mother’s child-
rearing had impacted him. The session concentrated
on the cult dynamics that influenced and interfered
with her parenting and how this had affected David
in particular. During the session, it became clear that
Anika had been a dissociated mother, not a cold one,
and thus, each gained some empathy for the other.
Following the session, the author reflected on how the
phenomenon of parental dissociation negatively affects
children born and raised in cults. She approached
Anika and David about participating in a series of
discussions aimed at developing a paper. Both agreed.
A series of weekly Zoom meetings was held to explore
how the cult influenced their mother–son relationship.
The insights developed in those meetings led to this
paper.
Premises
• Cult-born individuals often suffer trauma from
cult practices that push many parents into
dissociation.
• Dissociated parents become compliant with
leaders’ demands, losing pre-cult inclinations.
• Dissociation hinders self-reflection and a
somatically attuned empathic connection with
their children.
• These factors leave children vulnerable to neglect
and abuse.
Dissociation Defined
“Dissociation refers to the separation of mental
and experiential contents that would normally be
Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
undermining of the parental role leaves their children
susceptible to emotional and physical neglect or abuse.
The cult’s control processes, including long hours
of chanting and meditation aimed at achieving
enlightenment, induced dissociation, undermined
members’ critical thinking, and isolated them from
one another. Dissociation also rendered members
amenable to incorporating the leader’s harsh moral
code, enforced on everyone except the two punitive
leaders. Furthermore, the pressure to adapt to this
moral code created a conscience in members that
was severely judgmental of themselves and others,
including children, compelling them to behave in ways
to avoid feelings of badness or shame. The cult induced
a need to be “perfect” and “special” to advance in the
strict cult hierarchy. This demand reinforced members’
desperately anxious nervous systems.
The cult eradicated members’ sense of individuality and
personal agency by asserting that enlightenment is life’s
singular and urgent goal. The belief that each member
had to nurture their awakened kundalini (a dormant
spiritual energy at the base of the spine) created
pressure to strive for this unattainable ideal. These
control mechanisms reshaped members’ personalities
by providing them with a model of ideal behavior to
emulate. This preoccupation precluded them from
focusing on the cult’s troubling aspects.1 Members
invariably failed to achieve the cult’s ideal, and they
mitigated the resulting feelings of unworthiness or
self-disgust by defensively acting superior to others,
thus undermining cult members’ relationships with
everyone except the cult leader.
In the following, the author describes how Anika and
David came to understand the cult dynamics that
influenced their relationship and hindered their ability
to empathize with one another. By examining the impact
of cultic trauma on this mother–son relationship,
this paper will demonstrate how individuals born
and raised in such environments are traumatized by
cult dynamics and how cult trauma is transmitted
across generations. Finally, the paper will examine the
experiences of Anika, her husband, and David as they
left the cult and took steps toward recovery. While other
families may follow different developmental paths, the
1 According to Lifton, there is a “demand for purity” in cults,
and people are pressured to change their beliefs to conform to
the group norm (1961).
author believes that the intergenerational dynamics
experienced by this family are relevant to many cult
families.
A Family Therapy Session
Anika and her husband were members of a support
group co-facilitated by the author and William
Goldberg. She contacted the author requesting a family
therapy session for herself, her husband, David, and his
sister. Anika had become concerned upon discovering
that David viewed her as “cold.” She wished to better
understand David’s perspective. For the first time,
Anika explored with her son the factors that led to
her dissociation and incorporation of the cult belief
system, and David discussed how his mother’s child-
rearing had impacted him. The session concentrated
on the cult dynamics that influenced and interfered
with her parenting and how this had affected David
in particular. During the session, it became clear that
Anika had been a dissociated mother, not a cold one,
and thus, each gained some empathy for the other.
Following the session, the author reflected on how the
phenomenon of parental dissociation negatively affects
children born and raised in cults. She approached
Anika and David about participating in a series of
discussions aimed at developing a paper. Both agreed.
A series of weekly Zoom meetings was held to explore
how the cult influenced their mother–son relationship.
The insights developed in those meetings led to this
paper.
Premises
• Cult-born individuals often suffer trauma from
cult practices that push many parents into
dissociation.
• Dissociated parents become compliant with
leaders’ demands, losing pre-cult inclinations.
• Dissociation hinders self-reflection and a
somatically attuned empathic connection with
their children.
• These factors leave children vulnerable to neglect
and abuse.
Dissociation Defined
“Dissociation refers to the separation of mental
and experiential contents that would normally be
