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Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
that relationships were hierarchical. They observed
nonverbal cues and markers of cult power and authority,
noting who received more attention or gifts from the
leader, who sat closer to the leader in programs and
audiences, who was invited into the leader’s private
apartments, and so on.
Anika’s keen awareness of status was, in turn, adopted
by her son. David reports that, to defend against
feelings of “smallness” or powerlessness, children in
cults anxiously strive to rise in the hierarchy by being
closer to the leader and the cult’s ideals than their
peers. Children whom the leader currently favored
became a desirable clique to belong to. Being closer to
these children or these children’s parents was viewed as
favorable and might lead to further favor from the cult
leader, which led to transactional relations between
children and adults.
David was determined never to find himself in a
“lower” position, accompanied by feelings of shame
and worthlessness. Attempting to boost his self-esteem,
he reminded himself that his grandparents were long-
time respected members with elevated positions in
the cult. As a result of his early indoctrination, David
felt he had no close friends because he was constantly
jockeying with his peers for an elevated position. He
attended school outside the cult after his family left the
residential facility, though the family continued as cult
members. David sought out friends who were passive
or insecure, among whom he could be dominant by
appearing confident and sure of himself. This behavior
was his attempt to preemptively retain a “higher”
position in his relationships, which lacked empathy.
Sexuality as Hindrance to Enlightenment
In contrast to the leader’s sexual behavior, he
undermined intimacy between members. Sex was
considered a distraction from the goal of enlightenment,
which was one way the cult undermined intimacy
between members. Following the cult’s dictates,
Anika’s parents began to abstain from sex and to sleep
in separate beds in their city apartment. Anika’s mother
started to wear only yellow clothing, which signified a
commitment to refrain from sex.
As a child, Anika was confused about why her parents
began to sleep separately and wondered if there
was something wrong with their marriage. As they
navigated life in the city, Anika was embarrassed by
her mother’s yellow clothing and long skirts and her
habit of wearing her hair in a bun and placing a bindi
between her eyebrows to represent the inner-seeing
third eye. To a young girl and then a teenager, these
behaviors modeled a confusing relationship to sexual
normalcy.
Harsh Moral Voice Reinforced by Identification with
Aggressor
Cult processes induce adult members to regress,
feeling like children, and seeing their cult leader as a
parental figure. In addition to cult control mechanisms,
Ferenczi’s concept of “identification with the aggressor”
further explains how cult members respond to their
abuser.
[T]he aggressor disappears as part of external
reality and becomes intra—as opposed to
extra—psychic the intra-psychic is
then subjected, in a dream-like state, as is the
traumatic trance, to the primary process.... In
any case, the attack as a rigid external reality
ceases to exist and in the traumatic trance the
child succeeds in maintaining the previous
situation of tenderness .(Ferenczi, 1933, p. 162)
That is, cult members give up their sense of self
and completely submit. In doing so, they become
hypervigilant to the feelings (and demands) of the cult
leader, lose touch with their emotions, and, instead,
identify with the emotions of the cult leader, taking the
blame for being abused.
Impact of Cult Dissociation on Parenting and
Children
Shortly after her family’s cult affiliation, eight-year-
old Anika felt abandoned when her mother chose to
travel to India twice for several months. To cope with
her devastating sadness and the anxiety brought on by
the recurring loss of her mother, Anika now recognizes
how she protected herself by dissociating from her
overwhelming emotions. This early experience of
periodic abandonment resulted in a fear throughout
her life of abandonment by others. The experience of
being abandoned by her mother was re-experienced
Lorna Goldberg |Intergenerational Transmission of Cult Trauma
that relationships were hierarchical. They observed
nonverbal cues and markers of cult power and authority,
noting who received more attention or gifts from the
leader, who sat closer to the leader in programs and
audiences, who was invited into the leader’s private
apartments, and so on.
Anika’s keen awareness of status was, in turn, adopted
by her son. David reports that, to defend against
feelings of “smallness” or powerlessness, children in
cults anxiously strive to rise in the hierarchy by being
closer to the leader and the cult’s ideals than their
peers. Children whom the leader currently favored
became a desirable clique to belong to. Being closer to
these children or these children’s parents was viewed as
favorable and might lead to further favor from the cult
leader, which led to transactional relations between
children and adults.
David was determined never to find himself in a
“lower” position, accompanied by feelings of shame
and worthlessness. Attempting to boost his self-esteem,
he reminded himself that his grandparents were long-
time respected members with elevated positions in
the cult. As a result of his early indoctrination, David
felt he had no close friends because he was constantly
jockeying with his peers for an elevated position. He
attended school outside the cult after his family left the
residential facility, though the family continued as cult
members. David sought out friends who were passive
or insecure, among whom he could be dominant by
appearing confident and sure of himself. This behavior
was his attempt to preemptively retain a “higher”
position in his relationships, which lacked empathy.
Sexuality as Hindrance to Enlightenment
In contrast to the leader’s sexual behavior, he
undermined intimacy between members. Sex was
considered a distraction from the goal of enlightenment,
which was one way the cult undermined intimacy
between members. Following the cult’s dictates,
Anika’s parents began to abstain from sex and to sleep
in separate beds in their city apartment. Anika’s mother
started to wear only yellow clothing, which signified a
commitment to refrain from sex.
As a child, Anika was confused about why her parents
began to sleep separately and wondered if there
was something wrong with their marriage. As they
navigated life in the city, Anika was embarrassed by
her mother’s yellow clothing and long skirts and her
habit of wearing her hair in a bun and placing a bindi
between her eyebrows to represent the inner-seeing
third eye. To a young girl and then a teenager, these
behaviors modeled a confusing relationship to sexual
normalcy.
Harsh Moral Voice Reinforced by Identification with
Aggressor
Cult processes induce adult members to regress,
feeling like children, and seeing their cult leader as a
parental figure. In addition to cult control mechanisms,
Ferenczi’s concept of “identification with the aggressor”
further explains how cult members respond to their
abuser.
[T]he aggressor disappears as part of external
reality and becomes intra—as opposed to
extra—psychic the intra-psychic is
then subjected, in a dream-like state, as is the
traumatic trance, to the primary process.... In
any case, the attack as a rigid external reality
ceases to exist and in the traumatic trance the
child succeeds in maintaining the previous
situation of tenderness .(Ferenczi, 1933, p. 162)
That is, cult members give up their sense of self
and completely submit. In doing so, they become
hypervigilant to the feelings (and demands) of the cult
leader, lose touch with their emotions, and, instead,
identify with the emotions of the cult leader, taking the
blame for being abused.
Impact of Cult Dissociation on Parenting and
Children
Shortly after her family’s cult affiliation, eight-year-
old Anika felt abandoned when her mother chose to
travel to India twice for several months. To cope with
her devastating sadness and the anxiety brought on by
the recurring loss of her mother, Anika now recognizes
how she protected herself by dissociating from her
overwhelming emotions. This early experience of
periodic abandonment resulted in a fear throughout
her life of abandonment by others. The experience of
being abandoned by her mother was re-experienced
