International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9 2026 128
when Anika’s mother became increasingly focused on
proselytizing the cult message, managing cult affairs,
and establishing herself as a senior figure within the
cult. This lack of attention increased Anika’s sense of
distance from her mother. It reinforced feelings of
abandonment as her mother’s focus turned to nurturing
the cult and cult members rather than Anika.
Anika existed in an almost constant dissociative
state because of cult trauma, intensive chanting and
meditation, and her focus on anxiously striving to
meet the cult’s goals. Therefore, when she became a
mother, Anika’s primary focus on pleasing her leader
interfered with her ability to center on her son, David.
This dynamic blocked her from the possibility of
emotionally connecting to her baby through soothing
responses. Anika was unable to show the right-brain-
to-right-brain response of empathy and soothing
(Shore, 2001 Shore, 2011) despite her conscious desire
to be a present mother to her son. Instead, she became
anxious, hypervigilant, and constantly diligent in
adhering to the cult’s harsh rules set by the cult leader
(i.e., left-brain behavior).
When she became a mother, Anika vowed not to
abandon her child as her mother had abandoned
her. Since she remembered her sadness about her
abandonment, she remained physically close to David.
She believed that by being physically present, she was
protecting him from the experience of maternal loss.
However, due to her dissociated state and anxious need
to center her attention on the leader, she emotionally
abandoned David instead of providing him with
nonverbal empathic responses when comfort was
needed. Thus, David experienced her as cold, receiving
the same abandonment messages Anika had received
in childhood. Moreover, as with his mother, David
dissociated from overwhelming feelings of distress in
an attempt to reach a state of calm.
Beebe (2014), researching mother-child interactions,
hypothesized that early dissociative experiences of
not being “sensed, met, known, and recognized,
particularly in times of distress, can lead to dissociative
experiences during distress in later life” (p. 62-63).
Schore (2011) emphasizes the centrality of the right
brain structures, which are the implicit, unconscious,
and emotion-processing modes of communication that
dominate human experience. In moving contemporary
theory from its traditional emphasis on “left-brain”
verbal and cognitive processes to “right-brain”
emotional and relational processes, he recognizes the
importance of embodied and somatic states. Implicit,
nonverbal, psychobiological communication processes
occur in the earliest interactions between the mother
and child. These right-brain-to-right-brain processes
include facial, auditory, tactile, and “emotionally
charged attachment communications” (p. 79). Schore
(2011) explains that in forming an attachment
bond through somatically expressed emotional
communication, the mother needs to synchronize and
resonate with the infant’s arousal levels of negative
and positive states. Implicit communication from the
mother enables the baby to feel acknowledged and
understood. Schore (2011) discusses the potential for
intergenerational transmission of attachment trauma-
related difficulties with self-regulation when this
implicit positive communication fails to occur.
Bowlby (1965) describes the primary need for a child to
have a secure base that establishes secure attachment,
which is related to later social development. These
early relational patterns become internalized and set
the stage for later patterns of relating to others.
According to Ainsworth (1967), attachment is built
into the nervous system through interactions with
the mother. Healthy attachment develops from dyadic
(interactive) regulation (Sroufe, 1996). Regulated
interactions create a sense of safety and curiosity in the
baby. Healthy attachment influences not only outward
behavior but also internal states.
Trauma is linked to compromised attachment. In
exploring this observation, Salberg (2015) points out,
Attachment is the oxygen of our emotional
lives, serving to create a feeling of safety and
security, allowing us to learn how to be socially
human and operationally teaching us how
to self-regulate our affective lives. It is because
of attachment’s primal aspect in our psyches
that trauma and its impact constitute massive
disruption and disorganization of the parent-
child bonding system. When trauma revisits
us transgenerationally through disrupted
attachment patterns, it is within the child’s
when Anika’s mother became increasingly focused on
proselytizing the cult message, managing cult affairs,
and establishing herself as a senior figure within the
cult. This lack of attention increased Anika’s sense of
distance from her mother. It reinforced feelings of
abandonment as her mother’s focus turned to nurturing
the cult and cult members rather than Anika.
Anika existed in an almost constant dissociative
state because of cult trauma, intensive chanting and
meditation, and her focus on anxiously striving to
meet the cult’s goals. Therefore, when she became a
mother, Anika’s primary focus on pleasing her leader
interfered with her ability to center on her son, David.
This dynamic blocked her from the possibility of
emotionally connecting to her baby through soothing
responses. Anika was unable to show the right-brain-
to-right-brain response of empathy and soothing
(Shore, 2001 Shore, 2011) despite her conscious desire
to be a present mother to her son. Instead, she became
anxious, hypervigilant, and constantly diligent in
adhering to the cult’s harsh rules set by the cult leader
(i.e., left-brain behavior).
When she became a mother, Anika vowed not to
abandon her child as her mother had abandoned
her. Since she remembered her sadness about her
abandonment, she remained physically close to David.
She believed that by being physically present, she was
protecting him from the experience of maternal loss.
However, due to her dissociated state and anxious need
to center her attention on the leader, she emotionally
abandoned David instead of providing him with
nonverbal empathic responses when comfort was
needed. Thus, David experienced her as cold, receiving
the same abandonment messages Anika had received
in childhood. Moreover, as with his mother, David
dissociated from overwhelming feelings of distress in
an attempt to reach a state of calm.
Beebe (2014), researching mother-child interactions,
hypothesized that early dissociative experiences of
not being “sensed, met, known, and recognized,
particularly in times of distress, can lead to dissociative
experiences during distress in later life” (p. 62-63).
Schore (2011) emphasizes the centrality of the right
brain structures, which are the implicit, unconscious,
and emotion-processing modes of communication that
dominate human experience. In moving contemporary
theory from its traditional emphasis on “left-brain”
verbal and cognitive processes to “right-brain”
emotional and relational processes, he recognizes the
importance of embodied and somatic states. Implicit,
nonverbal, psychobiological communication processes
occur in the earliest interactions between the mother
and child. These right-brain-to-right-brain processes
include facial, auditory, tactile, and “emotionally
charged attachment communications” (p. 79). Schore
(2011) explains that in forming an attachment
bond through somatically expressed emotional
communication, the mother needs to synchronize and
resonate with the infant’s arousal levels of negative
and positive states. Implicit communication from the
mother enables the baby to feel acknowledged and
understood. Schore (2011) discusses the potential for
intergenerational transmission of attachment trauma-
related difficulties with self-regulation when this
implicit positive communication fails to occur.
Bowlby (1965) describes the primary need for a child to
have a secure base that establishes secure attachment,
which is related to later social development. These
early relational patterns become internalized and set
the stage for later patterns of relating to others.
According to Ainsworth (1967), attachment is built
into the nervous system through interactions with
the mother. Healthy attachment develops from dyadic
(interactive) regulation (Sroufe, 1996). Regulated
interactions create a sense of safety and curiosity in the
baby. Healthy attachment influences not only outward
behavior but also internal states.
Trauma is linked to compromised attachment. In
exploring this observation, Salberg (2015) points out,
Attachment is the oxygen of our emotional
lives, serving to create a feeling of safety and
security, allowing us to learn how to be socially
human and operationally teaching us how
to self-regulate our affective lives. It is because
of attachment’s primal aspect in our psyches
that trauma and its impact constitute massive
disruption and disorganization of the parent-
child bonding system. When trauma revisits
us transgenerationally through disrupted
attachment patterns, it is within the child’s
