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Connie A. Mitchell |Abuses Produce Similar Psychological Effects in Survivors
the outside world. Physical and sexual abuse—
both of which characterize ST—consistently intense
environments, and functional and structural isolation,
particularly severe reduction or elimination of privacy
(i.e., micro-regulation), increase control in public and
private spaces alike, even in bathrooms (Edwards,
1978 Hagan et al., 2021). These strategies, often
combined with physical and social isolation, reduce or
eliminate outside support, such as family and friends.
HCG members may attend meetings away from
family, and ST survivors typically face demanding and
unusual work hours, which prevent spending time with
outsiders (Hagan et al., 2021). In ways that parallel
HCGs’ requirements and punishments (see Layton,
1998), ST survivors are expected to devote inordinate
amounts of time to working and meeting daily financial
quotas (Doychak &Raghavan, 2020), which may be
required in order to receive permission to have their
first meal of the day (Thomas, 2023).
According to Hassan (2013), the group peer pressure
and isolating social structures of milieu control induce
HCG victims to appear to voluntarily surrender their
individuality, their identity and personality, and
their critical thinking skills, leading to psychological
imprisonment. Similarly, Doychak and Raghavan (2020)
stated that in the CEO and Romeo Pimp models of ST,
the social environment, the structural and functional
isolation, and the trauma-coerced attachment cause
the victim to “appear to freely consent” (p. 340), which
they describe as psychological captivity (also called
bounded choice [Lalich, 2004]). Some ST settings
include physical as well as psychological control for
example, Gorilla Pimps rely on physical coercion and
brutality rather than only psychological influence
(Marcus et al., 2014 Roe-Sepowitz et al., 2014a).
A trafficked victim who questions the pimp is often
viciously slapped across the face in front of the sisters
(Lundstrom, personal communication, 2019 Doychak
&Raghavan, 2020 Reid, 2016) to teach her and others
the importance of compliance and alignment with the
demands of the pimp (Raghavan &Doychak, 2020).
In addition to physical and social controls of HCGs
and ST perpetrators, which may include physical
coercion, milieu control in both ST and HCGs
includes dissociative, mind-numbing or mind-altering
practices, such as hypnosis (Hassan &Shah, 2019),
extended meditation, repetitive verbal affirmations,
lengthy denunciation sessions, public humiliation
and ridicule, and extended and intense indoctrination
meetings (Tobias &Lalich, 1994a). In both systems,
questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged
and can lead to severe and often public punishment
and shaming (Hassan, 2013 Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019 Reid, 2016).
As described above, both HCGs and ST involve loading
the language, using group-specific or ST-specific
terms in ways that differ from the usage outside the
HCG or ST. In addition to the words themselves, the
cadence of speech can affect survivors. Similarly, the
stable becomes the victim’s new family (Reid, 2016),
including the use of familial titles such as sisters, wife-
in-law, and daddy (Bender, 2019), as discussed above.
The speaking rhythms of some HCG leaders (see
Guinn, 2017) serve similar functions as rap music or
the rapping of the pimp in ST (Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019 see Huxley, 1952/2009).
Demands for purity run through both contexts. HCG
members typically carry expectations to display
excessive zeal and unquestioning commitment to its
leader (see Guinn, 2017 Layton, 1998 Mills, 1979),
regarding the leader’s belief system, ideology, and
practices as the truth—as absolute law (Lalich &
Tobias, 2006 Singer, 2003 Stein, 2016). To achieve
purity in this context, an ST survivor must typically
put on a “working” persona, including revealing
clothing and seductive behaviors (Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019). Purity reflects alignment with
the goals of the pimp.
Leaders in both HCGs and pimps in ST emphasize
mystical manipulation. They negatively reframe
members’ and survivors’ prior experiences and require
these individuals to prioritize the goals of the group
and leader or pimp. Typically, HCG members and ST
survivors must spend most of their disposable time
with like-minded individuals (Lalich &Tobias, 2006).
Similarly, both HCGs and ST emphasize confession,
often including spying, requirements to inform on
other members or survivors, and public confessions
(see Edwards, 1979 Layton, 1998 Lundstrom,
personal communication, 2019). Similarly, the life of
ST demands full commitment to what is portrayed as
exciting, sexy, and the opposite of the square world
(Lalich &Tobias, 2006 Thomas, 2023).

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Both HCGs and ST emphasize sacred science. HCG
leaders are often viewed by members as able to create,
change, or dissolve rules inside simply on a whim (Stein,
2016) and as not accountable to any authorities (Mills,
1979 Tobias &Lalich, 1994a). Similarly, traffickers are
the authorities in their kingdoms. Due to the criminal
nature of trafficking, traffickers by definition do not
obey the laws regarding taxes, labor rights, or pay of
employees (Doychak &Raghavan, 2020 Ivy, 2017) or,
of course, laws prohibiting prostitution, exploitation,
and abuse.
Both HCGs and ST emphasize doctrine over person.
Both ST and HCG leaders induce feelings of shame as
behavioral control (Layton, 1998 Reid, 2016). Stein
(2016) and Leuchtag (2003) use the term “replaceable
others” to highlight the low standing that members
have within HCGs and ST. Traffickers typically abuse
those under their dominance emotionally, physically,
and sexually (Farley, 2003). In ST settings, rarely is a
victim ever discussed as a human or in any respectable
terms (Bender, 2019). Even the woman with the
highest position in a stable is easily replaced with the
next recruit. In addition to devaluing survivors, leaders
also prioritize the actions of the groups. While HCG
leaders generally teach that the ends justify the means
(Hassan &Shah, 2019 Lalich &Tobias, 2006), a
common phrase in trafficking is: “money over bitches”
(Lundstrom, personal communication, 2019).
Both HCGs and ST rely on dispensing of existence,
largely devaluing and rejecting the victim’s prior
identity, personality, autonomy, and beliefs (Lalich &
Tobias, 2006 Hassan &Shah, 2019). The covert threat
and potential shame of being marked, excommunicated,
or publicly shunned from the only society one knows—
whether HCG or ST—can bring intense negative
psychological consequences (Dubrow-Marshall &
Dubrow-Marshall, 2015 Singer, 2003). Also, as part
of dispensing of existence, both HCGs and ST devalue
the world outside of the HCG or the life. In HCGs,
members and leaders consider themselves to have a
special, lofty status, distinct from and above the general
population (Dubrow-Marshall &Dubrow-Marshall,
2015 Tobias &Lalich, 1994a). Likewise, pimps often
tell members of stables—sometimes resembling a
polygamous family (Farley, 2003)—that the square
world is boring and that participation in the life is so
much more exciting, profitable, and better than other
options (Thomas, 2023). In both systems, survivors
typically face requirements to cut ties to family and
friends outside of the coercive context. Alongside the
devaluation of those outside ST or HCGs, threats to
those devalued outsiders can coerce survivors into
staying and behaving in line with the goals of the HCG
or pimp. For example, pimps, particularly Gorilla
Pimps, often use threats against loved ones should the
victim ever try to escape (Frank &Terwilliger, 2015,
see Mills, 1979, for examples from an HCG).
As described above, these similarities extend from
Lifton’s (1961/2014) criteria into other areas of
comparison. Survivors of HGCs and ST experience
similar changes in identity progression in these coercive
contexts. There exist additional similarities in terms
of generational effects and trauma bonds. Although
some differences emerge in these comparisons, for
example, coerced sexual behavior in ST may heighten
trauma bonds in ways that extend beyond typical HCG
membership, the foundational similarities remain.
Comparison: Similarities in Recruitment and
Retention
A persistent myth is that only troubled youth or those
who come from dysfunctional homes join an HCG
or ST (Polaris, 2026 Tobias &Lalich, 1994b West
&Martin, 1994). “[O]rdinary, healthy people may
become entrapped in prolonged abusive situations”
(Herman, 2015, p. 1 Thomas, 2023 West &Langone,
1986), and Farber (2014) found that high intelligence
does not provide protection. Times of normal life
transitions, such as starting college or retirement, can
induce vulnerability (Singer, 2003 Thomas, 2023)
additional situational vulnerabilities remain for those in
poverty, with low educational attainment, or with more
adverse childhood experiences (Curtis &Curtis, 1993
Province of British Columbia Criminal Justice, 2014).
As argued by Stein (2016), “Recruitment is a situational
vulnerability, not a personality vulnerability” (p. 59).
In the materials that follow, we consider recruitment
techniques across both HCGs and ST in terms
of financial, social, and psychological factors. A
comprehensive list of recruitment similarities and
related sources is provided in Appendix 1. First, ST
and HCGs both use tactics that remain widespread in
sales, for example, deceptive sales tactics, misleading