Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults

Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults

Hassan, StevenIntroduction to the 30th Edition

  • the classic signs -- recruiting people through deception, whisking them away to isolated locations, giving them new names, clothes, controlling their access to food and information, implanting phobias, and making false promises.
  • North Korea is a classic example of a mind control regime. They are entirely dependent and obedient to their "great leader," and his picture is everywhere.
  • The human trafficking racket is accurately understood as a "commercial cult" phenomenon.
  • One of the most significant changes I have seen over the past decades is the rise of "mini-cults," which consist of anywhere from two to twelve people.
  • the issue of unethical and psychological social influence permeates the fabric of our society, and societies all over the world.
  • The science of social influence.
  • Some of the larger organizations have staff whose sole job is to erase truth from the web and upload propaganda.
  • Mind-control organizations routinely sponsor websites that purport to provide help, empathy, and guidance to former members, as well as to current members who are thinking of leaving.
  • Because vast amounts of personal information are now available for purchase online, cult recruiters (as well as ordinary scam artists) can now go online and develop extensive profiles about future targets. They then pretend to read people's minds, or intuit their deepest hopes and fears, or channel spirits, or act as agents of divine inspiration.
  • Undue influence is a better term than mind control, as exploitation is part of the definition of undue influence.
  • Also, since the advent of the smartphone, people under undue influence are regularly monitored and controlled via voice mail messages, texts, phone calls, and emails.
  • Strategic Interactive Approach.
  • I create a unique and ethical influence campaign to help individuals acquire a set of experiences and realizations that help them remove many of the invisible chains of mind control.
  • The person learns to listen to their inner voice, rather than the instructions of an authority figure.
  • Today, a vast array of methods exists to deceive, manipulate and indoctrinate people into closed systems of obedience and dependency.
  • Exit-counseling is a special field, one that demands specific knowledge, special techniques and methods, and a high level of skill.Preface to the First Paperback Edition
  • You may even discover that, although the public views your group as a cult, there in fact is no mind control being used.
  • If you are involved with a religious organization, keep in mind that God created us with free will, and that no truly spiritual organization would ever use deception or mind control, or take away your freedom.

    Chapter 1 – My Work as a Cult Expert

  • The Moonies do a very thorough job of convincing people that former members are satanic and that even being in their presence could be dangerous.
  • Orwell depicted a world where "thought police" maintain complete control over people's mental and emotional lives, and where it is a crime to act or think independently, or even to fall in love. Unfortunately, such places do exist right now, all over the world. They are mind control cults.
  • basic respect for the individual is secondary to the leader's whims and ideology.
  • People are manipulated and coerced to think, feel, and behave in a single "right way."
  • Individuals become totally dependent on the group and lose the ability to act or think on their own.
  • typically exploited for the sake of the group's economic or political ends.
  • purposes: I define any group that uses unethical mind control to pursue its ends -- whether religious, political, or commercial -- as a destructive cult.
  • The popular view of cults is that they prey on the disaffected and the vulnerable -- losers, loners, outcasts, and people who simply don't fit in. But the truth is very different. In fact, most cult recruits are normal people with ordinary backgrounds -- and many are highly intelligent.
  • I recognize that hateful people can turn any term into an epithet.
  • use of deception to recruit people.
  • used psychological pressure to convince members to turn over all their personal wealth and possessions to the church.
  • typically undergo a conversion experience in which they surrender to the group.
  • become totally dependent upon the group for financial and emotional support, and lose the ability to act independently of it.
  • Mind control is any system of influence that disrupts an individual's authentic identity and replaces it with a false, new one.
  • In most cases, that new identity is one the person would strongly reject, if they had been asked for their informed consent. That's why I also use the term undue influence -- "undue" because these practices violate personal boundaries and human integrity, as well as ethics and, often, the law.
  • not all of the techniques used in mind control are inherently bad or unethical.
  • the end result need to be part of the evaluation.
  • The locus of control of one's mind and body should always remain within the adult individual, never with an external authority.
  • Some members of destructive cults suffer physical abuse during their involvement, in the form of beatings or rape, while others simply suffer the abuse of long hours of grueling, monotonous work -- to hours a day, year in and year out. In essence, they become slaves with few or no resources, personal or financial.
  • as long as they are productive. When they fall sick or are no longer an asset, they are often kicked out.
  • Different cults appeal to the many different human impulses: such as desire to belong; to improve oneself and others; to understand the meaning and purpose of life.
  • They often have a charismatic leader and operate with religious dogma. Political cults, often in the news, are organized around a simplistic political theory, sometimes with a religious cloak.
  • Psychotherapy/educational cults, which have enjoyed great popularity, purport to give the participant "insight" and "enlightenment."
  • None of these destructive cults deliver what they promise and glittering dreams eventually turn out to be paths to psychological enslavement.Chapter –My Life in the Unification Church
  • barraged with flattery
  • "love bombing."
  • His voice was so full of mystery and intrigue that it offset my suspicions and piqued my curiosity.
  • The entire weekend was structured from morning until night. There was no free time. There was no possibility of being alone. Members outnumbered newcomers three to one and kept us surrounded.
  • never permitted to talk among ourselves unchaperoned.
  • I was encouraged to decide what country I might like to run when Unificationism took over the world.
  • He would single out someone who was very successful at recruiting or fundraising (he did this with me), and present that person as a model of excellence, shaming the others into being more successful.
  • I was still thinking somewhat in black and white terms: good versus evil, us versus them.
  • Richard Bandler on hypnosis that was based on the work of the psychiatrist Milton Erickson. Bandler and John Grinder had also developed a model based on the work of therapist Virginia Satir and Gregory Bateson. They called it Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP.
  • I became more and more concerned about the ethics of NLP. It seemed to me that its leaders had launched a mass-market campaign to promote NLP as a tool for power enhancement.
  • Eventually I realized that NLP was amoral. It depended entirely on the conscience and good will of the practitioner.
  • I found that people who were able to walk away without intervention were those who had maintained contact with people outside the destructive cult.

    Chapter –The Threat: Mind Control Today

  • Since all destructive cults believe that their ends justify any means, no matter how harmful, they typically believe themselves to be above the law.
  • Briefly, a destructive cult is a group that violates its members' rights and damages them through the abusive techniques of unethical mind control. It distinguishes itself from a normal, healthy social or religious
  • group by subjecting its members to systematic control of behavior, information, thoughts and emotions (BITE) to keep them dependent and obedient.
  • While most people usually think of cults as religious -- the first definition of cult in Webster's Third New International Dictionary is "religious practice: worship" -- they are often completely secular.
  • Salespeople are manipulated through fear and guilt,
  • Many cults deliberately seek out people who are intelligent, talented, and successful. As a result, its members are often powerfully persuasive and seductive to newcomers.
  • The large cults know how to train their "salespeople" well.
  • Members are taught to suppress any negative feelings they have about the group, and to always show a continually smiling, happy face.
  • In the Moonies, I was taught to use a four-part personality model to help recruit new members. People were categorized as thinkers, feelers, doers, or believers. Thinkers are people who approach life with their minds, as intellectuals. Feelers lead with their emotions. Doers are action-oriented and very physical. Believers are spiritually oriented.
  • If a person was categorized as a thinker, we would use an intellectual approach.
  • Feelers would always respond well to a loving, caring approach.
  • We would always talk about love
  • Feelers automatically long to be accepted and loved, so we would go out of our way to provide the person with a warm and enticing feeling of unconditional approval.
  • Doers are action-oriented. They like challenges and strive to accomplish as much as they can.
  • If they saw poverty and suffering in the world and longed to make it end, we would tell them how much we were doing along these lines.
  • We would tell doers about the hundreds of programs we sponsored to heal a broken world.
  • We saw believers as people searching for God, or looking for spiritual meaning in their lives.
  • They typically would tell us about their spiritual experiences -- dreams, visions and revelations. For the most part, these people were "wide open," and often recruited themselves.
  • Contrary to public perception, most of the people we recruited did not fall into the believer category. Most were either feelers or doers.
  • Many of the so-called thinkers eventually became leaders within the organization.
  • People believe that "it can never happen to them" because they want to believe they are stronger and better than the many millions who have fallen victim to mind control.
  • As for the philosophical position that everything is a form of mind control, it is certainly true that we are constantly being influenced by all kinds of people, ideas, and forces. Yet there is actually a continuum of influence.
  • No informed consent. Information is manipulated and controlled.
  • It has a top-down structure, with a single leader at the top and a small inner circle immediately below.
  • It is authoritarian:
  • It has no guiding ethical principles; all goals justify the use of any means.
  • It focuses on controlling, preserving, and acquiring power and information, but shares little of these with rank and file members -- and none with outsiders.
  • People at the top of these organizations do not lead through wisdom, consensus, compassion, or even brainpower.
  • They lead by making their followers frightened and dependent. They demand obedience and subservience.
  • The BITE model. behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotion control.
  • If mind control is used to change a person's belief system without informed consent and make him dependent on outside authority figures, the effects can be devastating.
  • Cult recruiters are expert at targeting vulnerabilities and activating motivation.
  • The structure of a phobia involves several internal components that interact to cause a vicious cycle. These components include worrisome thoughts, negative internal images, and feelings of dread and being out of control. Just thinking about the object can sometimes trigger the cycle
  • In some cults, members are systematically made to be phobic about ever leaving the group. Today's cults know how to effectively implant vivid negative images deep within members' unconscious minds, making it impossible for them to even conceive of ever being happy and successful outside of the group.
  • The unconscious mind of the typical cult member contains a substantial image-bank of all of the bad things that will occur if they, or anyone, were to ever betray the group.
  • Put a person in a sensory deprivation chamber, and within minutes he will start to hallucinate and become incredibly suggestible.
  • put a person into a situation where his senses are overloaded with non-coherent information, and the mind will go "numb" as a protective mechanism.
  • Change the frame of reference, and the information coming in will be interpreted in a different way.
  • Con artists size up their victim, make the con, get the money, and leave. Cult recruiters use many of the same skills, but they don't leave.
  • for the most part, people don't join cults. Cults recruit people.
  • People being recruited by cults are approached in four basic ways: ) by a friend or relative who is already a member; ) by a stranger (often a member of the opposite sex) who befriends them; ) through a cult-sponsored event, such as a lecture, symposium, or movie; or ) through social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram,
  • Usually an individual does not suspect he or she is being recruited. The friend or relative wants to share some incredible insights and experiences.
  • If the recruiter is a stranger, more often than not you think you've made a good friend.
  • majority of people recruited into destructive cults were approached at a vulnerable time of stress in their lives.
  • The recruiter starts to learn all about the potential recruit -- their hopes, dreams, fears, relationships, job and interests. The more information the recruiter can elicit, the greater their opportunity to manipulate the person.
  • The plan might include effusive praise and flattery; introducing the person to another member with similar interests and background; deliberate deception about the group; or evasive maneuvering to avoid answering questions.
  • Although the white middle class is still the main target of recruitment, several groups are now actively seeking out blacks, Hispanics, and Asians.
  • cults generally avoid recruiting people who will burden them, such as those with physical disabilities or severe emotional problems.
  • Once a person joins a destructive cult, for the first few weeks or months they typically enjoy a "honeymoon phase." They are treated as though they were royalty. They are made to feel very special as they embark on
  • a new life with the group.
  • Even though most cult members say publicly that they are happier than they've ever been in their lives, the reality is sadly different. Life in a destructive cult is, for the most part, a life of sacrifice, pain and fear.
  • leaves the person dependent on the group for everything: food, clothing, shelter and health care.
  • Like their parents, they are taught that the world is a hostile, evil place, and they are forced to depend on cult doctrine to understand reality.Chapter –Understanding Mind Control
  • "How would you know if you were under mind control?"
  • After some reflection, most people realize that if they were under mind control, it would be impossible to determine it without some help from the outside.
  • Lifton identified eight basic elements of the process of mind control as practiced by the Chinese Communists. (In the Appendix of this book, Lifton describes these eight elements in more detail.
  • While cult mind control can be talked about and defined in many different ways, I believe it is best understood as a system that disrupts an individual's healthy identity development.
  • It's worth noting that a group can use mind control in positive ways. For example, many drug rehabilitation and juvenile rehabilitation programs use some of these same methods to re-integrate a person's old identity.
  • The pressure to conform to certain standards of behavior exists in nearly every institution.
  • The essence of mind control is that it encourages dependence and conformity, and discourages autonomy and individuality.
  • The term brainwashing was coined in by journalist and CIA agent Edward Hunter. He used it to describe how American servicemen captured in the Korean War suddenly reversed their values and allegiances, and believed they had committed fictional war crimes.
  • I think of brainwashing as overtly coercive. The person being brainwashed knows at the outset that they are in the hands of an enemy.
  • Once people are away from their controllers and back in familiar surroundings, the effects tend to dissipate.
  • People are coerced into specific acts for self-preservation; then, once they have acted, their beliefs change to rationalize what they have done.
  • Mind control is much more subtle and sophisticated. The victim typically regards the controllers as friends or peers, so is much less on guard.
  • Mind control involves little or no overt physical abuse. Instead, hypnotic processes are combined with group dynamics to create a potent indoctrination effect.
  • deceived and manipulated -- but not directly threatened --
  • The term hypnotism is also misused.
  • The difference is this: whereas in normal consciousness the attention is focused outwards through the five senses, in a trance one's attention is usually focused inwards.
  • Hypnotism relates to the unethical mind control practices of destructive cults in a variety of ways.
  • what is often called "meditation" is no more than a process by which the cult members enter a trance, during which time they may receive suggestions which make them more receptive to following the cult's doctrine.
  • behavior modification techniques, group conformity and obedience to authority.
  • people are hardwired to unconsciously respond to social cues.
  • A famous experiment in conformity by Dr. Solomon Asch demonstrated that most people will conform -- and even doubt their own perceptions -- if they are put in a social situation where the most confident people in the group all give the same wrong answers.
  • If you control the information someone receives, you restrict his ability to think for himself.
  • "If you change a person's behavior, his thoughts and feelings will change to minimize the dissonance."
  • people need to maintain order and meaning in their life. They need to think they are acting according to their self-image and their own values. If their behavior changes for any reason, their self-image and values change to match.
  • cult groups is that they deliberately create dissonance in people this way and exploit it to control them.
  • Behavior control is the regulation of an individual's physical reality. It includes the control of their environment -- where they live, what clothes they wear, what food they eat, how much sleep they get, and what jobs, rituals and other actions they perform.
  • Every hour of the cult member's day has to be accounted for. In these ways the group can keep a tight rein on the member's behavior -- and on their thoughts and feelings as well.
  • Behavior is often controlled by the requirement that everyone act as a group. In many cults, people eat together, work together, have group meetings all behaviors can be either rewarded or punished.
  • Those who actively participate in their own punishment will eventually come to believe they deserve it.
  • Obedience to a leader's command is the most important lesson to learn. A cult's leaders cannot command someone's inner thoughts, but they know that if they command behavior, hearts and minds will follow.
  • Information control is the second component of mind control. Information provides the tools with which we think and understand reality.
  • Deception is the biggest tool of information control, because it robs people of the ability to make informed decisions. Outright lying, withholding information and distorting information all become essential strategies, especially when recruiting new members.
  • In many totalistic cults, people have minimal access to non-cult newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and online information. Certain information may be forbidden and labeled as unhealthy: apostate literature, entheta (negative information), satanic, bourgeoisie propaganda, and so on.
  • kept so busy that they don't have free time to think and seek outside answers to questions.
  • People are not allowed to talk to each other about anything critical of the leader, doctrine, or organization.
  • Members must spy on each other and report improper activities or comments to leaders, often in the form of written reports
  • Information is usually compartmentalized, to keep members from knowing the big picture.
  • Destructive organizations also control information by having many levels of "truth." Cult ideologies often have "outsider" doctrines and "insider" doctrines. The outsider material is relatively bland stuff for the general public or new converts. The inner doctrines are gradually unveiled, as the person is more deeply involved and only when the person is deemed "ready" by superiors.
  • By creating an environment where truth is multileveled, cult directors make it nearly impossible for a member to make definitive, objective assessments.
  • they are told that they are not mature or advanced enough to know the whole truth yet.
  • If they work hard, they'll earn the right to understand the higher levels of truth.
  • Thought control, the third major component of mind control, includes indoctrinating members so thoroughly that they internalize the group doctrine, incorporate a new language system, and use thought-stopping techniques to keep their mind "centered." In order to be a good member, a person must learn to manipulate their own thought processes.
  • The ideology is internalized as "the truth,"
  • Usually, the doctrine is absolutist, dividing everything into black versus white, or us versus them.
  • Members need not think for themselves because the doctrine does the thinking for them. The more totalistic groups claim that their doctrine is scientific, but that is never truly the case.
  • Since language provides the symbols we use for thinking, using only certain words serves to control thoughts.
  • The cult's clichés and loaded language also put up an invisible wall between believers and outsiders. The language helps to make members feel special, and separates them from the general public.
  • It also serves to confuse newcomers,
  • They learn that "understanding" means accepting and believing.
  • block out any information that is critical of the group.
  • The first line of defense includes denial -- "What you say isn't happening at all"; rationalization -- "This is happening for a good reason"; justification -- "This is happening because it ought to"; and wishful thinking -- "I'd like it to be true so maybe it really is."
  • Perhaps the most widely used, and most effective, technique for controlling cult members' thoughts is thought-stopping. Members are taught to use thought-stopping on themselves. They are told it will help them grow, stay "pure and true" or be more effective.
  • Since the doctrine is perfect and the leader is perfect, any problem that crops up is assumed to be the fault of the individual member. They learn to always to blame themselves and simply work harder.
  • Emotional control, the fourth component of the BITE model, attempts to manipulate and narrow the range of a person's feelings.
  • Guilt comes in many forms. Historical guilt (for instance, the fact that the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima), identity guilt (a thought such as "I'm not living up to my potential"), guilt over past actions ("I cheated on a test") and social guilt
  • People are dying of starvation") can all
  • be exploited by destructive cult leaders.
  • Members are conditioned to always take the blame, so that they respond gratefully whenever a leader points out one of their "shortcomings."
  • Fear is used to bind the group members together in several ways. The first is the creation of an outside enemy, who is persecuting the group and its members.
  • In order to control someone through their emotions, feelings themselves often have to be redefined.
  • For example, everyone wants happiness. However, if happiness is redefined as being closer to God, and God is unhappy (as He apparently is in many religious cults), then the way to be happy is to be
  • unhappy. Happiness, therefore, consists of suffering so you can grow closer to God. This idea also appears in some non-cult theologies, but in a cult it is a tool for exploitation and control.
  • Loyalty and devotion are the most highly respected emotions of all. Members are not allowed to feel or express negative emotions, except toward outsiders. They are taught never to feel for themselves or their own needs, but always to think of the group and never to complain. They are never to criticize a leader, but to criticize themselves instead.
  • People are often kept off balance, praised one minute and tongue-lashed the next.
  • Confession of past sins or wrong attitudes is also a powerful device for emotional control.
  • rarely is their old sin truly forgiven or forgotten. The minute they get out of line, it will be hauled out and used to manipulate them into obeying.
  • one of these categories. For example, some groups change people's names in order to hasten the formation of the new "cult" identity.

  • Three Steps To Gaining Control Of The Mind

  • Unfreezing, changing and refreezing

  • Unfreezing consists of breaking a person down; changing constitutes the indoctrination process; and refreezing is the process of building up and reinforcing the new identity.
  • To ready a person for radical change, their reality must first be shaken up. Their indoctrinators must confuse and disorient them.
  • Upsetting their view of reality disarms their natural defenses against concepts that challenge that reality.
  • Sleep deprivation
  • New diets and eating schedules, prolonged underfeeding,
  • One particularly effective hypnotic technique involves the deliberate use of confusion to induce a trance state. Confusion usually results whenever contradictory information is communicated congruently.
  • If a person is kept in a controlled environment long enough, and is repeatedly fed such disorienting language and confusing information, they will usually suspend their critical judgment and adapt to what everyone else is doing.
  • Sensory overload, like sensory deprivation, can also effectively disrupt a person's balance and make them more open to suggestion.
  • Double bind forces a person to do what the controller wants while giving an illusion of choice. For example, a cult leader may say, "For those people who are having doubts about what I am telling you, you should know that I am the one putting those doubts inside your mind, so that you will see the truth that I am the true teacher." Whether the person believes or doubts the leader, both bases are covered.
  • Exercises such as guided meditations, personal confessions, prayer sessions, vigorous calisthenics and even group singing can also aid unfreezing.
  • privacy deprivation

    Changing

  • Changing consists of imposing a new personal identity -- a new set of behaviors, thoughts, and emotions -- to fill the void left by the breakdown of the old one. Indoctrination in this new identity takes place both formally (for instance, through seminars and rituals) and informally (by spending time with members, reading, and listening to recordings and videos).
  • Repetition, monotony, rhythm:
  • Recruits are told, "Your old self is what's keeping you from fully experiencing the new truth. Your old concepts are what drag you down. Your rational mind is holding you back from fantastic progress. Surrender.
  • Another potent technique for change is the induced "spiritual experience."
  • Private information about the recruit is collected by the person's closest buddy in the group and then secretly passed to the leadership.
  • the recruit thinks the leader has read their thoughts or is being informed directly by the spirit world.
  • group psychology plays a major role in the changing process.
  • But the changing process involves much more than obedience to a cult's authority figures. It also includes numerous "sharing" sessions with other ordinary members, where past evils are confessed, present success stories are told, and a sense of community is fostered. These group sessions are very effective in teaching conformity,
  • By controlling a person's environment, using behavior modification to reward some behaviors and suppress others, and inducing hypnotic states, they may indeed reprogram a person's identity.

  • Refreezing

  • The recruit must now be built up again as the "new man" or "new woman." They are given a new purpose in life, and new activities that will solidify their new identity.
  • important task of the new person is to denigrate their previous sinful self.
  • Confession becomes another way to purge the person's past and embed them in the cult.
  • New members are paired with older members, who are assigned to show them the ropes. The "spiritual child" is instructed to imitate the "spiritual parent" in all ways.
  • To help refreeze the member's new identity, some cults give them a new name. Many also change the person's clothing style, haircut, and whatever else would remind them of their past.
  • members often learn to speak a distinctive jargon or loaded language of the group.
  • Great pressure is usually exerted on the member to turn over money
  • This serves multiple purposes. First, it enriches the cult. Second, donating one's life savings freezes the person in the new belief system, since it would be too painful to admit that this was a foolish mistake.
  • Sleep deprivation, lack of privacy, and dietary changes are sometimes continued for several months or even longer.
  • Research in social psychology has shown that nothing firms up one's beliefs faster than recruiting others to share them.
  • attempts to destroy and suppress the old identity, and empower the new one, it almost never totally succeeds.
  • People are able to recall horrible things, like being raped by the cult leader or being forced to lie, cheat or steal. Even though they knew at the time that they were doing something wrong or were being abused, they couldn't deal with the experience or act on it while their cult identity was in control. It was only when their real self was given permission and encouragement to speak that these things came back into consciousness.

    Cult Psychology

  • Although some of them clearly had severe emotional problems before becoming involved, the great majority were stable, intelligent, idealistic people.
  • a cult will generally target the most educated, active and capable people it can find. People with emotional problems, on the other hand, always had trouble handling the rigorous schedule
  • ratios. Cults that endure for more than a decade need to have competent individuals managing the practical affairs that any organization with long-term objectives must do.
  • Outsiders who deal with the leadership of destructive cults never cease to be amazed that they aren't scatterbrained kooks.
  • The major variable is not the person's family but the cult recruiter's skill and the recruit's life situation.
  • I support anyone's search for more meaningful ways to develop relationships with other people -- but, as I have learned, people who are engaged in that search are often more vulnerable than others to cult recruitment.
  • young people recruited into cults are struggling to assert their individuality, and some are going through a period of rebellion.
  • So, what makes a person vulnerable to cults? How does a friendly, kind, insightful human being become a member of a destructive cult? If he or she is like most cult members, he or she is probably approached during a time of unusual stress, perhaps while undergoing a major life transition.
  • The Doctrine Is Reality
  • There is no room in a mind control environment for regarding the group's beliefs as mere theory, or as a way to interpret or seek reality.
  • The most effective cult doctrines are those "which are unverifiable and unevaluable, in the words of Eric Hoffer."
  • Doctrine is to be accepted, not understood. Therefore, the doctrine must be vague and global, yet also symmetrical enough to appear consistent.
  • Since mind control depends on creating a new identity within the individual, cult doctrine always requires that a person distrust their authentic self.
  • the cult member is told that they should work harder and have more faith, so they will come to understand the truth more clearly.
  • Reality is Black and White, Good Versus Evil, never room for pluralism.also no room for interpretation or deviation.
  • "Devils" vary from group to group. They can be political or economic institutions (communism, socialism, or capitalism); mental-health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, or deprogrammers); metaphysical entities
  • Some groups cultivate a psychic paranoia, telling members that spirit beings are constantly observing them,
  • Members are made to feel part of an elite corps of humankind. This feeling of being special, of participating in the most important acts in human history, with a vanguard of committed believers, is strong emotional glue that keeps people sacrificing and working hard.
  • The rank-and-file member is humble before superiors and potential recruits, but arrogant to outsiders.
  • the self must submit to group policy and the leader's commands.
  • One reason why a group of cultists may strike even a naive outsider as spooky or weird is that everyone has similar odd mannerisms, clothing styles and modes of speech. What the outsider is seeing is the personality of the leader passed down through several layers of modeling.
  • One of the most attractive qualities of cult life is the sense of community it fosters.
  • the cult member learns that in the group, love is not unconditional, but depends on good performance.
  • Behaviors are controlled through rewards and punishments.
  • Competitions are used to inspire and shame members into being more productive.
  • Real friendships are a liability in cults, and are covertly discouraged by leaders.
  • Manipulation through Fear and Guilt
  • Cult members come to live within a narrow corridor of fear, guilt and shame. Problems are always their fault -- the result of their weak faith, their lack of understanding, their "bad ancestors," evil spirits, and so forth.
  • Changes in Time Orientation
  • Cult members tend to look back at their previous life with a distorted memory that colors everything dark.
  • the present
  • feel a great sense of urgency about the tasks at hand.
  • the apocalypse is just around the corner.
  • the future is a time when they will be rewarded, once the great change has finally come.
  • In most groups, the leader claims to control -- or at least have unique knowledge of -- the future.
  • In a destructive cult, there is never a legitimate reason for leaving. Unlike healthy organizations, which recognize a person's inherent right to choose to move on, mind control groups make it very clear that there is no legitimate way to
  • leave. Members are told that the only reasons that people leave are weakness, insanity, temptation, brainwashing (by deprogrammers), pride, sin, and so on.Chapter –How to Protect Yourself and People You Care About

    Nobody joins a cult. They just postpone the decision to leave. -- Source unknown

  • Many groups have certain potentially destructive aspects, but are not inherently destructive.
  • I look at what a group does rather than what it believes
  • Organizations that practice mind control have very specific characteristics that undermine individual choice and liberty. These involve leadership, doctrine and membership.
  • By examining these three areas in any organization, you will quickly be able to determine whether it is (or has the potential to become) a destructive cult.
  • a leader's professional background can be useful in helping you see the full picture of any group. Cult leaders usually make exaggerated biographical claims.
  • certain personalities are disposed to do so. It seems obvious that most cult leaders are narcissists and might even be full-blown sociopaths or psychopaths.
  • many cult leaders demand material opulence, what they require above all is attention and power.
  • power can and does become an extreme addiction.
  • Three things make these people terribly dangerous: ) their psychological instability, ) that they actually believe their own propaganda and ) that they surround themselves with loyal devotees who are unlikely to disagree with them, so promote their narcissism. They are not merely cunning con artists who want to make money or sexually dominate their followers. Most genuinely believe they are God, or the Messiah, or have gained enlightenment.
  • Although a leader's background does not necessarily indicate that they are a huckster or a charlatan, where there is smoke there is often fire. Many leaders of destructive cults have questionable backgrounds.
  • beware of groups with any belief system that is simplistic and makes all or nothing categorizations -- good/bad; black/white; us versus them. Beliefs that claim things as facts, but actually have no evidence-based research to support these claims.
  • Any group's beliefs should be freely disclosed to any person who wants to join, before any pressure to join is exerted.
  • Membership
  • Membership has three components: recruitment, group maintenance and freedom to leave. The impact of group membership on the individual, their identity, their relationships, and their goals and interests is crucial.
  • Once a potential convert is invited to a cult function, there is a great deal of pressure, both overt and subtle, to make a commitment as soon as possible. Cult recruiters, like good con artists, move in for the kill quickly, once they have sized up a person.
  • In many cults, leaders are routinely praised for sleeping very little, and rank and file members are belittled for sleeping too much.
  • Little time is available for reading anything other than cult material, or for learning anything other than cult practices.
  • The final criterion for judging a group is the members' freedom to leave.
  • Legitimate groups treat people as adults, capable of determining what is in their best interest. Although every organization wants to retain its membership, legitimate groups never go to the extremes of control through fear and guilt that destructive cults do.
  • Some dysfunctional relationships, marriages, and families are essentially mini-cults of a few people.
  • Some people were not allowed to have access to money, to learn how to drive a car, or to work outside the home.