Posted by Mr. Don on August 09, 2006 at 16:45:47
The following paper is something I just did for school along with a oral presentation. It was for a Pastoral Counseling class. It includes both research and personal reflection:
Cults, Counseling, and Deprogramming - Psychological, Personal, and Other Perspectives and Reflections
In this paper an attempt will be made to look at psychological, ethical, and sociological issues affecting those involved in cults, or New Religious Movements as they are commonly called by some. Specific attention will be placed on those leaving or exiting these NRMs, and different perspectives on counseling or not counseling those who leave. Various opinions will come from scholars, those from the anti-cult movement and from the writer of this paper, who himself was affiliated with a cult for close to thirty years. I hope to bring clarity and understanding to others about the challenges of counseling and communicating with someone with a cultic mindset. For myself I hope to bring new aspects of what has been done and is being done in counseling former cult members.
For one to have an understanding of why someone would need counseling one should look at characteristics of cults and what kind of psychological effect these could have on the individuals involved.
1. The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
2. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
3. Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
4. The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (for example, members must get permission to date, change jobs, marry—or leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).
5. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).
6. The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
7. The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
8. The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members' participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).
9. The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
10. Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.
11. The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
12. The group is preoccupied with making money.
13. Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.
14. Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.
15. The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group. (Lalich, Langone, Characteristics Associated with Cultic Groups, Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, www.icsahome.com)
With these characteristics in mind, I would ask the reader to put in their “minds eye” on people who have been involved in this lifestyle for a number of years and the need for some type of intervention upon exiting this lifestyle.
For expediencies sake, people who have left a cult will be referred to as ex-members in this paper. There are different schools of thought on interventions that could and should be taken on ex-members. On one side there are those who think the least amount or no intervention at all is the best road to be taken for the best recovery, with the least instance of psychological problems either from the cult or the exiting interventions. Three modes of exit have been identified in research of those leaving cults which are: 1. No exit counseling or voluntary defection with no type of intervention or counseling being done. 2. Voluntary exit counseling or some form of voluntary counseling, re-entry counseling, or voluntary deprogramming. (This method uses no forcible abduction and restraint coupled with the counseling process.) 3. Involuntary exit counseling or some form of coercive deprogramming, involving physical abduction and restraint and other forms of involuntary treatment following deprogramming. (Lewis, Bromley, The Cult Withdrawal Syndrome: A Case of Misattribution of Cause?, pg. 508) With these three methods of intervention or non-intervention it is important to classify how ex-members leave cults, which are usually as follows: 1. Those who had interventions. 2. Those who left on their own, or walkaways. 3. Those who were expelled, or castaways. (Giambalvo, Post-Cult Problems: An Exit Counselors Perspective)
As mentioned before there are different schools of thought on interventions taken on ex-members. On one side there are those in the psychological community who are of the persuasion that some types of exit counseling more specifically the involuntary type can cause more harm than good. The goal of intervention with ex-members is one of transition from a member of a cult, to that of a former member, and finally to a member of conventional society. (Lewis Bromley, pg. 512)
This role transition process confronts individuals with some significant social and psychological problems which, we argue, vary directly with the power imbalance in the counseling/deprogramming process. The objective of this process is for individuals to align themselves symbolically and behaviorally with those managing the process. The coercive mind control construct, which is employed as an interpretive paradigm for reconstructing past behavior during the counseling/deprogramming process provides individuals with a stigma limiting rationale for their deviant action. However, at the same time, the power of individuals to construct an independent account of past behavior varies inversely with the degree of reliance on this explanation. In the extreme case of a coercive deprogramming, in which individuals are (or believe they are) confronted by a situation in which they have no recourse, there is the greatest likelihood that individuals will capitulate symbolically and behaviorally. (Lewis, Bromley, pg. 512)
So what the above is saying is that there is the possibility of the wrong type of intervention doing more harm than good. I personally know no one who has been forcibly deprogrammed and cannot comment of the pros and cons of a coercive deprogramming intervention process.
In this paper I am wearing two different hats, one of wanting to be a successful pastoral counselor, and the other of being an ex-member. In much of research I have done I couldn’t agree more with the findings of the various psychologist and scholars who have done their research. Some of the most compelling came from Carol Giambalvo’s, An Exit Counselor’s Perspective. Something very striking to me personally was her listing of recurring recovery issues in her work with ex-cult members. This is a rather long list and I hesitate to list them all, but seeing as I have experienced probably 95% of the twenty six items listed I will list them.
1. Sense of purposelessness, of being disconnected. They left a group that had a powerful purpose and intense drive; they miss the peak experiences produced from the intensity and the group dynamics.
2. Depression.
3. Grieving for other group members, for a sense of loss in their life.
4. Guilt. Former members will feel guilt for having gotten involved in the first place, for the people they recruited into the group, and for the things they did while in the group.
5. Anger. This will be felt toward the group and/or the leaders. At times this anger is misdirected toward themselves.
6. Alienation. They will feel alienation from the group, often from old friends (that is, those who were friends prior to their cult involvement), and sometimes from family.
7. Isolation. To ex-cult members, no one "out there" seems to understand what they're going through, especially their families.
8. Distrust. This extends to group situations, and often to organized religion (if they were in a religious cult) or organizations in general (depending on the type of cult they were in). There is also a general distrust of their own ability to discern when or if they are being manipulated again. This dissipates after they learn more about mind control and begin to listen to their own inner voice again.
9. Fear of going crazy. This is especially common after "floating" experiences (see point 18 below for explanation of floating).
10. Fear that what the cult said would happen to them if they left actually might happen.
11. Tendency to think in terms of black and white, as conditioned by the cult. They need to practice looking for the gray areas.
12. Spiritualizing everything. This residual sometimes lasts for quite a while. Former members need to be encouraged to look for logical reasons why things happen and to deal with reality, to let go of their magical thinking.
13. Inability to make decisions. This characteristic reflects the dependency that was fostered by the cult.
14. Low self-esteem. This generally comes from those experiences common to most cults, where time and again members are told that they are worthless.
15. Embarrassment. This is an expression of the inability to talk about their experience, to explain how or why they got involved or what they had done during that time. It is often manifested by an intense feeling of being ill at ease in both social and work situations. Also, often there is a feeling of being out of sync with everyone else, of going through culture shock, from having lived in a closed environment and having been deprived of participating in everyday culture.
16. Employment and/or career problems. Former members face the dilemma of what to put on a resume to cover the blank years of cult membership.
17. Dissociation. This also has been fostered by the cult. Either active or passive, it is a period of not being in touch with reality or those around them, an inability to communicate.
18. Floating. These are flashbacks into the cult mindset. It can also take on the effect of an intense emotional reaction that is inappropriate to the particular stimuli.
19. Nightmares. Some people also experience hallucinations or hearing voices. A small percentage of former members need hospitalization due to this type of residual.
20. Family issues.
21. Dependency issues.
22. Sexuality issues.
23. Spiritual (or philosophical) issues. Former members often face difficult questions: Where can I go to have my spiritual (or belief) needs met? What do I believe in now? What is there to believe in, trust in?
24. Inability to concentrate, short-term memory loss.
25. Re-emergence of pre-cult emotional or psychological issues.
26. Impatience with the recovery process. (Giambalvo, Post-cult Problems: An Exit Counselor's Perspective)
In Giambalvo’s experience she has seen no difference in these after effects experienced by whatever way an ex-member exited the cult they had been in. She did comment that individuals who had had some type of intervention were better able to deal with these aftereffects and added especially those who had gone to a rehab center seemed to recover more easily.
I see a special importance who those involved in pastoral counseling to know what they could be dealing with if faced with the situation of counseling an ex-cult member. Interventions such as exit counseling and especially deprogramming which is seldom used now can be quite costly. I see the role of a pastoral counselor in these situations as an alternative that could be a real help to those who are not financially able for the intervention of a deprogrammer which typically cost $10,000 or more. The cost of this is high because a security team is used and it involves coercion and confinement. Exit counseling typically costs $2,000 to $4,000 including expenses, for a three to five day intervention. Costs could exceed that if the counseling is done on someone from a little known group. (Langone, Martin, Deprogramming, Exit Counseling, and Ethics: Clarifying the Confusion) Herein lies how the intervention of a pastoral counselor could be a help: the accessibility, and costs.
I feel a distinction should be made here about deprogramming versus exit counseling and Langone, and Martin give an excellent analysis.
Because deprogramming had come to be associated with coercion and confinement and because it so often worked (about two-thirds of the time), it caused quite a controversy. Cults railed against it, in large part because it was effective in persuading their members to leave. But even some cult critics denounced it on legal and ethical grounds. Others additionally felt that a more sophisticated understanding of cults opened up alternatives to deprogramming. These persons-some of whom were helping professionals or clergy-believed that parents tended to let their emotions dominate their actions. They began to help parents with their distress and help them communicate more effectively, so that they would be able to persuade their children to speak with someone knowledgeable about cults. The term "voluntary deprogramming" came to associated with this process. It soon became clear, however, the adjective "voluntary" did not remove the negative connotation "deprogramming" had acquired. Gradually, the term "exit counseling" replaced "voluntary deprogramming." [Some exit counselors prefer the term "cult education consultant," but that term has not yet caught on.) Today, there are many exit counseling and few deprogramming. (Langone, Martin)
Just from the nature of the beast involved with deprogramming there are many ethical issues and legal issues involved in this type of intervention. Since deprogramming involves involuntary intervention, and coercion there have been lawsuits brought against deprogrammers and those who hired them. Anyone seeking this type of intervention for someone involved in a cult should be aware of the legal implications that exist if this road is undertaken.
For the names given above for those who counsel ex-cult members I don’t believe I would want to have any of those titles, the least being “cult education consultant”. I would want to simply be called pastor, and a pastor with some experience with the cult experience and knowledge of what it is like to leave a cult.
When given the opportunity to share aspects of my cultic experience I am always eager to do so. If I can share my experiences and have them be of some help to others in many ways it is a cleansing, catharsis for me that others can learn from my experiences. Since the miracle happened in my life of voluntarily leaving a cult with really no intervention except that of the Holy Spirit deprogramming me and re-wiring me I have had the earnest desire to help others leave the cult I was in, which takes a miracle in itself, and more than that help others that are out in their re-entry into society. With my research for this paper I encountered a plethora of material from many points of view on what type of counseling is needed. My conclusion for me personally has been that the role of a pastoral counselor, using my life experiences as a source of empathy with those who would come to me for help should be a significant part of ministry for me. Putting into practice the Roger’s aspect of “unconditional positive regard” or “agape” love I truly believe I could benefit others who are imprisoned just as I was in the past.
Works Cited
Giambalvo, Carol. "Post-cult problems: An Exit Counselor's Perspective." Recovery from
Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual abuse. 148-154. W. W. Norton & Co, Inc, 1993. PsycINFO. 23 July 2006. http://search.epnet.com
Lalich Janja, PhD, Langone Michael D., PhD, Characteristics Associated with Cultic
Groups – Revised, http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_checklis.htm 7/28/2006
Langone Michael D., PhD, Martin Paul PhD, Deprogramming, Exit Counseling, and
Ethics: Clarifying the Confusion, Cult Observer Volume 10, No. 4 – 1993, http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_deprogramming_clarify.htm, 7/29/2006
Lewis, James R., and David G. Bromley. "The cult withdrawal syndrome : a case of misattribution of cause." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 26 (1987): 508-522. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. 25 July 2006. http://search.epnet.com.