This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1986, Volume 3, Number 2, pages 190-203. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

Parental Responses to Their Children's Cult Membership

Lita Linzer Schwartz, Ph.D.

Abstract

Most of the literature published on today's “new religious movements,” or "cults,” has paid scant attention to the parents of cult members. The author's surveys of parents of ex-cult members, together with published accounts and the perceptions of professionals in the field, reveal parents' initial emotional reactions to their children's cult involvement and the actions they subsequently took -- deprogramming, court-ordered guardianship, exit counseling, law suits, and family therapy. The author concludes with advice about how parents can more effectively deal with the experience.
 

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