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This article is an electronic version of an article originally
published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1996, Volume 13, Number 2, pages 125-152.
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.
Pseudo-identity and the Treatment of Personality Change in Victims of Captivity
and Cults
Louis Jolyon West, M.D.
Paul R. Martin, Ph.D.
Abstract
Prolonged environmental stress can disrupt the normal integrative functions of
personality. Prisoners of war, civilian prisoners of Chinese Communist captors,
political prisoners (e.g., Cardinal Mindszenty), victims of the “Stockholm
Syndrome,” hostages, concentration camp inmates, and members of totalist cults
often adapt to prolonged environmental stress by means of dissociation, that is
by generating an altered persona, or pseudo-identity. When internal defense
mechanisms break down, pseudo-identity can become destabilized, producing one
or more of three clinical pictures: the “floater,” the “contemplator,” and the
“survivor.” The goal of treatment is to relieve clients’ induced psychopathology
and thus restore their pre-cult personality. Treatment, which varies somewhat
with the three clinical pictures, should examine pre-abuse factors and the
nature of the environmental stress, which is unique to thought-reform systems.
This approach helps clients come to understand that their symptoms are largely
responses to stress. Case examples and specific treatment strategies are
discussed.
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