ICSA Denver Conference

Psychological Manipulation, Cultic Groups, and Other Alternative Movements

June 22-24, 2006

Sheraton Denver West, Lakewood, Colorado

 Conference Handbook

 ICSA Annual International Conference

Denver, Colorado

June 22-24, 2006

Conference Home

Table of Contents

updated 6/16/06

Welcome Letter

Dear Friend:

Welcome to the 2006 Annual International Conference of the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA).

The conference registration envelope, which supplements this Conference Handbook, includes:

·         Your name tag

·         Bookstore order form

·         ICSA’s publication list (for mail ordering)

·         Index cards for writing down questions to submit during conference programs in which a speaker prefers this method

·         A Call for Papers for ICSA’s 2007 conference in Brussels, Belgium

·         Flyer for the July 20–22, 2006 ex-member workshop in Estes Park, Colorado

·         Information on Denver-area recreational opportunities

·         A global evaluation form on the conference. Session evaluation forms will be made available in the meeting rooms. You may mail evaluation forms to ICSA or leave them in the bookstore.

·         Donation form and reply envelope (Thank you!)

Individuals with “Assistance Team” on their badges (yellow highlight) have volunteered to talk to those who may feel a need to deal with pressing personal issues during the conference. If you have questions or need help concerning conference issues, ask one of the conference staff, identifiable by their name badges (pink highlight).

We have several luncheon and dinner talks and awards presentations. Check the schedule in the conference handbook.

See conference staff if you would like a certificate of attendance. You must submit evaluation forms on all the sessions you attend in order to obtain an attendance certificate.

This is a public conference. If you have matters that are sensitive or that you prefer to keep confidential, you should exercise appropriate care. Private audio- or videotaping is not permitted. We hope to make videos available through our e-Library.

People have come great distances to attend this conference. Every attendee is entitled to courtesy and respect. Contact security, identifiable by their badges, if you feel it is necessary.

Press who attend the conference may come from mainstream and nonmainstream, even controversial, organizations. If a journalist seeks to interview you, exercise appropriate care — e.g., request a consent form. If you desire to refuse an interview request, feel free to do so. Remember, if you give an interview, you will have no control over what part of the interview, if any, will be used.

ICSA conferences try to encourage dialogue and are open to diverse points of view. Hence, opinions expressed at the conference or in books and other materials available in our bookstore should be interpreted as opinions of the speakers or writers, not necessarily the views of ICSA or its staff, directors, or advisors.

We believe that this will be an interesting and stimulating conference, and we hope that you will attend other ICSA conferences and workshops. We depend upon contributions. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Philip Elberg, Esq.

President

Agenda

Biographical Sketches of Speakers

Carmen Almendros is a Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical and Health Psychology program at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She is a research and teaching staff member of the Biological and Health Psychology Department at the same university. (carmen.almendros@uam.es)

Sandy Andron, Ed.D., is director of education at Temple Kol Emeth. Additionally, he serves as an education consultant who served for over twenty-five years as director of a religious education high-school program in Miami, Florida. His work in the anti-cult movement includes creation of a high-school curriculum, Cultivating Cult-Evading. He was the recipient of the Leo J. Ryan Award in 1988 from the then-Cult Awareness Network, for which he served as vice-president for five years. He has handled media resources in south Florida for over a quarter century, has lectured throughout the world, and has been a seminar leader/director and keynoter. Some of his specialty areas include elementary education, high-school English, gifted, the martial arts, and magic.

Marybeth F. Ayella, Ph.D., teaches sociology at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Dr. Ayella has taught a course entitled Cults as Social Movements since 1987. Since 2002 she has taught a course on deadly cults and terrorism entitled Extremist Movements. She is the author of Insane Therapy: Portrait of a Psychotherapy Cult, published by Temple University Press. She is presently researching a book on sex and gender in cults. (mayella@mailhost.sju.edu)

Livia Bardin, M.S.W., an independent scholar, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in the Washington, D.C., area. She experienced child welfare firsthand as a foster-care case manager in Washington’s child welfare system. She holds a Certificate in Family Therapy from the Family Therapy Practice Center in Washington and recently retired from the private practice of psychotherapy. She currently chairs ICSA’s Family Workshop Advisory Board, and has presented ICSA-sponsored workshops for family and friends of cult members. Ms. Bardin has provided trainings on cult-related issues for mental-health professionals in the Washington area, and is the author of Coping with Cult Involvement, a handbook for families and friends of cult members. (liviabardin@aol.com)

Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D., is the author of the book Modern Religions: An Experiential Analysis and Exposé, which describes his experiences with Scientology, est, Unification Church, Divine Light Mission, Gurdjieff, Eckankar, Self-Realization Fellowship, Course In Miracles, Reiki, Avatar, Conversations With God, Neopaganism, and more. Elliot facilitates workshops in the Belfast, Maine, area on the topic of spirituality and awareness of cult dangers, and offers counseling to ex-members of spiritual cults. (ben496@prexar.com)

Chip Berlet is senior analyst at Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank near Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Berlet is co-author (with Matthew N. Lyons) of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, (New York: Guilford Press, 2000). He edited Eye’s Right!: Challenging the Right Wing Backlash, (Boston: South End Press, 1995). Both books were awarded a Gustavus Myers Award for outstanding scholarship on the subject of human rights and intolerance in North America. He has appeared as an expert on television programs such as ABC’s Nightline and NBC’s Today Show. Berlet has also contributed to edited collections, scholarly journals, academic conferences, and popular periodicals ranging from The New York Times to the Progressive magazine. He is an advisory board member of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University and has written academic studies, encyclopedia entries, and magazine articles on apocalyptic belief and demonization as recruitment and organizing strategies by totalitarian groups. He recently was named to the editorial board of the journal Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. (c.berlet@publiceye.org)

William H. Bowen is the president of Silentlambs, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to helping survivors of abuse. A second-generation Jehovah’s Witness, he has been active in the movement for forty-three years, and served as an elder starting in 1985.

Russell Bradshaw, Ed.D., is an associate professor, Lehman College, City University of New York (since 1987), where he is in charge of the M.A. Program in Social Studies Education grades 7-12.

John Burke, Ph.D., is a post-doctoral resident at the Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Health Management Organization of San Jose, California. He also serves as the United Presbyterian Pastor of the Bonny Doon Presbyterian Church of Santa Cruz, California. He recently received his doctorate in clinical psychology with a dissertation entitled Borderline Personality Disorder in Adult Males in Correctional Settings. His clinical psychology Internship was in the Colorado Department of Corrections from 2002 to 2003. Previously, he has worked for the County of Santa Cruz Juvenile Probation Department as a Substance Abuse Counselor; he also served as a Board Member and Board Chair for many years on behalf of the New Life Community Services, Inc., a 33-bed, not-for-profit, social model, inpatient alcohol and chemical dependency treatment facility in Santa Cruz, California. Dr. Burke previously taught at Bethany University in Scotts Valley, California, as an Assistant Professor of Addiction Studies from 1993 to 2002. He is also the published author of Internet Databases with Cold Fusion 3, a book describing use of personal databases on the Internet, published by McGraw-Hill, and is a contributing author to Running the Perfect Web Server, 2^nd Ed., (MacMillan Publishing). He presently lives with his wife Barbara and their three children, Peter, Sean, and Michella, in Santa Cruz, California.

Paul Carden is the executive director of the Centers for Apologetics Research (CFAR) in San Juan Capistrano, California. He has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the field of cult-related research and outreach. (www.TheCenters.org)

José Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D., is full professor of psychology in the field of personality, assessment, and treatment, and past head of
the Department of Biological and Health Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid. His work focuses in the areas of psychopathology and clinical and health psychology. He is president of the European Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Therapies (EABCT). He has directed numerous doctoral theses and is author of an important number and variety of articles and books in his areas
of specialization. He has organized and participated in numerous national and international psychology congresses, among which his participation as president of the Scientific Committee at the 23rd International Congress of Applied Psychology held in Madrid in 1994 stands out. He is member of the editorial boards of several national and international journals.

Gina Maria Catena, MS, CNM, NP, is a certified nurse-midwife and nurse practitioner. Ms. Catena was raised in the Transcendental Meditation group since the mid-1960s, as one of the first Children of the Age of Enlightenment. She married and was a parent in the group until the age of thirty. After twenty-two years of childhood and young adulthood enmeshed in the TM culture, she left the group with three children. She lives with ongoing cult influence through three generations of her immediate family. Ms. Catena is currently working on several projects about family influence in cults. She has a master’s degree from the University of California at San Francisco, a BA in art history, and a BS in nursing, with a minor in psychology. (ginacatena@sbcglobal.net)

Laura Chapman is a child protection worker in Colorado. She was born and raised in a Mormon fundamentalist polygamist group. Laura escaped with five children fourteen years ago. Since then she has earned two college degrees. In 2002 she brought the brutal truth of the human-rights violations of women and children in polygamy to the attention of the United Nations. She was nominated for the Robert Kennedy award for her efforts to rescue two teens from arranged marriages.

Donna Collins was the first “Blessed Child” of the Unification Church in the West. Her parents founded the UC in England. Her story is told in detail in the ICSA video, Blessed Child. Currently, she is a writer who lives with her family in Sarasota, Florida.

Lorraine Derocher, M.A., has just finished her master’s in sociology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada). Her research is focusing on the social integration process that adults who lived their childhood in a sectarian group have to face the day they decide to leave their group. She is also involved in the research team of the organization Safe Passage Foundation that aims to face the problem of children in cults.

Mary Jo Downey researched the cultural functions of American “atrocity” narratives (cf. Bromley and Shupe) for her Ph.D. at the University of Buffalo.  A graduate of Unification Theological Seminary, she was a member of the Unification Church for 25 years.  Currently she is an adjunct instructor (and the solo parent of her blessed child, Eiry) in upstate New York.

Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D., is a counseling psychologist in private practice in Wales. She co-founded RETIRN (the Reentry Therapy, Information and Referral Network) in the United States in 1983 and RETIRN/UK in the United Kingdom in 2004. RETIRN (www.retirn.com) is a private practice comprising mental-health professionals who specialize in helping individuals and families who have been adversely affected by destructive cults and other extremist and high demand/manipulative groups. (LJDMarshall@aol.com)

Roderick Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D. (Nottm) is dean of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Glamorgan, RCT, Wales. His principal research is on social influence, including the psychological effects of cultic group membership, influence in organizational settings, and the psychological processes involved in social group identity and prejudice. He is also a member of the national committee of FAIR (Family, Action, Information, Resource), UK and a UK representative on the General Assembly of the European Federation of Centres for Research and Education on Sects (FECRIS). (rdubrowm@glam.ac.uk)

Steve K. D. Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP, is a licensed and board-certified counseling psychologist. Dr. Eichel is a co-founder of RETIRN (Philadelphia, PA) and was a 1990 recipient of the John G. Clark Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Cultic Studies. He is a former president of the Greater Philadelphia Society of Clinical Hypnosis and president of the American Academy of Counseling Psychology. (steve@DrEichel.com)

Philip Elberg, Esq., president of ICSA, is a partner in the Newark, New Jersey, law firm of Medvin and Elberg. He represented several plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Kids of North Jersey, a treatment center for adolescents with “behavior disorders.” The case was initiated as a medical malpractice action but evolved into a claim that the treatment center operated as a destructive cult for the benefit of its founder, Miller Newton. The case was settled on the eve of trial for $4,500,000. A reported New Jersey Court decision describes Mr. Elberg’s work on the case as “heroic.” He currently represents another patient of the same facility who was treated at Kids for thirteen years; he has become committed to obtaining public awareness of the potentially dangerous practices of some adolescent treatment facilities.

Andrea Moore Emmett is a journalist and author. She was the researcher for the two-hour A&E documentary, Inside Polygamy. Ms. Moore Emmett is the recipient of five Headliners Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism Awards and a Utah Professional Chapter of Women in Communications Leading Changes Award. Ms. Moore Emmett is the author of God’s Brothel, a book about women who escaped polygamy. She also works as a reporter for All Headline News and speaks across the country concerning abuses against women and children within polygamy.

Jorge Erdely Graham, Ph.D., is associate editor of Revista Académica para el Estudio de las Religiones, a pluralistic, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed periodical that focuses on religious globalization and human rights in the Hispanic world. He is the author of several published scientific papers and twelve books on extreme religious groups, theology, and human rights. Among them, the international best-seller Pastores que Abusan, Suicidios Colectivos Rituales, and his latest, The New Jihad: Myths and States of Denial. Dr. Erdely is an Oxford Theological Foundation Fellow. He is currently Research Director of el Centro de Investigaciones del Instituto Cristiano de México and, among others, a member of the Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio de las Religiones, the regional affiliate of the International Association for the History of Religion (IAHR). He currently focuses his research on the interrelation between globalization, contemporary religious pluralism, and human rights in Latin America (www.revistaacademica.com).

Steven Gelberg, M.A., while a member from 1970 to 1987, served as the Krishna Movement’s principal liaison to the international academic community (e.g., he edited Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Krishna Movement in the West, Grove Press, 1983), and its Director for Interreligious Affairs. He is author of a number of scholarly articles on ISKCON (and related historical, social-scientific, and cultic issues) published in various academic books and journals. He subsequently earned a master’s degree (comparative religion) from Harvard Divinity School in 1990. He currently lives with his wife and cat near San Francisco, where he is an accomplished fine-art photographer working on a book, Photography and Imagination. His essay “On Leaving ISKCON,” to be published in revised form in a forthcoming volume from Columbia University Press, is available online at http://surrealist.org/betrayalofthespirit/gelberg.html.

Carol Giambalvo is an ex-cult member who has been a thought-reform consultant since 1984 and a cofounder of reFOCUS, a national support network for former cult members. She is on ICSA’s Board of Directors, director of ICSA’s Recovery Programs, and is responsible for its Project Outreach. Author of Exit Counseling: A Family Intervention, co-editor of The Boston Movement: Critical Perspectives on the International Churches of Christ, and co-author of “Ethical Standards for Thought Reform Consultants,” Ms. Giambalvo has written and lectured extensively on cult-related topics. (affcarol@worldnet.att.net)

Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., L. C. S. W., is a psychoanalyst in private practice with children, adolescents, and adults. She has co-led a support group for ex-cult members with her husband, William, for over twenty-five years. She is on the Board of Directors of ICSA/ICSA and is dean of faculty, Institute for Psychoanalytic Studies, Teaneck, New Jersey. She has written extensively for social work and ICSA publications. (Lorna@blgoldberg.com)

William Goldberg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., a therapist in private practice, has co-led a support group for ex-cult members with his wife, Lorna, for over twenty-five years. He is the director of Training and Staff Development of the Rockland County (NY) Department of Mental Health. Mr. Goldberg is an adjunct lecturer in the Social Work Department of Dominican College. (Bill@blgoldberg.com)

Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C., a member of ICSA's Board of Directors, is a psychotherapist practicing in Littleton, Colorado. For the past fifteen years she has been helping those harmed by cults through the original CAN and ICSA. Her private practice specializes in the treatment of cult survivors and their families. She is a former member of Kashi Ranch. (rosanne@cultrecover.com)

Dr. Sharon Hilderbrant is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with individuals, families, and groups who have experienced long-term spiritual abuse in a religious setting. She applies systems theory and addiction models to her recovery program. Most of her clients have come out of Bible-based organizations, and many have chosen to retain their Christian faith, desiring to recover from the abuse and learn how to recognize healthy faith communities. Once, when asked by a newspaper journalist whether it is possible to practice an orthodox faith without the excesses and abuses that are frequently committed, her answer was a confident “Yes!”

Gillie Jenkinson is in private practice as a counsellor and psychotherapist (Diploma in Pastoral Counselling and MA Gestalt Psychotherapy) and is accredited by the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). She specialises in working with survivors of abuse, including cultic and sexual abuse, and has worked for Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Service since 1995. In 1999 Gillie did a one-month internship at Wellspring Retreat and Rehabilitation Center in Ohio. She is experienced in face-to-face work, helpline support, and group work. She is also a supervisor and does training in working with cult and sexual abuse/rape survivors.  Her contact details are: gilliepsychotherapistukcp@hotmail.co.uk or +1433 639032.

Joseph F. Kelly, a thought-reform consultant since 1988, spent fourteen years in two different Eastern meditation groups. He has lectured extensively on cult-related topics, and is a co-author of “Ethical Standards for Thought Reform Consultants,” published in ICSA’s Cultic Studies Journal. (joek1055@hotmail.com)

Masaki Kito, Esq., is a founding partner of Link Sougou Law Office in Tokyo, established in 2001. He is one of the leading public commentators on cults in Japan, making frequent appearances in the various media, including TV. He has been an advocate for the victims of various cultic groups for over fifteen years in Tokyo. Currently he is the vice chairperson of the Consumer’s Problems Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Association (JFBA).

Pat Knapp, M.A., Philosophy of Religion, Denver Seminary. His thesis was entitled The Place of Mind-Control in the Cult Recovery Process (November 2000). He was a member of a high-control, Bible-based group from 1970 to 1984. Over the past twenty years he has been involved in teaching, witnessing, and counseling those affected by various forms of religious abuse. He is currently working on a book project regarding recovery issues for those from religiously dysfunctional (cultic) backgrounds. www.soulcrafteastofeden.blogspot.com

Michael Kropveld, executive director and founder of Info-Cult, the largest resource centre of its kind in Canada. Since 1980 Mike has assisted thousands of former members and members of “cults,” “new religious movements,” and other groups, and their families. He has spoken in Canada and internationally to hundreds of professional and community groups on the cultic phenomenon. He is also involved in counselling and is consulted by, among others, mental-health professionals, law-enforcement agencies, and media, and he has served as an expert witness on cult-related criminal and civil cases. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs locally, nationally, and internationally. In 1992 he was awarded the 125 Commemorative Medal “in recognition of significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada” by the Government of Canada. He co-authored the book The Cult Phenomenon: How Groups Function (March 2006) and its French version (Le phénomène des sectes: L’étude du fonctionnement des groupes). Both versions are downloadable at no charge from Info-Cult’s Web site, www.infocult.org, or available in print format.

Janja Lalich, Ph.D., is associate professor of sociology at California State University, Chico. Her research and writing has focused on cults and controversial groups, with a specialization in charismatic authority, power relations, ideology, and social control, and issues related to gender and sexuality. Her most recent book, Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults, (University of California Press) presents a new approach to understanding cult commitments, and is based on her comparative study of Heaven’s Gate, which committed collective suicide in 1997, and the Democratic Workers Party, a radical left-wing political cult. Other works include being guest editor of Women Under the Influence: A Study of Women’s Lives in Totalist Groups (a special issue of Cultic Studies Journal 14,1, 1997); and coauthor of “Crazy” Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work? (Jossey-Bass, 1996); Cults in Our Midst (Jossey-Bass, 1995); and Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Hunter House, 1994). Dr. Lalich recently completed a newly revised and expanded edition of her first book, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, which is now available as Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Bay Tree Publishing, 2006). (JLalich@csuchico.edu)

Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., a counseling psychologist, is ICSA’s executive director. He was the founder editor of Cultic Studies Journal (CSJ), the editor of CSJ’s successor, Cultic Studies Review, and editor of Recovery from Cults. He is co-author of Cults: What Parents Should Know and Satanism and Occult-Related Violence: What You Should Know. Dr. Langone has spoken and written widely about cults. In 1995, he received the Leo J. Ryan Award from the “original” Cult Awareness Network and was honored as the Albert V. Danielsen visiting Scholar at Boston University. (mail@icsamail.com)

Edward Antrim Lottick, M.D., is now retired after thirty-five years of active medical practice. He has just completed four years of advanced French at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and will start his third year of teaching a psychology elective on American cults at King’s in the fall. In 1992, he surveyed 5,400 Pennsylvania physicians about their personal and professional experience with cults using a 14-item questionnaire. In the summer of 2004, he again surveyed 3,000 Pennsylvania professionals, this time psychology practitioners, using a more detailed 53-item survey. At last year’s Madrid conference, he reviewed empirical research on prevalence of cults in the United States of America. His topic for Denver 2006 is Rajneesh and Bioterrorism.

Sylvia Mahr is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker working in Hamilton, Montana. She was raised in the Mormon fundamentalist polygamist group known as the Apostolic United Brethren in Pinesdale, Montana. She was the second of three wives and escaped with seven children. She went on to get a GED and graduate from college.

Hal Mansfield, M.A., is director of the Religious Movement Resource Center, with twenty-three years’ experience investigating/researching destructive groups. He has conducted numerous workshops/trainings for agencies interested in hate groups and destructive cults. The center has the largest library in the Rocky Mountain area on hate groups and destructive cults and networks, with a large number of other agencies looking at hate groups and bias crime. Mr. Mansfield is retired from the United States Air Force, where he was a director of operations of counter narcotics, was a military advisor to the country of Slovenia, and spent time in over thirty countries.

Arnold Markowitz, C.S.W., is a psychotherapist and director of the Cult Hotline and Clinic of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in New York City, where he also serves as director of Brooklyn Adolescent Services. He has written and lectured extensively on cultic groups and psychological manipulation. (AMarkowitz@jbfcs.org)

Joyce Martella is the daughter of a leader of a pseudo-Christian cultic group, ISOT, in Northern California. Born and raised in this group, she left after twenty-five years. She has been cut off from her siblings and mother for over fifteen years. She is currently working in a Batterer’s Intervention Program and pursuing a doctorate in depth psychology.

Michael Martella, a licensed family therapist, was raised in a Bible-based cult for twenty years, leaving in 1980. He is a licensed counselor and an expert in domestic-violence treatment in San Diego, California. Over the past three years, he has conducted seven “Cult Survivor Workshops” for ex-cult members, and he is currently writing his doctoral dissertation on Cult Wounds and Cult Healing.

Paul Martin, Ph.D., a former member and leader of Great Commission International (currently called Great Commission Association of Churches), is a psychologist and director of the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center in Albany, Ohio, a residential rehabilitation center for ex-cult members that has treated nearly 900 clients. Dr. Martin is author of Cult-Proofing Your Kids. He has written numerous articles on cults, including several contributions to Cultic Studies Journal, and has been interviewed by many newspapers and radio and TV stations concerning cults. He has served as an expert witness in cult cases around the world, and was most recently the lead expert witness for the Lee Boyd Malvo trial (the Virginia sniper case). He is currently working on a book about cult recovery.

Julia McNeil is a founding director and the chief operating officer of Safe Passage Foundation. Ms. McNeil has eight years of experience in IT project management and currently works as a senior systems analyst for a pediatric health-care and research facility. Julia McNeil became involved with child advocacy through participation in a number of projects with NGOs and child rights advocates regarding sexually exploited children and youth. Born into an isolated religious community, and having left to start a new life at the age of twenty, Ms. McNeil is the eldest of eleven children. The challenges both she and her siblings faced when exiting their community of origin demonstrated to her first hand the need for support and resources for this particular demographic. Ms. McNeil went on to create an online support group (www.movingon.org) for young people who were born into the same isolated community she was. This interactive Web site provided a place for youth to safely interact with people who understood the challenges of integration into society and to participate in peer-to-peer support.

Nancy Miquelon, M.A., L.P.C., is a licensed professional counselor specializing in the treatment of trauma. She has been practicing psychotherapy in Colorado for thirteen years. Nancy served as a director of the former Cult Awareness Network for three years and is a cofounder and presently serves on the board of reFOCUS, a former-cult-member support network. She is also a regular workshop facilitator at ICSA’s Recovery Workshops in Estes Park. She has been working for the past three years on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in northern New Mexico.

Nori J. Muster, M.A., is the author of Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life Behind the Headlines of the Hare Krishna Movement (University of Illinois Press, 1997) and Cult Survivor's Handbook: How to Live in the Material World Again (Surrealist.org, 2000). She was an ISKCON member from 1978 to 1988, then earned her master’s degree at Western Oregon University in 1992 doing art therapy with juvenile delinquents.

Stephen Mutch, LLB, PhD, (UNSW), is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and convenes a master’s course on the politics, law and morality of international political violence in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University, Sydney. A former member of the NSW Legislative Council (State Senate) and the Australian House of Representatives, Stephen served in parliament from 1988 to 1998. His doctoral thesis is entitled Cults, Religion and Public Policy. Dr. Mutch is also the patron of Cult Information and Family Support Inc. (CIFS), a Sydney-based support and information network for those with family members and friends in high-demand groups.

Kimberlee D. Norris, J.D., is an attorney from the firm of Love & Norris in Fort Worth, Texas, whose practice is limited to sexual molestation litigation nationwide. She presently represents men, women, and children who were sexually molested while attending Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations throughout the United States. Additionally, her firm represents abuse survivors victimized in cults, children’s organizations, and children’s homes. Ms. Norris has lectured extensively concerning the impact and effect of sexual molestation on children. She also serves as a child safety consultant for churches and organizations whose activities involve children. She can be reached by email at: kdnorris@lovenorris.com.

Eric Pement is a former member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (RLDS) and is widely known for his expertise on new religious movements. He worked for over twenty-two years at Cornerstone magazine and was most recently its executive editor, specializing in apologetics, cults, world religions, and controversial issues. In addition to authoring numerous articles, Eric compiled The 1986 Directory of Cult Research Organizations (as well as revised editions in ‘87, ‘88, ‘90, ‘91, ‘93 and ‘96). He currently attends North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. (pemente@northpark.edu)

Miguel Perlado, psychologist, psychotherapist. A graduate of the University of Barcelona, Mr. Perlado received psychotherapy training from Vidal Barraquer Foundation (Barcelona) and iPsi (Barcelona). He currently works with Attention and Research on Social Addictions (AIS) and also with iPsi as an exit counselor and psychotherapist. (mperlado@copc.es)

Elizabeth Perry, ECE, BA, CAE, was a member of the Emissaries of Divine Light from 1985 to 2001. Since leaving the group she has focused on her recovery and understanding why she was susceptible to her involvement with the Emissaries in the first place. Elizabeth now has her own company, Leadership by Example Consulting, where, as an adult educator, she develops and presents educational material exploring expanded definitions of authority and autonomy to public audiences. Elizabeth is increasingly helping others leave high-demand groups as a self-defined exit coach. Her ultimate goal for recovery is to acquire her master’s in psychology, which she is working toward through self-directed study. (info@canadacultwatch.org)

Diana Pletts, M.A., recently completed her master’s degree in communication from the University at Buffalo. There, she performed a case study on cult prevalence on the UB campus. Informed by the case study, she wrote a cult-education information campaign for college students as part of her thesis. Diana took part as a speaker in a week of cult-education seminars at Chautauqua Institution in 2004, and was part of the Institution’s School of Special Studies in 2005 with the course Cultivating Cult Awareness. She has spoken at churches, colleges, and on the radio regarding cult awareness. A former member of the Path, an End-Times charismatic Christian group, Diana is interested in the creation of cult-related artwork, writing, and video with the goal of greater social interest in the cause of underserved former cult members.

Vicky Prunty is the executive director and co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy (TAP). She was born and raised in the mainstream Mormon Church and married in the Mormon Temple. She and her husband became Mormon fundamentalist polygamists and acquired a second wife. She later left that marriage and then became a third wife in a subsequent marriage. She left for good with her six children and now helps others leave through TAP.

Patrick Rardin is a former member of the (American, Brazilian, Uruguayan, etc.) Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. His parents sent him to live with this organization at the age of thrteen. Immediately following his acquisition by the group, the leaders sent him to Brazil for a period of four years, after which he returned to the United States and spent an additional six years with the organization, at which point he walked away from it. Mr. Rardin has his own computer consulting firm in upstate New York. He has spoken at a number of conferences on his involvement with the TFP, and he helped with research for MTV’s production of The Cult Question, June 27, 1995. Mr. Rardin has worked with both a therapist and personal coach and is currently training in the field of personal coaching.

Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D., is professor of social psychology, social movements, and legal psychology at the University of Barcelona (Spain). Since 1999 he has been director of the Social Psychology Department. During the 1980s, before and after a 1985 internship at ICSA, he worked with families and victims affected by cult membership. He then worked as a professor at the University of Barcelona, where he completed a doctoral dissertation in 1991 on the psychology of coercive persuasion. During recent years he has extended this line of research, linking it to other contexts (e.g., domestic, work, school) where manipulation and psychological violence may occur. His publications include the book El Lavado de Cerebro: Psicología de la Persuasión Coercitiva. (Brainwashing: Psychology of Coercive Persuasion).

Patrick Ryan, a former member of Transcendental Meditation, has been a thought-reform consultant since 1984. He designs and implements ICSA’s Internet Web site. Mr. Ryan is the founder and former head of TM-ex, the organization of ex-members of TM. He has contributed to ICSA’s book, Recovery From Cults, is co-author of “Ethical Standards for Thought Reform Consultants,” and has presented programs about hypnosis and trance-induction techniques at several ICSA workshops and conferences. (Patrick.ryan@affcultinfoserve.com)

Larry Sarner is a co-founder of Advocates for Children in Therapy (ACT) and presently its administrative and legislative director. ACT is a national organization in the US opposing the spread of the abusive treatment of (adopted and foster) children, principally with Attachment Therapy and related parenting techniques. He is co-author of Attachment Therapy on Trial: The Torture and Death of Candace Newmaker (Praeger, 2003) and has published articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Quinnipiac Health Law Journal, Skeptic, and Cultic Studies Journal. He is also legislative director for the National Council Against Health Fraud and on the Board of Technical Advisors and a consultant with Quackwatch, Inc.

Alan W. Scheflin, J.D., LL.M., a director of ICSA, is professor of law at Santa Clara University Law School in California. Among his many publications is Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law (co-authored with Daniel Brown and D. Corydon Hammond), for which he received the 1999 Guttmacher Award from the American Psychiatric Association. Professor Scheflin is also the 1991 recipient of the Guttmacher Award for Trance on Trial (with Jerrold Shapiro). A member of the Editorial Advisory Board of ICSA’s Cultic Studies Review, Professor Scheflin received the 2001 American Psychological Association, Division 30 (Hypnosis), Distinguished Contribution to Professional Hypnosis Award. This is the “highest award that Division 30 can bestow.” He was also awarded in 2001 The American Board of Psychological Hypnosis Professional Recognition Award. This award was created to honor his achievements in promoting the legal and ethical use of hypnosis.

J. Shelby Sharpe, J.D. (University of Texas School of Law), is a member of Sharpe Reynolds Tillman & Melton in Fort Worth, Texas. His areas of specialty include constitutional law, insurance, and media law.

Alexandra Stein, M.L.S., is a writer and Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota. Her book Inside Out: A Memoir of Entering and Breaking Out of a Minneapolis Political Cult was published in 2002 by North Star Press of St. Cloud. She has written various articles on cults, including “Mothers in Cults” (Women Under the Influence — special issue of Cultic Studies Journal). Her chapter “Troubles Overcome are Good to Tell” is forthcoming from Bay Tree Publishing in Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Lalich and Tobias. Her research focus is on the social psychology of political extremism. (stei0301@umn.edu)

Lauren Stevens is a founding director and the chief executive officer of Safe Passage Foundation. Prior to her involvement in Safe Passage Foundation, Ms. Stevens spent four years in the non-profit sector working first in project management and later as executive director for two humanitarian aid organizations in East and Central Africa. Lauren Stevens became aware of the difficulties facing youth raised in high-demand organizations from her own experience of being born and raised in such an environment and later departing the movement with her husband and two small children. Since exiting her community of origin, Ms. Stevens has focused her time and energy on education and career advancement while sharing her own experiences in order to help others coming from the same background to transition smoothly into society.

Lois Svoboda, M.D., L.C.M.F.T., currently living in Nebraska, was a medical family therapist in Wichita, Kansas, for twenty-two years, working in a family-medicine setting in which she conducted individual, marital, and family therapy of all kinds. She is board certified in family medicine and has considerable experience in working with people coming out of cultic situations, as well as a long standing interest in working with missionaries and mission boards in the area of mental health.

Robbie Sweeten is a Utah native who now works for a technology company in San Jose, California. He lived with a girl who was born and raised in a Mormon fundamentalist polygamist extended family, but had left. Robbie and his partner had a daughter together and then she left him to return to her polygamist roots. She is now fighting to get full custody of their little girl.

Maia Szalavitz is a journalist who covers health, science, and public policy. She is the author of Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead Books, 2006) and co-author, with Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, of Recovery Options: The Complete Guide: How You and Your Loved Ones Can Understand and Treat Alcohol and Other Drug Problems (John S. Wiley, 2000). She is a senior fellow at Stats.org, a media watchdog that investigates coverage of science and statistics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Elle, New York Magazine, New Scientist, Newsweek, Salon, Redbook, O: the Oprah Magazine, and other major publications. She has appeared on Oprah, CNN, MSNBC’s News with Brian Williams, and NPR. Maia Szalavitz has also worked in television — first as associate producer and then as segment producer for PBS’ Charlie Rose, then on several documentaries including a Barbara Walters’ AIDS special for ABC and as series researcher and associate producer for the PBS documentary series, Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home.

Elmer Thiessen, B.Th., B.A., M.A., Ph.D., has recently taken early retirement after having taught philosophy and religious studies at Medicine Hat College (Alberta, Canada) for over thirty years. His official position now is that of a “roving philosopher,” open to short-term teaching and research positions anywhere in the world. At the present time he is alternating between contract teaching at Medicine Hat College and teaching overseas. In 2005 he taught at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit in Leuven, Belgium. This past winter he taught at Lithuania Christian College in Klaipeda, Lithuania. He has published numerous articles and book reviews, both in professional journals and religious magazines. His research specialty has been the philosophy of education; here he has published two books, Teaching for Commitment, and In Defence of Religious Schools and Colleges (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993; 2001). His present research interest is in the philosophy of religion, and he has just completed another manuscript, Making Converts: The Ethics of Proselytizing, which is under review by McGill-Queen's University Press.

Carolle Tremblay is an attorney in Montreal. She has a bachelor’s degree in social work (B.S.W., minor in economics) from Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec (1983) and bachelor’s degrees in law (B.C.L. and L.L.B.) from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec (1984–1988). She has been a private-practice lawyer specializing in family law in Montreal, Quebec, (Tremblay, Kidd & Associés) since 1989, and has been involved in cult-related legal cases for the past ten years. She has participated in various media interviews on cult-related matters and is president of Info-Cult/Info-Secte in Montreal, Quebec. (tremblaykidd@qc.aira.com)

Takashi Yamaguchi, Esq., was born in Japan and raised in New York until the seventh grade, where he picked up his English. He is a member of the Tokyo Bar Association and practices law at Link Sougoh Law Office, founded by Masaki Kito. He represents victims of cultic groups such as Unification Church, Home of Heart, and so on, in and out of court.

Sakurai Yoshihide, Ph.D., is professor of sociology, Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan. He is
also an executive board member of the Japan Cult Recovery Council. He has been conducting research on the cult controversy
in Japan, especially the Unification Church of Japan. (http://www.hucc.hokudai.ac.jp/~n16260/eng/index.html) (saku@let.hokudai.ac.jp)

Abstracts

Thursday, June 22, 2006 — 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Workshop for Former Group Members

Carol Giambalvo, Joseph Kelly

Topics discussed include:

• Nature of psychological manipulation and abuse
• Conditions of thought-reform programs
• General recovery needs of former members
• Coping with depression and guilt
• Effects of hypnosis and trance techniques
• Coping with feelings of anger
• Coping with anxiety
• Decision-making
• Re-establishing trust in yourself and others
• Dependency issues
• The grieving process
• Reintegration/identity issues
• Spiritual and philosophical concerns

Thursday, June 22, 2006 — 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Workshop for Family Members

Livia Bardin, M.S.W., William Goldberg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

Topics discussed may include:

• The nature of psychological manipulation and abuse
• When exit counseling might be appropriate and how to prepare
• Why people join and leave high-control, abusive groups
• How to assess your situation
• How to communicate more effectively with your loved one
• Learning new ways of coping
• Problem-solving
• Ethical issues
• Formulating a helping strategy

It is highly recommended that participants in this workshop bring/purchase Livia Bardin’s book, Coping with Cult Involvement:
A Handbook for Families and Friends, available at www.cultinfobooks.com and at the conference bookstore.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 — 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Workshop for Mental-Health Professionals

Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C.; Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.; Paul Martin, Ph.D.

Many mental-health professionals are often unaware of their clients’ cult involvement or ill prepared to help them deal with it. Even former group members lack understanding of the harmful effects of destructive cults, and often fail to see the connection between their presenting symptoms of depression or relationship problems and their group experience.

Examining their group experience and understanding how they were deceived, manipulated, and exploited, can be vital to their recovery. Therapists should keep in mind that clients who look anxious and dependent, or sound psychotic, might in fact be demonstrating a normal reaction to a cultic environment.

This workshop will define destructive cults in a way that places them toward the end of a continuum of influence and persuasion. The workshop will present three cross-sectional models of thought reform and manipulative environments, and suggest tools to help screen clients for cult involvement. The most typical cult-induced psychopathologies will also be discussed within the context of cult trauma and abuse.

Participants will see that treatment of former group members follows a somewhat predictable course, usually beginning with consultation and cult education. Six problem areas for ex-members will be discussed, along with recommendations for therapists. In addition to individual therapy, other useful treatment modalities will be discussed.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 — 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Special Session for Born or Raised (Second Generation)

Michael Martella, Joyce Martella, Donna Collins

This workshop is for people who were born and/or raised in high-demand communities, often referred to as second-generation adults or SGAs.

Unlike the case with people who are enticed or persuaded to join cults, recovering SGAs do not have a “pre-cult personality” to
return to. They develop survival-based personality profiles, often accompanied by difficulties in real-world functioning, including extreme reactions to authority, extensive deficits in social, educational, or practical functioning, and symptoms related to inadequate self-esteem, disturbed interpersonal relationships, and other trauma-based consequences of involuntary immersion in cultic living.

This workshop is designed to provide a forum for SGAs to identify and discuss their unique issues and dynamics. Topics covered may include:

• The Dynamics of Tyranny
• Domination, Acting, and Fantasy
• Humiliation and the Theft of Dignity
• Dissidence and Dissident Subcultures
• Internalizing the Oppression
• Identifying Institutional and Personal Abuse
• The Aftermath of Abuse
• Trauma and Recovery

Bibliography

Freire, P. (1970/2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum: NY.

Guest, T. (2004). My life in orange. Harcourt: Orlando, FL.

Hamilton-Byrne, S. (1995). Unseen, unheard, unknown. Penguin Books Australia: Victoria, Australia.

Herman, J. (1997). Trauma and recovery. Basic Books: NY.

Krakauer, J. (2001/2004). Under the banner of heaven. Banner Books: NY.

Memmi, A. (1965). The colonizer and the colonized. Beacon Press: Boston, MA.

Moore-Emmett, A. (2004). God’s brothel. Prince-Nez Press: San Francisco.

Nandy, A. (1999). Traditions, tyranny, and utopia. Oxford University Press: New Delhi, India.

Scott, J. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance. Edward Bros.: Ann Arbor, MI.

Wooden, K. (1981). The children of Jonestown. McGraw-Hill: San Francisco.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. (Plenary Session)

Cults, Terrorism, and Homeland Security

Stephen Bruce Mutch, LL.B., Ph.D.

There have been renewed efforts since 9/11 to improve the human intelligence aspect of policing in response to terrorism.  It is also now often observed that there are striking similarities (and overlap) between terrorist groups and cultic groups that are the focus of research conducted under the umbrella of the International Cultic Studies Association Inc (formerly American Family Foundation Inc).  However, public policy makers have been slow to appreciate the currently available resource and enormous potential asset provided by the cult-watch movement in general and by scholars who are prepared to undertake apostate studies in particular.

The London bombings in 2005 (featuring home-grown terrorists operating under the radar of intelligence agencies) marked a turning point in popular and official perceptions of the terrorist threat. The penny has started to drop that better community policing (along with interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural understanding) might provide a fruitful avenue in which to direct government resources. Nevertheless, while some efforts are made to reassure and placate selected community leaders, real resources seem primarily directed to expanding empires within intelligence bureaucracies, where recruits are being enlisted at great pace—most likely in a long term effort to better liaise with (as well as infiltrate) ethnic/religious communities and to beef up long neglected human intelligence.

Preventive detention and sedition laws can send a message to Muslim communities that they are mistrusted and targeted for special attention, engendering suspicion, heightening paranoia, and possibly running the risk of amplifying deviance in those pockets where it might exist. While limited preventive detention may be justified with adequate judicial safeguards, governments, in treading a delicate path, should err in favor of free speech, which is not only a fundamental freedom at the heart of the society we are trying to protect, but a useful ally in the so-called “war on terrorism.” Legislation restricting free speech can certainly engender suspicion, induce non-cooperation, and destroy the credibility of community leaders seen to be in collaboration with governments running apparently contradictory policies.

Furthermore, the record thus far of dealings with those apostates (or informants) who have provided valuable intelligence to the police has sometimes conveyed the wrong message. Generous support and protection should be given to those technically in breach of counter terrorism laws but who have recanted before engaging in acts of violence. If the “war on terror” is to be with us as long as governments predict, the strategy must be to attract future defectors—not deter them by providing lengthy jail terms to those who have already come forward.

Worthwhile intelligence flows naturally (and without financial cost) from those who are anxious to provide it to those they are willing to trust.  Alliances should be forged and information pathways strengthened with those within the Muslim community who are concerned about extremist, cultic elements seducing their youth. It is argued that cult-watch groups, in particular those affiliated with the anti or counter cult movement, along with scholars who have been associated with cult-watch groups and study the accounts of leavers (or apostates), are well positioned to receive the type of information that governments are anxious to extract from target communities.

It is also vital for authorities to keep in mind that terrorist violence is not limited to Muslim groups.  Aum Shinrikyo was a syncretistic, Japanese Buddhist cult that employed a weapon of mass destruction, Sarin gas, in its attack on the Tokyo subway.  A narrow focus on Muslim groups may blind us to potential problems in cultic groups around the world most often the subject of query or complaint to the cult-watch network.

Cult-watch groups are generally unsupported by government and scholars brave enough to study leaver accounts often live a hand-to-mouth existence, with negligible financial support from the Academy and little moral support from their academic peers.  This paper argues for a profound change in this attitude and provides suggestions for a framework in which academic groups (in particular the ICSA), can make a significant contribution to contemporary public policy.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Polygamy I, II

Andrea Moore Emmet, Coordinator; Laura Chapman; Michael Kropveld; Sylvia Mahr; Hal Mansfield; Nancy Miquelon; Vicky Prunty; Robbie Sweeten

Polygamy I: From their personal experiences in polygamous cults and now as mental-health professionals, Laura Chapman and Sylvia Mahr will discuss the difficulty in leaving their prospective cults with numerous children, and then raising children who still have close family ties in the polygamous communities. Nancy Miquelon and Hal Mansfield will discuss the strains, lasting effects, and challenges these children face as they adjust and grow into adulthood, as well as coming to grips with the experiences of their formative years. (Chapman, Mahr, Miquelon, Mansfield; moderator: Moore-Emmett)

Polygamy II: In January 1988, a Mormon church building in Utah was bombed, leading to a thirteen-day standoff with the FBI and local police at the Singer-Swapp polygamist compound. A shoot-out took place, resulting in the death of a police officer. At the time, numerous children were taken into state custody but later returned. Moore-Emmet will discuss the history of what led to the bombing, and the events during and after the standoff. Ms. Prunty will discuss her former involvement with the Singer-Swapps and will describe life inside the compound. Mr. Sweeten will discuss the present Singer-Swapp group and how he is now involved in a custody dispute over his daughter, whose mother is one of the children removed and returned thirteen years ago. (Moore-Emmett, Prunty, Sweeten; moderator: Kropveld)
 

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Psychopathology of Cultic Group Leaders: Implications for Victims

Discussant: Lois Svoboda, M.D., L.M.F.T.

Antisocial Personality Disorder in Cult Leaders, Dependent Personality Disorder in Cult Members

John Burke, Ph.D.

A number of studies have found evidence of antisocial acts and behaviors by cult leaders toward cult followers (Martin, Langone, Dole and Wiltrout, 1992; Tobias, & Lalich, 1994; West & Martin, 1999; and Kent, 2004). Each of these studies offers well-documented evidence of antisocial acts and behaviors by cult leaders toward cult members. These published accounts, as well as previously unpublished author research, are used to develop an explanatory model of the personality organization of the cult leader. Additionally, the emergence of dependent personality disorder and other psychological sequelae among cult members is investigated.

Diagnostic criteria and descriptions describing antisocial personality disorder as published in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4^th Edition (1994) can be employed as part of the characterization of the personality organization of the cult leader. The author has participated as a clinical team member in the diagnosis of personality disorders for juvenile offenders in the California Juvenile Probation Department and for juvenile and adult offenders in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

A number of peer-reviewed studies including studies by Martin, Langone, Dole, and Wiltrout, (1992); Tobias & Lalich, (1994); West & Martin, (1999); and Kent (2004), present findings from clinical interviews of ex-cult members, which report many different antisocial acts and behaviors by cult leaders. These accounts detail numerous instances of personal mistreatment, psychological intimidation, and physical and sexual abuse of cult members by cult leaders, and offer credible evidence for the hypothesis that cult leaders may meet minimum DSM-IV criteria for diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).
 

Antisocial Behavior in Members of Cultic Groups: Identification with the Aggressor or Pre-Existing Personality Characteristics or What?

Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

In my clinical work, I have seen numerous former members of cults who have shown the aftereffects of life with a psychopathic cult leader. Over time, they have begun to sort out and come to an understanding of how this abusive relationship has impacted their personalities. I will begin my presentation by addressing some of the aftereffects of life with that type of a cult leader.

Clinicians often describe how former cult members have been exploited, but they rarely focus on the antisocial behavior that is induced and/or exacerbated by cult life. Sometimes former cult members who have initially focused on how they were abused and exploited by the cult leader eventually begin to describe aspects of their own behavior in the cult that could be considered antisocial. For the most part, these former cult members have related this only after an experience of trust has been established with the therapist, and they express feeling shame when they present this material. I’ve used the affect of shame as a way of understanding the defensive nature of this behavior. After this is presented to me, the former cultist and I begin to explore how they had to believe that this behavior was acceptable while they were in the cultic group.

A second group of former cultists has learned the “tools of the trade” from their cult leader and has used what they have learned to exploit other individuals after the cult. Some of the people in this second group might become second-generation cult leaders, or they might have one-on-one relationships after the cult in which they repeat this exploitive behavior. I have not seen this group in therapy. This is not a group that typically would enter therapy voluntarily, for various reasons that will be presented. However, I have seen individuals who have been exploited by them. I will use case illustrations to further illuminate these different types of individuals.
 

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Conflict Between Aum Critics and Human Rights Advocates in Japan

Sakurai Yoshihide, Ph.D.

Japanese society has experienced two phases of cult controversies during the past ten years. The public reacted to the Aum incidents in the early ‘90s with general avoidance, disbelief of religions, and moral criticism. As a result, the social influence in the mass media of academics and cult critics expanded markedly.

However, excessive criticism of cult members who have not been subjected to criminal charges provoked a human-rights controversy in Japan. Human-rights advocates and intellectuals protective of Aum (which has changed its name to Aleph) declare them to be “religious minorities” and “ordinary people”; hence, they should not be discriminated against by the public. Municipalities’ refusal to give Aum members residence or to admit their children into school were judged illegal by courts. Although security police have kept Aleph under surveillance to prevent them from recruiting new members and fundraising illegally, the Japanese people remain unconvinced that the approximately 1,500 members of Aleph do not still pose a threat.

This study examines the disparity between Japanese intellectuals’ arguments protective of Aleph and the common-sense views of ordinary people concerning recent cult controversies by using chronological data of the Aum/Aleph movement and social response to them.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Rajneesh and Bioterrorism

Edward Lottick, M.D.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh came to the United States from India in 1981. He purchased a 60,000-acre ranch in central Oregon and began to attract many followers to the ranch, which rapidly became an armed camp. In 1984 his lieutenants implemented a large-scale attack on the citizens of the county seat in an effort to influence an election and take over the county. They simultaneously dumped cultures of Salmonella that had been grown at their medical facility into salad bars in ten restaurants in the surrounding county and made 750 citizens ill with fever, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and persistent diarrhea, thus incapacitating them from participating in the election. This was and still is the largest bioterrorist attack in United States’ history. And for the Rajneesh cult, it was merely a trial run for a much larger planned attack involving contaminating a reservoir with a biological agent. What might help prevent such depredations or much worse in future?

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Making Sense of Gender, Sex, and Family Experiences in a Cult

Marybeth Ayella, Ph.D.

The purpose of my present research as a sociologist is to gain information on gender roles, sexuality, and family within cultic groups. While there is a growing literature on these subjects, much remains unexplored. Two primary works in this area are Susan J. Palmer’s Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers: Women’s Roles in New Religions (1994) and Elizabeth Puttick’s Women in New Religions (1997), both of which focus mainly on religious groups. I am interested in going beyond this research and including groups such as psychological and political groups. How do people experience gender roles, sexuality, and marriage and family while in these groups and after leaving them? I am presently conducting in-depth interviews with a variety of ex-members. My eventual goal is to obtain at least fifty. This paper will discuss the first fifteen interviews. The members I have interviewed to date have all been “walkaways.” I will discuss patterns of gender roles, sexual norms, and marriage and family within the groups these ex-members came from. I will also discuss some of the issues involved in research with ex-members. One of the things that has struck me most in interviewing is the widespread use of the Internet by ex-members to find information on groups and to connect with other ex-members. Through the use of the various ex-member sites, interviewees have described learning much about their former groups that was unknown to them while in the groups, including information on issues that did not concern them, for example, marriage and children (for those who did not marry and have children within the group). The Internet in these instances seems to be achieving the goals of providing information (about cultic groups in general and about their specific group) and support for ex-members in reconstructing their lives. 

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

If Mom and Dad are Getting Divorced, Better Have God on Your Witness List: A Case Study and Reflection from a Legal Point of View

Carolle Tremblay, Esq.

This session will delve into the following themes:

• The impact of cultic or religious beliefs on the continuation of the marital relationship, or one more reason to bring the marriage to an end.
• The freedom of religious belief and the parents’ rights and duties to educate their children.
• Children’s religious faith and religious freedom.
• A child’s absolute right to a meaningful relationship with both parents.
• When a child is not so free to love and be loved by the other parent.
• Children’s testimony.
• The children who were lucky: God made it on the witness list and spent three days on the witness stand.
• Why, when it comes to non-members or ex-members, we are not so equal before the law.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

The Power of Telling Your Story

Nori J. Muster, M.A.; Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.; Steven Gelberg, M.A.

A ninety-minute panel discussion on the healing power of story (personal narrative) for ex-cult members.

Premise: Not all cultic groups are systematically abusive, but there are thousands of current and former members of cults who have experienced abuse within such organizations. People who join and then leave these groups often feel an overwhelming need to debrief — to tell the story of their experience. Writing about their experience, or entering into a therapeutic dialogue with a professional, can have a significant healing effect.

Discussion Topics:

In the years since Steven Gelberg first published his essay, “On Leaving ISKCON,” widely read on the Web, he has received numerous e-mail responses from former ISKCON members. Steve will describe the letters and offer his thoughts on how these communications reveal the ways in which ex-members attempt to make sense of their experiences.

As a therapist, Lorna Goldberg listens to ex-members stories with a “third ear.” (Theodore Reik) She believes that her central role is to listen, but she also begins a benign investigation of the experiences and behavior presented to her. For example, she will question, if she senses a distortion in her client’s stories (e.g., ex-members often initially blame themselves for a cult leader’s abusive behavior). She says that her listening, questioning, and clarifying helps clients gain a better sense of reality. As they begin to tell their story more realistically and coherently, they begin to feel more successful in life after the cult.

In June 2004 at the Alberta ICSA conference, Nori Muster started collecting stories from people who grew up in alternative religious groups. She will describe her process with the writers, and how the writers have changed as a result of writing their stories for publication. She will also talk about narrative self-reflection in general and what goes into an effective, self-healing telling of one’s story.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Attempted Censorship and Suppression of Information by Controversial Religious Movements

Paul Carden; Jorge Erdely, Ph.D.; Eric Pement; J. Shelby Sharpe, J.D.

Some controversial religious movements respond to unwanted scrutiny and criticism with threats, legal action, and other extraordinary measures. This session examines recent conflicts between two noteworthy groups and their detractors, as well as the implications of these cases for free speech.

The first group, known popularly as the “Local Church” movement of Witness Lee (1905–1997), has sought to challenge some of its critics in the courts, most recently in a $136 million libel lawsuit against Harvest House Publishers. In another instance, the movement’s representatives successfully acquired the research library, private correspondence, and intellectual assets of its principal opponent on the Internet, Jim Moran and Light of Truth Ministries.

The second group, a Mexican church known as La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World), has faced serious allegations from the 1990s onward that it has attempted to intimidate and silence former members and opponents through a variety of means, including physical violence.

These controversies will be explored from the perspective of professionals with first-hand knowledge of the groups and specific cases under consideration.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Sects and Politics in the U.S.: Who Is Doing What?

Janja Lalich, Ph.D., Moderator

Lyndon LaRouche: Apocalyptic Demonization, Coded Anti-Semitism, and Totalist Commitment

Chip Berlet

This paper will focus on the Lyndon LaRouche network as a way to discuss how totalist movements use apocalyptic dualism and conspiracist scapegoating to convince recruits to drop everything and join the group. The basic narrative is composed of five core elements: Things Are Falling Apart; We Know Who to Blame; Time Is Running Out; You Must Act Now; We Know What You Need to Do. This narrative of apocalyptic demonization provides a powerful mechanism for recruitment and retention of members. While the claims of the LaRouche network may appear to be lunatic conspiracist theories, they are a coded form of historic antisemitic conspiracy theories that appear in the infamous hoax document, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Special attention will be paid to explaining unfamiliar terminology.

Attachment, Networks and Discourse in the Newman Tendency

Alexandra Stein MLS

This paper will report on an ongoing study of the New York-based Newman Tendency, a set of organizations led by Fred Newman. Among these organizations are the Committee for a Unified Independent Party, a key player backing Nader's 2004 presidential run; a network of Social Therapy clinics; and various so-called “progressive” performance and theater groups. The paper will focus on the impact of membership in Newman’s groups on individuals’ personal networks and attachment relationships. The paper will also identify the broad network connections to Newman of the various subsidiary groups.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Coping with Triggers

Joseph Kelly, Carol Giambalvo

Dissociation is a disturbance in the normally integrative functions of identity, memory, or consciousness. It is also known as a trance state. It is a very normal defense mechanism. You’ve all probably heard of how a child being abused — or persons in the midst of traumatic experiences — dissociate. Those are natural occurrences to an unnatural event.

What are some of the events in the life of a cult member that may bring on dissociation?

• Stress of maintaining beliefs.
• Stress of constant activities.
• Diet/sleep deprivation.
• Discordant noises — conflicts.
• Never knowing what’s next.

There are many, many ways to produce a dissociative or trance state:

• Drugs.
• Alcohol.
• Physical stress (long-distance running).
• Hyperventilation.
• Rhythmic voice patterns or noises (drumming).
• Chanting.
• Empty-minded meditation.
• Speaking in tongues.
• Long prayers.
• Guided visualizations.
• “Imagine…”
• Confrontational sessions (hot seat, auditing, struggle sessions).
• Decreeing.
• Hypnotism or “processes.”
• Hyper arousal — usually into a negative state so the leaders can rescue you (ICC confessions).
• Ericksonian hypnosis (Milton Erickson) hypnotic trance without a formal trance induction.

Why are we so concerned about trance states?

• Individuals don’t process information normally in trance states
• Critical thinking — the arguing self — is turned off.
• Also turned off are reflection, independent judgment, decision-making.
• In trance you are dealing with the subconscious mind, which has no way to tell the difference between something imagined or reality — it becomes a real experience which is interpreted for you by the group ideology.
• Once in a trance, people have visions or may “hear” sounds that are later interpreted for you in the context of the cult mindset — the “magic” — while, in reality, they are purposely manufactured physiological reactions to the trance state.
• While in trance you are more suggestible — not just during trance, but for a period of time up to two hours after.
• When a person dissociates, it becomes easier and easier to enter into a dissociative state — it can become a habit — and it can become uncontrollable.

You may have heard it said that not everyone can be hypnotized … that you need to be able to trust the hypnotist’s authority. While it’s true that there are degrees of hypnotizability, dissociative states may be induced indirectly. What if instead of telling you that “now we’re going to hypnotize you,” the leaders just say, “Let’s do a fun process — close your eyes and imagine …”? Are you told to trust your leaders? Do they have your best interest at heart? And what if they are using Ericksonian hypnosis, where there is no formal trance induction?

What is Ericksonian Hypnosis? It’s an interchange between two people in which the hypnotist must

• Gain cooperation.
• Deal with resistant behavior.
• Receive acknowledgement that something is happening.

Ericksonian hypnosis involves techniques of expectation, pacing and leading, positive transference, indirect suggestion, the use of “yes sets,” deliberate confusion, the embedding of messages, and suggestive metaphor.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Conflict in the Lives of Gay and Lesbian Jehovah’s Witnesses

Janja Lalich, Ph.D.

Like many other fundamentalist Christian religions, the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) sect condemns homosexuality. As a result, gay and lesbian members have experienced conflict between their sexual and religious identities and beliefs. For some, this has resulted also in conflict with family members who are also JWs. In efforts to better understand, negotiate, and/or resolve these conflicts, some have sought support through networks of others who faced or are facing similar dilemmas. This paper will be based on a preliminary analysis of data gathered at international conferences of current and former members of Jehovah’s Witnesses who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered. Data are drawn from surveys of conference participants, qualitative interviews, and participant observation.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 4:45 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Child Abuse and Child Protective Work in Two Isolated Authoritarian Groups: Does Ideology Matter?

Livia Bardin, M.S.W.

This paper compares findings from studies of child protective interactions with two different isolated, authoritarian groups: Polygamous Mormon groups (PMGs) in Utah and Arizona, and Children of God/The Family (COG/TF). The groups differ in history, ideology, living styles, and source populations, but findings suggest that common features, such as authoritarian structure, isolation from mainstream culture, and rejection of secular authority, are critical factors that deprive children of protection intended for everyone.

Fourteen former PMG members and twenty-five former COG/TF members who had been children in the two groups completed a structured survey, the Personal Experience of Child Abuse and Neglect (PECAN). Information from unstructured follow-up questions and participants’ comments arising from their responses to the PECAN supplemented the survey. Unstructured interviews with child-protective workers in Arizona and Utah provided additional information about CPS interactions with PMGs. Although I could not contact child-protective workers who interacted with members of COG/TF, published information supplied background and some details. (Note: Findings from these studies do not provide any basis for conjecture about the incidence or prevalence of child abuse in either group.)

The paper includes

• PMGs and COG/TF: Similarities and differences
• Comparisons of

• participants’ experience of abuse and neglect as children in their respective groups;
• reporting or non-reporting of the abuse,
• interactions of CPS with the respective groups

• Discussion of the role of group ideology and dynamics in frustrating child protective efforts
• Discussion of shortcomings of CPS and other authorities interacting with these groups.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 4:00 p.m.  – 5:30 p.m.

Cults in Japan: Aum Shinrikyo, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Other Topics of Concern

Masaki Kito, Esq.; Takashi Yamaguchi, Esq.

Unfortunately, it’s been another busy year for cult experts in Japan. As the title indicates, we will present on Aum Shinrikyo and its weapons of mass destruction. We will also discuss the Unification Church and the devastating damages it has inflicted on Japanese society by its spiritual sales and arranged mass-marriages. We will update the conference on the “Home of Heart” case, on which we have reported during the past two conferences. We also intend to talk about cases of child abuse inside cultic groups, such as the rape and violence case against minors in the Seishin Chuou Kyokai (“Holy God Central Church”), the leader of which was sentenced to twenty years in prison this February.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

After the Cult: Who Am I

Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C.

According to Judith Herman in Trauma and Recovery:

Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. When the force is that of nature, we speak of disasters. When the force is that of other human beings, we speak of atrocities. Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning.

Disconnection

Traumatic events call into question basic human relationships. They breach the attachments of family, friendship, love, and community. They shatter the construction of the self that is formed and sustained in relation to others. They undermine the belief systems that give meaning to human experience. They violate the victim’s faith in a natural or divine order and cast the victim into a state of existential crisis....

A secure sense of connection with caring people is the foundation of personality development. When this connection is shattered, the traumatized person loses his/her basic sense of self. Developmental conflicts of childhood and adolescence, long since resolved, are suddenly reopened. Trauma forces the survivor to relive all of his/her earlier struggles over autonomy, initiative, competence, identity, and intimacy.

From Childhood and Society by Eric Erikson:

Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages:

Each stage is characterized by a conflict that has two opposing possible outcomes. If the emotional and physical needs of the child/survivor are adequately met, he/she resolves the conflict—i.e., learning to trust … and can move on to the next stage.

§         Trust vs. Mistrust

§         Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

§         Initiative vs. Guilt

§         Industry vs. Inferiority

§         Identity vs. Role Confusion

§         Intimacy vs. Isolation

§         Generativity vs. Stagnation

§         Ego Integrity vs. Despair

The core concept of Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man is the acquisition of a strong and healthy ego-identity through
consistent and meaningful recognition of one’s achievements and accomplishments.

In Identity, Youth, and Crisis Erikson describes Identity:

1. a feeling of being at home in one’s body
2. a sense of knowing where one is going and
3. an inner assuredness of anticipated recognition from those who count

Identity is a conscious sense of individual uniqueness.

Identity can be an unconscious striving for a continuity of experience.

Identity is created from solidarity with a group’s ideals.

From Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman:

Recovery

Having come to terms with the traumatic past, the survivor faces the task of creating a future. She has mourned the old self that the trauma destroyed; now she must develop a new self. Her relationships have been tested and forever changed by the trauma; she must develop new relationships. The old beliefs that gave meaning to her life have been challenged; now she must find a new sustaining faith.

Reconciling with Oneself

(Once) The survivor no longer feels possessed by her traumatic past, she is in possession of herself. She has some understanding of the person she used to be and of the damage done to that person by the traumatic event. Her task how is to become the person she wants to be. In the process she draws upon those aspects of herself that she most values:

§         from the time before the trauma,

§         from the experience of the trauma itself, and

§         from the period of recovery.

§         Integrating all of these elements, she creates a new self, both ideally, and in actuality.

The re-creation of an ideal self involves the active exercise of imagination and fantasy, capacities that have now been liberated. In earlier stages, the survivor’s fantasy life was dominated by repetitions of the trauma, and her imagination was limited by a sense of helplessness and futility. Now she has the capacity to revisit old hopes and dreams. The survivor may initially resist doing so, fearing the pain of disappointment. It takes courage to move out of the constricted stance of the victim. But just as the survivor must dare to confront her fears, she must also dare to define her wishes.

Friday, June 23, 2006 — 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Phoenix Project: Ex-Member Art Exhibit

Diana Pletts, M.A., Coordinator

The Phoenix Project is designed as an exhibit of cult-related artwork created by former members of cults, or high-demand organizations. The artworks exhibited illustrate or illuminate some aspect of the cult or high-demand experience: the world of ex-members, their healing or recovery, or their time of transition from their cult or high-demand organization. Creations range among the art forms, and include visual artworks in two and three dimensions, literary art presentations, and compositions of music.

This exhibit sheds light on the reality of life in a high-demand organization and its effects on individuals. It is also providing an empowering experience for participating artists, giving them the chance to tell their own stories in their own ways.

We hope that you will enjoy this presentation of artworks created to enlighten others on cult and post-cult life.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Safe Passage Foundation

Safe Passage Foundation: Who We Are

Julia McNeil

Safe Passage Foundation (SPF) is an organization set up by those raised in high-demand organizations for those raised in high-demand organizations (HDOs). Children raised in these communities or groups may sometimes be denied basic human rights that we take for granted. SPF provides advocacy and support for children and young people raised in such environments. Thus the dual mission of SPF is to ensure that:

1. Minors within high-demand organizations are protected from abuse and exploitation, and that their rights are respected and protected.
2. Those who choose to leave a high-demand organization have a support structure throughout the transitional period.

This presentation aims to introduce the vision of SPF — our goals, our needs and where we are currently at. Safe Passage Foundation’s Web site is www.safepassagefoundation.org and e-mail address is contact@safepassagefoundation.org.

Advocacy and Medical Neglect

Lauren Stevens

This presentation reports on an individual who was born, raised in, and subsequently left a high-demand organization, achieving change in the organization from outside it. The presentation reports on a man’s quest to have his mother's care at a non-medical high-demand organization nursing home, where she had not received adequate care, investigated. She had died following her stay in a nursing home run by a HDO.

Having himself grown up in this HDO, this man knew that his mother’s death was not an isolated incident. He wrote hundreds of letters to different authorities and organizations to effect change in the nursing home.

Discussion will focus on how he managed to successfully influence and effect change in this particular nursing home and other nursing homes run by this HDO. Furthermore, helpful guidelines for future advocacy in terms of medical neglect will be reported on. Advocacy and medical neglect are particularly relevant to some children raised in some HDOs because they may experience very serious effects from medical neglect, including death (Asser, & Swan, 2000).

The Challenges of Integrating into Society for Those Who Were Born or Raised into a Sectarian Group

Lorraine Derocher

There is almost no scientific analysis on the problem of integration into society experienced by people who were socialized into a closed religious group and who decided to leave that group and integrate into mainstream society.

This study seeks to (a) identify the cognitive and behavioral elements internalized in the closed group and those elements that need to be learned or relearned in order to function properly in mainstream society; (b) understand how the social integration process (of a child socialized into a closed group) happens; (c) define the differences, if the case arises, between the social integration process experienced by children of leaders (or founders) and other children in closed groups; and (d) identify the specific challenges of those particular children during their integration into society.

This qualitative study relies on biographical stories of seven adults who were raised or born into a biblical, fundamentalist group.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

Rhetoric and Domestic Violence in the Unification Church

Mary Jo Downey

The problem of domestic abuse within marriage, usually (though
not always) violence by men against women, becomes further complicated within the context of religion. Theoretically, this problem is especially complicated in the Unification Church, with its theology and practice that both idealizes marriage (the “Blessing”) and requires it for personal salvation. As well, the Church’s practice of matching couples on a “spiritual” basis with eternal implications may further obscure the individual’s ability to perceive abuse, whether physical, verbal, emotional, or psychological.

In this presentation, we will explore the rhetorical implications of Unification Church attitudes toward women in their role as “blessed” wives, as articulated in the July 2005 publication, The Role of a True Wife. A publication of the Church’s Chung Pyung, Korea, workshop, it describes the problems blessed wives face and how they might be resolved.

In essence, the ideas and rhetoric of The Role of a True Wife suggest that, in most marriages, the wife is too “strong,” and, as a result, the husband and family suffer. In the context of correlations made between the conditions of domestic violence and the powerless conditions of prisoners of war (Walker), it is problematic that The Role of a True Wife advocates that women willingly put themselves in an unreflective role of subordination. We can surmise that if domestic violence is present, this directed subordination may suggest to blessed wives that their role is to suffer what their partners present, and that this abuse is another dimension of the self-denial expected as part of their religious life. In addition, given that a number of Unification marriages are international, legal and cultural issues may hinder realization of the reality of one’s abuse, let alone any action because of it.

References

The Role of a True Wife. Also, The Way to Take Care of Beautiful Physical and Spirit Bodies. Booklet Series of Dae Mo Nim’s Speeches, Vol. 1. Chung Pyung, Korea: Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center, 27 July 2005.

Walker, Lenore E. The Battered Woman Syndrome. Second edition. New York: Springer, 2000.
 

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Update on Hate Groups

Hal Mansfield, Deborah Diamond

This update on hate groups will cover several areas. The first is how groups are using the Internet to recruit and disseminate materials. This is true of White Aryan Resistance (WAR), Stormfront (The US’s first and most experienced hate Web site), along with others. There will be screen shots presented from the Web sites as examples. There have been splits in numerous groups over leadership views, dues paid for pornography for the leaders, as well as for financial and other reasons. We will explore those splits in two of the largest groups, Aryan Nations and National Alliance/Vanguard. Trends of focusing recruiting on campuses across the nation will be detailed as well as those of hate groups’ attending other unrelated protests to further their own agenda. Examples include David Duke’s followers (a white-supremacist group) attending anti-war protests to talk about getting the US out of the “Jew inspired war,” and National Vanguard (NV) and others supporting anti-immigration efforts to keep the nation “pure” for whites. NV has been very active in distribution of hate literature around the nation.

Materials for this presentation come from many sources, including our own research; ex-members information; other agencies such as Klanwatch (a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center) and Anti-defamations League (ADL) and from actual extremist’s sources, as well. There will be video clips, overhead slides, hate-material examples, and audio clips to augment this presentation.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Experts in Cult Cases

Alan Scheflin, J.D., LL.M.; Philip Elberg, Esq.; Steve K. D. Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP; Paul Martin, Ph.D.

In recent years, lawyers and litigants have increasingly focused their attention on the quality of expert testimony. The movement from “junk science” to “junk scientists” has significant ramifications for the presentation of testimony on matters involving scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge. This presentation will examine (1) how courts have handled brainwashing issues; (2) whether brainwashing or mind control are appropriate subjects for expert testimony; (3) what ethical or other dilemmas experts face in brainwashing cases; and (4) the new attacks on expert testimony in general.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Child Sexual Abuse in Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregations?

William Bowen, Kimberlee Norris, Esq.

Is sexual abuse of children more prevalent in Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations than other faith-based organizations? If so, why? Former Jehovah’s Witness leader Bill Bowen, founder of Silent Lambs, and attorney Kimberlee Norris discuss the existence and extent of child sexual abuse within Jehovah’s Witness congregations throughout the United States and abroad. Bowen, once an elder in his congregation in Kentucky, founded Silent Lambs, an advocacy organization for abuse survivors from Jehovah’s Witness congregations, after discovering a sexual predator in leadership in his home congregation. His attempts to expose or oust the perpetrator led to his eventual “disfellowshipping” (or shunning) by the organization. Kimberlee Norris, a partner with the law firm of Love & Norris based in Fort Worth, Texas, represents many victims of childhood sexual abuse occurring in Jehovah’s Witness congregations. Her law practice is limited to sexual-abuse litigation.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Personal Coaching: Benefits and Risks for Former Group Members

Patrick Rardin; Discussant: Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C.

What is a personal coach? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Personal Coaching is a term generally used in the fields of business, executive, life, and career coaching to differentiate the coaching process from the more popular connotation of sports coaching. However, sports and personal coaching have the same origin.

Personal Coaching is a relationship which is designed and defined in a relationship agreement between the client and the coach. It is based on the client’s expressed interests, goals, and objectives.

Personal Coaching is a process of learning where the Personal Coach uses inquiry, reflection, requests, and discussion to help the client to identify personal and/or business goals, develop strategies and action plans intended to achieve such goals. The coach provides a place for the client to be held accountable to themselves by monitoring the client’s progress towards implementation of the action plans. Together they evolve and modify the plan to best suit the client’s needs and the environmental relationships. All along the learning journey, the Personal Coach acts as a human mirror for the client by sharing an outside and unbiased perspective on what they are observing about the client.

The client is responsible for his or her own achievements and success, and the coach cannot and does not promise that the client will take any specific action or attain specific goals.

A Personal Coach does not provide counseling, therapy, or “answers” to the Client. Coaching is distinctly different from therapy, counseling, advising, and consulting. These are different skill sets and approaches to change, and some are regulated by industry and/or government. These can be adjunct skills and professions which a coach may be an expert in, however they are not to be considered coaching.

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_coaching

There are several issues during a former cultist’s recovery process that form obstacles to a fulfilling and successful turnaround in his or her life. I will list some of the major symptoms:

• Dissociative Behaviors (both societal and internally)
• Time Orientation/Management
• Attention Span
• Lack of Focus
• Difficulty Completing Tasks

It is important to note that just as there are abuses in therapy, so too can there be abuses in personal coaching. AND just as there is always the “buyer beware” caveat in selecting a therapist, so too does that same “buyer beware” philosophy hold true for the personal-coach selection process.

A good personal coach motivates you, but uses you as your own catalyst — you set your goals and ultimately are responsible to yourself. A good personal coach assists you in staying focused on your goal, which seems to be a tremendously difficult achievement for most people recovering from an abusive experience. Theoretically, we ex-members could achieve the same end result on our own. But after the experiences we have been through, there are so many obstacles along the way that stunt our personal and career-goal growth that this “third-party” responsibility becomes somewhat of a power assist in helping us move on with our lives.

My presentation will illustrate the benefits of both Therapy and Personal Coaching as a means to recover, move on, and grow personally after such a debilitating experience. This presentation is based largely on my own personal experience and observations of the difficulties related to the recovery process.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Personal Change in an Eastern Group

Gina Catena; Discussant: Patrick Ryan

Ms. Catena will describe the social experience of being raised with the Transcendental Meditation group, including her early adulthood. This meditation group emphasizes self-induced trance as life’s core value. Children are taught from a young age to calm themselves through trance. The family lifestyle is focused upon “obtaining enlightenment” as the highest priority. Magical thinking and denial are the basis for most of life’s decisions. Children raised within the group are taught they are spiritually elite in comparison to nonmembers of their group. To maintain family connections, children learn to stifle independent thought and adopt a progression of regimented lifestyle guidelines. Many young adults leave the group to join other groups, or return to their restrictive community because they lack self-direction and the ability to integrate into mainstream society.

For those raised within this group, personal change occurs upon leaving the group to create a non-group self. Discussion will include the challenges of cultural adaptation upon leaving this group, and of strained family relationships with those remaining in it.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Examining Differentiated Patterns of Psychopathology in a Treatment-Seeking Former Group Member Sample Compared to Samples Displaying Different Types of Psychological Distress

Roderick P. Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.; Paul Martin, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros; Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.; Jose A. Carrobles, Ph.D.

This paper presents analysis of the largest data set that has used established clinical measures with participants from a residential treatment program for ex-cult members (Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center in Ohio) and a sample of ex-cult members in Spain who were not seeking treatment. Specifically the paper will examine key similarities and differences between the psychopathology (including emotional distress symptoms and personality profiles) of these samples compared to results from other studies involving those who have suffered similar or different types of traumatic experiences or who report no such experiences.

Members of the sample at Wellspring were tested before and after the residential treatment program using standardized scales such as the Beck Depression Inventory, the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised, Hopkins Dissociation Screen, the MCMI III, and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. This sample is compared with studies that have used the same or similar measures. The Spanish sample was composed of 101 former cult members who had reported suffering psychological abuse while in the group. Spanish participants completed a battery of standardized measures of psychological distress and personality disorders, from which data on the Symptom Checklist 90 – Revised (SCL-90-R; Spanish version: González de Rivera et al., 2002) and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory – version II (MCMI-II; Spanish version: Ávila et al., 1997) will be provided.

A large percentage of former cult members reached clinical significance on several of the psychological-distress symptoms and personality-disorder dimensions, showing both groups of former cult members’ different patterns of psychological maladjustment and personality profiles.

The hypothesis is critically examined and evidence presented that the precise nature of the group experience will later present in a noticeably differentiated pattern of pathology compared to non-group-based samples. Use of standardized batteries allows for demand characteristics of the sample to also be accounted for by use of scales such as the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the development of an Extent of Group Identity Scale (Dubrow-Marshall et al., 2003) that seeks to capture a post-membership perception of the added value of group identity.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

The Problems and Possibilities of Defining Precise Criteria to Distinguish between Ethical and Unethical Proselytizing/Evangelism

Elmer John Thiessen, Ph.D.

This paper grows out of my manuscript on the ethics of proselytizing/evangelism which is presently under review by McGill-Queen’s University Press. There are three main objectives of this hopefully soon-to-be published book: (a) to answer objections that are frequently raised against proselytizing; (b) to defend proselytizing and the possibility of an ethical form of proselytizing; and (c) to develop criteria to distinguish between ethical and unethical proselytizing or evangelism — I use these terms interchangeably. Throughout the manuscript, I illustrate my arguments by referring to three religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, the latter being used as an illustration of a supposedly non-proselytizing religion. I also refer to the “cults” or new religious movements, but try to avoid the claim that only they are guilty of unethical proselytizing.

In the two chapters where I attempt to define fifteen criteria that can be used to distinguish between ethical and unethical proselytizing, I struggle to overcome a major problem — many of these criteria suffer from vagueness. For example, psychological coercion in evangelism is clearly wrong, but exactly when does persuasive influence become psychologically coercive? A Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA) has been developed by social scientists connected with ICSA (1994), but the precision offered here is quite deceptive, I believe, and rests on some questionable assumptions. Even physical coercion is not as clear-cut as we usually think — there are, after all, people who would rather die than convert! Another important criterion involves the need to respect the dignity of persons. But, at a practical level, this matter of treating persons with dignity remains rather vague. One objective of my paper is to explore the difficulties inherent in defining precise criteria to distinguish between ethical and unethical proselytizing.

The ongoing debate concerning cults provides another illustration of the problems encountered in trying to provide precise criteria to distinguish between ethical and unethical proselytizing. Various writers, such as Thomas Robbins (1984) and Lorne Dawson (1998), argue that the differences between cults and established religions are not as great as is often assumed by those who are very critical of cults. Clearly, there are obvious examples of cults’ violating ethical norms in proselytizing. But there are also many examples where it is much more difficult to tell whether something obviously wrong is occurring (“petit deception,” selective truth telling, emotional appeals, concerns about exploiting guilt, caring for someone in genuine need). So here, again, there is a need to explore the difficulties in trying to draw a “meaningful and realistic line” between ethical and unethical forms of proselytizing.

Another problem with trying to provide precise criteria to distinguish between ethical and unethical proselytizing is that this approach assumes that ethics is “law-like,” that the Ten Commandments exhaust the nature of ethics. But ethics is not all of one piece. There are different levels of ethical principles. Virtue ethics and feminist ethics surely have something to contribute to making ethical distinctions. But all this, again, complicates any attempt at precision in making the required distinctions in proselytizing.

A second objective of this paper is to explore the possibilities in making the all-important distinction between ethical and unethical proselytizing. A multifaceted approach to ethical thinking might require a multilevel approach to making this distinction. Some of the criteria might be precise, while others might of necessity be somewhat vague, though still very important in making the required distinction.

I will also examine the notion of a continuum of influence which has been suggested by various writers. The extremes on each end of such a continuum of persuasion will be easy to classify — dialogue is obviously ethically acceptable, and conversion by the sword is obviously not. What is more problematic is the gray area in between. Can we gain any sort of precision in this gray area? My paper will seek to answer this question, explore some problems inherent in some proposed continuums of influence (e.g., Langone 1985), and finally explore the implications of a “continuum approach to persuasion” for my overall project.

For further information about this project and/or the author, see www.2mhc.ab.ca/users/ethiessen.

For an earlier article on the general topic of the ethics of proselytizing, see “Proselytizing without Intolerance,” in Studies in Religion: A Canadian Journal, 1985, 14(3):333-345.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Spiritual and Psychological Abuse: An Evangelical Perspective

Sharon Hilderbrant, Ph.D.; Patrick Knapp, M.A.

Those who work with ex-cult members are diverse in their views of spiritual and psychological abuse. From an Evangelical perspective, abuse involves several important elements. We are all theological beings, meaning that we all have a view of Truth and God. At our core, we are relational beings. This presentation will address theological and philosophical underpinnings as well as relational needs that converge when persons become involved in abusive, cultic groups. This point of view treats people respectfully and with dignity, and provides a framework for understanding spiritual and psychological abuse. A correlation between the principles described and a model of treatment and recovery will be illustrated with simple case examples.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Tough Love and Coercive Persuasion: The Utilization of Cultic Techniques to Manipulate Parents at Adolescent Behavior-Modification Facilities

Philip Elberg, Esq.; Maia Szalavitz

In the past few years, hundreds of “tough love” behavior-modification programs including boot camps, wilderness programs, and “therapeutic” and “emotional growth” boarding schools have been created for American teens in the United States and abroad. One group of facilities operated by the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP) has a current enrollment of more then 2,000 adolescents.

In his litigation on behalf of former patients of a predecessor of these programs, Straight/Kids, Philip Elberg concluded that their ability to retain patients in what amounted to a private jail was in large part due to the ability of the program operators to lure parents of adolescents into a cultic environment in which their concern about their children caused them to abandon their ability to think critically in favor of “working their own program,” and trusting its operators to do what was right despite clear evidence that the program was a fraud and their children were being harmed.

At this program, Mr. Elberg and Maia Szalavitz, the author of a recently published book entitled Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead Books, 2006), will discuss the history of these facilities and how one of them, WWASP, has utilized Large Group Awareness Training Sessions to trick parents into believing that their child’s survival depends on their absolute faith in the word of the WWASP staff and in disbelieving what they are told by their children and even what they see with their eyes.

The talk will focus on how, by using manipulative and coercive techniques, the tough-love salespeople have created a growth industry without any scientific or therapeutic basis.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Coming Back to Religion and Spirituality After Spiritual Abuse

Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D.; Nancy Miquelon, M.A., L.P.C.; Nori Muster, M.A.

The focus of this session will be the re-exploration of religion and spirituality after having had experiences in spiritual organizations perceived to be abusive. The three session panelists are coming from three different perspectives, but have in common a rich background in terms of involvement in spiritual organizations with various cultic characteristics, and later writing and publicly speaking about their experiences. The session will comprise a first part in which each speaker will describe his or her experiences and background in one or more spiritual groups, followed by a more open-ended second
part that will allow for questions from the audience and informal discussion among the panelists. The three diverse perspectives that the panelists are coming from can be described briefly as follows:

Nancy Miquelon has been re-exploring Christianity in an aware, careful, and sensitive way; Elliot Benjamin has explored a wide diversity of “new age” spiritual organizations; Nori Muster has focused upon her own spirituality privately and is not interested in being part of any more spiritual organizations. These three perspectives allow for a dynamic interplay among the panelists, each perspective representing a valid and widespread way in which people come back to religion and spirituality after spiritual abuse. The audience will be invited during the second part of the workshop to ask questions of any of the panelists and to share their own perspectives, experiences, and background in spiritual organizations and their re-exploration of religion and spirituality.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Update on Spanish Research

Spanish Version of the Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA_S)

José A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros; Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.

Several studies have attempted to measure psychological abuse in cultic settings by relying on former members’ accounts of their past cult experiences (e.g., Chambers et al., 1994; Wolfson, 2003) and finding that many of them reported having been psychologically abused during their cult involvements. The Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA; Chambers et al., 1994) has been the most widely employed instrument for the assessment of the varieties and extent of this abuse. The GPA inquires about specific acts or events, not intending to measure attitudes about the abusive practices nor the causes or consequences of such abuse. Our past work with 61 Spanish, self-identified former cult members provided preliminary evidence on internal consistency and content and construct validity of the Spanish version of the GPA (Almendros et al., 2004), revealing a structure of psychological abuse composed of three factors: Compliance, Mind Control, and Exploitation.

An update on psychometric properties will be presented according to the responses of 101 former members of diverse cultic groups to the Spanish version of the GPA. Further details on validity and test-retest reliability of the Spanish version of GPA will be provided.

A Review of the Literature on Psychological Abuse in Domestic and Cultic Groups Settings

Carmen Almendros; José A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.

Psychological abuse as a form of violence in an intimate context — whether in a one-on-one relationship, including partner, child, and significant-other abuse, or in a group relationship — has been relatively understudied and has produced inconsistent research findings.

Consequently, we found in the available literature a conceptual ambiguity and lack of consensus concerning how to assess psychological abuse in ways that would assist researchers and practitioners in mental-health and legal settings.

Only recently have researchers become aware of the importance of studying psychological abuse as an independent dimension of physical violence and of conceptually defining psychological abuse in specific contexts, such as cultic group members (Langone, 1992), partners (e.g., O’Leary, 1999) or children (e.g., Moran et al., 2002). Some research (e.g., Malinoski et al., 1999) suggests that psychological abuse may not only have a deleterious impact on subjects, but may sometimes have a greater and more enduring impact than physical abuse.

The scientific studies are yet few, although more abundant for domestic violence. A review of the literature on psychological abuse on cultic groups and domestic settings will be presented with a special focus on measurement issues. Research efforts in both fields will be compared in terms of the limitations and difficulties researchers have to confront when attempting to measure psychological abuse in the different settings.

A New Classification of Psychological Abuse Strategies Within Cultic Groups

Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros; José A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Javier Martin-Peña; Jordi Escartín; Clara Porrúa; Federico Javaloy, Ph.D.

Considering psychological abuse as a psychosocial phenomenon with specific characteristics in different settings, a new classification of psychological abuse strategies commonly used by coercive cults is proposed. Through a Delphi Study, the new categories were evaluated by a group of 31 experts. From here, a relevance index was obtained for each one of the strategies of abuse as it is related to the phenomenon as a whole. As a result, the new classification is useful as a guide-protocol for the assessment of abuse by mental-health professionals. On the other hand, from such classification, items of a new scale for the measurement of psychological abuse in the context of coercive cults will be drawn up.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Sexual Abuse of Children in Cults: A Legal Perspective

Kimberlee Norris, Esq.

My “story”:

Employment law and Constitutional law crossover ® whistleblower case ® molestation litigation ® molestation in cults.

Why? ‘be the white hat’/contribute to societal good/validation of victims.

Sexual Abuse in Cults:

Risk indicators —

• The cult is insular, promulgating an “us against the world” mentality.

(Small demographic of society holding strong apocalyptic worldview) (Persecution complex/persecution mentality) (Possibility of cover-up of offenders in criminal and civil suits).

• Cult exerts a high degree of control over its followers.
• Higher education and interaction with the world is strongly discouraged, unless for purposes of winning converts.
• Followers are not allowed to read materials not sanctioned by the cult. A follower who reads materials not sponsored by the cult may be disciplined or expelled from the cult.
• If a member is expelled, all remaining members, including family members, are to cease communication, interaction, and fellowship with the expelled member. As a result, many members bow to the authority of the cult and its leaders, rather than ‘lose’ family.
• As a result, the cult can instruct members to take all matters of dispute, even CRIMINAL matters, to leaders in the cult rather than to civil law enforcement. This allows the cult to control information/outcries of abuse and ignore or cover up the problem. Often, abuse victims who are children take themselves out of the cult when they are teens or young adults by “acting out” (sexually or otherwise), whereupon they are expelled, and no longer “credible” to other cult members.
• A cult member who ‘bucks the system’ suffers BIG ramifications.

(Expelled or shunned/loss of support system/spouse/children) (“lose salvation,” in some form) (loss of position/prestige/
authority in the cult)

• The cult is very paternalistic.

Example: Sex with children isn’t “sex outside marriage.” Women properly “servicing” their husbands will take care of the “problem” of sexual abuse. Women can serve in no role of authority in the cult.

• The cult is characterized by a low tolerance for ambiguity.
• All cult members have a “higher plane” of “inside knowledge” — everything is black and white; there is little need or tolerance for “grey.”
• The cult is led by INFALLIBLE leadership … who cannot be wrong.

(Examples: Pope/Governing Body (JWs)/charismatic leader)

• The cult adopts as an organizational ethic — doctrine over people.

Example: “end-times” eschatology: If world is ending, why bother with abuse issues?

What can you do (as MDs, counselors, activists, etc.)?

• Criminal Prosecution:

§         Encourage a police report, even if years later. This creates a written report that validates a subsequent victim and can be used for sentencing.

§         What if police won’t take report? Write it up/insist it be filed/send it certified mail/write the District Attorney, prosecutor or police chief. Write to the organization/cult headquarters (certified mail) reporting offense (copy to KDN). (Copy the letter to advocacy organizations.)

Rate of recidivism for sexual offenders = 93% to 95%.

Prosecution gets perpetrator off the streets.

Puts him on the sexual offenders list (less continued access to children/State now tracks him).

Sets an example.

Encourages other victims to come forward.

Victim vindication/justice.

• Civil Litigation:

Punishes organization or entity that gives known offenders continued access to children.

Forces institutional change (policy changes when it costs too much to fail to change).

Creates societal awareness of issue through press and legal precedent. (Example: judge looking at first priest case v. NOW.)

Sets example for other organizations—i.e., shape up or pay up.

Encourages other victims to come forward.

Victim vindication/justice.

Questions:

• Which one has more impact?
• Will there always be sexual predators?
• Will there always be “throw-away” kids?

But:

• Limit their access to children on a mass scale.
• Break the cycle.
• Push prosecution.
• Certified letters to District Attorney/press/police/cult headquarters.
• District Attorney has “prosecutorial discretion” — “white bread” cases get prosecuted.
• Support victim-support organizations (such as Silent Lambs, SNAP, etc.)

Conclusion

Mark 9:42 — word to perpetrator and those who enable them — “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.”

(kdnorris@lovenorris.com)

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

From Deprogramming to Strategic Interaction: Changing Interventions

Steve K. D. Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP

Interventions in cult-related situations have changed drastically since the inception of “deprogramming” in the early 1970s. The first speaker, Dr. Steve Eichel, conducted the only known scientific study of a deprogramming in 1984; his doctoral thesis (Deprogramming: An Investigation of Change Processes and Shifts in Attention and Verbal Interactions) was awarded the John G. Clark Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Cultic Studies in 1990. In his presentation, Eichel will review the major findings of his thesis, that (1) deprogramming was best described as a persuasive conversation and moral discourse
in which the primary activities were asking for and receiving information (education), and self-disclosing (affiliation); (2) the cultist’s improved concentration implied a change in consciousness; (3) the deprogramming had distinct “formal” (cultist-focused) and “casual” (subgroup-focused) modes; and (4) the relationships developed between the deprogrammers and the cultist were crucial to the change process. This deprogramming relied initially on the establishment of rapport and trust between the cultists and his deprogrammers, which subsequently permitted the cultist to consider discrepancies between his group’s philosophy and actions without feeling threatened. Eichel predicted that “deprogramming” would be transformed into exit-counseling, and that practitioners would follow a path similar to addictions counselors by becoming quasi-or paraprofessionals. Eichel will compare his findings with the description of the subject’s deprogramming twenty years later as published in his autobiography, Servant of the Lotus Feet.

The second presenter, Steven Hassan, has written two best-selling books describing his evolving intervention model, the Strategic Interaction Approach (SIA). A former participant in the Moon cult, Hassan will review his experiences being deprogrammed thirty years ago, as well as doing deprogramming in 1976 and 1977. He will then explain the basic processes in exit-counseling cult members as described in Combating Cult Mind Control (Park Street Press, 1988) and how he subsequently developed the Strategic Interaction Approach, a family-centered, communications method described in detail in Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves (FOM Press, 2000). Hassan will describe how the deprogramming “snapping” model did not help the person to feel
in control or empowered to integrate the cult identity with a healthy sense of self. In addition, the deprogramming approach largely ignored the strengths and weaknesses in the person’s past or in his or her family history. It also failed to provide a viable understanding of dissociation as well as altered states of consciousness or of the benefits of a person’s involvement. People who were successfully “deprogrammed” left the group, the only measure for success, but were in many cases left to deal with serious psychological and emotional problems. Hassan will talk about how he educates an SIA team of people so they can be empowered to understand the key issues of influence, hypnosis and mind control, phobias, and issues of concern. Thus empowered, they can help their loved one make as easy a transition as possible out of the situation. He will mention how he uses a process-oriented, “complex systems” approach to empower “change agents” (family members, friends, clergy, mental-health professionals, as well as ex-members) to bring important information to the individual in need. Exerting ethical influence and helping to create beneficial experiences can and does necessarily empower people to re-evaluate their situation. Meanwhile, the change agents serve as a natural support system during the individual’s recovery phase. Hassan will comment on the changes and developments he has seen since the demise of CAN and the rise of the Internet. He will make some suggestions for actions to effectively counter the growing mind-control/cult issue.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

What Has Happened to Colorado’s Oldest Commune?

Nancy Miquelon, M.A., L.P.C. ; Elizabeth Perry, ECE, BA, CAE

What has happened to Colorado’s Oldest Commune? As described by the Denver Post in 1987, the headquarters of the Emissaries of Divine Light functions just outside of Loveland. Like other groups, this group since 1987 has taken a certain evolutionary path as leaders have died and changed, and group members have struggled for power and ways to perpetuate the myth.

The presentation will describe the group history, the tactics used for recruitment and maintenance of group membership, the use and abuse of power, and the struggles people have gone through who were both recruited into involvement and raised within the group. Current splinter groups will be discussed, as well as how group members have been recruited into other groups during and after involvement with the Emissaries. Of particular interest to the Denver community will be the contrast between the idyllic lifestyle presented to the public and the experiences of the presenters and other former members.

The presenters, Nancy Miquelon and Elizabeth Perry, had twenty-nine years of involvement with the group.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 — 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. (Plenary Session)

The Human Rights Dimensions of Cultic Studies: Thinking Outside the Box

Jorge Erdely Graham, Ph.D.

Human rights is more than a catchy phrase or the latest buzz-word
for political correctness. It is a multi-faceted, world-wide ideological movement with growing international impact that cannot be ignored. Although its main principles are enshrined in different documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, its essence is better captured by the daily activism of millions of individuals and grass-roots organizations all over the world. With few exceptions, such as the work of the late Louis Jolyon West in the area of psychiatry, the field of cultic studies in countries such as the United States of America has been involved only marginally in the human-rights (HR) movement, locked by a thirty-year-old-plus controversy with so-called cult apologists. Rather than defining itself clearly in relation to this important trend and asserting its position in today’s world arena, the emerging discipline of cultic studies has allowed critics to define it as aloof, and often even hostile, to human rights.

In contrast, pro-cultic organizations continue to portray themselves as champions of human rights and liberties in the eyes of the US academy and media establishments, thereby increasing their influence.

This session will describe the nature and foundational principles of today’s human-rights movement and how the field of cultic studies in North America fits naturally in it when examined from an objective point of view. It will also demonstrate how much this field loses by not acting decisively to take its appropriate place in the HR community, and how such a move could expand its horizons and effectiveness.

The study will also show that the apparent divide between European and American sociologists and psychologists regarding cultic groups is geographically unique and a rather ethnocentric phenomenon, which has been created artificially in order to polarize scholars and researchers from these disciplines for the benefit of important cultic organizations. By comparing experiences from around the world, the audience will be challenged to “think outside of the box.” It is a fact that international social scientists, psychologists, and health-care providers naturally tend to work collaboratively in areas such as cultic studies, oblivious to the aforementioned divide that is seen as “normal”—and almost inevitable—in the United States of America.

Daring to shift paradigms and embrace different ways of engaging the culture, media, and academia will not only set the record straight as to where cultic studies really stand on human-rights issues, it will eventually turn the tables on those who portray themselves as promoters of human rights and liberties while, in fact, trampling the essence of the very principles they claim to defend.

Overview of ICSA and the Issues it Studies

The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) is an interdisciplinary network of academicians, professionals, families, and former group members who study and educate the public about social-psychological influence and control, authoritarianism, and zealotry in cultic groups, alternative movements, and other environments. Founded in 1979 as American Family Foundation (AFF), ICSA took on its current name in late 2004 to better reflect the organization’s focus and international and scholarly dimensions. ICSA is tax-exempt, supports civil liberties, and is not affiliated with any religious or commercial organizations.

ICSA seeks funds to maintain and expand its research and educational programs, which include:

§         Web sites visited annually by more than 1,000,000 persons, many of whom seek information on cultic and other movements and how to deal with problems associated
with such movements. See www.icsahome.com and www.cultinfobooks.com.

§         An information service that annually responds to more than 2,500 telephone and e-mail inquirers.

§         An E-Library that includes full text on more than 7,000 news and scholarly articles published since 1979.

§         An electronic newsletter (with an abridged print edition), ICSA E-Newsletter. The newsletter index can be found at http://cultinfobooks.com/pub_affnb/idx_affnb.htm.

§         A Web-based scholarly journal (with an abridged
print edition), Cultic Studies Review. See www.culticstudiesreview.org.

§         An international annual conference and workshops. ([1])

§         Support for the maintenance and development of ICSA’s volunteer committees.

§         Support for the development of educational resources.

§         Support for scientific studies conducted by graduate students, established investigators, and other researchers.

Background

In 1978 nearly 1,000 people committed suicide or were murdered at the People’s Temple compound in Guyana. In the mid-1980s followers of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh were convicted of wiretapping, conspiracy to murder a U.S. attorney, the deliberate spreading of salmonella among the local population of Antelope, Oregon, and other crimes. In 1993 dozens of men, women, and children were burned with their Branch Davidian leader, David Koresh, at the end of a long siege by U.S. federal agents. In 1995 members of Aum Shinrikyo released Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, killing twelve commuters and injuring over 5,000. In 1994 to 1995 and in 1997 members of the Solar Temple in Switzerland, Canada, and France were murdered or committed suicide. In 1997 thirty-nine members of Heaven’s Gate committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California. In 2000 more than 1,000 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments (of God) were murdered in Uganda. ([2]) And on September 11, 2001, in New York and March 11, 2004, in Madrid a new kind of fanaticism shook the world and made us aware of the terrible possibility that small bands of zealots are capable of mass destruction. ([3])

These horrific events all depended on the extraordinary level of influence and control certain leaders wielded over their followers. They are extreme examples of tragedies and abuses that occur every day, involving families and individuals harmed and sometimes shattered by the domineering influence of an exploitative leader in a cultic, authoritarian, or other abusive group or movement.

ICSA seeks to apply academic and professional research and analyses to the practical problems of such families and individuals and to the professionals who seek to help them and/or forewarn those who might become involved in harmful group situations.

Prevalence

Research studies suggest that one percent to two percent of the U.S. population (two million to five million persons) have been involved in cultic groups, and that several hundred thousand people enter and leave cultic groups each year. Similar percentages appear to hold true for Western Europe.

ICSA has information in its files on over 4,000 groups, many of which have been the object of critical news reports. However, the percentage of these groups that could be categorized as “cults” is unknown. ICSA does not maintain a list of “cults.” Each case associated with concern about a particular group should be evaluated individually. ([4])

Definition

Although there is no agreed-upon definition of cult, one proposed
by Rutgers sociologist Benjamin Zablocki seems to highlight
key elements of high-influence group situations: “An ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment.” Charisma refers to a spiritual power or personal quality that gives an individual considerable influence or authority over large numbers of people. Hence, a cult is characterized by an ideology, strong demands issuing from that ideology, and powerful processes of social-psychological influence to induce group members to meet those demands. This high-demand, leader-centered social climate places such groups at risk of exploiting and injuring members, although they may remain benign, if leadership doesn’t abuse its power.

The social-psychological manipulation and control associated with some cultic groups may sometimes be found in other organizations and movements, including those in the mainstream. However, unlike new groups focused on a living leader who answers to nobody, mainstream movements may be restrained or corrected by higher authorities to whom they are accountable. ([5])

Harm

ICSA’s research indicates that cultic and other high-control groups vary enormously in their potential for harm. Harm may be physical, psychological, economic, social, and/or spiritual. Different people will respond in varied ways to the same intense group environment, some remaining unscathed while others are devastated. Although scholars may dispute the level, causes, and effects of harmful practices in particular groups, a common-sense assumption underlies ICSA’s work: Under some circumstances, some groups can harm some people. ICSA is interested in the causes, nature, prevalence, and remediation of such group-related harm.

In general, involvement in the more extreme cultic groups probably harms many, and possibly most, individuals. Some, especially children, have been physically injured (and occasionally killed) from beatings or medical neglect. Members have been exploited psychologically, sexually, or financially, some having been lured into donating millions of dollars and even entire trust funds. ([6])

Because this suffering typically occurs in a context of manipulation and deception, neither families, friends, nor group members fully understand what is happening to them until they learn about cultic techniques of persuasion and control. They — the victims — tend to blame themselves and each other, rather than the group. This is the central dilemma with which all who seek to help these victims must struggle.

Prevention

Of course, the most desirable way to combat cultic and related manipulations is to forewarn potential victims, especially young people. Millions of well-meaning youth, as well as adults and even elderly people going through vulnerable transition periods in their lives, enter the “cult marketplace” each year. One ICSA research study found that 43% of ex-member subjects were students when they first joined their groups, and 38% of these persons dropped out of school after joining their groups. ([7]) A crucial need, consequently, is preventive education. ([8])

Education of the general public and professionals can also result in a decrease in cultic abuses. Vigorous public discussions about cult-related problems, for example, can sometimes result in fruitful dialogues that cause controversial groups to change. In his book, Recovery from Abusive Churches, Dr. Ronald Enroth describes several cases in which criticism of cultic evangelical groups resulted in public apologies by group leaders and changes in their practices. ICSA staff and advisors have had fruitful exchanges with leaders of the Hare Krishna movement, which appears to be struggling with genuine attempts to reform the organization from within. ([9])

Vigorous public discussion is also necessary before institutional authorities (including religious, educational, health, and government) can justify taking actions to curtail certain behaviors of cultic groups, which often call upon the principles of religious freedom for protection — with some justification. Institutional authorities in most countries have thus far done very little, in part because the information base in this area has not yet reached a sufficiently sophisticated level to motivate institutional leaders to act, especially given the civil-liberties dimension of the problem. ICSA hopes that in time the research base in this area will reach a level that will enable institutional authorities to make more informed, balanced, and effective decisions regarding what to do about the problems cultic groups pose. ([10])

ICSA’s Programs

Web Sites

ICSA’s main educational Web site was created in 1995, before the advent of modern Web programs, such as Microsoft’s Front Page. Within a few years, more than 1,000 pages of resources were added to the site, which won a number of prestigious awards.

Being an “early bird” on the Web had its disadvantages. Some pages went out of date; indexes relied on manual hyperlinks. During the past few years, therefore, we have completely rebuilt our main site, which is now located at www.icsahome.com. These changes have been laborious and have occurred mainly behind the scenes. We have also revamped the educational content of the site, eliminating some resources and adding others. Although most of the revision has been completed, considerable work remains. The impact of these changes, however, will be profound.

In addition to linking visitors to ICSA’s other sites, www.cultinfobooks.com (online bookstore) and www.culticstudiesreview.org (Web journal), www.icsahome.com provides visitors with information and links on specific groups, experts in the field, and important topics, such as:

§         Recovery issues for former group members ([11])

§         Family needs ([12])

§         Mental-health aspects of the subject ([13])

§         Child abuse ([14])

§         Legal issues ([15])

§         Educational resources ([16])

Information Service

Most of the 1,000,000 annual visitors to www.icsahome.com are either “passing through” (as is the case with most Web sites) or find the information they need on ICSA’s site(s). Approximately 2,500 per year, however, personally contact ICSA by phone, e-mail, or post (we estimate that more than 90% of inquirers first find out about our organization on the Web). To the extent resources permit, we provide individualized responses to these inquirers, trying, when possible, to refer them to resource persons, support groups, and organizations in their local area or to ICSA workshops or conferences.

E-Library

ICSA’s E-Library currently consists of more than 7,000 electronic-format articles from periodicals ICSA has published over the past twenty-six years (The Advisor, Cult Observer, Cultic Studies Journal, and Cultic Studies Review). In time, we expect to add at least another 10,000 news reports. (These items require considerable and laborious “cleaning,” — i.e., proper coding, fixing typos, ensuring that all have complete bibliographic information.) We also plan to include electronic versions of all books published by ICSA and, ultimately, selected conference videos (four books are already in the E-Library).

E-Newsletter

The ICSA E-Newsletter provides information on the educational and research activities of ICSA committee members and supporters; new articles, books, and other publications; updates to ICSA’s E-Library and publications; and announcements about conferences, workshops, and other events. An abridged print version is sent to supporters without e-mail.

In 2004 the E-Newsletter also began to publish articles, available free on www.icsahome.com. ([17]) As of April 2006, twenty-eight articles had been published.

Scholarly Journal

Cultic Studies Review was created in 2002. It merged prior periodicals, The Cult Observer and Cultic Studies Journal. The Cult Observer, a magazine that succeeded the newspaper, The Advisor, in 1984, summarized more than 4,000 press reports on cultic groups and related issues. These reports are now available electronically in ICSA’s E-Library. Cultic Studies Journal was a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, which published nearly 200 articles and several hundred book reviews—all now available in electronic format.
Cultic Studies Review has included peer-reviewed articles, book reviews, and news summaries. It has a distinguished Editorial Board. ([18]) The E-Library is now the primary source of news reports. The E-Newsletter notifies subscribers periodically of news postings.

Conferences and Workshops

ICSA’s conferences are a unique mix of families, former and current group members, helping professionals, and academicians. This audience mix and the conference sessions that result prevent each of these groups from becoming insular. Academicians must respond to the practical needs of helping professionals, families, and former members. The latter groups must respond to the research findings, theories, and calls for precision of the former. This interchange of needs and perspectives is reflected in the scholarly journal, for many journal submissions originate as conference presentations.

The 2005 international annual conference was conducted in association with the Psychology Faculty of the Autonomous University of Madrid. This conference was the most ambitious that we have ever conducted; it included more than 100 speakers and 320 total attendees from twenty-nine different countries. ([19])

The 2006 conference will take place June 22–24, 2006 in Denver. We are planning to conduct the 2007 conference in Brussels.

ICSA’s workshops provide concrete and expert information for families and former group members. Since 1993 we have conducted an annual weekend workshop for ex-group members in Estes Park, Colorado, and one-day workshops for ex-members and families prior to our conferences. Feedback indicates that these workshops are very well received. ([20])

In 2005 we began planning for a special workshop aimed at helping mothers who have been cult members improve their relationships with their children, who are frequently adversely affected by a parent’s cult involvement. The first such workshop took place at the Trinity Conference Center in Cornwall, Connecticut, from April 21–23, 2006.

ICSA Volunteer Committees

The change of name from AFF (American Family Foundation) to ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) reflected a major organizational restructuring that took place after the death in November 2003 of the organization’s long-time president, Herbert Rosedale, Esq. The Board of Directors continues to be the formal policy-making body. However, a distinguished Executive Advisory Board (EAB) provides valuable input on all important issues with which the organization must grapple (the directors also serve on the EAB). ([21]) A Legal Advisory Committee, currently consisting of seven attorneys with experience in this field, provides advice about issues that may have a legal dimension. The Legal Advisory Committee will in time also organize educational programs for attorneys, judges, and others; write articles for law journals; and provide limited consultation to inquirers.

An EAB post-conference meeting in Madrid called for the formation of Research, Education, and Clinician-Researcher committees. Other committees will be formed as the organization matures.

Research Support

On occasion ICSA has been able to afford supporting, or has received special grants for, research studies. Among the more notable research developments are:

§         The development of the Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA), a measure of perceived psychological abuse in groups. The GPA has been translated into Spanish and Japanese and has been used in more than a dozen studies around the world. ([22])

§         Dr. Edward Lottick’s surveys of Pennsylvania professionals, which provide, among other findings, valuable data pertinent to prevalence. ([23]

§         Studies that use standardized psychological measures, including ICSA’s GPA, to assess the level of psychological distress in former group members. ([24])

§         The development of detailed curricula designed to help people born or raised in cultic groups (a population with specific needs). ([25])

§         Beginning in 2004 ICSA instituted what we hope will become an annual project, the compilation of an annotated bibliography of the cultic studies literature in English,
French, Spanish (and ultimately other languages). The first bibliographies (numbering more than fifty pages) review the literature from 2003. ([26])

§         At ICSA’s 2005 Madrid conference Dr. Robert Cialdini, Regent’s Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, reported on an Influence Scale that he and ICSA EAB member Carmen Almendros are developing.

Future research directions that interest ICSA include:

§         Outcome studies of remedial and preventive interventions, including exit counseling, psychotherapy of former members, residential treatment, and educational curricula.

§         Process studies that examine the nature of interventions in detail.

§         Characteristics of the kinds of powerful influences associated with cultic groups, zealotry, and authoritarianism.

§         The further development and refinement of existing measures, such as the Group Psychological Abuse Scale.

§         The development of new measures to assess family contexts and reactions, group environments, and the psychological, cognitive, and social status of group members and former group members.

§         The ways in which group and person variables interact in cultic situations.

§         The development of practical classification systems with regard to groups, families, and individuals.

§         Further studies of prevalence of group membership and harms associated with group membership.

§         The continued development and marketing of www.faithresource.org to educators and religious organizations.

Views expressed on our Web sites are those of the document's author(s) and are not necessarily shared, endorsed, or recommended by ICSA or any of its directors, staff, or advisors. Copyright ©1997-2013  ICSA, Inc.