A Fertile Ground for Cults: The Cognitive and Social Roots of Cultic Thinking

Programs Against Manipulation and Cults for Education: Results and Prospects

Vladimir E. Petukhov

Cults in Us and in Our Midst: How to Change our Thinking to Undermine Them

Yevgeniy N. Volkov, Ph.D.

Ambiguous Loss: A Parent’s Perspective

Elisabeth Robbins

Analyse de contenu du texte fondateur du mouvement raëlien

Céline Castillo et Sophie Gilbert, Ph.D.

A Remarkable Consensus

Edward Lottick, M.D.

Boundaries: Reestablishing Trust

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

Brainwashing and the Courts: A Review of the Case Literature in the United States

Alan Scheflin, J.D., LL.M.

Catholic Sects and the Catholic Church

Alberto Moncada, Ph.D.

Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions: Is Secular Theory Adequate?

Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D.

Children and Cults: Vulnerability to Influence of Cults in Ukraine With Special Attention to Orphans

Nataliya Bezborodova

C.I.A.O.S.N. : une institution fédérale d'information pour le public et d'avis pour les autorités

Controversial Groups in Japan and the Tokyo District Court Decision on Mind Control

Masaki Kito, Esq. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Esq. Takashi Yamaguchi, Esq.

Coping with Triggers

Joseph Kelly; Patrick Ryan

Creativity & Cults: The Impact of Cult Involvement on Creativity

Miguel Perlado, Ph.D.;  Dana Wehle, L.C.S.W.;  Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., Moderator

Cultish Religious Sects and Politics: The Brethren V. Greens Contest and Other Controversies Involving Minor Religious Sects Down Under

Stephen Bruce Mutch, Ph.D., LL.B. (UNSW)

Culture is Cult Writ Large: Cults, Culture, Coercion, and Critical Theory

Matthew Forester, ABD

Empirical Trends in Cultic Entrance and Exit: Implications for Clinical Practice with Cult Victims and Victims of Coercive Influence

Paul R. Martin, Ph.D.; Lindsay Orchowski

Ethics and Proselytism: Between Psychology and Law

Psychology and the Ethics of Religious Persuasion

Vassilis Saroglou

Beyond the Normality–Pathology Debate Among NRM Members: Open-vs. Close-mindedness in Social and Moral aspects

Coralie Buxant

Law and Psychology: New Interdisciplinarity for Balancing Legal Accountability for Abuses in Religious Advertising and Proselytism

Louis-Léon Christians

Every Nation Churches and Ministries: Maranatha Reformed or Reborn?

Bridget M. Jacobs, M.A.

Ex-Member Orientation

Carol Giambalvo

Ex-Member Debriefing Session

Carol Giambalvo

Exploring Individuals’ Prior Metaphysical or Spiritual Experience and its Role in the Making of a Seeker

Jean Paul Healy

Family System Dynamics Where at Least one Parent is Involved in a High-Demand Group: A Case Study

Rienie Venter, Ph.D.

Fonction parentale et attitudes éducatives dans des groupes considérés sectaires par la réaction sociale

Jean-Yves Radigois

Forgiveness as a Clinical Issue in Cult Recovery

Joyce Martella; Michael Martella

GMP et sociadicciones.  Similitude et différences. Casuistique. Symptômes essentiels. Moment actuel

Josep M. Jansà, M.D.; Vega González

Groupe en crise: Analyse de l’identité sociale d’un groupe de mormons fondamentalistes canadiens

Marie-Andrée Pelland, Ph.D. ; Dianne Casoni, Ph.D.

Hijacking the Global Multicultural Conversation: Cultic/high-Demand Group Dynamics and Current Events

Russell Bradshaw, Ed.D.

How Memory Illusions and False Memories are Influenced by Social Expectations in the Real World

Tor Endestad, Ph.D.; Cathrine Moestue, Ph.D.

How to be Helpful: The Importance of Information

Joseph Kelly; Patrick Ryan; Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist

Human Rights Dimensions of Cultic Studies: Thinking Outside the Box

Jorge Erdely Graham, Ph.D.

INFORM - L'importance de l'information

In Times of Crisis: Analysis of the Social Identity of a Group of Canadian Fundamentalist Mormons
Marie-Andrée Pelland, Ph.D. ; Dianne Casoni, Ph.D.
 

Introduction to the Conference/Introduction à la congrès

Philip Elberg, Esq.

Michael Kropveld

Michael Langone, Ph.D.

Maître Carolle Tremblay

Issues for Therapists Working with Families Where a Loved One is Experiencing Undue Influence

Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.

La commission d'enquête de la Chambre des représentants :
10 ans après
Le Sénateur Luc Willems
 

Le poids des doctrines dans les « massacres » de l’OTS. Commentaires des suites juridiques

Maître Jean-Pierre Jougla

Emprise et manipulation : Approche clinique du phénomène sectaire

Jean-Claude Maes

Les Dérives sectaires : aspects juridiques

Mme Catherine Katz

Les droits fondamentaux de l’enfant

Maître Carolle Tremblay

Les mouvements russes radicaux pseudo-chrétiens des siècles XVII-XX et le degré de leur influence sur les cultes destructifs de la Russie moderne

Vladimir Solodovnikov, Ph.D.

Les sectes en France

Catherine Picard

Les sectes et les N.M.R. en Roumanie – droit de l`homme ou prosélytisme

Laurentiu Tanase, Ph.D.

Manipulé ou sain d’esprit?

Hervé Genge, Ph.D.

Mechanisms of the Authoritarian Grind

Nori Muster, Coordinator; Steven Gelberg; Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W.

Méthodologie: références et critique des sources

“Miracle of Love®” - A Blend of LGAT, Pseudo-therapy, and Spirituality

Milena Callovini; Sjoukje Drenth Bruintjes; Gina Catena

Ole Anthony, the Trinity Foundation and the Cult Controversy

David Clark

On Activities of Non-traditional Religious and Mystical Trends in Ukraine

Victoria G. Tretyakova, Ph.D.

Paranormal Experiences, Recruitment, and the Religious Marketplace

Frauke Zahradnik, Ph.D.

Peer Supervision for Mental Health Professionals

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

Persuasion in Manipulative Techniques Used by Cultic Groups

Dariusz Krok, Ph.D.

Phoenix Project: Ex-Member Art and Literary Works

Diana Pletts

Politique française de lutte en matière de Dérives sectaires

Jean-Michel Roulet

Post-Cultic Regret: More Subtle Than It May Seem

Benjamin Zablocki, Ph.D.

Post-Soviet Russian Society and the Cult Problem

Lubov Zholudeva

Psychological Abuse in Manipulative Groups: Research in Japan, Poland, and Spain - Parts I and II

Carmen Almendros, Ph.D., Coordinator; José Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D.; Dariusz Kuncewicz, Ph.D.; Javier Martin-Pena, M.A.; Kimiaki Nishida, Ph.D.; Piotra Tomasz Nowakowski, Ph.D.; Belén Ordoñez, M.A.

A Cross-Cultural Study on the Comparison of Group Health Beliefs among Eastern and Western Countries: The Framework of GHS and the Preliminary Study

Kimiaki Nishida, Ph.D., Kazuho Yamaura, Ph.D.; Namiji Watanabe, Ph.D.; Takashi Kakuyama, Ph.D.

Development of a Measure of Psychological Abuse in Manipulative Groups

Alvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.; Javier Martin-Peña; Jordi Escartín; Clara Porrúa; José Manuel Cornejo, Ph.D.; Federico Javaloy, Ph.D.; José Antonio Carrobles, Ph.D.

Comparison of Psychological Abuse Strategies in Manipulative Groups and Couple Violence

José A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Álvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.; Clara Porrúa; Javier Martin-Peña; Jordi Escartín; Neus Roca, Ph.D.; Bienvenido Visauta, Ph.D.

Violence against Women

Belén Ordoñez, M.A.; José A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.

Comprehensive model of recruitment to cults

Piotr Tomasz Nowakowski

The Identity of Sect Members in the Narrative Aspect

Dariusz Kuncewicz, Ph.D.
 

Psychological Manipulation in Black Churches and Mosques

Ja A. Jahannes, Ph.D.; Davida Harris; and Kristen Bowen

Psychotherapy and Brainwashing: When Due Influence Becomes Undue Influence

Responding to Jihadism: A Cultic Studies Perspective

Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Results from a Survey of Ukrainian Public Opinion Concerning Non-Traditional Religions
Olena Lishchynska, Ph.D.
 

Scholarly Teaching on Cults: A Panel Discussion

Linda J. Demaine, J.D., Ph.D., Coordinator; Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.;  Josep Jansa, M.D.; Edward Lottick, M.D.

Purpose of the Panel

Linda J. Demaine, J.D., Ph.D.

Cults Teaching Experience in AIS

Josep M Jansà, M.D.;  Miguel Perlado; Vega González

Teaching University Students on Cults

Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.; Alvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.; Jose A Carrobles, Ph.D.

American Cults

Edward Lottick, M.D.

Society for Scientific Spirituality "SANATAN": Doctrines, Terrorist Teachings, and Psycho-Manipulative Practices

Zoran Lukovic; Andrej Protic

Solitary Confinement – Survival and Recovery
Arthur Buchman, M.A.
 

Special Session for Born or Raised (Second Generation)

Michael Martella, Joyce Martella

Structural Dissociation, Neuroscience, and Pseudopersonality in Cults

Gillie Jenkinson

Südwest Network: Helping People Affected by Cultic Groups

Inge Mamay; Otto Lomb; Frauke Zahradnik

Terrorist Motivations, Extreme Violence, and the Pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Major Jaime Gomez, Jr.

The Brainwashing Concept – Is It Passé?

Janja Lalich, Ph.D., Coordinator; Stephen Kent, Ph.D.; Benjamin Zablocki, Ph.D.

The Phenomenon of Sectarianism in Pakistan

Ana Ballesteros Peiró; María Jesús Martín López, Ph.D.; José Manuel Martínez García, Ph.D.

The Production and Consumption of Political Leader Cults: The Case of Post-Soviet Turkmenistan

Dr. Michael Denison

The Role of RIGHT in Opposing Spiritual Abuse in High-Demand Religious Groups in South Africa

Dr Stephan Pretorius

Understanding Cultic and Totalistic Identities – Insights and Directions for the Future from Developments in Social Psychological Theory and Research

Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.

Understanding the Self-Concept of Youthful Cult Members

Ilia Shmelev

Vie et déclin d'une communauté sur les marges de l'évangélisme

Jean-François Mayer, Ph.D.

Workshop for Mental-Health Professionals

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

Abstracts / Résumés

A Fertile Ground for Cults: The Cognitive and Social Roots of Cultic Thinking

Programs Against Manipulation and Cults for Education: Results and Prospects

Vladimir E. Petukhov

The reporter comments on the worrying trends that have been noticed in Russian and Ukrainian systems of education, when local and federal administrative boards directly or indirectly provide increasing support for different cultic organizations to set up and develop recruiting activities under a mask of educational courses. Cultic ideologies and technologies are now widely spread as the true drive of various “scientific research programs,” “social assistance,” and “informational experimentation” activities.

Certain courses claiming to be socially approved programs (such as AIDS prevention or an anti-drug campaign) de facto present cultic methods, ideology and dogmas and are then introduced into curricula, thereby avoiding the scrutiny of state and regional governments. During the time meant to be spent for normal education, the representatives of cults preach, recruit, and distribute specific papers and books among the students and the teachers.

The main reason that such cults’ thrive is the general educational staff’s social and psychological illiteracy and a lack of awareness of the mechanisms of indoctrination and cultic influence. This paper argues that a broad-scale national educational and training program is needed to counter the power of cults.

The reporter proposes such a preventive program, involving both students and staff, to decrease the negative impact of such cultic activities. The program includes psycho diagnostics, lecturing, training, counseling, and organizing panel talks.

Cults in Us and in Our Midst: How to Change our Thinking to Undermine Them

Yevgeniy N. Volkov, Ph.D.

In the report the author presents the findings and the conclusion of his 12-year-long research, counseling, and teaching on the problems of destructive cults. He claims he has found the ultimate reasons of cultic success in recruiting many thousands and millions of adepts.

The author believes that the problem of cults cannot be correctly understood and solved until it is re-stated as the problem of certain gaps in socialization and education peculiar even to the most progressive countries. The problem is restated as follows: what are the ultimate omni-cultural specific traits of social perception and thinking, fostered by family, school, and university education and more widely by whole society, which create and support a fertile ground for cults? What aspects of thinking and behavior peculiar to an average educated person almost inevitably drive him/her to this or that form of cultism, dogmatism and absurd thinking?

The report outlines the preconditions for sects and psycho-cults to appear and spread through modern society. The root of the problem is seen as modern culture’s inability to nurture and propagate critical and scientific thinking. Common thinking as opposed to the last is described as a favorable ground for irrational cultic thinking.

The reporter believes that in order to overcome a sect’s negative impact the utmost objective for taking preventive measures and rehabilitation is to form and strengthen rational and critical thinking. This requires considerable changes throughout the systems of education and upbringing for people of all ages. The reporter suggests certain pedagogical and educational measures that should provide a dramatic decrease in the destructive impact of sects and psycho-cults. Besides, he comments on the peculiarities of the rational-cognitive counseling.

The paper presents a theoretical model of thinking based on the concept of critical rationalism and corroborated by the examples from the author’s experience as well as by the most recent findings in social science and fundamental social theory.

^

Ambiguous Loss: A Parent’s Perspective

Elisabeth Robbins

Persons who lose a loved one into the world of a cult experience a complex sense of loss.  In ways it is like a death, yet it obviously is not.  The cult member is in most cases known to be alive, but even when cult members continue to be physically present, living outside the group, they are in a real sense “gone.”  Because there is little understanding of the facets of such a loss, our culture lacks social models for appropriate grieving, and social support can be difficult to secure.  Many therapists and counselors, even those specializing in family dynamics, will not be able to relate to the family’s peculiar loss.  Without a framework to understand their own experience, and without internal or external permission to grieve, family members themselves can become caught in unresolved loss.

Using Pauline Boss’s model of Ambiguous Loss, this paper will analyze the various ways in which the family of the cult member experiences loss both similar to and different from other types of ambiguous loss.  These include ambiguity about process, cognitive ambiguity, emotional ambiguity, ambiguity about how to act, and ambiguity about the place of the cult member in the family.  

1. Ambiguity about process, about what is actually happening, what is the real situation. 
2. Cognitive ambiguity about how to think about what has happened, how to make sense of it, how to compose a meaningful narrative.
3. Emotional ambiguity, not just the mixed emotions natural to all times of stress and change but lack of clarity about what emotions apply to or fit the situation. Ambiguous thoughts lead to ambiguous emotions. 
4. Ambiguity about how to act, what to do, whether to do anything, in response to the situation. 
5. Place in the family. Physically absent, is the cult member still psychologically present?  In what way?  For how long?  How does the family regroup and go on?

^

Analyse de contenu du texte fondateur du mouvement raëlien

Céline Castillo et Sophie Gilbert, Ph.D.

Comme l’ont maintes fois démontré l’ethnologie, l’anthropologie et la sociologie, tout groupe d’appartenance quel qu’il soit s’allie autour d’un événement, d’une histoire passée ou à construire, d’une idéologie ou d’un totem communs. C’est-à-dire, un élément rassembleur qui est à la fois investi d’une force représentative mais qui agit aussi comme témoin d’une trace.

Dans ce domaine, le mouvement raëlien ne fait pas exception. Bien que souvent suggérée dans des romans de littérature ou encore dans des scénarii cinématographiques, son idéologie concernant la présence de l’être humain sur terre reste pour le moins originale futuriste et constitue la pierre angulaire de la cohésion groupale. Cette vision s’oppose au darwinisme et au créationnisme, de même qu’elle s’inscrit dans un courant que les raëliens nomment raëlisme (du nom même de son fondateur). Qui plus est, l’idéologie raëlienne réfère directement au livre écrit par Raël. Celui-ci se veut à la fois être le témoignage de la rencontre de Raël avec les Elhoïms, mais aussi un outil de référence et d’information pour quiconque s’intéresse à l’origine de la vie sur terre. En effet, au  travers d’une relecture des écrits des 3 grandes Religions du livre, il donne une explication qui lui est propre de l’existence terrestre de l’être humain et de tout autre organisme vivant.

La présente communication s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche portant sur une étude psychodynamique de l’appartenance groupale. Dans cette perspective, nous nous proposons donc d’exposer les premiers éléments de cette recherche en présentant dans un premier temps les grandes lignes de l’idéologie raélienne telle que présentée dans le texte rédigé par le leader lui-même et qui s’intitule « le message dont parlent les extraterrestre ». Ensuite, nous ferons un rapport sur les résultats de son analyse pour finalement essayer de les mettre en perspective en fonction de la structure du groupe, de son fonctionnement, de sa dynamique, etc.... Pour ce faire nous nous baserons essentiellement sur les travaux de Didier Anzieu et de René Kaës concernant la dynamique des groupes que nous articulerons aux écrits plus spécifiques concernant l’aliénation sectaire.

Tout ceci nous permettra d’amorcer une réflexion sur la croyance et les éléments sous-jacents pouvant entrer en ligne de compte dans l’adhésion groupale.

Bibliographie

Campiche, R. J.(1995) Une secte c’est quoi ?, Quand les sectes affolent. Ordre du temple solaire, médias et fin de millénaire, pp37-64,  Labor et Fidès, Lausanne.

Champion, F (1993) La croyance en l’alliance de la science et de la religion, dans archives des sciences sociales des religions, Paris.

De Mijolla-Mellor, S. (2004) Le besoin de croire : Métapsychologie du fait religieux, Dunod, Paris.

Gayon, J. Jacobi. D. (2006) L’éternel retour de l’eugénisme, PUF, Paris.

Luca, N. & Lenoir, F. (1998) Les sectes : mensonges et idéaux, Bayard Editions, Mayenne.

Mayer, J. F. (2001) Les sectes : question de recherche scientifique ou problème de sécurité civile ? dans La peur des sectes, Fidès, Montréal

McCann, B, & Poirier, C. (2003) Raël, journal d’une infiltrée. Editions Stanké.

Paillé, P & Mucchielli, A. (2003) L’analyse qualitative en sciences humaines et sociales, Armand Colin,

Raël (1973) Le message des extraterrestres. Le vrai visage de Dieu. http://www.mouvementraelien.org/

Roy, J. Y. (1998) Le syndrôme du berger : Essai sur les dogmatiques contemporains, Editions Boréal, Montréal.

Trigano, S. (2001) Qu’est ce que la religion ?, Flammarion, Manchecourt.

Willaime, J. P. (1999) Les définitions sociologiques de la secte, pp 21-46,  dans Les sectes et le droit en France, PUF, Paris.

http://www.mouvementraelien.org/

^

A Remarkable Consensus

Edward Lottick, M.D.

Factual data summarized as follows, plus inferences and insights from the 2004 King's College survey of approximately 3000 Pennsylvania psychology professionals regarding destructive cults will be discussed along with some associated topics.

Data: 700 psychology professionals, a 23.5% return, responded to an extensive survey of the approximately 3,000 membership of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association. Over half of the respondents reported on professional and/or personal experience with present or former cult members. Of those so reporting, over two-thirds indicated that psychological symptoms being treated were directly resulting from current or antecedent cult involvement. Fully half of the psychologists (350) were subjected to retaliation by the cult for their therapeutic efforts despite the fact that the reasons for such treatments were a host of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, dissociation, suicide attempts and even completed suicides and their ramifications. It is not surprising that 57%* of all responding psychologists align with those favoring legislation limiting destructive cult leaders and their abusive practices (mental and/or physical constraint, deceptive and highly contrived mental manipulation, and extremely destabilizing "attack-on-the-self" brainwashing).

The problem is vast in scope. Of special importance will be a discussion of where our survey or similar surveys might be utilized in other U. S. states and other countries. Conference attendee comments are encouraged.

*Psychologist tabulation on survey question regarding "law on brainwashing for Pennsylvania:" "Strongly support" 21% "Support" 36% "Can't say" 29% "Oppose" 10% "Strongly oppose" 4%

^

Brainwashing and the Courts: A Review of the Case Literature in the United States

Alan Scheflin, J.D., LL.M.

Case literature pertinent to brainwashing in U.S. courts will be reviewed and analyzed with a view toward assessing the current and likely future status of the concept of brainwashing within the legal system.

^

Boundaries: Reestablishing Trust

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

People exit cults confused about their own identities and how to relate to others in the mainstream culture. Identity issues stem from the diffuse or excessively blurred boundaries within cult systems. Just like enmeshed families, cultists and their leadership become over-concerned and over-involved in each others’ lives. This pressures members to quickly adapt to the cult environment and promotes cohesiveness at the expense of autonomy.

Connection to the larger culture is limited because of the rigid boundaries legislated by cult leadership. Separating cultists from the world as well as their families helps leaders remold recruits more efficiently and control most of their relationships.

Once recruits become committed members, cult leaders often use shame to ensure their obedience and loyalty. Cults operate like shame-bound families with rules that demand control, perfectionism, blame and denial. During the workshop abusive cult interactions are plotted on a shame control model to contrast and compare cults with abusive families.

Family rules are discussed and the alternative to shame-bound systems, i.e., respectful systems, is introduced. The zipper metaphor is used to describe how boundaries protect the intellectual, emotional and physical self. Participants learn that once boundaries are established, an identity is formed and self-trust increases.  (For ex-members only.)

^

Catholic Sects and the Catholic Church

Alberto Moncada, Ph.D.

Catholic groups like Opus Dei and Legionaries of Christ have been growing during the past fifty years, especially during the Pontificate of John Paul II, who was helped by them in the two main objectives of his Pontificate: political action and doctrinal fundamentalism.

These groups have developed a sectarian that denies human rights to their members.  Yet the Vatican has refused to face such charges. Only recently has the Pope taken soft action against one of the most controversial leaders of an organization, Marciel Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ.

The sectarian character of one of these groups, Opus Dei, has been documented mainly by former members and has received some publicity because of the novel and movie, “The Da Vinci Code.”

Some of these sectarian traits can be traced to the Catholic tradition of religious life, which incorporated a sort of individual denial and internal control by the superiors, taken out of its normal context and applied to laymen working in civil society.

^

Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions: Is Secular Theory Adequate?

Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D.

In this presentation I compare numerous examples of child sexual abuse in over a hundred alternative religious groups with existing literature about abuse that has emerged primarily out of examples from secular settings.  Many of the religious examples extend existing child abuse theory, especially around issues of causation and social setting.  Moreover, by examining some alternative religions as if they were abusive families, we see that deviant theologies actually can cause forms of situational pedophilia.

^

Children and Cults: Vulnerability to Influence of Cults in Ukraine With Special Attention to Orphans

Nataliya Bezborodova

This paper addresses the following issues:

·         Children’s rights and children’s need for protection against deleterious cultic influences.

·         Individual vulnerability arising from psychological addictions.

·         Reasons why orphans require more attention than children having parents and relatives.

·         The vulnerability of the Ukrainian educational system to cultic influences.

·         Legislative deficiencies and possibilities.

·         Ways for overcoming the problem.

^

C.I.A.O.S.N. : une institution fédérale d'information pour le public et d'avis pour les autorités

Henri de Cordes

La commission d'enquête de la Chambre des représentants de 1997 a voulu que son travail d'étude puisse être poursuivi afin de répondre aux nombreuses questions du public. Une loi de 1998 a créé un centre d'information et d'avis sur les organisations sectaires nuisibles.

La spécificité du Centre est qu'il s'agit d'une institution publique indépendante dont les membres, désigné par la Chambre des représentants se caractérisent par leur interdisciplinarité.

Opérationnel depuis septembre 2000, le Centre répond aux demandes du public et l'informe sur ses droits et obligations. Le Centre est parvenu actuellement à un stade de maturité et sa réputation en Belgique est reconnue également à l'étranger, au point d'être parfois cité en exemple de ce que certains pays devraient créer.

^

Controversial Groups in Japan and the Tokyo District Court Decision on Mind Control

Masaki Kito, Esq. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Esq. Takashi Yamaguchi, Esq. 

We are lawyers practicing law in Tokyo, Japan, and we have been representing victims of controversial groups, their families, and supporters in and out of court. We will make a report on the current situation concerning controversial religious groups in Japan, especially from the legal point of view, referring to court rulings and individual cases. Our specific topics are yet to be decided, but we will definitely be making a report on the death sentence of Chizuo Matsumoto alias “Shoko Asahara,” which was confirmed by the Supreme Court on Sept.22 2006.  This was a rare case in which a death sentence was confirmed due to procedural reasons, namely, that the defense counsels failed to submit the appellate brief within the designated time.

^

Coping with Triggers

Joseph Kelly; Patrick Ryan

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, and 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.

^

Creativity and Cults: The Impact of Cult Involvement on Creativity

Miguel Perlado, Ph.D.; Dana Wehle, L.C.S.W.; Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., Moderator

The first paper in this session describes how a group of jazz musicians came to function as a cult. The author presents the demand for help of various families and the therapeutic strategies implemented. Different interviews with relatives, deeper interviews with the leader’s family and some contacts with the leader himself are described. The author will explain different hypotheses about the group’s functioning, the nature and development of psychological manipulation, and the psychic functioning of the leader. The clinical material will illustrate the abuse of creativity by cult leaders and the subsequent impact on former members’ authentic creativity in and out of the therapeutic setting.

The second paper in the session explores psychoanalytic approaches to treatment of the suppression of creativity in cults. Cults prey on the human tendency to minimize difference by minimizing uncertainty, which is central to the creative process and psychological well-being. The exploration of deep cult entrenchment provides an extraordinary backdrop against which to understand the psychological impact of authoritarian control that privileges sameness over difference in language and social relations. Drawing upon various theories on creativity, the author suggests that the suppression of creativity in cults is best treated by emphasis on use of symbolic language, play, fantasy, and risk-taking to evoke psychic fluidity, multi-dimensionality, and tolerance of uncertainty, which are intrinsic to creativity and antithetical to cultic experience.

Cult leader’s imposition of “loaded language” (Lifton, 1961) as a weapon to yield conformity has global implications, while, conversely, subjective use of language signals recovery. Native Americans struggle to reclaim hundreds of nearly extinct languages as part of their recovery as a people, while controversies surrounding Ebonics again suggests language as central to recovery from mass destruction. Such examples of dehumanization and the transformation of identity linked to the co-opting of language—of subjectively created meaning—highlight the salience of cult recovery treatment that focuses on subjective creation of meaning through emphasis on symbol formation and spontaneity. The author will apply these concepts to the clinical example of the jazz musician and his followers presented in the first paper.