Titles and
Speakers
|
Titres et Conférenciers
|
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
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
Henri de Cordes
Coping with Triggers
Joseph Kelly;
Patrick Ryan
Creativity & Cults: The Impact of Cult
Involvement on Creativity
Miguel Perlado,
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
Emprise et manipulation : Approche
clinique du phénomène sectaire
Jean-Claude Maes
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
Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist
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 Langone, Ph.D.
Maître Carolle Tremblay
Michael Kropveld
Issues for Therapists Working with
Families Where a Loved One is Experiencing Undue
Influence
Linda
Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.
Le poids des doctrines dans les
« massacres » de l’OTS. Commentaires des suites
juridiques
Maître
Jean-Pierre Jougla
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
Eric Brasseur
“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 Martín-Peña, M.A.; Kimiaki
Nishida, Ph.D.; Piotr 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
Belen Ordoñez,
M.A.; José A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Carmen
Almendros, Ph.D.
Comprehensive model of
recruitment to cults
Piotr Tomasz
Nowakowski, Ph.D.
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
Edward J.
Frischholz, Ph.D.
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.
Situations Concerning Controversial Groups
in Japan
Masaki Kito,
Esq. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Esq. Takashi Yamaguchi,
Esq.
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
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.
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
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
Mc Cann, 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%
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.
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.
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 character 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.
Coping with Triggers
Joseph Kelly; Patrick Ryan;
Abstract by
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,
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, 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.
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)
A political contest between
the Exclusive Brethren and the Greens is being
conducted with a high degree of animosity in
Australia. The Brethren are also at odds with
the government in New Zealand. These contests
involving the Brethren, along with some other
political controversies involving minor
religious sects, raise some interesting
questions about the appropriate (if any),
demarcation lines between religion and politics
in Australia and New Zealand.
A greater focus on religious
questions in politics has stimulated a growing
interest in the broader philosophical debate
about the question of separation of church and
state in both countries; an issue hitherto at
the fringes of political debate Down Under. It
has also raised more directly issues about
entitlements received by ‘religious’ groups
generally, with the Greens openly challenging
government funding, taxation benefits and
special exemptions to Australian law received by
the Brethren.
It is noted that examining
questions involving religion and politics
through the prism of cultic studies leads one to
a greater awareness of the possibilities for
deviant behaviour to manifest in religion per
se. It is also noted that a cultic studies
approach leads to an appreciation that the
continuing anti-social behaviour of some cultic
groups (as dictated by the ruling group
oligarchs and followed obediently by adherents),
should potentially disqualify them from taxpayer
funded entitlements generally bestowed upon
religious groups.
Culture is Cult Writ Large: Cults, Culture,
Coercion, and Critical Theory
Matthew Forester, ABD
William Bainbridge’s
famous observation that “cult is culture writ
small” focuses attention on the ways that cults
are microcosms of the broader culture. If this
is true, then the inverse must also be true:
Culture is cult writ large. This discussion will
address how the work of cult phenomenon scholars
reveals coercive techniques used by forces
within the larger culture to influence people.
Put simply, I believe that people are coercively
manipulated by the hegemonic forces of their
societies, and the study of cultic groups offers
fruitful paradigms for identifying these
coercive techniques. I’d like to invite
discussion about what these paradigms might be
and what possibilities of personal liberation
might result from a clearer understanding of
them.
I want to emphasize
that I do not wish to cloud the very insidious
nature of many cultic groups by claiming that
everyone is exposed to coercive techniques. I
believe, however, that scholarship about
coercive manipulation within cultic groups
reveals how the larger culture also discourages
critical thought and dangerously increases the
stakes of belonging. As an example, I would like
to invite discussion on whether the Bush
administration’s rhetoric of fear regarding
terrorist attacks can be seen as coercive? And
if so, would this be considered coercive enough
to be considered illegal if committed by a
cultic group in France, given their recent
anti-cult legislation? Other topics of
discussion could potentially include academia or
corporate globalization. How might these
agencies use similar coercive strategies as
cultic groups?
The session will begin
with a paper presentation about the role of
language in the constitution of human values,
beliefs, and epistemologies, putting in
conversation the work of cult phenomenon
scholars who explore the role of language in
cults with the work of critical theorists and
poststructuralist theorists who advocate a
discursive formation of subjectivity.
Specifically, I compare an article entitled “The
Culture Industry, Enlightenment as Mass
Deception” by Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer
from the Frankfurt School with certain claims
made by cult phenomenon scholars, including
Robert Lifton, Michael Langone, and Margaret
Thaler Singer.
The primary purpose of
this paper, though, is not to educate but to
invite thoughtful discussion about the possible
paradigms that the study of cultic groups can
offer for viewing the larger culture. Although I
might be providing information to the audience
that they’ve not yet heard because it isn’t
their interest or expertise, it will, I think,
serve as a useful heuristic for promoting
dialogue. I hope to have an interesting and
fruitful discussion session after the paper is
presented.
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
The current
presentation examines data collected at the
Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, a
residential rehabilitation center for ex-cult
members that has treated nearly 900 clients over
the past 2 decades. Results of intake
evaluations suggest that individuals report a
range of reasons for entering into and exiting
out of coercive groups. Specifically, although a
sizable portion of individuals are born into
coercive groups; our data suggest that
psychosocial and environmental stressors—as
opposed to levels of psychopathology—are highly
correlated with attraction to coercive and
cultic groups. In particular, spiritual
problems, problems with primary support systems,
attraction to the leader or group members,
difficulties within one’s social environment, a
desire to search for knowledge, having a
preexisting connection with a group member or
following a parent into a group emerge as
commonly cited motives for joining coercive
groups. Data surrounding exit from coercive
groups reflects similar variation.
Notwithstanding individuals who are forcefully
removed from the group—whether through exit
counseling, deprogramming, or by pressure from
the group to leave—a large majority of
individuals report “walking away” as their
primary method of exit. Notably, individuals
who “walk away” from coercive groups report a
number of motives for doing so, including active
disagreement with the group, destabilization
within their group (i.e., reorganization of
group structure, or learning new information),
disillusionment (i.e., I don’t measure up),
burn-out (i.e., searching for a stronger
connection elsewhere), or as a result of the
emergence of an internal psychic structure which
results in questioning the group dynamic. As
such, the goal of the current presentation is to
review empirical trends among entrance and exit
within victims of coercive influence and cultic
groups. The relationship of the data to the
aftereffects of indoctrination, and how this
data can be utilized in clinical practice will
also be discussed. Finally, similarities within
methods of between coercive persuasion in
conversion and exist to cultic groups and
terrorist organizations will also be presented.
Ethics and Proselytism: Between Psychology and
Law
Psychology and the Ethics of
Religious Persuasion
Vassilis Saroglou
One
tentative conclusion today on the debate
regarding “brainwashing” of members of NRMs and
cult-like movements is that, on the basis of
social psychological research on persuasion,
there is no evidence for such a concept. We
think that with regard to the social debate on
ethics of persuasion, such a conclusion is
inadequate. The present paper reopens the
question by integrating it into a broader
perspective of the ethics of religious
persuasion, exploring recent developments in the
social psychology of persuasion and resistance
as well as research and theory in the psychology
of religious radical movements. After a brief
review of previous literature, we develop here
what may be the psychological specifics and the
subsequent ethical risks of religious persuasion
and we develop criteria for recognizing
manipulative tendencies and intentions at the
levels of the (a) content of the religious
message, (b) type of relation established, and
(c) specific persuasive methods and strategies
used by a person or a group.
Beyond the
Normality–Pathology Debate Among NRM Members:
Open-vs. Close-mindedness in Social and Moral
aspects
Coralie Buxant
Our
previous study on mental health of New Religious
Movement (NRM) members suggests the absence of
negative effects of belonging to NRMs and even a
possible structuring role of the experience
within the NRM, especially in terms of quality
of personal and intimate relations, stability,
and quality of mood (no depression), and
positive world assumptions (see Buxant et al.,
in press).
In the present study, we investigated
socio-cognitive and moral realities that are
interesting for the appraisal of the optimal
development of a person as an autonomous
individual. NRM members (N = 120) were compared
with data from average population and highly
religious people from the mainstream (Catholic)
tradition in Belgium on the following measures :
Quest religious orientation (Batson et al.,
1993), Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz, 1992),
openness to experience (NEO PI-R, Costa &
McCrae, 1992), judgments applied to sociomoral
domains (Turiel, 1983), and
submissiveness-compliance (created projective
measure). Results indicate that although NRM
members share with other people distinctiveness
of sociomoral domains and similar values
hierarchy, and
score higher than normative data on high
openness to fantasy, aesthetics and feelings;
they are still characterized by their low quest
orientation, high moralizing
and low
conventional sociomoral judgments,
submissiveness, and low importance attributed to
self-direction and power. In conclusion, it
seems that positive effects of NRM membership
found in the previous and other studies are to
the detriment of personal freedom, in terms of
weak exercise of autonomy and critical thinking.
Law and
Psychology: New Interdisciplinarity for
Balancing Legal Accountability for Abuses in
Religious Advertising and Proselytism
Louis-Léon Christians
In Europe, some state
laws, but not all, prohibit religious
advertising in media (television more than
newspapers). Some other state laws specifically
protect religious programs or children’s
programs on television against any kind of
advertising. Moreover some other state laws
strictly organize and regulate the positive
conditions of religious programs on public
televisions, and perhaps tomorrow on the web. A
better understanding has to be provided first by
a comparative approach of these European legal
diversities. The case-law of the European Court
of Human Right is also very important to
religious advertising and religious
controversies. It will be extensively analyzed.
But such an approach would be insufficient if it
remains on a purely legal step. In order to
analyze the very reasons of these prohibitions
and legal regulations about religious
advertising, new tools coming from psychology
have to be taken into account. Members of
Parliaments, as well as legal scholars, have to
be aware of the psychological differences of
individual perceptions and sensitivities between
different kinds of messages (e.g., religious v.
commercial) and by way of different media
(television v. newspapers). New ethics controls
and procedures about advertising have also to be
adapted in order to tackle the psychological
(non)specificities of religious (v. for-profit)
communications and influences. A typology of the
different kinds of relationships between
religious messages and advertising will be
presented with a great number of examples and
cases. The paper will propose some extensive
analysis on the legal consequences of these
legal and psychological data, especially about
some differences between media advertising and
individual proselytizing. In conclusion, the
paper will propose a new understanding of the
principle of non-discrimination between hate
speech, political propaganda, “popular” cultures
and mores, traditional religions, and religious
minorities in the field of freedom of speech.
Every Nation Churches and Ministries: Maranatha
Reformed or Reborn?
Bridget M. Jacobs, M.A.
Maranatha Campus
Ministries was widely known as one of the most
active Bible-based campus cults in the 1970s and
1980s, characterized by the mainstream,
religious, and academic media alike as being a
harmful, aberrant, “shepherding/discipleship”
group in the same class as the International
Churches of Christ. Maranatha legally dissolved
amid a great amount of pressure and criticism
from university administrators, countercult
activists, Christian leaders and former members,
as well as growing discord between founder and
leader Bob Weiner and other top leaders/elders
of the group. This discord culminated in an
internal rebellion against Weiner, and the
parent organization formally disbanded in
1989-1990. However, between 1990 and 1993 a core
of former Maranatha leaders operated under the
aegis of several spin-off entities which
continued to cooperate and network with one
another, and in 1994 former Maranatha leaders
Rice Broocks, Phil Bonasso, and Steve Murrell
formally merged their entities together as
Morning Star International (MSI), which soon
became the largest and most successful Maranatha
descendant.
For the next ten
years, Morning Star International quietly
expanded and brought other former Maranatha
churches, ministries, and leaders into the fold
as well as those who had not before been
affiliated with Maranatha; aside from
near-scandal in the mid 1990s revolving around a
National Football League (NFL) investigation
into Maranatha-turned-MSI sub-ministry Champions
for Christ (1), the new organization was very
careful to divorce itself from its Maranatha
past and protect itself against public and
internal criticism. The group and its leaders
would refer to their previously working together
in “campus ministry,” but for many years
Maranatha was rarely if ever specifically named
as that ministry. Legally binding bylaws were
later put into place which could be used to
quell and isolate internal dissent and rebellion
among churches and pastors before they leaked
into the public realm as happened in Maranatha.
However, while they publicly used more standard
evangelical language as compared to Maranatha,
much of the group’s core leadership continued to
promote many of the same teachings and practices
as before, including exerting increasing control
over individual members’ lives, arranging and/or
coercing marriages (or breakups of existing
relationships), heavily emphasizing
“sacrificial” financial giving and submitting to
"delegated authority" where leaders were to be
considered "fathers" of "spiritual family" who
were therefore agents for God, and using
in-house discipleship materials, conferences,
its local church-based leadership school, and
residential advanced ministry schools to first
promote trust of and submission to leaders and
then to gradually indoctrinate youth and/or
prospective leaders into a more extreme
dominionist worldview.
In 2003-2004, after
former Maranatha and MSI pastor “Big Tommy”
Sirotnak was removed from leadership reportedly
for teaching on the “priesthood of the
believer,” and later posted his testimony on the
Rick Ross discussion boards, several other
former members were empowered to post first on
Rick Ross and then on FACTNet. While the group
soon renamed itself Every Nation Churches and
Ministries, it did not mitigate the growing
publicly available evidence that it was directly
descended from Maranatha, or the significant
financial and leadership allegations and
scandals which were exposed online in mid to
late 2005. In addition, two fairly high profile
lawsuits, one involving an Every Nation
church-affiliated student group at the
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2),
and one filed by two families against Every
Nation-linked defendants in Nashville, TN (3)
led to mainstream and evangelical Christian
media coverage and renewed critical interest in
the group. Increasing scrutiny, along with the
subsequent departure of several key churches in
the network, appear to have led to the
resignation of co-founders Phil Bonasso and Rice
Broocks from top leadership positions, although
rumors persist that they are not really “out” of
leadership but instead in line with the group's
beliefs in lifelong, covenantal loyalty and
"spiritual family" are being"covered" and
protected by other top, inner circle leaders
including fellow co-founder and current
president Steve Murrell.
While not formally
organized like REVEAL or other similar groups of
former ICoC members, the current grassroots
movement among former members has had a similar
impact in that, like the ICoC, there have been
significant leadership changes, and Every Nation
and its current leaders claim to be reforming
away from an authoritarian “apostolic team”
approach toward Policy Governance ®.
However, like in the
ICoC, time will tell whether these changes are
sincere, may be an attempt by the group to
divert and diffuse criticism, or if, if like the
ICoC’s Kip McKean, Broocks and/or Bonasso may
still be attempting to exert influence and
control over the group from behind the scenes.
(1) Freeman, Mike.
“Teams Seek Inquiry into Religious Group.”
New York Times. 2 August 1998.
<
http://www.rickross.com/reference/champions/champions3.html
>.
(2) “Alpha Iota
Omega—Concerned By Descendant of Maranatha
Christian Church. Cultic Studies Review
4.2 (2005): 25 Jun
2005 < http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/csr_issues/csr_toc2005.2.htm#News
>.
(3) “Hospitalized
Teenager Suffering ‘Religious Indoctrination.’”
Cultic Studies Review 4.3 (2005): 4 Jan
2006
<http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/csr_issues/csr_toc2005.3.htm#News%20Summaries%20b>.
Ex-Member Orientation
Carol Giambalvo
The purpose of this
session is
·
to
provide an opportunity to be able to identify
other ex-members attending the conference
·
to
introduce themselves to others so that they feel
more comfortable (participants will be allowed
to “pass”)
o
this is
a place to introduce themselves and what brings
them here, but not a place to speak about what
it is they are “into” at this point in their
life
·
to
enable them to identify both ex-members and
facilitators that they can go to for support
should they feel uncomfortable or triggered
during the conference
·
to
identify triggers and make participants aware
that they frequently happen while learning about
cultic dynamics, but they can help us in our
recovery process to identify possible areas
where we need a little more work or education
·
to
introduce the ex-members to the assistance team
and/or security team or to instruct them how to
identify same
·
to make
participants more comfortable at the conference
and relieve anxiety they may be feeling about
attending
Ex-Member Debriefing Session
Carol Giambalvo
The purpose of this
session is
·
to give
ex-members an opportunity to share what was the
most positive and/or negative aspect of the
conference for them
·
to
provide a way to stay in touch, if so desired
·
to
provide information about other places they can
get support (e.g., reFOCUS)
·
to allow
a time and place for participants to share
whatever they wish to share about their
experience of the conference
·
each
participant will be allowed to speak briefly
Exploring Individuals’ Prior
Metaphysical or Spiritual Experience and
its Role in the Making of a Seeker
John Paul Healy
This paper illustrates some unique aspects of
individuals’ conversion experience. Highlighting
examples of prior metaphysical or spiritual
experience from a research project of long-term
followers of a Siddha Yoga practice and others
who are no longer involved, this paper explores
the role metaphysical phenomena have played in
seeking. It appears that participants’ prior
metaphysical or spiritual experience, although
not connected to Siddha Yoga, eventually became
integrated into their conversion motif. It
appeared to them in retrospect almost a calling,
or their road to Damascus. Most participants had
a narrative describing what led them to the Guru
and Siddha Yoga. In retrospect they make links
that appeared to them clear and represented a
kind of calling to Siddha Yoga. When
participants in this study reported having
metaphysical or spiritual experience prior to
involvement in Siddha Yoga, it was both a
positive revelation and also at times something
overwhelming and difficult to place in everyday
experience. Siddha Yoga seemed to give
participants a place that accepted this
experience and for them gave it context.
It is interesting that unexpected spiritual
experience can lead individuals to become
active-seekers; some had not thought deeply
about spirituality before this time. However,
this may be because many of the participants in
this study, when they became involved with
Siddha Yoga, were young and only beginning to
explore and experience life. This paper will
describe participants’ prior spiritual
experience and how that led to a long
involvement in Siddha Yoga. How some become
almost accidental-seekers and may spend many
years in a movement because of prior
metaphysical/spiritual experience is I feel an
important issue in regard to understanding
involvement in New Religious/Cultic Movements.
This PhD research is based on 32 qualitative
semi-structured interviews and participant
observations. All of the participants in this
study were previously devotees of Siddha Yoga,
however, 7 are now associated with Shanti Mandir
and 1 with Shiva Yoga. Both Shanti Mandir and
Shiva Yoga consider themselves in the same
lineage as Siddha Yoga. A further 9 of the
participants still regard Siddha Yoga’s founder,
Swami Muktananda, as their Guru but are not
affiliated with any organised form of Siddha
Yoga practice. The remaining 15 of the
participants are no longer involved in any form
of Siddha Yoga practice nor do they regard
Muktananda as their Guru; however 8 of these now
belong to other traditions, and therefore 7 of
the participants no longer consider themselves
seekers at all. The interviews mainly took place
in participants’ homes, 3 took place in cafés
and one in a car. Participant observation took
place during 2006 at Shanti Mandir centres in
Sydney and Melbourne and the Shiva Yoga Ashram
in Melbourne. Both these groups allowed me to
network freely in their communities to contact
participants and observe.
Family System Dynamics Where at
Least one Parent is Involved in a High-Demand
Group: A Case Study
Rienie Venter, Ph.D.
I have been
specialising in studying mind control,
controlling relationships, and unethical
influence in my practice as senior psychologist
since 1995. During this time I have often
assessed and consulted individuals who were in
need of psychological assistance after having
left a high-demand group or having ended a
controlling relationship. I have been in touch
with various families who were influenced by
this kind of control and I have observed the
destruction which is invariably caused to a
family when one or both of the parents become
involved in a high-demand group.
Firstly,
control is taken of the person’s autonomy. Then,
gradually, the leader, through this person,
exerts influence on the marriage relationship,
the family system (i.e., disciplinary style,
religious practices, communication, etc), the
extended family, and eventually takes total
control over the children’s lives.
This
presentation will demonstrate the process of
influence on the family, with specific reference
to family systems theory.
The family
in my case study consisted of a father, mother,
and four sons between the ages of two and eight
years old. The process of influence started with
the mother. Under the guidance of a woman who
believed she was called by God, the mother
adopted a new religious perspective, which
caused her to conform to rituals other than
those which the family traditionally followed.
The new belief system pervaded her whole
identity. As a demonstration of her new loyalty,
she, for example, destroyed all her works of art
which depicted human or animal figures (on the
grounds of Exodus 20.). Rejection of the church
the family customarily attended and all other
Christian churches followed, and family rituals
were ended. All family ties and friendships were
severed as she took the position of defending
what she believed in, explaining that she would
give up anything for God. The children, who were
too young to think or act independently and
fearing rejection from their mother, joined her
in her quest, destroying their toys by burning
them and reciting passages from Isaiah to family
members who tried to approach them. The
spiritual leader then started suggesting that
her husband had not been chosen by God and that
he had abused her. Consequently, the marriage
relationship broke down.
In this
presentation I will attempt to discuss the
following:
·
A vignette
of the family
·
The process
by which the influence took place
·
The effects
on the family with specific reference to the
following aspects in family systems theory: the
hierarchy of related systems, constructivism,
autonomy, homeostasis, fusion, cybernetics, and
negative entropy
·
The
environment, in this case the family system,
which is crucial for children to develop and
grow towards optimal functioning as human
beings.
To
demonstrate the specific needs of all
individuals within the system, but especially
children, the following will be addressed:
·
self-differentiation
·
perspective
taking,
·
prosocial
behaviour
·
trust
·
autonomy
·
self
confidence and
·
identity
formation
The gradual
decline of the mother’s mental health will be
discussed. This decline was manifested and
evidenced through conversations with her,
observation of her behaviour, and having insight
into her diaries, which she religiously kept. A
recount of the inevitable breakdown of the
marriage relationship will be provided.
Fonction parentale et attitudes
éducatives dans des groupes considérés sectaires
par la réaction sociale
Jean-Yves
Radigois
La réaction
sociale évalue fortement le danger du sectarisme
en particulier à l'égard des enfants. Selon
Wilson (1992), les premiers des motifs de
conflits sur les mouvements socialement
controversés proviennent d'un enseignement
contraire aux normes publiques, suivis de la
protection des enfants. Les critères de
sectarisme des travailleurs sociaux
s’appuieraient sur ceux véhiculés par la
réaction sociale. D’autant plus que ces critères
semblent relativement consensuels (Saroglou et
al. 2005). Dès lors, dans le champ des
compétences du travail social, apparaît le
risque d'une double erreur. Le premier
présumerait a priori qu’un enfant reçoit
une éducation inappropriée parce que ses parents
adhèrent à tel ou tel mouvement ou parce que
ceux-ci manifestent des comportements ou des
attitudes éducatives socialement atypiques ou
étranges par rapport aux pratiques dominantes
(Cf. CEDH, N° 64927/01 du 16/12/2003). Le second
interprèterait des conduites socio-éducatives,
jugées plus acceptées socialement, dénuées de
toutes dérives sectaires et d’emprise. Cette
question situe l’évaluation sociale, dans
l’accompagnement et la prévention plutôt que
dans le contrôle et la prédictivité du risque.
Elle réintroduit les potentialités et les
ressources positives qu’un système familial ou
groupal, sain ou pathologique, peut activer ou
réactiver.
Dès lors,
si l’évaluation sociale est convoquée, c'est
bien à une double exploration que nous sommes
conviés : l’une sur la fonction parentale et les
attitudes éducatives de parents membres de
mouvements à dérives sectaires, l’autre, sur la
méthodologie des évaluations pratiquées par les
travailleurs sociaux dans ces contextes. Notre
communication se propose de rendre compte d'une
étude comparative sur le premier volet.
Forgiveness as a Clinical Issue in Cult Recovery
Joyce Martella; Michael
Martella
The issue of
forgiveness by and among ex-cult members is NOT
about: “you need to forgive“, or “you should
forgive”, but about asking ourselves to analyze
our own current position on forgiveness.
1. Basic Issues
related to forgiveness.
A. One typical comment
about forgiveness is “I forgive, but I don't
forget”. That often translates as “I want to
SOUND and FEEL like a forgiver, but I don’t
actually forgive you”.
B. Forgiveness has
little to do with forgetting, erasing the
memory, or pretending that a wrong thing is
somehow turned in to a right thing. The wrong is
done, and that wrongness remains a fact, bearing
its own consequences.
C. We do NOT have to
forgive. We have every right to hang on to our
sense of being wronged. However, sometimes that
“hanging on” becomes poison to our soul, warping
our lives, and we then may feel the need to
forgive, to let go, FOR OUR OWN SAKE. Sometimes
we let go of a thing in order to free ourselves
of the anger and the bitterness, whether or not
the wrong-doer deserves it or not.
D. The advice of
friends, platitudes, and idealistic sayings
about the “should” - “should-not” of forgiveness
tells us only what others want us to do, and has
little value. They say we should never forgive,
but they don’t have to carry the weight of hate
and bitterness; or they counsel pious
forgiveness of every wrong, as if we can grant
forgiveness just because it may be the holy or
righteous thing to do, but its not their heart
that has been damaged.
2. The usefulness of
FORGIVENESS in cult healing.
A. As a pre-healing
defense mechanism, part of our minimization and
denial that allows us to avoid dealing with the
intensity and/or extent of the damage.
B. As an ongoing
measurement of our current feeling/healing
related to processing and integrating our cult
experience.
C. In some rare cases,
where there is an actual commitment to change
and growth by the cult, forgiveness may be part
of a process of the cult member and the cult’s
healing:
·
It IS
easier to forgive a thing, wiping the slate
clean, if the wrong-doer sincerely apologizes
and changes. In these cases, we often benefit
from having an opportunity to:
1) “tell the story”
(the narrative) of how we were wronged while the
wrong-doer respectfully listens without
defensiveness or justification,
2) followed by a
sincere apology, given without justification,
defensiveness, or an attempt to “share the
blame“.
3) the making of
amends where possible and appropriate,
4) clear evidence that
the wrong is not going to happen again.
D. Sometimes,
forgiveness may be necessary as part of the cult
victim’s own development, part of the process of
“letting go” and “moving on”.
1) While we do not OWE
forgiveness, any ongoing relationships may
benefit from this.
2) Sometimes,
understanding WHY a person did me wrong helps me
let them off the hook.
3) Sometimes I learn
forgive others so I can learn to forgive myself.
3. If we cannot grant
forgiveness, freeing ourselves and the other, we
should seek distance from that person, event, or
memory. Seeking vengeance or retribution does
feel good, but in the end, it heightens the risk
of turning us into people who consciously hurt
others, and this hardens us and poisons our
soul.
4. Where are YOU at,
in terms of the issue of relational forgiveness?
(This is not about where I should be at, but
just where I am at).
GMP
et « Socioadicciones ».
Similitude et différences. Casuistique.
Symptômes essentiels. Moment actuel
Josep M. Jansà,
M.D.; Vega González
« Socioadicciones » sont des
troubles de dépendance donnés qui ne sont pas
liés à l'ingestion de substances chimiques;
l'expérience professionnelle d'AIS, depuis 25
années, dans le champ de la manipulation
psychologique a permis qu'on détecte et qu'on
puisse traiter ces troubles puisque les deux
phénomènes sociaux ont des caractéristiques
similaires, autant au niveau clinique qu’au
niveau du comportement.
La socioadicción est un
phénomène qui va en accroissement dans la
société actuelle et sa gravité varie en fonction
de la nature et de l'intensité, avec des étapes
qui vont depuis l'abus, dans lequel il existe
encore un contrôle de l'activité, jusqu'à la
dépendance en stade avancé. Les premières
demandes de traitement sont arrivées à AIS
durant l'année 2001 et la demande continue à
augmenter.
Il y a quelques caractéristiques
communes entre la « socioadicción » et le GMP,
mais il y a aussi des caractéristiques qui
diffèrent.
Groupe
en crise: Analyse de l’identité sociale d’un
groupe de mormons fondamentalistes canadiens
Marie-Andrée
Pelland, Ph.D.; Dianne Casoni, Ph.D.
Cette
présentation a pour but de rendre compte de la
réalité sociale d’un groupe de mormons
fondamentalistes canadiens dirigé par un membre
excommunié de l’Église fondamentaliste de
Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers jours dont
le siège social est situé dans la ville de
Colorado City dans l’État de l’Arizona aux
États-Unis. Plus particulièrement, nous visons à
cerner comment la scission du groupe canadien
avec l’Église-mère affecte l’identité sociale de
ces membres excommuniés dans le contexte où ils
font, de plus, l’objet de nombreuses allégations
d’entorses aux lois canadiennes. Cette recherche
se base d’abord sur des données d’entrevues avec
douze membres du groupe canadien excommunié,
ainsi que sur l’analyse des discussions entre
membres diffusées sur Internet et d’une analyse
documentaire des publications du groupe ainsi
que des articles de journaux canadiens
concernant le groupe.
Fondée
en 1947, la communauté canadienne de mormons
fondamentalistes polygames a sporadiquement été
l’objet d’allégations d’entorses aux lois depuis
sa création. Cependant, une intensification de
ces allégations s’observe depuis 1990 alors que
quatre membres de cette communauté mormone, dont
un adolescent, ont été condamnés pour sévices
sexuels sur des enfants et une femme du groupe.
Les allégations qui les visent, puisqu’elles
sont largement médiatisées, ont non seulement eu
pour effet de faire connaître le groupe à
l’ensemble de la population canadienne, mais ont
aussi stimulé l’intérêt pour leur style de vie
et les impacts possibles qui en découlent pour
les croyants. Ainsi, la communauté de mormons
fondamentalistes polygames du Canada est le plus
souvent décrite dans la presse canadienne comme
constituant un milieu de vie qui pervertit les
rapports entre hommes et femmes, qui exploite
les jeunes filles, et qui assujettit les
enfants, notamment en leur prodiguant un
enseignement inadéquat. Ces allégations sont
soutenues par d’anciens membres, des groupes de
femmes et des associations de citoyens qui
mènent une intense campagne pour dénoncer les
effets de la polygamie sur les membres et en
particulier sur les enfants, les adolescentes et
les femmes du groupe. Ils soutiennent que les
enfants et les adolescentes sont l’objet
d’exploitation sexuelle de la part des hommes et
des garçons plus âgés du groupe. Ils dénoncent
également une situation qu’ils estiment propice
aux agressions sexuelles, physiques et
psychologiques des membres les plus faibles de
la communauté, soient les enfants et les femmes.
De plus, ces détracteurs décrient la vie
polygame comme un style de vie contraire aux
droits de la personne puisqu’il valoriserait les
rapports inégalitaires et qu’il favoriserait
l’exploitation sexuelle et financière des
femmes. Ils dénoncent aussi la scolarisation des
enfants dans le groupe, arguant qu’elle n’est
pas conforme aux normes provinciales et qu’elle
prépare mal les enfants à la vie hors du groupe.
Enfin, les détracteurs s’interrogent sur le sort
des jeunes hommes qui sont expulsés du groupe
sous différents prétextes afin de permettre aux
hommes plus âgés- et qui détiennent le pouvoir
au sein de la communauté polygame- de prendre
plus d’épouses en diminuant le nombre d’hommes
disponibles. Il est intéressant à ce propos de
noter que Winston Blackmore, un haut dirigeant
de la communauté mormone, a approximativement 26
épouses.
Bien
qu’en 1992 le procureur général de la
Colombie-Britannique conclût que les dirigeants
de la communauté mormone fondamentaliste
polygame de la province ne pouvaient être
poursuivis pour polygamie en vertu de l’article
293 du Code criminel canadien interdisant cette
pratique puisque cet article était contraire à
la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés,
six
autres rapports ont été soumis sur le groupe. En
outre, une plainte a été déposée à la Commission
des droits de la personne. Enfin, en
2004,
une enquête interministérielle et policière a
été instituée afin de faire enquête sur
l’ensemble des allégations formulées contre les
communautés mormones polygames canadiennes.
Simultanément à l’intensification de la réaction
sociale contre les mormons fondamentalistes
polygames et aux diverses interventions
étatiques, le groupe canadien a connu une crise
interne en 2002 qui a conduit à la scission de
la communauté fondamentaliste canadienne et à la
formation de deux groupes distincts. Un premier
groupe est demeuré au sein de l’Église-mère,
dirigée par Warren Jeff, et un second a été
formé sous la direction de Winston Blackmore. Ce
dernier ainsi que les membres du groupe qu’il
dirige ont été excommuniés par Warren Jeffs et
forment désormais une église indépendante. La
scission qui a divisé les familles en plus de
briser la communauté ainsi que la réaction
sociale suscitée par la communauté polygame a
donné lieu à la formation d’une nouvelle
identité sociale que nous tenterons de décrire
et d’analyser au cours de la présentation.
Hijacking the Global Multicultural Conversation:
Cultic/High-Demand Group Dynamics and Current
Events
Russell Bradshaw, Ed.D.
As the world today is
struggling to break free from old stereotypes
and prejudices, there is a powerful and largely
unrecognized force that is disrupting this vital
project. Cultic, high-demand groups offer
absolute security and membership, providing
shelter for “the chosen” in the midst of a
modern sea of alienation, insecurity, and
confusion. In return members need only pledge
unquestioning obedience to an absolute and
exclusive world view and to group authority.
Dazed by the speed of change in our modern
world, to some this seems a small price.
Many had believed that
the imperial aspirations, wars and genocides of
preceding centuries were things of the past.
Erich Fromm in Escape from Freedom warned that
the seeds of authoritarian and group-superiority
beliefs were not unique to Germans—they existed
in our “shaky” human psyches and our innate need
to belong. Nevertheless, many thought that we
were entering an unprecedented era of peace and
global understanding. Unfortunately, the
current specter of atomic, biological, and
chemical weapons has crushed this illusion.
Instead we have entered an unprecedented era of
terrorism. Small, high-demand groups, often led
by charismatic leaders, are willing and capable
of using these new weapons.
The general appeal of
cultic high-demand groups is not exclusively in
the underdeveloped world, or in struggling
Islamic societies, or in Eastern esoteric guru
cults. These groups also exist within Western
developed societies, some have argued within the
very political seats of power, within
corporations and businesses, or within the
Christian churches.
As post-modern
alienation takes hold in advanced societies, we
have seen spectacular examples of how cultic
high-demand groups emerge. In troubled and
unsettled times the appeal of absolute belief
systems and the need for group belonging is
especially high. This paper will focus on the
dynamics and processes within these groups, and
how they can impact world events far beyond what
the weight of their numbers would suggest.
How Memory Illusions and
False Memories are Influenced by Social
Expectations in the Real World
Tor
Endestad, Ph.D.; Cathrine Moestue, Ph.D.
The
present paper presents a video-based methodology
to study social influence on individual and
group memory over time. The methodology
represents a bridge between experimental
psychology and naturally evolving real-life
experiences.
The
degree of social influence on memory is a
growing research field. Several studies have
been reported presenting different kinds of
memory distortion relative to manipulation
(Porter, Spencer, & Birt, 2003; Roediger &
McDermott, 1995). The most severe cases involve
confessions of serious crimes that the person is
proven not to have committed (Gudjonsson, 1992).
In some cases even the presentation of
conclusive evidence that is inconsistent with
the person performing the crime does not
convince the person that he or she is prone to a
false memory experience.
There
are only a few controlled studies of memory
illusions resulting from social influence. Most
studies are based on correlational evidence, or
do not have any means to control the fact behind
possible false memories, or are artificial
experimental studies where it can be questioned
if the phenomenon at hand is relevant to real
life experiences. The present study is an
attempt to mitigate this by developing a real
life oriented methodology within the context of
a reality TV production. The goal was to study
the effect of naturally occurring false memories
under the influence of group expectations and
being exposed with an edited version of a chain
events in public media.
In the
Robinson project 18 subjects were followed over
a two year period with repeated memory
interviews after a three-month TV production on
an island in Asia. To establish a reference for
their memory scenes from the reality, production
was analysed and used as a key to the interview
protocol. This pseudo experimental approach
established a means to better understand the
role of socialisation in the construction of
false memories.
The
results indicate that expectations and
idealisations of how to behave in certain
situations highly influenced and restructured
the participant’s memories even though they were
resistant to direct manipulation of their
memory. There were surprisingly high agreements
between the individual’s false memories.
How
to be Helpful: The Importance of Information
Joseph Kelly; Patrick Ryan;
Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist
This session will
compare and contrast INFORM’s approach to
information with the approach of two exit
counselors.
The main
aim of INFORM, described by Ms. Van Eck Duymaer
van Twist, is to help inquirers by providing
information about a wide range of minority
religions that is as reliable and up-to-date as
possible. This can be very challenging,
considering the wealth of contradictory claims
to knowledge that are “out there.” We get
information from all sources, including
scholars, the media, former members, current
members, relatives and friends of members, the
religious groups, other organisations, etc.
INFORM attempts to analyse these data by drawing
on the methods of social science in order to
distil them into a coherent, summarised form
that is accurate and relatively easy to
comprehend. Parents are likely to benefit from
information about the beliefs, practices, and
history of the group their young daughter or son
has joined. It might be helpful as well for
these parents to know about current developments
in the group and recent controversies.
Furthermore, they may want to be aware of what
we know about the authority structure and group
dynamics of a particular group, as well as
changes people may go through as a result of
converting to a religious movement and the kinds
of pressure they may be under. When asked for
suggestions for future action, we can help by
offering recommendations on how to best stay in
touch and by making suggestions on how to
communicate in new ways with the convert. Of
course, this process involves a lot more work,
thought, methodological issues, battles, ethical
considerations, and other problems.
Exit counselors Kelly
and Ryan will explain how the information
gathered by INFORM and other organizations can
be useful to parents. They will also explain
why parents also need other information,
particularly information relating to their
child’s personal history, psychological issues,
family relationships, and specific ways of
relating to group members and the leader.
Information that is both broad and deep can
enable parents to understand how their
group-involved child sees the world. This
understanding permits parents to formulate an
ethical and informed strategy for improving
their relationship with their child possibly
helping him/her reevaluate a group involvement.
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.
INFORM - L'importance de
l'information
Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist
INFORM est
un organisme de bienfaisance indépendant financé
par les subventions gouvernementales et les dons
d'églises de dénominations traditionnelles. Son
objectif principal est d'aider les demandeurs en
fournissant de l'information aussi exacte,
objective et à jour que possible sur une vaste
gamme de religions minoritaires et de
spiritualités alternatives. Ceci représente un
défi considérable, étant donné la multitude
contradictoire de revendications du savoir
retrouvée partout. INFORM reçoit de
l'information de différentes sources, notamment
d'universitaires, de médias, d'anciens et
d'actuels membres de groupes, de la famille et
des proches de membres, de groupes religieux et
d'autres organismes. INFORM analyse cette
information avec des méthodes tirées des
sciences humaines afin de fournir aux demandeurs
selon leurs besoins un sommaire exempt de
valeurs, cohérent et relatif au contexte.
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.
The aim of this presentation
is to describe and analyse the social identity
of a group of Canadian Mormon fundamentalists.
This group is composed of excommunicated members
of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (FLDS), whose head office is
situated in Colorado City, Arizona in the United
States. Our purpose is to understand how the
split with the FLDS (Mother-Church) affects the
social identity of the excommunicated members of
the group in a context where they are also the
object of allegations of illegal conduct in
reference to Canadian laws. This research is
based on data accumulated through interviews
with twelve members of the group, analysis of
Internet discussions between members, as well as
analysis of various in-group publications and
all articles published in Canadian newspapers
concerning the group.
Founded in 1947, the Canadian
community of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists
has since its inception sporadically been the
object of allegations of illegal conducts in
regards to Canadian laws. However, since 1990,
an intensification of such allegations has been
observed. This intensification was initially
caused by a trial in which three adults and one
teenager of the group were found guilty of
sexual assault of children and a woman—also
members of the group. These largely publicized
trials entailed two main consequences for group
members. Firstly, they became widely known
throughout Canada. Secondly, the media, as well
as general public, became avid for details on
their way of life, which led to critiques
concerning the possible impacts of their
lifestyle on its members, notably on children
and women. The Canadian press generally
describes the polygamous Canadian Mormon
fundamentalists lifestyle as a way of life that
perverts relationships between men and women,
exploits teenage girls, subjugates children,
notably through inadequate schooling. These
allegations are supported by former members,
groups of women, and associations of citizens
who denounce vigorously the effects of polygamy
on members of these communities, particularly on
children, teenagers, and women of these groups.
These advocates claim that children and
teenagers are sexually exploited by the men and
the older boys of the group. They denounce the
fundamentalist way of life as one in which
sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of
weaker members of the community is made easy.
Furthermore, these detractors describe the
polygamous lifestyle as a violation of human
rights since it promotes inequalities between
the sexes and supports the sexual and financial
exploitation of women and of teenage girls. They
also denounce the schooling of the children
within the community, asserting that it is not
up to provincial standards and prepares children
poorly for life outside the group. Finally, the
detractors worry about the fate of the young men
expelled from the group under various pretexts
in order to allow for the older men, who are
those that hold power within the Mormon
community, to take more wives by decreasing the
number of available men. It is interesting to
note to that effect that Winston Blackmore, the
spiritual leader of one of the Canadian Mormon
communities, has some 26 wives.
Although in 1992 British
Colombia’s Attorney General concluded that the
leaders of polygamous Mormon communities in that
province could not be prosecuted for promoting
and practicing polygamy under the terms of
article 293 of the Canadian Criminal Code
because article 293 was deemed contrary to the
Canadian Charter of Human Rights, further public
reports have recommended investigations on
Canadian Mormon polygamous communities. A formal
complaint was also made against these
communities to the British Colombia Human Rights
Commission. Lastly, in 2004, an
interdepartmental police investigation was
launched in order to investigate all the
allegations formulated against the Canadian
Mormon polygamous communities.
Simultaneously to the
intensification of the social reaction against
Mormon polygamous communities in Canada and with
the various official interventions just
mentioned, the Canadian Mormon community
underwent a serious internal crisis in 2002
which led to a major split and the formation of
two distinct groups. A first group maintained
ties with the FLDS, directed by Warren Jeffs,
while the second group formed is under the
direction of Winston Blackmore. The members of
this second group were excommunicated by Warren
Jeffs and are now considered as an independent
group of polygamous Mormons fundamentalists. The
split broke the community and divided families.
Along with the social pressures from without,
this change gave place to a new social identity,
which we will attempt to describe and analyze
during this presentation.
Introduction to the Conference/Introduction au
congrès
Philip Elberg, Esq.
Michael Kropveld
Michael Langone, Ph.D.
Maître Carolle Tremblay
After briefly
describing ICSA’s mission, programs, and
structure, this session will provide an overview
of the research, assistance, legal, and other
sessions from this conference. Certain key
concepts in cultic studies will also be
examined, including definitional issues,
prevalence, types of harm, individual
differences, variability between and within
groups, and the interaction of persons and
groups
Après une
brève description de la mission, des programmes
et de la structure de l’ICSA, cette session fera
un survol des sessions de recherche, d’aide,
juridiques et autres de ce congrès. Certains
concepts clé pour l’étude des phénomènes
sectaires seront considérés, y comprenant les
questions de définitions, la prévalence, les
types de torts, les différences individuelles,
la variabilité entre les groupes ainsi qu’à
l’intérieur de ceux-ci et l’interaction des
personnes et des groupes.
Issues for Therapists Working with Families
Where a Loved One is Experiencing Undue
Influence
Linda
Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D.
I will base my
observations on my experience of working with
families with a loved one who has experienced
undue influence, either in an individual
relationship or within their experience of being
in a destructive sect/cult/high-demand/extremist
group. I have been working with this population
as a psychologist with RETIRN, the Re-entry
Therapy Information and Referral Network, which
I co-founded in the USA in 1983 and in the UK in
2004.
When families suspect
that a loved one has sect involvement, they
require accurate information in order to begin
to understand the situation and to begin to
prepare for an intervention, if this is
appropriate. There are many difficulties in
getting accurate information. In addition to
the need for up-to-date information on specific
groups, I would stress the need for
psychoeducation on the psychology of sect
recruitment, undue influence, and coercive
persuasion to help families to understand what
their loved one has experienced, as well as to
shed insight on their own emotional responses.
Family counseling can help families to
understand their loved one's unique experience,
as it is possible to have a cult-like
involvement with a group that is not normally
viewed as a cult, and it is possible to have a
personally detached relationship with a
high-pressure group. It is important to
consider the person's earlier experiences in
life, and to evaluate unique strengths and
resources as well as vulnerabilities and
liabilities that may shape the individual's
involvement in the sect and that may shed clues
to help the person to exit.
Family counseling and
psychotherapy can also play a vital role in
helping families to resolve their own conflicts
that may impact on an intervention that they may
undertake. Families do not always agree on what
to do, whether to do anything, or how concerned
to be. Other conflicts and marital issues may
diminish the chances for a successful
intervention. It is critical to take the
necessary time to help families to resolve their
own differences and to provide a more unified,
carefully considered, and thoughtful approach to
any interventions. Decisions about how and when
to communicate with the person in a sect tend to
be more effective following consultation with
experts in the field.
Family issues
following the person's exit from the sect will
also be considered. Former cultists do not
necessarily return to their pre-cult
personality, and sensitivity to this by family
members and acceptance of the person's
individual path in reintegrating into their
former life can be enhanced by setting realistic
expectations.
Counselling can help
families to understand and manage their feelings
of anger and frustration both during and after
an intervention.
The drain on family
resources will be considered and discussed.
Sect involvement takes a heavy toll on families'
finances, time, and energies. In addition,
families suffer by not being able to attend to
personal issues and to the needs of other
siblings. The psychological cost of intervening
or not will be addressed.
Transference and
countertransference issues for therapists
working with these families will be addressed.
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
L’ analyse
du corpus doctrinal de l’Ordre du Temple Solaire
démontre que loin de n’être qu’un « crime
crapuleux », les massacres de l’OTS sont la
finalité d’un endoctrinement sectaire des
adeptes, conditionnés par des années
d’enseignement occulte basé sur la théorie de la
transmutation alchimique. Afin de persuader les
adeptes qu’ils étaient investis d’une mission
consistant à opérer le passage entre l’ « homme
du 4ème règne » et celui du « 5ème règne ».
Au-delà de la métaphore alchimique, de sa
dimension symbolique et spirituelle, il
s’agissait en réalité de convaincre les adeptes,
par des pratiques rituelles et un mode de vie
groupal de nature sectaire, de modifier leur
vision du monde afin d’opérer la transmutation
de leur corps. Leur immolation sacrificielle
devait permettre de libérer leurs âmes afin de
rejoindre Sirius et de réaliser leur œuvre.
La justice,
lors de l’instruction de l’affaire n’a pas su,
ou voulu, se pencher sur la dimension sectaire
et doctrinale de ce drame.
Emprise et Manipulation : Approche clinique
du phénomène sectaire
Jean-Claude Maes
Jean-Claude
Maes, psychologue clinicien et thérapeute
familial systémique exerçant à Bruxelles,
vient de
terminer un essai qui fait le bilan
d’une pratique de dix ans, celle d’un « service
d’aide aux victimes de comportements sectaires »
dont il est le président fondateur : SOS-Sectes.
Pratique de groupes de parole d’abord, puis de
consultations, et enfin de recherche
scientifique sur le terrain. La difficulté mais
la richesse d’une telle approche étant de
déduire une théorie structurée d’un matériel
hétéroclite, qui trouve à se formuler dans des
champs aussi divers que l’hypnose, la
victimologie, la psychanalyse, la systémique, la
sociologie voire la politique. Approche
plurielle à la recherche d’une impossible
intersection, qui n’a pas la prétention d'un
savoir mais l’ambition d'une vraie rencontre
avec les victimes, incluant les ex-adeptes mais
aussi les proches des adeptes (conjoints,
parents, enfants, etc.), dont la souffrance est
parfois extrêmement vive.
A
l'occasion du congrès 2007, Jean-Claude Maes se
propose d'exposer les points de son ouvrage qui
lui semblent les plus originaux, et d'en déduire
certains aspects du modèle d'intervention de
SOS-Sectes, afin de donner aux auditeurs des
pistes de réflexion, sur leur pratique s'il
s'agit d'intervenants, sur leur vécu s'il s'agit
de témoins. Il mettra l'accent sur des
comportements qui paraissent évidents et dont la
pratique montre qu'ils sont contre-productifs,
ainsi que sur d'autres qu'on aurait tendance à
s'interdire alors que ce sont les plus féconds.
Il sera question, en particulier, du "bon usage"
du conflit et de l'utilisation de la loi.
Les Dérives sectaires : aspects
juridiques
Mme Catherine
Katz
I- Dérives
sectaires et traitement par le Droit civil et le
Droit pénal.
II-
Jurisprudence administrative : le cas des
Témoins de Jéhovah.
III-
Recours
systématique des organisations à la Cour
européenne de Justice: jurisprudence actuelle.
Conclusion
: La Commission d’Accès aux Documents
Administratifs (CADA): un exemple de tentative
d’engorgement du système administratif.
Les droits fondamentaux de
l’enfant
Maître
Carolle Tremblay
Pour
ne pas côtoyer le diable : au mépris des droits
de l’enfant, des règles de loi et des
ordonnances de Cour.
1.
Le droit à l’éducation
Les
écoles clandestines, l’enseignement à la maison
(«home schooling») et le droit de l’enfant à
l’éducation. La notion d’éducation comme projet
de société et le rôle d’éducateur des parents.
Le rôle de l’état comme protecteur des droits
d’enfants et son devoir de surveillance. La
situation des écoles clandestines (en sol
québécois) affiliées à des groupes fermés.
Réflexion et piste de solution à la suite de
l’expérience avec la Mission de l’Esprit Saint.
2.
Le droit au maintien des liens d’attachement
Les
déplacements illicites d’enfants et
l’enlèvement : Agir illégalement quand il y va
du meilleur intérêt de l’enfant. Les principes
de droits applicables, et le droit comparé.
Perspective du droit canadien sur l’affaire
Gettliffe-Grant. La notion de groupes
sectaires/sectes en droit canadien et en droit
comparé. Le rôle de l’information et son impact
en situation d’enlèvement. Le recours à
l’opinion publique comme moyen de pression.
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.
En Russie au niveau de l’esprit
ordinaire il y a une opinion que les cultes
répandus dans le pays sont le résultat de
l’expansion énergique de la culture occidentale
qui était un des instruments effectifs de
l’influence politique encore des temps « de la
guerre froide » et qui est devenue l’attribut
infaillible de l’accompagnement étranger de la
« reconstruction-perestroïka » célèbre. Souvent
même les experts de la religion et ceux qui ont
le pouvoir de l'époque de post - reconstruction
organisation soulignent instamment le caractère
d'importation de plusieurs (sinon de tous) des
cultes répandus sur le territoire de l’ancienne
URSS.
Néanmoins la grande majorité des
cultes destructifs de la Russie moderne ont des
racines originales, ce que souvent même leurs
adeptes acharnés ne soupçonnent pas.
L’influence la plus puissante
sur l'esprit de culte en Russie était faite par
les mouvements locaux radicaux pseudo-chrétiens
des siècles XVII-XX: les cravaches (les "gens de
Dieu") et les castrats ("les pigeons blancs").
Leur influence a pénétré même la culture
ordinaire des Russes ayant sur les cravaches et
les castrats la présentation très approximative
ou n’ayant pas aucun, et se trouvant en dehors
de la religion. Précisément la mentalité de la
cravache et du castrat prépare en Russie le
terrain pour les cultes cinquantenaires
charismatiques, le culte de "La Confrérie
Blanche", le culte de Vissarion, le culte du
"Centre de la Vierge " etc. Cette préparation a
joué un rôle non moins important dans la montée
des cultes modernes que les investissements
financières de l’étranger, les mass - media
étrangers contrôlés par les cultes, la
littérature propagandiste, les prédicateurs
influents étrangers et les managers habiles. Le
succès des cultes en Russie est expliqué par ce
que le terrain pour lui se préparait depuis des
siècles et cette préparation était
exceptionnellement autochtone, russe,
c'est-à-dire qu’elle ne dissonait pas avec les
multiples particularités de la culture russe et
de la culture des autres peuples du pays. Cette
préparation était soutenue objectivement par la
domination de l’athéisme soviétique de
soixante-dix ans.
Les idées « des Dieux vivants »
(« des christs », « des vierges », « des
ioannes-parrains »), les glossolalies (parler
« autres langues »), ainsi que la pratique de la
soumission inconditionnelle « aux professeurs
spirituels », l’exaltation jusqu’au fanatisme
non seulement par rapport aux coreligionnaires,
mais aussi envers les hétérodoxes eux-mêmes
étaient inhérentes aux mouvements russes
pseudo-chrétiens des siècles XVII-XX.
Le but de l’exposé présent est
l’analyse de l’influence des mouvements
autochtones pseudo-chrétiens de la Russie
prérévolutionnaire sur les cultes modernes et
les manifestations diverses de l’esprit de culte
dans la conscience publique.
Le rapporteur espère que ses
études dans ce domaine aideront à mieux
comprendre le degré de l’enracinement des cultes
et de l’esprit de culte en Russie et aideront
ces serviteurs de Dieu qui souhaitent prêcher
l’Évangile aux adeptes des mouvements, des
cultes et des sectes populaires en Russie. Ils
peuvent être utilisés chez les confesseurs et
les psychologues chrétiens qui s’occupent de la
réhabilitation des gens exposés à l’influence
des cultes destructifs.
Les
sectes en France
Catherine
Picard
Le
phénomène sectaire se développe et se
complexifie. Alors que les grandes sectes
restent facilement identifiables, une multitude
de mouvements et de micro-groupes se sont créés
autour d’une idéologie pseudo-médicale, de
pratiques pseudo-thérapeutiques ou d’une
spiritualité Nouvel-Age. On dresse ainsi un
constat inquiétant relevant des dérives dans
tous les secteurs de la vie sociale.
Partout où
l’Etat s’efface, parce qu’amoindrit par les
thèses libérales, les sectes prospèrent. Dans le
secteur de l’éducation, dans le secteur de la
petite enfance et aussi sur celui du « 4ème
âge », secteurs de vulnérabilité.
Dans le
domaine économique les sectes deviennent des
partenaires : informatique, consulting et
coaching.
En 2006 une
commission d’enquête parlementaire sur
l’influence des mouvements à caractère sectaire
et les conséquences de leurs pratiques sur la
santé physique et mentale des mineurs a été
créée. Elle montre la volonté de l’Etat français
de participer à la protection des citoyens.
Les sectes et les N.M.R. en
Roumanie – droit de l`homme ou prosélytisme
Laurentiu
Tanase, Ph.D.
La chute
des régimes communistes en Europe, en 1989, a
entraîné des importantes transformations de la
société contemporaine, plus particulièrement par
le contexte de l’accélération du processus de
globalisation/internationalisation.
L`accélérations des échanges économiques et des
contactes interhumaines, l`enlèvement des
interdictions de visas parmi plusieurs états de
l`Europe, la libre circulation et la monnaie
unique européenne, les systèmes juridiques
permissives, les communications modernes en
temps réel, ont favorisé des mutations
intéressantes dans le champ religieux
contemporain et ont encouragé l’expansion des
sectes et des nouveaux mouvements religieux.
A la
lumière des éléments qui caractérisent la
situation européenne, nous pouvons identifier
une séries des traits déterminants de la vie
religieuse, que l’on retrouve éventuellement
ailleurs dans le reste du monde, à savoir :
l’érosion de la religion institutionnalisée,
l’effondrement de la pratique religieuse, la
crise du recrutement du personnel clérical, la
baisse de la croyance en un Dieu personnel et
l’expression autonome de la conscience morale,
personnelle par rapport aux prescriptions
éthiques des appareils religieux.
Les formes
d’expression du sentiment religieux
d’aujourd’hui, s’expriment par la logique d`une
construction pluraliste de la société au plan
religieux, caractérisée par des critères
spécifiques de concurrence et de libre marché.
La Roumanie
- pays d’expression religieuse majoritairement
orthodoxe
La
Roumanie, est un pays européen de tradition
chrétienne majoritairement orthodoxe (86,7 % de
la population) et de langue latine, ayant
appartenu à l’ancien espace communiste,
actuellement membre de l`Union Européenne,
depuis janvier 2007. La chute du régime
communiste en 1989, a apporté un retour à la
liberté après une période de 45 ans de
dictature, et a constitué un moment fondamental
de développement du pays, fondée sur le respect
des droits de l’homme et de la démocratie. Les
conditions sociales, politiques et économiques
de la Roumanie, générées par la nouvelle
démocratie, ont favorisé également une évolution
très dynamique du religieux, qui s`était
manifesté aussi par une présence de plus en plus
marquée de nouveaux mouvements religieux. Cette
situations nouvelle a crée un état conflictuel
ouvert entres les institutions religieuses déjà
existantes, surtout des églises historique tel
que l`Eglise orthodoxe, Catholique ou bien
Protestante et les N.M.R. Les nouveaux vénus,
ont réclamé, dans le contexte de la construction
de la démocratie et du respect de droit de
l`homme, d`être protégé par l`Etat dans leurs
démarches missionnaires tandis que les Cultes
établis ont perçu la présence des NMR comme une
menace ou bien comme une déploiement du
prosélytisme. A présenter cette situation
nouvelle du champ religieux roumain, c`est le
but de notre analyse.
Manipulé ou sain d’esprit?
Hervé Genge,
Ph.D.
David
Koresh, Roch Thériault, Luc Jouret : ces noms-là
évoquent-ils quelque chose dans votre esprit ?
Dirigeants de sectes ? Individus
« psychologiquement dérangés » ? Manipulateurs ?
Jusque-là, attribuer un qualificatif à ces
personnes ne nous pose pas trop de problèmes
mais, en est-il de même, lorsqu’en tant que
citoyen, intervenant, voire ami, nous devons
implicitement qualifier leurs victimes de
« manipulés » ? « Se faire avoir », ce n’est
déjà pas très agréable mais, passer pour un naïf
aux yeux de la société ou encore se faire
étiqueter comme tel : c’est encore moins
agréable. Combien de personnes préfèrent taire
leur histoire pour échapper à la honte ou à
l’image que leur renvoi autrui ?
Est-il
juste de sous-entendre qu’une personne qui a été
la victime d’un « manipulateur » est une
personne plus « naïve » que les autres ? Est-il
raisonnable de prétendre que cette dernière
était « potentiellement plus vulnérable »,
« davantage sujette à » ou encore, « une
candidate idéale » pour un manipulateur ?
Doit-on penser que les victimes sont
nécessairement plus nombreuses chez les femmes
que chez les hommes ou ces derniers
redoutent-ils davantage de déposer plainte ? Les
plaintes des hommes sont-elles prises autant au
sérieux par les fonctionnaires de police que
celles des femmes ? Le niveau scolaire a-t-il
quelque chose à voir avec le risque de se faire
« manipuler » ? Athée versus croyant, pratiquant
versus non pratiquant : qui est le plus sensible
au discours des gourous ?
Sans pour
autant apporter des réponses définitives à ces
questions, nous les aborderons selon une
orientation sociocognitive. D’une part,
considérant les dernières statistiques sur ces
questions, nous développerons l’idée selon
laquelle il est raisonnable de penser que
l’Homme est « programmé » de façon innée pour la
croyance rejoignant en cela, les idées de
Dawkins (1976), Gazzaniga (1996), et plus
récemment Broch (2002), Larivée (2005, 2006),
Baril (2006). D’autre part, en considérant les
différents processus mis en œuvre dans nos
apprentissages et notre développement cognitif,
nous défendrons la thèse d’une propension de
l’Homme à faire confiance aux personnes qui
s’affichent comme étant des « spécialistes »,
qui prétendent « détenir des réponses à nos
questions », ou qui semblent faire « figure
d’autorité ». Reprenant ce phénomène
psychologique que l’on nomme communément, la
sensibilité à « l’argument d’autorité »
(Milgram, 1963), nous vous exposerons certains
des résultats d’une recherche doctorale réalisée
auprès de 1800 étudiants du secondaire à
l’université (Genge & Larivée, 2007).
Mechanisms of the Authoritarian Grind
Nori Muster, Coordinator;
Steven Gelberg; Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W.
This panel explores
the harsh realities for those who form their
lives to fit into the authoritarian mold that
characterizes life in coercive, high demand
organizations.
Lorna Goldberg will
describe the harsh conscience that is developed
in the authoritarian world of the cult,
particularly addressing the conscience of
second-generation former cultists. She will show
how guilt and shame are exacerbated in the cult
and how this contributes to the development of a
harsh conscience. Erich Fromm drew a
fundamental distinction between the
authoritarian and the humanistic conscience.
According to Fromm, the authoritarian conscience
is the voice of an external authority that
becomes internalized by the developing child.
The prescriptions of the authoritarian
conscience are not determined by our own value
judgments but by the commands of authorities. A
humanistic conscience is not the internalized
voice of an authority. It is the expression of
our true selves and is our own voice that
reveals loving care of ourselves. Although both
forms of conscience—authoritarian and
humanistic—can be present in all of us, those
who are raised in cultic groups might have
little development of the humanistic
conscience. Part of the work of therapy, as
shown through some case vignettes, is to help
the former cultist develop a more humanistic,
compassionate conscience.
Steve Gelberg will
present an original paper that compares
individualistic, interior spirituality with
authoritarian, institutionalized (esp. cultic)
religion. His analysis will draw upon the
teachings of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and Chuang Tzu.
Nori J. Muster will
explain why authoritarian groups inevitably lead
to a betrayal of spirit, or dystopia, as
described in "The Addictive Organization," by
Anne Wilson Schaeff and Diane Fassel, and the
novel “1984,” by George Orwell.
Méthodologie: références et
critique des sources
Eric Brasseur
L'objectif de cette intervention
est de présenter l'intérêt d'une approche
classique de critique historique dans le cadre
des «cultes» contestés, une approche qui
permette de dégager l'information (évaluée et)
vérifiée de sa gangue absconse. Le CIAOSN étant
un service public, cette démarche est entreprise
à l'intention du citoyen ordinaire et des
décideurs qui, les uns et les autres, sont en
droit d'obtenir une information pertinente et
fiable.
“Miracle of Love®”
- A Blend of LGAT, Pseudo-therapy, and
Spirituality
Milena Callovini; Sjoukje Drenth Bruintjes; Gina
Catena
The Miracle of LoveR
(MOL) is a small international group with
approximately 500 active, dues paying members
globally. This presentation will suggest that
MOL uses methods of coercive persuasion to
maintain the commitment of their global
membership.
This presentation will
offer a testimonial of a former MOL member,
Milena Callovini, who will share her experiences
of eight years devoted to MOL’s Mission to
pursue the goal of breaking free of this
world of pain and suffering and return Home in
this lifetime.
A Dutch exit
counselor, Sjoukje Drenth Bruintjes, will offer
an overview of MOL’s methods, their leadership,
and teachings.
A third presenter,
Gina Catena, will briefly explain how a loved
one’s MOL devotion adversely affected others in
his life, and how she lost the person to MOL’s
controlled guidance.
This presentation will
include an introduction to MOL’s spiritual
hierarchy; their various methods, teachings, and
effects on both group members and their loved
ones; suggestions for working with an active MOL
member; and suggestions related to recovering
from MOL’s multi-faceted indoctrination.
Miracle of LoveR
(MOL) recruitment begins with the six-day
“Miracle of Love Intensive” seminar. The
Intensive promises to help people experience God
and to find themselves. Participants are assured
that they will not need to believe the MOL
mythology to benefit from the Intensive
experience.
Using traditional
Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT) methods,
Intensive participants are worn down through
physical exhaustion, under-nutrition, sleep
deprivation, intense confessionals, and wild
dancing until they experience an intense
serotonin rush at the end of the week, explained
to them as an experience of God. At this point,
the vulnerable are offered a “path to
Ultimate freedom.” At first, this means
continuing the MOL meditation practice called
GMP and association with MOL members. Later, new
members are asked to commit their life to
God/Gourasana by committing to the
organization. This often, if not always,
requires undergoing radical changes in the new
recruit’s life from moving into a MOL house to
committing to work for MOL’s Mission,
make ample donations, recruit friends to attend
an Intensive and follow all the rules and rigid
lifestyle guidelines imposed by MOL.
MOL recently changed
their marketing identity to “The 21st
Century Transformation SeminarTM.”.
Another name used is “GMP Meditation for this
AgeR.” Although these organizations
may be corporately distinct, the people behind
them and the methods they employ are similar.
Ole
Anthony, the Trinity Foundation and the Cult
Controversy
David Clark
This presentation will
examine a new book entitled, "I Can't Hear God
Anymore: Life in a Dallas Cult," by Wendy Duncan
on Ole Anthony and his Trinity Foundation.
Former members complain of separation from a
Bible based cult, the Trinity Foundation, in
Dallas Texas.
Involvement in this
group has produced testimony how people can be
made vulnerable to the psychological
manipulations and spiritual abuse of a "skilled
spiritual leader." The book also focuses on how
to regain psychological and spiritual health
after leaving this group and explains how others
caught in similar circumstances can do the same.
The workshop will
cover how anyone can be vulnerable to join a
cult. How the new community and the cult of
personality change a person into a new identity
will be explained.
The group dynamics can
impact the true believers "in the angry hands of
an angry cult leader" to the point of despair
and the devastating state of, "I can't hear God
anymore." The tortured journey need not end with
a departing blow-up and shattered lives. If it
does happen that way, there are tools to find
your way back to spiritual and psychological
health.
Each person's
experience in a cult is different and,
therefore, the after-effects are dependent on a
number of factors, such as the length of time
the individual was involved with the group. It
is imperative that the former member develop an
understanding of the dynamics of his or her
group. Also, the time factors in the recovery
and healing processes need to be covered.
On Activities of
Non-traditional Religious and Mystical Trends in
Ukraine
Victoria
G. Tretyakova, Ph.D.
Negative consequences
of the activities of totalitarian cults and
non-traditional religious trends in Ukraine
became obvious in the first half of the 1990s.
The activities of the White Brotherhood, for
example, damaged the lives of thousands of young
people in our country. This was discussed during
our meeting of the Berliner Dialog back in 1996,
when the judicial proceedings against the heads
of this totalitarian organization were
completed.
Dynamics of growth of
cult structures in 1996 showed that since the
independence of Ukraine the number of such
organizations had increased from 79 in 1992 to
about 350 in 1996.
In 1996 Ukraine
adopted a new Constitution, which in line with
the provisions of the European Convention on
Human Rights, foresaw among other rights and
freedoms a right to freedom of thought and
religion (Article 35 of the Constitution).
This right includes
the freedom to profess or not to profess any
religion, to perform alone or collectively and
without constraint religious rites and
ceremonial rituals, and to conduct religious
activity.
The exercise of this
right may be restricted by law only in the
interests of protecting public order, the health
and morality of the population, or protecting
the rights and freedoms of other persons.
The Constitution
separated the Church and religious organizations
in Ukraine from the State, and the school from
the Church.
The Constitution also
proclaimed that no religion shall be recognized
by the State as mandatory.
The Constitution also
granted that in the event that the performance
of military duty is contrary to the religious
beliefs of a citizen, the performance of this
duty shall be replaced by alternative
(non-military) service.
It should be noted
that after the adoption of the new Constitution
the work of non-traditional totalitarian cults
and non-traditional religious trends in our
country became much more active. It can be
illustrated in figures. In the first year after
adoption of the Constitution the number of
non-traditional cult organizations was 399, in
2000- 1034, in 2001- 1328, in 2003 -1617.
Even though the
Criminal Code of Ukraine foresees criminal
liability for damage to human life or health
under the pretext of religious ritual, in
practice this article is applied rarely. Because
the motivation of such crimes can be very well
concealed, leaders of totalitarian destructive
cult organizations hide their crimes behind
religious principles. They may, for example,
attempt to get the property of a person who
joined their group, then, after he gives away
his property, they may try to get rid the
"adept" and sometimes may even push him to kill
his relatives or to commit suicide. Recently,
Ukrainian TV showed a program in which a
follower of Aum Shinrikyo killed his parents and
declared to the police that a "voice" from the
sky had given him an order to do so. Of course,
nobody would prosecute under Article 181 the
leader of the sect to which the killer belonged.
(Article
181. Trespass against health of persons under
pretence of preaching or ministering
1.
Organizing or leading a group, which operates
under pretence of preaching or ministering
accompanied with the impairment of health of
people or sexual dissipation,–shall be
punishable by restraint of liberty for a term up
to three years, or imprisonment for the same
term.
2. The
same actions accompanied with involvement of
minors in activities of the group,–shall be
punishable by imprisonment of three to five
years.)
The laws regarding
registered religious organizations in the
country do not provide for any preventive
measures to stop penetration of organizations
that discredit themselves on the territory of
other countries. They are registered only on the
ground of the relevant constitutional
provision. Part one of Article 35:
Everyone
has the right to freedom of personal philosophy
and religion. This right includes the freedom to
profess or not to profess any religion, to
perform alone or collectively and without
constraint religious rites and ceremonial
rituals, and to conduct religious activity.
Not long before the
adoption of the new Constitution of Ukraine in
1996, there was a trial of the Ukrainian
destructive sect "White Brotherhood," which
damaged tens of thousand people, mainly youth,
who committed suicide or became mentally ill.
That trial was widely covered in Europe. The
leaders of the sect were tried and sentenced to
imprisonment. Now they are free and have created
a sect with the same name in a neighboring
country and use the Internet to urge their
former followers from Ukraine to join them
again. Although Article 35 provides that the
exercise of the right to freedom of religion may
be restricted by law only in the interests of
protecting public order, the health and morality
of the population, or protecting the rights and
freedoms of other persons, it remains in
practice only an empty declaration.
The penetration of
missionaries from abroad, predominately from the
United States of America, in the communities of
believers continues to increase. Destructive
neo-cults are easy to register in Ukraine. The
figures I gave reflect only the number of
registered neo-religious structures. Their real
quantities, however, are several times higher,
since the majority of them are registered as
non-governmental organizations with cultural,
educational, or other humanitarian goals.
There have been
active attempts to introduce neo-religions in
the educational establishments. Their active
work in this direction led to the adoption of
certain legislative decrees of the Government
that prohibited campaigning for and introduction
of neo-religious studies, exactly for the reason
stated in the Constitution, that is separation
of the school from the church.
It should be noted
that among all organizations, only religious
organizations are not subject to obligatory
registration on the territory of Ukraine. It
also promotes free spreading of the
neo-religious institutions on the territory of
Ukraine.
On 1 January 2006
Ukraine had about 30,000 registered churches and
religious organizations and about 2000
unregistered religious organizations.
The mass media of the
society also contribute to the promotion of the
work of totalitarian neo-religious structures
today. The materials that advertise activities
of neo-religious organizations appear in the
press, on TV, and a lot on the Internet.
Through the Internet
the leadership of the White Brotherhood, who are
already free from prison, openly appealed to
their supporters. They are not even afraid to
keep the name of the organization.
Unfortunately,
leaders of neo-religious structures have very
favorable conditions for different illegal
activities. They undertake fraudulent operations
with the money offered to them. They evade
taxes, run unregistered business, and swindle
their supporters, depriving them of their
real-estate property, i.e., land, dwellings,
etc.
There is almost no
control over the activities of such
organizations today. Recently, the special State
body on religious matters ceased to exist.
Instead there is a small unit in the Ministry of
Justice that mostly deals with statistics. This
means that today the activities of neo-religious
organizations in Ukraine are out of control.
Paranormal Experiences, Recruitment, and the
Religious Marketplace
Frauke Zahradnik, Ph.D.
New religious
movements can be described as small exclusive
religious, ideological, or political groups that
demand strong engagement of their disciples and
that demarcate strongly from their environment.
They sometimes condemn the prevailing value
system of the society in which the group exists
and establish new rules. Socially accepted
concepts such as the dignity of man, human
rights, freedom, tolerance, and self-confidence
play an important role. The public accuses many
new religious movements of systematically
offending these accepted social concepts in
theory and practice. They say that these
movements produce dependency instead of
development, degrading humans and instructing
their members to be intolerant. Another area of
conflict is the extreme formation of the
internal and external relations of the group in
terms of a tendency to isolate itself from its
environment and to constrain its members to
follow only the group’s reality. On the basis of
the different ideologies numerous conflicts with
non-members may emerge. Another danger, which
may arise from the membership in new religious
groups, is the financial exploitation of the
members. Many groups mix both religious and
economic activity or use religious goals on the
pretext of economical goals. Therefore, they are
very much interested in recruiting new disciples
with financial assets.
The offers of new
religious groups
The reasons why people
join new religious movements are manifold. In
this talk, we are only interested in those that
are relevant to our subject.
1.
In this
modern age, individuals are forced to find their
own moral standards and identity and to find
their own meaning of life. It is necessary to
choose from a variety of concepts of life. To
find an appropriate one that creates meaning and
coherence in total appears to be rather
accidental. Especially in situations of crisis
(illness, divorce, loss of job), when the
original connection to social structures become
unstable, new religious groups offer help and
coping strategies to solve the crisis as well as
new concepts of meaning.
2.
Individual self-realization and stabilization of
identity are increasingly realized by treating
personality as an object, which can be
manipulated. This results in a permanent search
of new possibilities of experiences and also in
a market of such possibilities for every
individual. This depends strongly on
fashions, which may change rapidly from time to
time.
3.
New
religious and ideological groups center mainly
on a master or leader. This person uses
already existing religious and ideological
belief systems. He gives them, however, a new
interpretation or rejects them in a polemic way.
Further, the groups legitimate their central
role by claiming to possess extraordinary
abilities, such as prophetic powers or super
human abilities. It is often said, that the
master has produced miracles, which demonstrate
his omnipotence and which qualify him as an
authority for every situation of life.
The main reason for
joining such a religious group normally is that
the offer fits with the expectations of the
person. These three above-mentioned factors form
additional reasons to consider a group as
attractive.
The offer to have a
systematic approach to paranormal experiences
In spite of the fact,
that most persons consider experiences like
clairvoyance, telepathy, and out of body
experiences as rubbish, some recent surveys show
that a large number of persons report that they
actually had such experiences during their life.
For many of them it seems desirable to be able
to control such experiences and to use them in a
specific way. At the same time paranormal
phenomena are reported in the mass media, which
provide additional knowledge about and
fascination for these phenomena. New religious
groups take up these experiences and deliver
their own group-specific theory and explanation.
At the same time, they promote the idea that
attending their specific courses can develop
such experiences. Often, clients are more
interested in the technique than in the ideology
of the group.
Corresponding to the
factors mentioned above, these groups try to
expand their spectrum of offerings to optimize
their gain.
1.
Especially in situations of crisis concerned
persons try to use alternative therapies and
coping strategies. Alternative healing therapies
and group specific practice have a great
attraction.
2.
Concerning the market of experiences, "journeys
to the inner self" and "spiritual development"
are offered. In contrast to conventional
salesmen, religious groups have the advantage
that they can interpret these experiences on the
bases of their religious ideology. In many cases
the experiences are considered an enlargement of
consciousness in the context of an evolutionary
process.
3.
The
leader presents himself or herself as possessing
"super-human" abilities. This legitimates him,
so he can educate and pass over his abilities to
his disciples. Therefore, those groups that are
able to demonstrate such miracles are especially
attractive. Indeed, a lot of reports exist where
extraordinary phenomena are witnessed. They are
taken as proof that the master has access to the
supernatural world.
Subjects that are
offered are mainly the following:
1.
Training
in alternative healing and healing methods and
magical techniques.
2.
Training
to reach altered states of consciousness in an
efficient way and techniques to change the
body-experience and to create strong
physiological reactions.
3.
Developing abilities to surmount mental
boundaries and to acquire super-natural
abilities.
These offers are
considered realistic by those persons who
themselves have already had extraordinary
experiences. Sometimes, they revitalize such
experiences during their courses or at least
they believe that they are revitalized.
A special mechanism of
attribution stabilizes their belief system:
Failure is regarded as a personal error and
success as a result of the system.
Peer
Supervision for Mental Health Professionals
Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W.,
L.C.S.W., Coordinator
This ninety minute seminar will be included in
all future conferences to provide ongoing peer
supervision to those clinicians who work in the
area of cults. Open only to those with an
advanced degree in one of the mental health
fields, this session will allow participants to
address the special needs of this population.
Participating clinicians will be asked to offer
brief, highly disguised case vignettes to
illustrate different issues to be discussed with
the larger group. If you are planning to
participate, please send topics for discussion
to
Lorna@blgoldberg.com to ensure their
inclusion in the seminar.
Persuasion in Manipulative Techniques Used by
Cultic Groups
Dariusz Krok, Ph.D.
The aim of the paper
is to present cognitive and emotional processes
of persuasion which are widely used by
manipulative cultic groups. Persuasion is
defined as the process by which persons are
influenced to change their attitudes and
opinions. Drawing on dual models of
persuasion—the elaboration likelihood model
(ELM) and the heuristic-systematic model
(HSM)—the paper provides an account of cognitive
and emotional processes that occur during the
sending and receiving of religious and moral
information. Understanding such processes is
important, for cultic groups make use of this
kind of information in their psychological
manipulation and recruitment of new members.
The role of religious
and moral information in contemporary culture is
to communicate spiritual content to people and
influence their spiritual thinking and behavior.
Theoretical analyses and results of empirical
research provide evidence that persuasion in
religious and moral communication plays an
important role in changing and forming
attitudes, especially those which are relevant
to individuals’ religious life. Cultic groups
want to take total control over their members,
so they focus on presenting information in a
persuasive and convincing way.
Next, persuasive
mechanisms that are incorporated into
manipulative techniques are described. Such
techniques are often based on providing false
information, withholding or distorting relevant
information, inducing emotions, and controlling
people’s thinking. A person who is deprived of
objective thinking cannot function properly and
is susceptible to manipulation. For example,
within the framework of the ELM people can be
manipulated by processes that occur in the
peripheral route of persuasion. This process
gives rise to attitude change that happens when
there is minimal cognitive elaboration of a
message, for then people tend not to carefully
scrutinize arguments presented to them. A
relatively low amount of thinking is involved
and people act in a less diligent fashion,
preferring conclusions made on a superficial
basis. By using peripheral mechanisms, cultic
groups can easily take advantage of people and
persuade them to follow unreasonable rules and
make irrational decisions.
Cultic groups expose
people to persuasive messages that are designed
to alter their attitudes towards an object or
behavior with the assumption that changing the
attitude in the desired direction will result in
a behavioral change in line with the new
attitude. The paper presents negative results of
using manipulative persuasion on people’s
thinking, feelings, and behavior. Attitudes
created or changed by the peripheral route,
which can be used in manipulative techniques,
are less enduring, less resistant to
counter-persuasion, and less predictive of
behavior. In this example, people rely on
peripheral cues (e.g., the heuristic “experts
can be trusted”) that lead to a state of their
mind being controlled by a leader. A lack of
objective thinking creates dangerous situations
in which people are psychologically abused,
brainwashed, and exposed to negative emotional
states. This view of exploitative persuasion has
important implications for helping victims.
Because the process of psychological abuse is
done to victims, they should come to understand
the psychological techniques that enabled the
victimizer to abuse the victims' mind, autonomy,
and identity. In addition to presenting the
results of manipulative persuasion the paper
proposes methods that allow people helping
members of cultic groups i.e., psychologists,
counselors, to warn and protect victims against
future manipulations.
Phoenix Project: Ex-Member Art and Literary
Works
Diana Pletts
The Phoenix Project provides a place for ex-cult
members to present their cult and recovery
related artwork in a variety of artistic media
and genres. The Project held its first gallery
exhibit and associated literary readings at the
2006 ICSA Denver conference, and included works
by 27 artists, writers, and composers.
The 2006 Arts Exhibit
shed light on the experience of life in a
high-demand organization, and its effects on
individuals. It also provided an empowering
experience for participating artists, giving
them an opportunity to tell their own stories in
their own ways. It is hoped and expected that
this year’s exhibit will have the same positive
effects.
This year’s presentation will include both a new
collection of artwork by former members, and a
separate slideshow of the 2006 works, along with
biographical
information and artistic statements by the
original presenters. The slideshow will also
present an introduction to the philosophy behind
the project, and the value of the arts in the
healing process.
Politique française de lutte en
matière de Dérives sectaires
Jean-Michel Roulet
I-
Principes: dans le cadre des Libertés publiques.
II- Lutte
contre les Dérives sectaires face à la Laïcité
et la loi de 1905.
III-
Consensus dans le milieu politique et dans
l’opinion face à quelques résistances surtout
extérieures.
Conclusion:
Continuer en expliquant.
Post-Cultic Regret
Benjamin Zablocki, Ph.D.
For many years, the
dialog concerning regret over past cult
involvement has been polarized to a degree that
may have distorted the veracity of survivor
accounts and over-simplified the scientific
debates about lasting psychological harm. The
relevant question is too often framed in terms
of whether regret is present or absent or, at
best, in terms of attempts to measure the
magnitude of an ex-member’s regret. Nuances of
thought and feeling, ambivalence of sentiment,
ambiguities in memory, and lability of belief
tend to be marginalized in this sort of
polarized atmosphere.
Interviews over many
years with the ex-members of a wide variety of
cultic groups have convinced me that the real
stories these people have to tell about their
regrets are far more interesting than anything
that can be measured. Nor is there evidence to
support the idea that even these complex
narratives of regret reach stable equilibriums
after sufficient time has elapsed—say, five,
ten, or even twenty years after leaving.
Looking at the data with a life course
perspective thus leads me to argue that
narratives of regret are not easily summarized.
Nor are they clearly predictive of the direction
of future points of view.
In an analysis of
narratives over several points of time, several
patterns emerge consistently. One is the
importance of distinguishing belief-regret, from
belonging-regret, from action-regret, from
missed-opportunities regret. Another is how
commonly strong positive feelings co-exist with
strong negative feelings (love-hate
relationships) toward cult or guru or both. In
this paper, texts of interviews with ex-members
are used to illustrate these and other patterns.
Post-Soviet Russian Society and the Cult Problem
Lubov Zholudeva
The attempt to make
Russian society democratic has encountered many
obstacles. Ideas of freedom and responsibility
come to nothing when confronted by the habit of
passing personal problems onto somebody else
(government, political party, etc.). For decades
Russians lived under the total control of the
“society.” They spent their lives trying to
build a happy future for their children, but did
not know what kind of future they could expect.
“Social is more than personal” was the motto for
everyone. They expected the paradise on Earth,
yet no products were available in the grocery.
They reported exceeding production plans, yet
received miserable salaries. They built new
cities, yet lived in tents. They voted for or
against one candidate in the bulletin and
thought that they lived in democratic country.
The world was divided in two camps, that of
friends and that of enemies. From an early age
everyone knew about Lenin. Every child knew that
he had done only one wrong thing; he broke the
favorite cup of his mother. But he confessed
that to his mother because he could not lie. He
was the idol; he was perfect; and he was our
hero.
Most Russians still do
not understand the influence of that past on
modern life. They wait for somebody who will
give simple and clear answers to their difficult
questions and take care of their needs. Such
people are vulnerable to manipulation and abuse.
Hence, thousands of people are caught in cults
and destructive groups.
The aim of this
presentation is to analyze specifics of
post-soviet society in terms of personal
vulnerability for cults. A review of the
personal experience of the author may help to
increase understanding of the soviet influence.
The examples will help listeners to picture life
in the USSR and some specifics of relationships
in a totalitarian country.
Then the audience will
return to the present time and will be presented
a review of cults and destructive groups active
in modern Russia.
Psychological Abuse in Manipulative Groups:
Research in Japan and Spain
Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.,
Coordinator; Kimiaki Nishida, Ph.D.; Álvaro
Rodríguez-Carballeira, Ph.D.; José Antonio
Carrobles, Ph.D.; Dariusz Kuncewicz, Ph.D.;
Piotr Nowakowski, Ph.D.; Belén Ordoñez, M.A.
Several studies have shown that former cult
members describe their experiences in terms of
the perceived abusiveness of their past group
environments (see Langone, 2005). The Group
Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA; Chambers et al.,
1994) was the first instrument developed for the
assessment of the varieties and extent of this
abuse in group contexts. The GPA was adapted for
its use with Spanish population (Almendros et
al., 2003; in press) and had been employed in
cross-cultural comparisons. However, literature
in the cultic studies field shows that few other
instruments have been developed since then
(Winocur et al., 1997; Wolfson, 2002), which
include items describing abusive behaviors. When
we compare this situation with other fields such
as couple violence, in which the study of
psychological abuse is still incipient (Kelly,
2004; O’Leary, 1999), we observe a wider variety
of measurement tools (Almendros, 2006) enhancing
newer research efforts and academic debate for
conceptually defining psychological abuse in
that setting.
This session will describe efforts in the
development of new measures of psychological
abuse in group contexts in Japan and Spain, as
well as steps taken to coordinate such efforts.
Also, an integrative approach will be taken to
further explain psychological abuse in group and
domestic settings.
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.
The purpose of this study is to investigate
cross-cultural similarities and differences of
normative belief to healthy group activity.
Chambers et al. (1994) and Almendros et al.
(2005) have developed the GPA scale for the
purpose of measuring psychologically abusive
group activities in western countries. However,
we independently had developed the Group Health
Index, which is composed of 114 items, in Japan.
We have collected a sample composed of about
1,500 people who judged the groups to which they
had belonged such as religious entities,
including destructive cults, school clubs,
social organizations, and companies. It is now
important to examine and compare the two scales
on behalf of finding the global standards of
harmful psychological abuse in group activities.
Therefore, we planned questionnaire surveys for
the purpose of understanding what group
activities are unacceptable to the people in
different societies.
As the first step, we remade our scale into a
shorter version (GHS), which consists of 51
items, by abstraction of the original items. The
GHS as well as the Japanese translation of the
GPA were preliminarily administrated to 158
university students, asking them to respond: “If
you belonged to a group or an organization that
was characterized by each of the following
items, how would you feel?” The results showed
that these scales were highly correlated between
each other. A factor analysis of the items of
the GHS revealed seven factors, which were
named: priority of group profit, excessive
royalty and compliance, psychological weakening,
member watching, compulsion out of group task,
compulsion of copying with out-group, and
absolutism of the group.
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.
The assessment of psychological abuse strategies
within manipulative groups, such as coercive
cults, has been undertaken with the support of
classifications based on clinical experience,
usually developed by mental health professionals
who provided assistance to former cult members.
The assessment of psychological abuse from a
scientific perspective and based on empirical
measures is more recent; of particular note is
the development of the Group Psychological Abuse
Scale (GPA) (Chambers, Langone, Dole y Grice,
1994; Almendros, Carrobles,
Rodríguez-Carballeira y Jansà, 2003).
The present work started by reviewing previous
studies, classifications and instruments about
psychological abuse in the field of coercive
cults. Steps were taken to 1) Develop a new
categorization of psychological abuse strategies
in coercive cults; 2) Evaluate weight and
severity of each of the abusive behaviors
through a Delphi study; 3) Develop a new scale
for the measurement of psychological abuse in
order to assess the degree to which the
respondent experienced each abusive behavior.
Preliminary results employing this new
instrument will be discussed.
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.
The study of psychological abuse has gained
increased attention over the past decades.
Initially considered within the context of
physical abuse, the conceptualization of
psychological abuse is now considered a separate
entity. Some studies in the domestic violence
field revealed that psychological abuse had
stronger and more consistent associations with
women’s psychological and emotional state than
did their partner’s physical violence or sexual
aggression (Marshall, 1999). Several authors in
the domestic and cultic violence arenas noted
the similarity between controlling systems and
the experience of people who have been taken
hostage, prisoners of war and concentration
camps, people who are members of cults, and
victims of domestic violence (Andersen, Boulette
y Schwartz, 1991; Boulette, 1980; Boulette y
Andersen, 1985; Graham, Rawlings y Rimini, 1988;
Herman, 1992; Romero, 1985; Schwartz, Andersen y
Strasser, 2000; Ward, 2000; Wolfson, 2002). Most
of these works are theoretical in nature.
A review of the literature on psychological
abuse on cultic groups and domestic settings
will be presented as well as comparisons of the
results of two parallel studies which
investigated psychological abuse behaviors both
in couple and group contexts.
Violence against
Women
Belen Ordoñez, M.A.; José
A. Carrobles, Ph.D.; Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.
The dynamic of power in abusive relationships
results in the use by men of various
psychological mechanisms: degradation, fear,
objectification, overburden of responsibility,
and the distortion of reality. These mechanisms
create an environment of emotional abuse and
result in the victim’s loss of control. Moreover
they signify the loss of self –esteem and
identity, diminished physical energy, as well as
loss of hope and depression. It has been argued
that some women experience the Stockholm
syndrome in which the victim is unaware of the
abusive situation resulting sometimes in the
loss of life.
The theories about violence towards women can’t
be summed up in a single model. They include
sociological theories, social behaviors,
feminist theories, the circle of violence,
traumatic bonds, psychological traps, and the
theory of cost and benefit. Even though they
create a rich range of ideas it is still
difficult to precisely define their
applications.
Furthermore, there is considerable evidence of
the great importance of some variables, such as
strategies of confrontation, personal resources,
co-occurrence of physical, psychological and/or
sexual abuse, and availability of social
support, on the consequences in the victim’s
life. Because of the diverse variables involved,
it is extremely difficult to evaluate and
suitably proceed with each individual case.
However, to deal with abusive situations
solutions are needed, involving: economic
resources, assistance, protection and security.
These, in spite of legal arguments, are very
difficult to achieve.
Between the habitual reactions we find:
posttraumatic stress disorder, sleep disorder,
anxiety, rage, depression, suicide, addiction,
physical problems, social relationship problems,
etc.
In Spain they have recently set up integral
plans of action opposing violence in general. In
almost all of the communities or regions that
compose Spain there is a law with important
measures of protection against violence in
general, including a Court for violence against
women. However women still suffer from violence
in general.
This presentation will address also the issue of
violence against women within cultic groups.
Comprehensive
Model of Recruitment to Cults
Piotr Tomasz Nowakowski,
Ph.D.
On the basis of his research, the author
attempts to formulate a comprehensive
classification of methods of recruitment used by
cults. A certain kind of degeneration of
religion is characteristic of such structures,
and thus it is not surprising that it finds its
expression in their methods of recruitment.
People who recruit for cults know that it is
impossible to change somebody’s way of thinking
at one stroke. Therefore their general strategy
involves a gradual introduction into the
group, i.e., they proceed step by step. It
is a standard for recruiters that they don’t
tell all the truth about their group, but they
merely use “half-truths” or “quarter-truths.”
They select information precisely and hide their
purposes providently, which leads to the
situation that potential adherents are
constantly underinformed. In principle the
candidates are told only as much as they are
allowed to know. What is more the recruiter
obtains personal information about the
potential adherent in order to estimate whether
he/she will be a valuable ‘acquisition’ for the
group or not. When the candidate is assessed as
worth being invested in, he/she will still be
receiving attention and care by the time he/she
commits himself/herself to join the group. At
the next step the author presents three
categories of methods of recruitment: methods of
emotional influence, methods of camouflage, and
methods of authority.
The Identity of
Sect Members in the Narrative Aspect
Dariusz Kuncewicz, Ph.D.
The aim of my presentation is to try to provide
an explanation of the process by which the sect
member’s identity (and pseudoidentity) is
formed, using as a framework the narrative
psychology notional categories. The narrative
paradigm is the theory that people interpret and
make sense of their own experiences by the use
of narrative schemes. A failure to construct a
cohesive, autobiographical narration or the
predominance of negative solutions may cause the
person to borrow "a ready-made narrative plot"
from a sect's milieu. As a result, some
difficult life experiences are quickly included
into a logical, happy-ending story, which is
constructed on the basis of "liberation by the
sect." Psychic costs of an external edition
(i.e., not internal—based on personal reflection
or a therapeutic process) of "a text about
themselves" are significant and include:
limitation of the possibility of an internal
dialogue, rigidity in the interpretation of
complex experiences, and excluding experiences
which contradict the leading topic "one-plot"
story from autonarration. Theoretical
considerations will be supplemented by the
narrative analysis of sect member’s statements,
as well as a discussion of the implications of
applying a narrative approach to the therapy of
ex-sect members.
Psychological Manipulation in Black Churches and
Mosques
Ja A. Jahannes, Ph.D.;
Davida
Harris; and Kristen Bowen
This presentation will
review the literature on psychological
manipulation of members of Black churches and
mosques in the United States. It shall delineate
some common techniques used in the psychological
manipulation of members of Black churches and
mosques. It will describe how Black churches and
mosques capitalize on needs for belonging, self
esteem needs, and social acceptance to
manipulate members into life-long participation
that is extra-scriptural and antithetical to
universally accepted Christian and Islamic
spiritual interpretations. It will chronicle the
transitions in this type of manipulation as they
relate to life problems of communities, as well
as aggregate complexes of behavior dysfunctions
among the elder, regular members and youth. It
will make clear from a psychological perspective
why members deciding to leave these religious
institutions find it so difficult. It will
relate the economic exploitation of
congregational members as a direct result of the
psychological manipulation. It will examine
Black liberation theology as an unwitting
accomplice in the manipulation of Black church
goers and mosque members. It will describe how
church and mosque worshippers are discouraged
from critical thinking and from questioning
anything about the inconsistency of Protestant
church doctrine and Islamic teaching as well as
scriptural interpretation and Black church and
mosque practices that are manipulative. It will
cite first-hand accounts of church and mosque
behaviors that do not fit publicly projected
images of these institutions. In addition, the
paper will discuss issues of hypocrisy and
corruption, the historical-ideological context
out of which the Black Liberation theology and
general church gained autonomy, as well as how
Black mosque affiliate groups facilitate
psychological manipulation. Further, the study
will examine the multiple generational effect of
psychological manipulation of families so that
the hold on members becomes institutionalized
and the rate of rejection by members of the
churches and mosques becomes marginal. The paper
will culminate with a set of paradigms that
illustrate the interactive effects of the
psychological manipulation techniques in
operational terms.
Psychotherapy and Brainwashing: When Due
Influence Becomes Undue Influence
Edward J. Frischholz,
Ph.D.
We are all exposed to
psychosocial influence factors every day. For
many, psychotherapy is one of those influence
factors people voluntarily expose themselves
to. But when are psychotherapeutic influence
factors appropriate and when do they become
undue? Black’s Law dictionary (2000: abridged
seventh edition) primary definition of “due” is
that which is “just, proper, regular and
reasonable (p.405). These four qualities may
constitute individual, specific tests for
judging whether psychotherapeutic influence
factors are due or undue. For example, what is
due must be equitable (i.e., both the therapist
and the client are viewed as equal partners in
deciding whether to enter, continue or terminate
psychotherapy). Likewise, what is “proper” may
be defined by statute. The “regularity” test
means that the due/undue standard must be
consistently applied. Finally, the
reasonableness test takes into account the
context of the treatment situation. In contrast,
it is the secondary definition of “undue” as
that which is “excessive or unwarranted” which
appears to complement the primary definition of
due influence. For instance, the primary
definition of “undue influence” is “the improper
use of power or trust in a way that deprives a
person of free will and substitutes another’s
objective. For example, consent to a contract,
transaction, relationship, or conduct is
voidable if the consent is obtained through
“undue influence. These issues will be
considered in order to develop a hierarchical
due/undue influence standard for psychotherapy
that can be generally and equitably applied to
various treatment situations as well as to
developing statutory definitions designed to
protect the public. Specific examples will be
given to identify the fairness and broad
applicability of the proposed hierarchical
standard of what is due/undue.
Responding to Jihadism: A Cultic Studies
Perspective
Michael D.
Langone, Ph.D.
This paper applies a
cultic studies perspective to the problems posed
by Jihadism. The paper (a) describes the
conversion process and how this process can lead
some individuals down a pathway to violence; (b)
argues that a clash of civilizations between
Islam and the West is by no means inevitable and
that advocacy of the clash-of-civilizations view
risks becoming a self-fulfilling alarmism; (c)
proposes that the respectful “deep
communication” of the psychotherapeutic process
is vital to communication across worldviews; and
(d) offers action recommendations in the areas
of prevention, assistance, law enforcement, and
research
Results from a Survey of Ukrainian Public
Opinion Concerning Non-Traditional Religions
Olena Lishchynska, Ph.D.
During 19-31 May, 2006, 2000 respondents in all
administrative-territorial regions of Ukraine
were surveyed. The sample was representative of
the adult population of the country in regard to
age, sex, nationality, occupation, and
residence. The margin of error of the sample is
less than 2%.
As a result of the survey, we have answers to
questions concerning the citizens' estimation of
the degree of their own religiousness, their
confessional affiliations, their estimate of the
influence of religion on a person, the attitude
of citizens to "non-traditional" religions,
knowledge of negative influence from
representatives of "non-traditional" religions,
etc.
In contemporary Ukrainian society a favorable
attitude of citizens toward religion
predominates. Their readiness for religious
attraction has partly a ritual-practical and
partly an ideological-theoretical basis.
Relatively more religious persons are elderly,
women, pensioners, ethnic Ukrainians,
inhabitants of villages, agricultural workers,
businessmen, housewives, inhabitants of western
regions, or citizens with a low income level. A
comparatively smaller degree of religiosity is
found among young citizens, ethnic Russians,
technical officers and employees, soldiers and
workers of the law bodies, students, persons
with a high income, inhabitants of Kiev, or
southern (with exception of the Crimea) and
eastern regions.
With regard to confessional affiliation, the
survey found that a predominance of the
believers were Orthodox Christians without a
clearly specific confessional belonging. Among
religious associations, a majority belonged to
the Orthodox Churches of the Kiev and Moscow
Patriarchies and to the Greek-Catholic Church
(Catholic Church of Eastern Rite). Several
percent represent adherents of protestant
Churches.
Followers of exotic religions compose
approximately 2% of the sample, but these
religions may attract citizens without clear
confessional belonging. The confessional split
within Orthodox Christianity appears to lower
its credibility among nonadherents and
strengthen the appeal of exotic religions.
Generally, moderately negative attitudes toward
the activity of "non-traditional" religious
organizations predominate, and the percentage of
those who are utterly tolerant is relatively
small.
Comparatively more favorable to the newer
churches are young people (in particular,
students), housewives, representatives of other
(except Ukrainians and Russians) nationalities,
inhabitants of Kiev, and western (without
Galychyna - Lviv region) and eastern regions.
Elderly persons, pensioners, and persons with
low income have the least favorable attitudes.
A view that sees new religions as alien to
Ukrainian society prevails, but the public
believes they should be tolerated if they follow
standards of morality and law. The citizens of
Kiev, Galychyna, and Crimea were relatively more
demanding in regard to the responsibility of
religious organizations for illegal actions.
Approximately one-third of the sample knew about
cases of negative influence of "non-traditional"
churches on other people or had such experience
themselves.
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.
The purpose of the
proposed panel is to provide a forum in which
persons who have taught an academically-oriented
course on cults or who are otherwise familiar
with (a substantial portion of) the currently
available scholarly research and theory on cults
could exchange sources and experiences. The
panel would be most productive, perhaps, if the
panelists spanned a range of disciplines, so
that their collective knowledge will cover a
significant portion of the current literature
and be of interest to a greater cross-section of
the ICSA conference attendees.
It is anticipated
that, through such a discussion, the panelists
and the audience members will have an
opportunity to learn about topics that might be
covered in an academic course and potential
sources that might be used to create additional
course offerings on cults, giving the topic a
greater presence in undergraduate and graduate
curricula. Additionally, the panel may serve as
the beginning of a collection of sources for
professors and other persons who currently offer
or would like to offer courses on cults,
particularly at the undergraduate and graduate
level. Finally, the panelists and audience
members may benefit from panelists’ discussion
of their experiences in teaching about cults,
including students’ reactions to particular
topics and methods of facilitating a productive
discussion.
Background: Upon
becoming a law professor at Arizona State
University in Fall 2004, I petitioned the
faculty to add a seminar entitled “Cults &
Alternative Religions” to the upper-division law
curriculum. The seminar was designed to address
the psychological, sociological, legal, and
policy issues generated by cults. The faculty
approved the seminar, and I offered it for the
first time this past spring. This appears to be
the only course of its kind taught in the U.S.
or abroad (but if I’m mistaken, I would hope the
panel members will spread around some knowledge
about others that exist). As might be expected,
in preparing the seminar, I discovered that
there is no textbook for this course as there is
for courses that cover more established topics.
Consequently, I spent a few weeks engaging in an
iterative process of identifying topics to cover
in the course and searching for appropriate
sources. I ultimately settled on a few core
topics, including Legal Persuasion versus
Illegal Coercion, Criminal Responsibility of
Cult Members, and Deprogramming and Exit
Counseling.
Given the seminar’s
popularity, I will be offering it again Spring
2007. Having developed the seminar and taught
it twice by the time of the ICSA’s 2007
conference, I would welcome the opportunity to
share what I have learned and to learn from
others with more experience in the field of
cultic studies.
Cults Teaching
Experience in AIS
Josep M
Jansà, M.D.; Miguel Perlado; Vega González
AIS –
Atención e Investigación en Socioadicciones
One of
the objectives of AIS (Atencióm e Investigació
en Socioadicciones) is to educate students,
professionals and the general public about the
different aspects of cults. Since 1986 the
professionals of AIS have been engaged in this
work, including experiences with families,
volunteers of the so called anti-cult
organizations, mental health professionals,
lawyers, forensic doctors and others.
Sectarianism or cultism is viewed from our
perspective as an addictive behaviour, and the
educational programs reflect this approach.
During
these 20 years different changes have been
introduced in the educational programs of AIS,
one of the last ones being a comparative
analysis on the control dynamics of cults and
“youth gangs” (a recent phenomenon in our
country).
At the
same time, other non pharmacological addictions
have been considered in our training courses,
including cults in the framework of what we call
“social addictions” (internet, phone mobiles,
shopping).
From the
methodological perspective more practical
sessions and a higher level of student
participation have been progressively introduced
in the sessions.
The aim
of this presentation is to contribute to an
exchange of teaching experiences in the cult
area.
Teaching University Students
on Cults
Carmen
Almendros, Ph.D.; Alvaro Rodríguez-Carballeira,
Ph.D.; Jose A Carrobles, Ph.D.
Teaching about cults
involves talking about certain group’s
practices, carefully distinguishing them from
beliefs as well as from innocuous “bizarre”
practices, with an invitation not to judge
beliefs or practices on an ideological basis but
on ethical grounds. The objective of the course
is not to call students to memorize definitions
or lists of characteristics and even less to
have them cite some renowned cultic groups,
which could provide them with an artificial
sense of knowledge and perception of control. We
critically analyze literature from the various
perspectives of cultic studies, acknowledge the
provisional utility, at best, of much of our
state of knowledge, and discuss the usefulness
or futility of using the term “cult.” Students
are invited to evaluate for themselves according
to certain specific psychologically abusive
practices. Avoiding the dramatic terms (e.g.,
destructive, poison, etc.), which mass media
sometimes employ, students could be introduced
to the sometimes dramatic consequences of some
group’s behaviors. Frequently we tackle certain
misperceptions, such as “blaming the victim,”
and acknowledge how “an analysis of the
persuasion and influence techniques of cultic
organizations reveals that they are the same
techniques that persuade and influence people to
make personal choices in all aspects of their
lives” (Cialdini, 2005). Overall, the main
objective is to increase understanding of the
future educators, clinicians, and professionals
in legal settings and familiarize them with a
wide range of problems in which this reality
takes place. From a practical point of view, we
acknowledge a diversity of casuistry both in the
clinical and the legal settings and, by doing
so, tackle the difficulties in dealing with cult
cases, provide examples of harmful practices,
and discuss our own limits.
American Cults
Edward Lottick, M.D.
I have just completed
my third time presenting my semester course at
King's College on American Cults. Although the
course is upper level for junior and senior
students, it is basically introductory
contemporary cultic studies. Class size has
ranged from 20 to 30 students mostly without any
significant prior cult experience. Assigned
reading includes Margaret Singer's Cults in Our
Midst, Peter Olsson's Malignant Pied Pipers of
Our Time, and an assembled compendium of
relevant historic news and journal articles from
the past several decades. The course has been
offered during alternating semesters as a
psychology elective. This past semester's class
was 20 students composed of 10 psychology
majors, 5 criminal justice majors, and a
pre-med, pre-law, elementary-education, nursing,
and audio-visual major.
Situations Concerning Controversial Groups in
Japan
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.
Society for Scientific Spirituality
"SANATAN":
Doctrines, Terrorist Teachings, and
Psycho-Manipulative Practices
Zoran Lukovic; Andrej Protic
Society for Spiritual
Science Sanatan was founded in 1991 in India.
Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha (Society for
Scientific Spirituality) was established in New
Delhi by the psychiatrist and hypnotherapist,
Jayant Balaji Athavale. Apart from India the
Society in the mid-nineties
had members also in the USA,
and by the end
of the nineties in France and Serbia.
Sanatan published a
number of its books in several languages,
and it also
has a web site on the Internet
(http://www.sanatan.org).
Society for spiritual
science Sanatan in its teachings and
publications calls its members and sympathizers
Sadhacs,
the
"truthseekers,"
those who are
in search for God’s truth.
The first and the
most important task for a Sadhac is to find and
reach God and His truth.
In order to reach the
truth one must obtain the highest principle of
all—to strictly and unquestionably follow the
will of the guru.
The Realm of truth is
the ultimate future of the planet and it will
only be reached by Sadhacs,
the followers
of Sanatan.
But,
in order to
create this realm of truth it is necessary to
purify the human inhabitants of this planet of
their
"bad habits,"
"misinterpreted
religious beliefs,"
"bad politics,
economy and
culture,"
and of their
"vices,","offences,"
etc.
Society for Spiritual
Science Sanatan asks for a caste system of
social stratification. The caste of Brahmins
should be concerned with the orthodoxy of
spiritual beliefs, Vaishyas would be landowners,
merchants and artisans, Kshatriyas should be the
ones who will
"rid
the world of all offenders,"
while Shudras would be servants.
The task of Kshatriya
has been described in the book of
Kshatradarma
and illustrated by numerous photographs from
"military
exercises."
The purpose of
Kshatriya is to purify the planet from criminals.
Who those
criminals are, is left for them to decide.They
are capable of doing so because they have a
power of unmistakable perception given to them
by God!
A victim,
allegedly, could be anybody,
from ordinary
salesmen to politicians.
Kshatriya,
if necessary,
exercise violence,
and also use
firearms.
Annihilation of criminals should be executed
without any feeling of guilt, because it is one
of the ways of serving God,
some sort of
spiritual practice.
"Sadhac
must not fear if the bullet will hit its target,
because while
he shoots,
and at the
same time cries out God’s name,
the bullet
will surely hit its aim."
Purifying the
entire planet is something that has been planed
by Sanatan.
First, there
is to be formed a superconscience about a need
for purifying the planet around
1997/1999, and
after that lists of those who are to be
liquidated shall be made,
then the plans
for their liquidations,
and finally
they shall execute this task.
The beginning
and first phase is set for India and then in
concentric circles in phases, a prepared and
then realized
"purifying"
of the entire
planet.
In such a
"purged"
planet Earth
between 2026 and 2028 there should emerge a Rule
of Kingdom of Truth.
So here we have a
pseudo-Hinduistic parareligion as a cause for
gathering of followers, with a pretentious name:
"Society for
Spiritual Science."
This Society
has gathered approximately
80-100
followers in
Serbia.
Among them
there are a lot of public figures,
models,
rock musicians,
journalists,
actors, who
could probably be able to attract even more
members,
with more
aggressive features that would suit the caste of
Kshatriya.
This organization has
plans for a global social-economy
and political order with theocratic leadership,
which is to be realized in a way that overlaps
the criteria usually applicable to define
contemporary terrorism.
Terrorism,
according to
its classical definition in all relevant
military and police literature, consists of the
following elements:
·
political type of activity
·
use of
physical violence
·
deliberate,
planed and
organized activity
These activities
should have the following consequences:
·
causing
fear and other psychological problems
·
bodily
injury or even death
Solitary Confinement – Survival and Recovery
Arthur Buchman, M.A.
A presentation on this extreme form of cultic
abuse and the resourcefulness and resiliency of
those who have experienced it
Charles Dickens, in American Notes,
called solitary confinement “cruel and wrong.”
“I hold this slow and daily tampering with the
mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse
than any torture of the body.” Research by
Bessel van der Kolk and others concludes that
mental and spiritual abuse can be far more
damaging than physical abuse.
This talk will present findings on the
prevalence of solitary confinement in cultic and
other high demand relationships, and will
present some case histories—including the
presenter’s. The purpose is to explore the inner
resources and coping strategies that help people
survive solitary confinement and to examine
recovery strategies which may have implications
for recovery from other forms of extreme abuse.
Some cultic groups are well known to isolate
their members en masse from society, but the
prevalence of isolating members from within the
group is much less known. All the material on
solitary confinement on the web is about prison
or prisoner of war experiences.
Researchers in modeling (Bandler & Grinder,
Dilts, Woodsmall) indicate the need for not only
studying people’s external behaviors, but also
their inner thoughts. This presentation aims to
present survivors’ reports about the beliefs and
logic that made a difference in enduring as well
as rebounding from solitary confinement.
Comparisons with other models, for example
Martin E. P. Seligman’s Learned Optimism,
may help to elucidate common factors.
Behavioral strategies for recovery include exit
counseling, psychotherapy, family support, “the
geographical cure,” formal education,
vocational/professional training or retraining,
establishing new friendships, marrying and
raising children (in a non-cultic setting), and
finding a new or renewed non-cultic religious or
spiritual life. I did all of the above, and each
was significantly healing. Probably it is a
strong combination of many of these factors
which promotes a positive post-confinement life,
but these factors will differ in importance from
individual to individual. Obstacles and
impediments to recovery occur commonly, and this
presentation will address them as well.
From personal experience, people can be very
curious about the logistics of daily life during
solitary confinement, but how someone got into
such a predicament, endured it, and got out of
it is much more relevant, so I intend to direct
the question & answer period to issues of
interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics.
Special Session for Born or
Raised (Second Generation)
Michael
Martella, Joyce Martella
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.
Structural Dissociation, Neuroscience, and
Pseudopersonality in Cults
Gillie Jenkinson
One of the themes that
came out of my MA research, entitled What
helps ex-cult members recover from an abusive
cult experience, was “reconnecting with
pre-cult personality and getting rid of the cult
pseudo-personality”. This interests me greatly
as a clinician and an ex-cult member who had
formed a very distinct “pseudo-personality” in
the cult.
There is much being
written about structural dissociation,
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and
Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
(DDNOS) in Europe; Ellert Van Nijenhuis (2006),
in Holland and Margaret Wilkinson (2006) in the
UK, among others. It is widely thought that DID
is formed when severe trauma occurs in
childhood. My interest lies in the mechanisms
that are taking place within individuals when
they dissociate, as adults, within a cult.
I shall explore this
issue alongside some of the key texts on the
issue of pseudo-personality and dissociation and
in particular, Lalich’s (2005) statement: “This
is not schizophrenia, not the eruption of a
split personality…rather the cult member
undergoes the development of a personality that
stands for…and with the newly adopted worldview
and its practices. Total unquestioning
commitment requires a new self” (p.19). Hassan
(2000) states: “…mind control does not erase a
person’s authentic self, but rather creates a
dominant cult-self that suppresses free will”
(p.111).
I will present my
thoughts and findings and then facilitate some
discussion about this matter.
Südwest Network: Helping People Affected by
Cultic Groups
Inge Mamay; Otto Lomb; Frauke
Zahradnik
Accepting the
assumption that we cannot work alone, we decided
to a network in a rather small region in the
southwest of Germany, which allows us to
communicate very closely.
Several individuals in
our network feel obliged to help people
regarding their problems with destructive cults,
but don’t want to be or to found an
organization. They agree to work together with
other people, but not too closely.
Two groups belong to
the “Netzwerk Südwest.”. “Ausstieg” (Abandoning)
is an association of former Jehovah’s witnesses
and “SINUS” a group of about 60 members in the
suburbs of Frankfurt.
A professional
advisory center in Freiburg, “Parapsychological
Beratungsstelle,” is the only member of the
network that is working professionally and
concentrates on a special subject, namely,
questions about parapsychology.
Dr. Frauke Zahradnik
will give a general view of this special kind of
advisory later.
The local center is
the “Odenwälder Wohnhof,” a very special and
unique place in which people had the opportunity
to live there for a certain time in order to
recover after their time in a destructive cult.
Unfortunately, the place had to close because of
a lack of financial support. The former leader
of this institution, Inge Mamay, is continuing
her work still in another capacity.
Of course, our network
is not working alone. Some of us are members of
the “Kluge-Liste,” an Internet network of most
of the professional advisors of the German
speaking regions. If there is any group or any
single “guru” whom you don’t know you send a
mail to this network and ask for information.
Members of this list are private, and only
members of the list can communicate with each
other.
Another network we are
working together with is the “AGPF,” an
association of groups throughout Germany.
Terrorist Motivations, Extreme Violence, and the
Pursuit of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Major Jaime Gomez, Jr.
Mohammed Hafez
cautions that “Western responses to Islamist
violence must be measured and well thought out.
Misconstruing the underlying causes of Islamist
rage or overacting to Islamist violence may only
intensify militancy, not temperate it.” (1) For
policy-makers, understanding the source or cause
of discontent serves as the best hope to remedy
the ills that lie beneath what some refer to as
“sacred” terrorism or religious terrorism.
Basic questions arise: What would extremists
hope to achieve by resorting to such violent
acts? Is terrorism ever rational? Can
terrorism be deterred? All too often, our
analysis of extremist motives begins with our
reaction to the terrorist act itself. However,
for certain extremist organizations, successful
efforts to identify and isolate the root cause
of such events rests on a deeper understanding
of the subtle processes that foment such
profound actions, in particular suicide
terrorism and the use of a weapon of mass
destruction.
In a recent review of
Jessica Stern’s Terror in the Name of God,
Jeff Goodwin stated that few studies probe
deeply into the cause of terrorism and, as a
result,
. . . it remains a
mystery. A contributing factor is that social
movement scholars with very few exceptions have
said little about terrorism. Nor have they paid
sustained attention to the more general question
of how movement organizations make strategic
choices, of which terrorism is one. (2)
To resolve group level
problems we need to view them from a group level
or movement level perspective. At that point we
can craft more tailored solutions to counter the
extremist threat. The central theme of this
essay is to examine the rational behind
terrorists’ attempts to use weapons of mass
destruction. I explore this theme by comparing
Aum Shinrikyo and al Qaeda in order to assess
the extent to which their actions were the
result of strategic choice or the expression of
internal group dynamics.
In brief, Aum
Shinrikyo’s decision to attack civilians on a
Japanese subway reflects an organization in a
desperate fight for survival. According to
Martha Crenshaw’s organizational perspective,
“terrorist actions often appear inconsistent,
erratic, and unpredictable” and terrorist acts
might occur as a result of internal group
dynamics.(3) The group’s ultimate decision to
strike a Tokyo subway system was as much an
attack on Japan’s political culture as it was an
act by a desperate group. In contrast, al
Qaeda’s methodical planning and extensive
preparation reflect an instrumental approach
where the act of terrorism is that of strategic
choice advancing collective values. According
to Crenshaw, such an organization ultimately
fails when the group is unable to reach its
political objectives or when the cost of
conducting such terrorist acts exceeds any
foreseeable benefits.
(1) Mohammed Hafez,
Why do Muslims Rebel, (Boulder, Colorado:
Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003), p. 199.
(2) Jeff Goodwin,
“Review Essay: What Must We Explain to Explain
Terrorism,” Social Movement Studies,
Carfax Publishing, Taylor & Franklin Group,
(October 2004), Vol. 3, No. 2.
(3) Martha Crenshaw,
“Theories of Terrorism: Instrumental &
Organizational Approaches,” located in Inside
Terrorist Organizations, ed. by David
Rapoport, (New York: Columbia University Press,
1988), pp. 27
The
Brainwashing Concept – Is It Passé?
Janja
Lalich, Ph.D., Coordinator; Stephen Kent, Ph.D.;
Benjamin Zablocki,
Ph.D.
This
session will be a dialogue on “brainwashing.”
Participants will explore such topics as: What
is the brainwashing concept? How has it been
used and abused? Is it useful or not? What are
some of the competing explanations? What is the
future of theoretical and scientific
explanations for cult dynamics?
The Phenomenon of
Sectarianism in Pakistan
Ana
Ballesteros Peiró;
María Jesús Martín López, Ph.D.; José Manuel
Martínez García, Ph.D.
Although not a new phenomenon
in Islam, sectarianism has evolved. In its
present form, it adapts itself to the current
time and to a specific territory. Considering it
a homogeneous matter through the Islamic world,
will only add to misinformation.
The radicalisation of
positions under the umbrella of Pakistani Islam
results from various factors, including
political, religious, cultural, international
relations,’ economic, sociological,
psychological and so on.
My main interest in Pakistan
relates to the country’s special feature of
having been born in the name of religion. The
identity of the nation was constructed and
developed through Muslims’ opposition to the
Hindu majority in South Asia. This new identity
was expressed through the claim of an
independent Nation under the discourse of Islam,
but it was led by a group of secular Muslim
intellectuals.
Soon contradictions emerged,
and the expectations of a sector of society
about living under a whole and true Islamic
milieu were not fulfilled. Instead, a battle for
defining who was a Muslim and who wasn’t showed
that different emerging Muslim identities were
following a common pattern of opposition. In
this case, sectors of the Sunni majority were
confronting sectors of the Shia minority.
In this paper I will analyse
the factors contributing to the radicalisation
of the groups involved in sectarianism (some
using preaching methods, some using planned
violence and terrorist acts) and the
consequences of their activities to the whole of
the population of Pakistan, as well as its
neighbours.
Sectarianism in Pakistan is a
good example of how manipulation of religion in
order to justify illegitimate rule can produce a
change in a society’s mindset and beliefs.
The Production and
Consumption of Political Leader Cults: The Case
of Post-Soviet Turkmenistan
Dr. Michael
Denison
The
political upheaval occasioned by the collapse of
the Soviet Union in December 1991 left both an
ideological and governance vacuum in many of its
15 constituent republics. The position of the
five Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan) was complicated by the lack of both
pre-existing traditions of statehood and the
almost complete absence of nationalist sentiment
among both elites and broader society. With
unwanted independence thrust upon them,
incumbent Communist Party bosses in each of the
five states embarked upon nation-building
projects which frequently entailed the crude
conversion of Communist motifs and symbols to
nationalist purposes.
In
Turkmenistan, the process has become far more
exaggerated. Former Communist Party First
Secretary and subsequent President, Saparmurat
Niyazov, renamed himself Beyik Turkmenbashi
(“Great Father of the Turkmen”) and has
established a complex leader cult to reinforce
his virtually unchecked political power.
Turkmenistan has developed a closed political
culture and is routinely rated by
non-governmental organisations as among the
least free societies in the world. The
manifestations of the leader cult include:
renaming of months and days of the week after
Niyazov and his family; portraiture on all
public buildings; erection of numerous gold
statues of Niyazov throughout the country;
creation of national oaths and anthems to
Niyazov and hid deceased mother; and toponymic
renaming of towns and natural landmarks.
The
cornerstone of the cult is a two-volume
philosophical work by Niyazov entitled
Ruhnama (“Book of the Soul”), which is
compulsorily taught in schools, universities and
workplaces. International NGO reports on Turkmen
schools have calculated that study of Ruhnama
and related regime works may occupy up to 27
hours per week of the curriculum, thereby
severely degrading the quality of educational
provision and engendering abnormal and
deleterious socio-cultural legacies.
This
paper, based on four fieldwork trips and
numerous overt and covert in-country interviews
conducted between 2002 and 2006, explores how
and why the Turkmenbashi leader cult arose, what
purpose it ostensibly serves, the processes
involved in “cult production”, and considers how
it is received and processed by its consumers
(ordinary Turkmen). Finally, some tentative
conclusions are drawn on the distinctions
between the control exercised by political and
religious leader cults.
The
principal findings in summary are: the cult has
arisen from both above and below – in the latter
case as a strategic resource to gain favour from
the political centre. The cult itself has
multiple functions: as an instrument of
political socialisation; a mechanism for social
integration; a source of comfort to elites and
people; and an expression of the regime’s
visual-spatial power. Cult production does not
emanate solely from the top. There are various
mechanisms for mid-level officials to initiate
and participate in cult production. The
reception of the cult is extremely varied and
complex – ranging from apparent complete belief
to outright rejection. In the middle of the
spectrum there is a complicated array of
ambiguous responses, often involving practices
of duplicity, selective withdrawal,
commodification and provisional acceptance.
Charting the variations and subtleties in cult
origin, production and response may, therefore,
be of interest to researchers working on
religious cult dynamics.
The Role of RIGHT in
Opposing Spiritual Abuse in High-Demand
Religious Groups in South
Africa
Dr
Stephan Pretorius
High-demand religious groups are not a new
phenomenon in South Africa. As a matter of
fact, South Africa boasts a number of strong
local (native) groups. As a result a number of
information-giving organizations on high-demand
religious groups have also seen the light. One
such well-established organization is called
Cult Information and Evangelisation Centre
(CIEC). CIEC is a fundamentally Christian based
organization. The point of departure of this
organization is dogmatic/apologetic in nature
and is based on mainstream Christian belief.
The
political change in the country since the early
1990’s and especially after 1994 has brought a
whole new approach to issues in South Africa.
The adoption of the new constitution of the
country also introduced a major change in the
area of religion. The previously strong
Christian basis that formed the criteria against
which everything was tested made room for a
liberal, accommodative, and tolerant approach to
all religious groups. All religious groups were
afforded equal right of existence. A Christian
dogmatic/apologetic approach based on the
guidelines provided by Scripture, such as those
of CIEC, hence lost some footing in exposing the
manipulation in these groups. Ascribing to the
Christian tradition or another recognised
religion was no longer an important criterion to
afford religious freedom. All religious groups,
although possibly a high-demand religious group,
currently claim the protection guaranteed by the
constitution. Each religion has the freedom to
teach and practice their beliefs. A loophole
was however created by this “religious
freedom”—the freedom to abuse under the disguise
of religion. An even stronger case is made
based on the enhanced vulnerability created by
“religious environments.” Another approach was
needed to address the abuse. The newly found
strong drive for human rights seemed to be the
approach to follow in order to oppose the
infringement of human rights in high-demand
religious groups. Instead of establishing a new
organization, an extension of CIEC namely RIGHT—Rights
of Individuals Grant Honour To—was
established. The focus of RIGHT is to oppose
the infringement on human rights in these
high-demand new religious groups. RIGHT
consists of a number of experts from different
disciplines such as psychology, social sciences,
religion, sociology, and the police force.
This
paper will oppose abuse by high-demand groups by
using human rights as the point of departure,
instead of the traditional dogmatic/apologetic
approach in the South African context. In order
to demonstrate this, the following will be
explained:
·
Background of the South African Constitution
·
CIEC’s
way of exposing and opposing abuse in
high-demand religious groups
·
RIGHT’s
point of departure
Understanding Cultic and
Totalistic Identities – Insights and Directions
for the Future from Developments in Social
Psychological Theory and Research
Rod Dubrow-Marshall,
Ph.D.
The
phenomenon of cults and extremist groups has
understandably focussed on the harm,
psychological and physical, that members of such
groups inflict on others or on themselves
(Aronoff, Lynn and Malinoski 2002). In
developing this understanding there have been
genuine attempts from sociologists and
psychologists to observe and theorise about the
identity changes that might take place alongside
or as part of the observed psychopathology.
Notable
among these is Lalich’s theory of Bounded
Choice, which sees cultic identity as bound
within a framework of forced choices, alluding
to concepts of double-bind as articulated by
Bateson (1952) and popularised in the work of
clinicians such as Laing (1967). Other
sociologists, such as Zablocki, have attempted
to chart and articulate the development of the
cult member’s identity from early to later
stages of membership.
In
social psychology work by researchers such as
Cialdini on defining social influence processes
has led to the development of a scale for Social
Influence (Cialdini, Almendros). Within the
European led context of social identity theory
(Tajfel 1978), research by Marshall et al.
(2001) has led to the development of a measure
of the cult members’ identity, the Extent of
Group Identity Scale (EGIS). All of these
developments have also drawn on a measure of the
abusive group environment, the Group
Psychological Abuse Scale, developed in the
1990s (Chambers et at 1994).
This
paper makes the case that it is timely to draw
together the different theoretical strands that
underlie these developments and forge ahead with
a clearer understanding of how these strands
interrelate and are part of a much larger
theoretical corpus of work. Specifically it will
be shown how much of this theoretical
understanding has already been taken forward in
research in social psychology that may appear to
have ostensibly little to do with the cult
phenomenon per se. As such it will be
reiterated how the form of group practice and
identity in a cult has many parallels with other
group encounters, both real and in experimental
situations. Research in social psychology
extending our understandings of self and social
categorisation, the social context for attitude
formation and prejudice, and how individuals
become de-personalised in specific circumstances
will be reviewed and drawn together to show how
they can address cult identity and
psychopathology more directly and in relation to
the developments already cited above.
In
conclusion, key questions will be posed from the
terrain that has been revealed by the
development of sophisticated measures of the
change in self and social identity in cult and
ex-cult members and its relationship to
psychological well being and psychopathology.
These measures will be firmly located within the
advancing spectrum of theoretical understandings
of the group in social, personal, and cognitive
terms and will articulate the possibility of
experimental frameworks for taking forward our
understanding of cultic group identity as a form
of data that can be usefully triangulated
against measures of psychopathology, social
influence, and group environment.
Understanding the Self-Concept of Youthful Cult
Members
Ilia Shmelev
The general subject of
my work is “personal changes among youthful
followers of destructive cults”. I chose to
study youth because at that age individuals are
most vulnerable to conversion into cults.
During adolescence and
young adulthood the personality of the
individual and a stable and steady self-concept
develop. For that reason my study focuses
particularly on the self-concept of cult
members.
Cultic influence
changes the self-concept of young people to
conform to the norms and attitudes of the cult.
This study explored:
·
adherent’s view of themselves
·
personal
evaluation of that view
·
Adherents’ expectation concerning the perception
of them by the environment.
It is important to
stress that the growth of the number of cults
and young people involved in them causes serious
social problems, perhaps most prominent of which
is that young people often leave their families,
quit their college education, and live with
their group. Cult leaders and their minions
manipulate this disruption of normal adolescent
development in order to use young people to
realize the leader’s mercantile aims.
When young people
remain in their cults, they may experience a
destructive psychological addiction. They may
lose the capacity to cope with everyday life and
the normal developmental challenges of life.
They do not understand how the group changes
their personality. They become less tolerant of
others, frustrated, and lose their ability to
think critically.
By understanding the
self-concepts of young cultic followers, we can
more effectively determine how to help them.
Vie et déclin d'une communauté
sur les marges de l'évangélisme
Jean-François
Mayer, Ph.D.
Chaque année, de nouveaux
groupes religieux naissent, mais d'autres
disparaissent. Cette communication examinera la
trajectoire d'une communauté qui a existé des
années 1970 aux années 1990. Nous résumerons
l'histoire du groupe, en prêtant notamment
attention à ses relations avec les Eglises
existantes et à son autonomisation par rapport à
celles-ci. Nous étudierons les dynamiques
internes de la communauté, notamment le rôle de
son dirigeant et l'évolution de celui-ci. Après
avoir examiné les circonstances et les raisons
qui conduisirent finalement à la dissolution du
groupe, nous nous interrogerons sur le destin
des anciens membres (y compris ceux qui étaient
nés ou avaient grandi dans la communauté) et sur
l'impact de leur expérience pour la poursuite de
leur existence dans le monde séculier.
Workshop for Mental-Health
Professionals
Rosanne
Henry, M.A., L.P.C.
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.
Speakers / Conférenciers
Carmen Almendros, Ph.D.,
is Assistant Professor in the Biological and
Health Psychology Department at the Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid. Her doctoral dissertation
included four theoretical and four empirical
sections devoted to: psychological abuse in
group contexts, including an extended
theoretical review of measurement issues related
to psychological abuse both in cults and
domestic violence settings; Cult involvement;
Leaving cults; and Psychological consequences of
abusive groups membership. She was the 2005
recipient of ICSA's Margaret Singer Award, given
in honor of her research into the development of
measures relevant to cultic studies.
(carmen.almendros@uam.es)
Ana Ballesteros is a Ph.D. candidate at
the Arab and Islamic studies department at
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She has also
been a research scholar at the South Asian
Division of International Studies at Jawaharlal
Nehru University (New Delhi, India) where she
studied terrorism, communalism, and sectarianism
among Muslims in Pakistan.
Claire Barbereau,
Conseillère de la Mission Interministérielle de
Vigilance et de Lutte contre les Dérives
sectaires (MIVILUDES).
Nataliya Bezborodova is a post-graduate
student of the Institute of Social and Political
Psychology of the Academy of Pedagogical Science
of Ukraine and president of Ukrainian Network "InterAction"
(http://www.interaction.net.ua).
(nataliya@interaction.net.ua)
Russell H. Bradshaw, A.B. (Wesleyan
University), Ed.M., Ed.D., (Harvard University),
Cand. Polit. (University of Oslo) is
Associate Professor at Lehman College, City
University of New York. He has taught
psychological and historical foundations of
education and directed the M.A. program in
Teaching Social Studies:7-12. Dr. Bradshaw's
Master and Doctoral dissertations described
alternative living and child care arrangements
in Sweden ('Samhem'and 'Kollektivhus'). During
his undergraduate studies he received a
stipendium to live in Samoa and wrote his Honors
Thesis on religion's effect on cultural
stability and change in Western Samoan villages.
Dr. Bradshaw's continuing interest in
alternative living and childcare solutions led
him to an intensive study of a Hindu-based
religious cult in New York City. Dr. Bradshaw
has received fellowships and grants from
Wesleyan, Harvard and Uppsala (Sweden)
Universities and from the City University of New
York.
Eric Brasseur,
Directeur du C.I.A.O.S.N. (Centre d'Information
et d'Avis sur les Organisations Sectaires
Nuisibles) depuis sa création. Le C.I.A.O.S.N.
est une commission indépendante instaurée auprès
du Service Public Fédéral Justice (belge) par la
loi du 2 juin 1998. Conseiller au
Ministère de la Justice.
Arthur Buchman is an American
psychologist and leadership consultant living in
Copenhagen since 1990, where he maintains a
private practice and leads a training
organization, NLP World. Born in 1942, he holds
a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in Psychology.
Arthur specializes in helping people recover
from depression, phobias, trauma, relationship
conflicts and cult involvement. He was a member
of two different cults for a total of over 20
years, first a yoga group and then an occult,
pseudo-Christian music group. He has written
articles on cult recovery for NLP Posten
in Danish. Arthur Buchman is currently writing a
book and presenting a workshop titled, "The
Instant Optimist, a practical method for
building and maintaining a dependable positive
attitude."
John Burke, Ph.D., is a licensed
psychologist who completed a post-doctoral
residency at the Autism Spectrum Disorders
Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Health Management
Organization of San Jose, California. He works
as a psychologist at The New Life Treatment
Center, a Christian-based licensed treatment
facility in San Jose, California. He also
serves as the United Presbyterian Pastor of the
Bonny Doon Presbyterian Church of Santa Cruz,
CA. 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 2002-2003.
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, CA. Dr. Burke
previously taught at Bethany University in
Scotts Valley, California as an Assistant
Professor of Addiction Studies from 1993-2002.
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, 2nd.
Ed., (MacMillan Publishing). He presently lives
with his wife Barbara, and their three children,
Peter, Sean, and Michella in Santa Cruz,
California.
Coralie Buxant is a PhD student finishing
her thesis in psychology of religion on the
motives of religious conversions (Center for
Psychology of Religion, Catholic University of
Louvain, Belgium). She conducted studies on
cults/new religious movements and mental health
within the framework of an interdisciplinary
(psychology and law) research project on
contested religious movements, a project funded
by the Belgian Federal Science Policy and
including, among others, empirical studies on
members’ psychology (predispositions, effects of
belonging, effects of exit, social perceptions).
Among several publications that resulted from
this project, we should note a book: Saroglou,
V., Christians, L.-L., Buxant, C., & Casalfiore,
S. (2005). Mouvements religieux contestés:
Psychologie, droit et politiques de précaution.
Gent: Academia Press, an English summary of
which can be found at
http://www.belspo.be/belspo/home/publ/pub_ostc/SoCoh/rSO10071_en.pdf
Milena Callovini graduated from Padova
University in 1985 with a BA in Linguistics,
specializing in Logopedy – Speech therapy. After
a traumatic accident and a long revalidation
process, she joined the Bhagwan movement and
spent several years in Pune, India. Between 1996
and 2004, she was deeply involved with the
Miracle of Love, working closely with many of
this ‘group’s leaders. Ms. Callovini currently
lives and works in Amsterdam, where she runs a
chair-massage company. She writes a web-blog at
truemilena.blogspot.com, and is working on a
book on her experiences, especially the years
spent in Miracle of Love.
www.energychairmassage.nl
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
stands out his participation as President of the
Scientific Committee at the "23rd International
Congress of Applied Psychology" held in Madrid
in 1994. He is member of the Editorial Boards of
several national and international journals.
Dianne Casoni, Ph.D., Full
Professor, School of Criminology, University of
Montreal. Associate Professor,
Department of Psychology, Université du Québec a
Montréal. Psychologist. Psychoanalyst,
member of the Canadian Psychoanalytical Society
and the International Psychoanalytic
Association. Dr. Casoni is the author of over 70
articles and book chapters on psychology and the
law, sexual abuse of children, treatment of
victims, wife assault, and the psychodynamic
understanding of cults. She has just published a
book on the psychoanalytical understanding of
the criminal mind and edited a book on
terrorism, both in French, co-authored and
co-edited with Louis Brunet.
(dianne.casoni@umontreal.ca)
Dianne
Casoni, Ph.D.,
Professeur titulaire, École de criminologie,
Université de Montréal. Professeur associé,
Département de psychologie, Université du Québec
à Montréal. Psychanalyste, membre de la Société
canadienne de psychanalyse et de l'Association
psychanalytique internationale. Professeur
Casoni est l'auteur de plus de 70 articles et
chapitres de livres sur la psychologie légale,
l'agression sexuelle des enfants, le traitement
psychanalytique des victimes de trauma et la
compréhension psychodynamique des groupes
sectaires. Elle a récemment publié un livre sur
la psychodynamique délinquante et édité un livre
sur le terrorisme, en français, en collaboration
avec Louis Brunet. (dianne.casoni@umontreal.ca)
Céline
Castillo
est professeur de psychologie au college
d’enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP)
Marie Victorin, chargée de cours a L’Université
du Québec à Montréal.
Elle est candidate au Ph.D. en psychologie.
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 1960’s, as one of
the first “Children of the Age of
Enlightenment.” She married and was a parent in
the group until the age of 30. 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 Masters 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)
Françoise Chalmeau,
Conseillère de la Mission Interministérielle de
Vigilance et de Lutte contre les Dérives
sectaires (MIVILUDES).
Louis-Léon Christians has a Ph.D. in Law
and Ph.D. in Canon Law. He is an associate
professor at the UCL (Université Catholique de
Louvain) and visiting professor at the Catholic
Institute of Paris and the University of Paris
XI. He was appointed in 1999 by the Belgian
Parliament as one of eight expert members of the
board of the Belgian Federal Agency on Harmful
Cults (CIAOSN). His research interests,
publications (more than 150 papers), and
teaching cover the fields of "Law and religions"
and "Canon Law." He is also consulting for the
Council of Europe on religious affairs. He has
been collaborating with the Center for
Psychology of Religion (UCL) on
interdisciplinary research between psychology
and law focusing on the psychological
understanding and the legal and political
treatment of new religious realities (e.g.,
management of multiculturalism and religious
diversity) and groups (new, contested, or
cult-like religious movements).
David Clark, Thought Reform Consultant,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Clark has been
active in this field for more than 20 years and
is the chair of ICSA’s Video Education
Committee. Mr. Clark has been on the Board of
the Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation and
reFOCUS. He was a contributing author for the
Practical Guidelines for Exit Counseling chapter
in the W.W. Norton book, Recovery from Cults.
In 1985 he received the Hall of Fame Award from
the "original" Cult Awareness Network. He was a
founding member of the "original" Focus and
reFOCUS, a national support network for former
cult members He has been a national and
international conference speaker on the topic of
cults and has been interviewed by newspapers,
radio and TV stations on the topic of mind
control and cults for over two decades. David
Clark was the 2004 American plenary speaker
at Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the
Ukraine for the F.P.P.S. International
Scientific-Practical Conference with
the presentation title of "Thought Reform
Consultation, Youth Cult Education Preparation
and Sect Family Intervention Work". He was also
the April 21, 2006 United States of America
plenary speaker for the International Scientific
Conference of Cardinal August Hlond Upper
Silesian School of Pedagogy in Mysolwice,
Poland. The topic was "Thought Reform
Consultation, Family Youth Cult Education
Preparation and Sect Intervention Work." Mr.
Clark also contributed to a May 16, 2006 History
Channel special on Opus Dei and was featured in
John Allen's important book, Opus Dei: An
Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of
the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic
Church.
Henri de
Cordes
a été l'attaché parlementaire du Député Antoine
Duquesne, rapporteur de la Commission d'enquête
parlementaire de la Chambre des représentants de
Belgique sur les activités illégales des sectes
(1996-1997). En avril 1999, il a été désigné
président suppléant du Centre d'Information et
d'Avis sur les organisations sectaires nuisibles
(Bruxelles) créé par la loi du 2 juin 1998 en
réponse à une recommendation de la commission
d'enquête. Le 9 juin 2005, la Chambre l'a nommé
président du Centre pour un mandat de six ans.
(hdecordes@belgacom.net)
Henri de Cordes was the parliamentary
assistant of the Deputy, Antoine Duquesne,
author of the report of the inquiry commission
of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives on the
illegal practices of cults (1996-1997). In April
1999, he was appointed vice-president of the
Information and Advice Center on harmful
sectarian organizations (Brussels, Belgium). On
June 9th 2005, the Chamber appointed him as
president for a six year term.
(hdecordes@belgacom.net)
Henri-Pierre DeBord, M.S., has since 1999
been Counselor at the Mission Interministérielle
de Vigilance et de Lutte Contre les Dérives
Sectaires - (Interministerial Monitoring Mission
Against Sectarian Abuses). He holds a Master's
degree in Economics and has held government
positions in intelligence and investigations.
Mireille Degen gained a BA in History and
French at the University of Cape Town, South
Africa. She worked in an International
organization with headquarters in London and in
Bukavu (Belgian Congo). She has lived in
Belgium since 1960 and was an official of the
European Commission in Brussels for 25 years.
She is now retired. She became involved with
the cult phenomenon in 1988 when Sahaja Yoga
tried to recruit one of her children. She was a
member of several European parents’ associations
(ADFI, FAIR, VVPG). With her husband she
participated in the creation of FECRIS and now
represents CIGS (Belgium) in FECRIS.
Mireille
Degen
est licenciée en histoire et en français de l’
Université de Cape Town, Afrique du Sud. Elle a
travaillé dans une organisation internationale
avec sièges à Londres et à Bukavu (Congo
Belge). Elle habite en Belgique depuis 1960.
Ayant été fonctionnaire de la Commission
européenne à Bruxelles pendant 25 ans, elle est
maintenant retraitée. Son implication dans le
phénomène sectaire date de 1988 quand
l’organisation Sahaja Yoga a essayé de recruter
un de ses enfants. Elle a été membre de
plusieurs associations familiales européennes
(ADFI, FAIR, VVPG). Elle a participé avec son
mari aux premier pas de la FECRIS et représente
actuellement le CIGS (Belgique) à la FECRIS.
Linda J. Demaine, JD, PhD (social psychology)
is Associate Professor of Law and Affiliated
Professor of Psychology at Arizona State
University. She is founder and director of
ASU's Law and Psychology Graduate Program.
Before arriving at ASU, Dr. Demaine was a
behavioral scientist and policy analyst at RAND,
where she led and participated in diverse
projects, including an analysis of biotechnology
patents and the strategic use of deception and
other psychological principles in defense of
critical computer networks. Dr. Demaine has held
an American Psychological Association
Congressional Fellowship, through which she
worked with the Senate Judiciary Committee on
FBI and DOJ oversight, judicial nominations, and
legislation. She has also held an American
Psychological Association Science Policy
Fellowship, working with the Central
Intelligence Agency's Behavioral Sciences Unit
on issues involving cross-cultural persuasion.
Dr. Demaine's research interests include the
empirical analysis of law, legal procedure, and
legal decision making; the application of legal
and psychological perspectives to social issues;
ethical, legal, and social issues deriving from
advances in technology; and information
campaigns and persuasion.
Sjoukje Drenth-Bruintjes, Ph.D., is a
counselor, psychologist, teacher, and
multidisciplinary therapist in the Netherlands.
In 1982 she completed her study at the Academy
for Physical Education in Groningen. After many
years of teaching-experience she began to study
health psychology in 1999 in Groningen. Finally
she decided to choose counseling psychology as
being the most suitable study-direction. In 2005
she became a registered counselor. In January
2007 she completed her studies with a “Doctorate
of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology”.
Sjoukje has her own private healthcare-praxis,
called: “Creative Counseling”, in the province
of Groningen in the Netherlands, with different
locations, in which she handles the following
disciplines: multidisciplinary counseling, exit
counseling, sports consultancy, RRT (English:
RST=Rest and Space therapy), EMDR
(Eye-Movement-Desensitization and
Reprocessing)-therapy, and personal/mental
coaching. She became a well-known specialist in
the Netherlands, especially on exit counseling,
after a few interviews on Dutch National TV
about her successful work as an exit counselor
and after the publication of two of her
biographical poetry books: “Een knuffel voor
jou” (English: A hug for you) and “Waves”, in
which Sjoukje describes the emotional impact of
coercive persuasion on a friendship in a poetic
way. Besides Sjoukje’s work as a therapist,
teacher, and writer, she also gives workshops
and readings for students at universities,
healthcare-takers, victims of coercive
persuasion and parents/family/friends of these
kind of victims. More information about Sjoukje
Drenth-Bruintjes, Ph.D., and her work is to be
found at: www.counselingpraktijk.nl;
www.sektehulp.nl; E-mail:
counselingpraktijk@planet.nl. Telephone calling
from outside the Netherlands:
031-655168867/031-597618283; Telephone calling
within the Netherlands: 06-55168867/0597-618283.
Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Ph.D., is a
counselling psychologist in private practice and
a Visiting Fellow at the University of
Glamorgan, 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 comprised
of 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)
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 and has become committed to obtaining
public awareness of the potentially dangerous
practices of some adolescent treatment
facilities.
Dr. Endestad is associate professor at
the Department of Psychology, University of
Oslo. His current research interests are: Low-
and high-level visual memory, cognitive control
functions related to emotion, attention and
memory, everyday memory and false memories, MRI
and imaging techniques.
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).
Matthew Forester, ABD, recently completed
the coursework for his doctorate in English,
specializing in rhetorical theory, at the
University of South Florida in Tampa. He is
currently an adjunct lecturer in the University
Writing Program at the University of Florida in
Gainesville. Matthew was born and raised in the
Worldwide Church of God and indoctrinated with
the ideologies of “Armstrongism.” After his
emancipation from this group, he found the study
of rhetorical theory to be therapeutic, as it
offered a very powerful explanation for how his
worldview had been the product of a very clever
religious entrepreneur. Matthew is currently
writing his dissertation, which focuses on the
rhetoric of cultic groups and the implications
these rhetorics provide about the role of
language in the constitution of human subjects.
Anne Fournier,
Conseillère à la Mission Interministérielle de
Vigilance et de Lutte contre les Dérives
sectaires (MIVILUDES) depuis 2000. Etudes
:Licence de Lettres Modernes, Diplôme de
Sciences Politiques (Institut d'Etudes
politiques à Paris), Agrégation d'Histoire.
Publications concernant le domaine des sectes:
avec Michel MONROY: Les sectes, Editions Milan,
1996 (traduit dans toues les langues
européennes) La dérive sectaire, Paris, PUF,
1999 avec Catherine PICARD: Sectes, démocratie
et mondialisation, Paris, PUF, 2002 (traduit en
espagnol et en roumain)
Steven Gelberg, M.A., while a
member from 1970-1987, served as the Krishna
Movement's principal liaison to the
international academic community (e.g., 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
Masters 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 influential
1992 essay, "On Leaving ISKCON" is available
online at
http://surrealist.org/
betrayalofthespirit/gelberg.html. A
revised version was published in The Hare
Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a
Religious Transplant (eds.
Bryant & Ekstrand), published in 2004 by
Columbia University Press.
Hervé Genge, M.Ps.,
Professeur de Psychologie, Cégep
Édouard-Montpetit. Chargé de cours, Département
de Psychologie, Université de Montréal. Candidat
au Ph.D. Recherche en Psychologie, Université de
Montréal.Après l'obtention d'une maîtrise
en psychologie (1996) et d'un
DEA en acquisition et gestion des connaissances
(1997) à l'Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier
- France, Hervé Genge immigre au Québec en avril
1999. Depuis, il se consacre à l'enseignement de
la psychologie en tant que professeur au cégep
Édouard-Montpetit, et à titre de chargé de cours
à l'Université de Montréal, où il achève
actuellement un doctorat ayant pour titre :
"Étude des représentations sociales des sciences
et pseudosciences du secondaire à
l'université". Site Internet :
http://www.ed4web.collegeem.qc.ca/prof/hgenge/.
Voici également la liste de ses champs
d'intérêts en psychologie : Représentations
sociales, croyances, manipulation, sociétés
secrètes et sectes. Recherche, méthodologie,
épisthémologie et éthique. Apprentissage,
communication, motivation et performance.
Processus cognitifs - Perception et illusions -
Mémoire, hypnose et syndrome de la mémoire
retrouvée.
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 and Director of ICSA’s
Recovery Programs. Author of Family
Interventions for Cult-Affected Loved Ones,
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., 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 30 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 30 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)
Major Jaime Gomez, Jr., an officer in the
US Air Force, is a recent graduate of the Naval
Postgraduate School’s (NPS) MS Defense Analysis
program with a specialty in National Security
Affairs. A career intelligence officer and an
international affairs specialist, Major Gomez is
currently assigned to the Air Staff, US Air
Force Headquarters at the Pentagon, Washington
D.C. He has served as a detachment commander
assigned to Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea,
and as a command briefer and intelligence
specialist deployed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and
Vicenza, Italy in support of joint and combined
air operations over Southwest Asia and the
Balkans. He is the former Dean of Faculty for
the Air Force’s Information Operations School,
responsible for the training of AF personnel
assigned to Information Warfare Flights. While
at NPS, Major Gomez concentrated his studies in
the areas of terrorism, insurgency, and
irregular warfare. His thesis, “The Race Against
Nuclear Terror,” was a featured topic on
Strategic Security for the AF’s annual Institute
for National Strategic Studies Research
Conference in 2005. Major Gomez earned his
undergraduate degrees in International Affairs
and History, and Spanish Literature from Florida
State University, and his first MS degree from
Johns Hopkins University.
Vega
González Bueso,
Licenciada
en Psicóloga clínica (UB). Diplomada en
Enfermería (UB). Master en Trastornos del
lenguaje (UPC). Experiencia como enfermera en la
clínica Salus de Barcelona. Psicóloga clínica
asistente en la Unidad de Toxicomanías del
Hospital del Mar de Barcelona (1989-1990).
Psicóloga clínica del centro Psior Psicólogos,
S. L. desde el año 1989.
Psicóloga clínica,
especialista en socioadicciones, en AIS.
John Paul Healy is a Ph.D. Candidate and
Casual Tutor at the University of New South
Wales, School of Social Work, Sydney, Australia.
His research interests include: Qualitative
methodology, Education and New Religious
Movements (NRMs). His Ph.D. research explores
the personal experience of individuals who are
or who have been involved in various forms of
Swami Muktananda’s Siddha Yoga practice in
Australia. Mr. Healy was a member of Siddha Yoga
from 1981 to 1986; he worked in the Indian and
Sydney Ashram. His research is motivated by his
experience in Siddha Yoga, but is sustained by
an interest in the sociology of religion.
Rosanne Henry, M.A., L.P.C., a
member of ICSA's Board of Directors, is a
psychotherapist practicing in Littleton,
Colorado. For the last 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)
Bridget M. Jacobs, M.A., is employed by
the University of Louisiana at Lafayette;
however, her interest and work in cult studies,
outreach, education and activism are not
directly connected to her work for the
university but rather from her past membership
in Every Nation Churches and Ministries (or EN;
formerly known as Morning Star International or
MSI). This group is directly descended from the
much better known Bible-based, Shepherding
“cult,” Maranatha Campus Ministries, which was
active on college campuses internationally
during the 1970s and 1980s but legally disbanded
in 1989-1990. She is part of a growing, yet very
loosely organized group of former Every
Nation/Morning Star and Maranatha members using
online forums and blogs for mutual support,
research, outreach and activism, and was part of
a small initial group of former members who
first spearheaded open, online discussions
regarding the group on the FACTNet discussion
forum (www.factnet.org/discus) beginning in
mid-2004. She has also developed a historical
timeline tracing the current group’s leadership
and corporate organization back to its Maranatha
roots, currently maintained at
http://www.geocities.com/ulyankee. Ms. Jacobs
has a master’s degree in English from Radford
University (VA) and has attempted to utilize
academic research and literary/rhetorical
critical methods to help foster and support
Internet-based, grassroots education,
networking, support and activism among former
Maranatha and MSI/EN members.
Dr. Ja A. Jahannes is a psychologist,
educator, writer, composer, and a social critic.
Currently, he is professor of Behavior Analysis
at Savannah State University. He is President
and founder of Melanon Enterprises; a frequent
writer and columnist for numerous publications,
and Senior Pastor of Abyssinia Baptist Church,
Inc., (Savannah, GA). His work has appeared in
such diverse publications as the Journal of
Ethnic Studies, Vital Speeches, The Journal of
the National Medical Association, Ebony, Black
Scholar, Encore, Class, Black Issues in Higher
Education, American Visions, The African
American Review and The Saturday Review. Dr.
Jahannes has lectured in Africa, Asia, South
America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. His
many honors and awards include the United States
Air Force Commendation Medal, The Langston
Hughes Award, The Joseph J. Malone Fellowship in
Arabic and Islamic Studies, and The Danny Glover
Award. Also, he has received numerous awards for
excellence in teaching from socio-civic
organizations. Dr. Jahannes has served as a
consultant with several national consulting
firms on issues related to counseling; child and
adolescent psychology, health psychology, and
curriculum development for planned variation
models in education. A frequent guest on radio
and television talk shows, Dr. Jahannes has
hosted two weekly television programs. He is
listed in Who's Who in the South and South West,
the Bluebook, and Outstanding Educators of
America.
Josep Maria Jansà, M.D., is a medical
doctor specializing in public health and
preventive medicine. Since interning at ICSA in
1985, he has worked with AIS (Assistance and
Investigation on Social Addictions), where he
has assisted families, group members, and former
group members. At present he is the medical
director of AIS, a cult clinic specialized in
the treatment of cult-related effects, which has
dealt with more than 2000 patients since January
1986. Dr. Jansà has participated in research
initiatives and issued various publications on
this topic. He also works as the head of the
addictions department at the Public Health
Agency of Barcelona.
Gillie Jenkinson is a Director of Hope
Valley Counselling Limited and specialises in
offering counselling and psychotherapy to those
who have left cults or coercive
relationships/groups and those who have been
abused. Ms. Jenkinson is a trained Counsellor
(Advanced Diploma in Pastoral Counselling) and
an MA Gestalt Psychotherapy. She is accredited
and registered with United Kingdom Council for
Psychotherapy (UKCP) and a member of British
Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
(MBACP). In 1999 she did a month long internship
at Wellspring, Ohio. Ms. Jenkinson was a member
of The Love of God Community, a Bible-based
cult, in the 1970s. She has 15 years experience
working with survivors of rape, sexual abuse,
and ex-cult members, as well as with clients
with other issues. She is currently training as
a Supervisor and supervises a number of
individuals who work with rape, sexual abuse,
and ex-cult members. She is listed as a
supervisor with Safe Passage Foundation. Ms.
Jenkinson runs an ex-member support and
education group in London which is
co-facilitated by a non-ex-cult member
colleague. She has presented her research, “What
helps Ex-cult members recover from an abusive
cult experience," at ICSA Conferences in Madrid
(2005) and Denver (2006) as well as presenting a
paper in Brussels 2007. Her website is
www.hopevalleycounselling.com. She can be
contacted at info@hopevalleycounselling.com or +
(44) 1433 639032.
Mme Catherine Katz
née en 1957 titulaire d'une maitrise de droit
privé ; chef de service dans un conseil général
puis magistrat de l'ordre judiciaire depuis 1991
(juge d'instruction pendant 12 ans puis juge
d'application des peines) secrétaire générale de
la MIVILUDES depuis le 15 décembre 2005.
Joseph F. Kelly, a thought reform
consultant since 1988, spent 14 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)
Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D., Professor
of Sociology, University of Alberta, teaches
undergraduate and graduate courses on the
sociology of religion and the sociology of
sectarian groups. He has published articles in
numerous sociology and religious study journals.
His 2001 book, From Slogans to Mantras:
Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the
Late Vietnam War Era, was selected by
Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries
as an "Outstanding Academic Title for 2002."
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 15 years in
Tokyo. Currently he is the vice chairperson of
the Consumer's Problems Committee of the Japan
Federation of Bar Association (JFBA).
Dariusz Krok, Ph.D., M.A. in theology, Ph.D.
in psychology. He received undergraduate,
graduate, and postgraduate education in
Psychology at the Catholic University of Lublin,
and in theology at the Opole University, Poland.
He is currently working as Assistant Professor
at the Opole University. His primary areas of
research cover the domains of psychology of
religion and social psychology. Within these
areas, he has conducted research analyzing
processes and implications of persuasion and
attitude change. Last year he published the book
Perswazja w przekazie religijno-moralnym
(Persuasion in religious and moral
communication). A great deal of his current
work explores the role of religious beliefs and
religious language in human communication. He
has also worked with ex-members of cultic groups
providing counseling and psychological support.
Michael Kropveld - Executive Director and
Founder of Info-Cult - the largest resource
centre of its kind in Canada. Since 1980 Mike
has worked with more than 2,000 former members
of cults/new religious movements and their
families. He has spoken, in Canada and
internationally, to hundreds of professional and
community groups on the cult phenomenon. He is
also involved in counselling and consulting and
as an expert witness on cult related issues. He
has been featured 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 website, www.infocult.org, or
available in print format.
Tel.: (514) 274-2333;
infosecte@qc.aibn.com
Michael Kropveld
- Directeur général et fondateur d'Info-Secte -
le plus grand centre de documentation en son
genre au Canada. Depuis 1980, Mike a travaillé
avec plus de 2 000 anciens membres de « sectes »
et de « nouveaux mouvements religieux » ainsi
que leurs familles. Il a parlé du phénomène
sectaire au Canada et internationalement, à des
centaines des groupes communautaires et
professionnels. Il est aussi impliqué comme
conseiller, consultant et témoin expert pour
certaines questions liées aux sectes. Il a
participé à des centaines d'entrevues à la radio
et à la télévision au niveau local, national et
international. En 1992, il a reçu du
gouvernement du Canada la Médaille Commémorative
du 125e « en reconnaissance de sa
contribution significative à ses compatriotes, à
la communauté et au Canada ». Il a été auteur
conjoint du livre Le phénomène des sectes :
L’étude du fonctionnement des groupes et de
sa version anglaise
The Cult Phenomenon : How Groups Function.
Les deux versions sont disponibles en version
imprimée et sont aussi téléchargeables
gratuitement sur le site web : www.infosecte.org.
Tel.: (514) 274-2333; infosecte@qc.aibn.com.
Dariusz Kuncewicz, Ph. D., is Assistant
Professor in the Institute of Social Clinical
Psychology, Warsaw School of Social Psychology
(Poland). During 1995-2003 he counseled
individuals and families who had been adversely
affected by sects and other manipulative groups.
In 2000 he took part in preparing a governmental
report about sects in Poland. Dr. Kuncewicz is
the author of several publications, e.g., the
book Controversial religious movements.
Psychological aspects of membership (2005), and
the article “Personality and membership in new
religious movements” (2005). He is especially
interested in conducting experimental research
of clinical phenomena, conducting family and
individual therapy in private practice, and
(among others things) conducting a seminar for
students entitled, “Psychology of sects.”
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, Take Back Your Life: Recovering
from Cults and Abusive Relationships (with
Madeleine Tobias – 2006 – Bay Tree Publishing),
is a general introduction to cults with a focus
on recovery. Bounded Choice: True Believers
and Charismatic Cults, (University of
California Press - 2004) 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). (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.
(aff@affcultinfoserve.com)
Olena Lishchynska, candidate of
psychological sciences, is a Docent Senior
Research Worker of the Institute of Social and
Political Psychology of APN Ukraine. She does
research on cultic personality dependency and
organizes and participates in round tables and
seminars devoted to providing psychological help
to people harmed by cultic dependency.
Otto Lomb, born 1954, degree in theology
(Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz,
Germany), teacher of religion and ethics,
president of SINUS (Sekteninformation und
Selbsthilfe/Betroffeneninititive Hessen e.V.).
He has practised cult consulting for many years.
Contact: O.Lomb@web.de or
SINUSsekteninfo@sinus-ffm.de
Edward Antrim Lottick, M. D., has been a
cultic studies student for 18 years. He retired
from 35 years of active medical practice in
2000. Since then he has completed 4 years of
advanced French at King’s College in
Wilkes-Barre, PA, and has taught an advanced
psychology elective on American Cults at the
college every other year for the past six
years. In 1992, he surveyed 5400 Pennsylvania
physicians about their personal and professional
experience with cults, using a 14-item
questionnaire and in 2004, he surveyed 3000
Pennsylvania psychologists, using a 53-item
questionnaire. His results form the basis of an
address, “A Remarkable Consensus.” Last year he
published “The Forgotten Freedom,” The Torch,
79(3), 26-30, 2006, and is working on a book on
a related topic.
Mr. Zoran Lukovic is a captain with the
Serbian police, a lawyer, and president of the
main board of the Center for Anthropological
Studies (CAS). zdlukovic@yahoo.com
Jean-Claude Maes
est psychologue, psychothérapeute familial
systémique, et président fondateur de SOS-Sectes (sos-sectes.org;
sos-sectes@skynet.be),
un « service d’aide aux
victimes de comportements sectaires » subsidié
par le Ministère de la Santé de Bruxelles
(Service Santé de la Commission Communautaire
Française). Ses publications Les couples
sectaires, in Thérapie familiale n°18,
Dépendance et co-dépendance à une secte, in
Thérapie familiale n°20, Cahiers de la Santé
n°16 : Santé mentale et phénomène sectaire, etc.
(pour d'autres références, voir sos-sectes.org).
Inge Mamay, born 1953, educator,
theologian, therapist, practitioner of cult
consulting for 30 years. Contact: www.wohnhof.de
Publications: Ein Haus mit Fenstern aus Licht.
Modellprojekt Odenwälder Wohnhof - ein Zuhause
auf Zeit für Sektenaussteiger. 2005, Attempo
Verlag Tübingen, ISBN 3-89 308-374-X. (A house
with windows of light. Model project Odenwälder
Wohnhof - a temporary home for ex-cultists) Die
Kinder der Kinder Gottes - der religiös
sanktionierte Kindesmißbrauch.
www.agpf.de/Mamay97.htm (The children of the
Children of God - the religiously sanctioned
abuse of children).
Joyce Martella was raised in a
pseudo-Christian cultic group in Northern
California. The estranged daughter of the
group's prophet-leader, she left after 24 years
in 1984 and has been cut off from her many
siblings and relatives there. She is currently a
counselor and administrator at a Batterer's
Intervention Program and pursuing a Doctorate in
Depth Psychology. She is also an active speaker
and facilitator in trauma and cult recovery.
Michael Martella, MFT, is a licensed
family therapist. He was raised in a Bible-based
cult for 20 years, and left in 1980. He has
lectured, written, and facilitated in Cult
Survivor Recovery. He also provides counseling
and expert training in domestic violence
treatment in San Diego, California.
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.
Dr. María Jesús Martín
López is
Researcher at the Social Psychology and
Methodology Department of Autónoma University of
Madrid. She has obtained the following awards: 2nd
Award of the 8th Edition of Research
Awards of the Economic and Social Council of
Madrid Community from the Autonomic Community of
Madrid, Madrid, 2006; 1st Award
“Virgilio Palacio”, in its 2nd
edition. Oviedo, December 2004; 2nd
National Award of Educative Research (Modality:
Ph.D. thesis), from the Education and Science
Ministry, CIDE, 2003. She is author of national
and international publications about risk
behaviour, juvenile violence and organ donation.
She is author of “Juvenile extra-group violence”
(2005) and co-author of “Risk behaviours:
violence, sexual risk behaviour and illegal drug
consumption among youth” (1998), among others.
Dr. José Manuel Martínez
García is Ph.D. in
Psychology and Lecturer in Social Psychology and
Methodology Department at Autónoma University of
Madrid. He has obtained the following: 2nd
Award of the 8th Edition of Research
Awards of the Economic and Social Council of
Madrid Community from the Autonomic Community of
Madrid, Madrid, 2006; 1st Award
“Virgilio Palacio”, in its 2nd
edition. Oviedo, December 2004. He his author of
national and international publications about
risk behaviours, juvenile violence and organ
donation. Co-author of “Risk behaviours:
violence, sexual risk behaviour and illegal drug
consumption among youth” (1998) and “Organ
donation and family decision-taking within the
Spanish donation system” (2001) among others.
Javier Martín-Peña is a graduate of
Psychology and Ph.D. candidate in the Social
Psychology Department, at the University of
Barcelona (Spain). He is a researcher in the
project “analysis and assessment of the control
strategies, manipulation and psychological
violence used to the exclusion or subjection to
one´s will” (SEJ2004-01299-PSIC) coordinated by
Dr. Álvaro Rodríguez Carballeira.
(javier_martin@ub.edu).
Jean-François Mayer, Ph.D.,
Chargé de cours,
Université de Fribourg, Suisse Rédacteur en
chef, Religioscope -
www.religion.info
Jean-François Mayer, Ph.D. received his
doctoral degree in history from the University
of Lyon (France) in 1984. He is the author of
several books and many articles published in
several languages on contemporary religious
movements. From 1987 to 1990, he conducted a
major research study on the history and current
situation of alternative religious groups in
Switzerland. From 1991 to 1998, he was an
analyst on international and strategic affairs
for the Swiss Federal Government. He currently
works as a consultant and lecturer with the
Department of Religious Studies of the
University of Fribourg (Switzerland). Dr. Mayer
is the author of the Website www.religion.info.
(icsa@jfm.info) (www.mayer.info - biographical
information)
Cathrine Moestue, Cand.Psychol., received
her education in Psychology at the University of
Oslo. She is currently working as a Consultant
on Organizational Psychology at AFF Leadership
Development. She will receive her training in
CMCT with Dr. Robert Cialdini in January 2007.
Cathrine had many years of experience as a
Consultant and Manager in the advertising
industry before she became a Psychologist. She
has taught classes on the Psychology of
Perception at Westerdals School of Communication
and held seminars at the University of Oslo on
Conflict Management, Stress and Health in
Organizations, and Work Psychology. Her special
field of interest is Influence.
Alberto Moncada,
Ph.D., is
a sociologist who has taught at the University
of Madrid, Stanford University, and the
International University of Florida and Alcalá.
He has been a consultant with UNESCO, OEA and
the Council of Europe, especially in education
and development. He has published 30 books,
three on Opus Dei, one entitled Religión a la
carta and another, in collaboration with
Judith Blau, called, Human rights: Beyond the
liberal vision (2005). Currently, he is
president of Sociologists without Borders.
Nori J. Muster 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 – 1988, then earned
her master's degree at Western Oregon University
in 1992 doing art therapy with juvenile
delinquents.
Stephen Bruce Mutch PhD, LLB, (UNSW) is a
solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South
Wales and Honorary Associate and Lecturer in the
Department of Politics and International
Relations, Macquarie University, Sydney, where
he convenes or teaches in courses on public
policy, Australian foreign policy, international
political violence and the international system.
He also conducts a colloquium on Religion,
Secularism and the State for the Macquarie
Global Leadership Program. A former member of
the NSW Legislative Council (State Senate) and
then 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.
Shuuji Nakamura, Esq., is a partner at
Niigata Goudou Law Office. He has been involved
in legal cases against Moonies for over 15 years
in Northern Japan. He is also a well recognized
authority on the legal aspects of mind control
on people by cultic organizations in Japan.
Kimiaki Nishida, Ph.D., a social
psychologist in Japan, is Associate Professor at
the University of Shizuoka and a Director of the
Japan Cult Recovery Council. He is a leading
Japanese cultic studies scholar and the editor
of Japanese Journal of Social Psychology.
His studies on psychological manipulation by
cults were awarded prizes by several academic
societies in Japan. And he has been summoned to
some courts for explaining "cult mind control."
(nishidak@u-sjozuoka-ken.ac.jp)
Piotr Tomasz Nowakowski, Ph.D., born in
1974, doctor of pedagogy; Assistant Professor at
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin –
Satellite Faculty of Social Sciences in Stalowa
Wola (Poland). Areas of scientific activity:
philosophy of education, aretology, pedagogy of
mass media, pedagogy of resocialization; author
of headings in the Universal Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (published by: Polskie Towarzystwo
Tomasza z Akwinu); author of articles in Polish,
Slovakian, and Ukrainian periodicals. Books
include: Sekty – co każdy powinien wiedzieć
(1999), in English: Sects – what one should know
(1999); Fast food dla mózgu, czyli telewizja i
okolice (2002), in English: Fast food for mind,
or television and surroundings (2002) or in
other words: Fast food for mind, i.e.,
Television and surroundings (2002); Modele
człowieka propagowane w czasopismach
młodzieżowych. Analiza antropologiczno-etyczna
(2004), in English: The models of a man
propagated in magazines for young people. The
anthropological and ethical analysis (2004).
nowakowski@maternus.pl
Lindsay M. Orchowski, M.S., is a doctoral
candidate at Ohio University. Her research
interests include risk factors and correlates of
verbal, physical, and sexual violence, as well
as the development and evaluation of violence
prevention and risk-reduction programming.
Currently, Ms. Orchowski is working with Dr.
Paul Martin of Wellsprings Retreat and Resource
center to examine predictors of treatment
outcome among previous members of coercive
groups, as well as the prevalence and correlates
of childhood trauma among individuals in 1-to-1
coercive relationships and coercive groups.
Dr. Belén Ordoñez, a psychologist, has a
postgraduate in Behavioural Treatment in Health
Psychology. She is also criminologist. She
works in the Justice Ministerial Office in
Spain, where she is the chief of the office for
victims of crime. She developed a program for
the psychological and legal assistance of
victims in the Justice Ministerial Office. Also,
she teaches a course on Criminology at the
University of Avila. She is the author of
several articles, and she has participated in a
variety of National Psychology and Criminology
conferences. Her work focuses in the areas of
violence against women and legal mediation.
Marie-Andrée Pelland,
Ph.D., received
her doctorate from the School of Criminology of
the Université de Montréal. Her dissertation is
entitled, “Allegations of illegal conduct :
Effect on social reality of a community of
Canadian polygamous Mormons .”
Marie-Andrée Pelland, Ph.D.,
a obtenu son diplôme de 3e cycle de
l’École de criminologie de l’Université de
Montréal. Ses travaux traitent de la question
de l’effet des conflits avec la société sur le
fonctionnement des groupes religieux
minoritaires. Sa thèse s’intitule :
« Allégations d’entorse aux lois : Effets sur la
réalité sociale d'un groupe de mormons polygames
canadiens ».
Miguel Perlado, Ph.D.
Psychologist.
Psychotherapist (associated member of FEAP).
Candidate of the Institute of Psychoanalysis of
Barcelona (SEP-IPA). Member of iPsi -
Psychoanalytic Training Center. Member of
Attention and Research on Social Addictions
(AIS). Mr. Perlado has specialized in
cult-related problems, helping families, current
members and ex members of cults. He published
different professional articles on the subject
and organized numerous seminars for mental
health professionals.
Vladimir Petukhov is a social
psychologist and president of Family and
Personality Protection Society in Kiev, Ukraine
(http://www.fpps.org.ua) (info_fpps@ukr.net).
Catherine Picard,
Président, l'Union Nationale pour la Défense de
la Famille et de l'individu (UNADFI).
Diana Pletts, M.A., is the initiator and
director of the Phoenix Project, whose mission
it is to supply a venue for ex-cult members to
present their cult and recovery related artwork.
The Phoenix Project held its first exhibit and
literary readings at the 2006 ICSA Denver
conference. An ex-member of The Path, a
charismatic Christian End-Times group, Diana is
working, herself, to regain and work out her own
artistic vision. She is currently working on the
production of artwork for a one woman show to
express her own group involvement. Diana also
speaks publicly on cults at colleges and
churches, and has presented on the radio, at
Elderhostel, and Chautauqua Institution, as
well. Those interested in participating in the
Phoenix Project, or obtaining more information,
are invited to e-mail her at
exmemberartwork@yahoo.com.
Stephan Pretorius, Ph.D. D.Th., is
involved in exit counselling and is a member of
CIEC, the Cult Information and Evangelical
Centre, situated in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He is also the founder of the new organization
RIGHT - Rights of Individuals Grant Honour To,
which aims at exposing the infringement on basic
human rights in religious cults.
(Pretosp@unisa.ac.za)
Jean
Yves Radigois
eDoctorant à la faculté d'Éducation de
l'Université de Sherbrooke (Québec) et à
l'Institut de Psychologie et Sociologie
Appliquées de l'Université Catholique de l'Ouest
(Angers, France);
Directeur de l'action sociale de la ville de
Pontivy, France.
yannerwan@wanadoo.fr
Elisabeth M. Robbins received her
doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota
in family social science and family therapy.
She is supervisor of the Family Counseling
Center at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids,
IA and has expertise in working with family
development, depression, and borderline
personality disorder. She explores cult
experience from an eco-systemic perspective,
which acknowledges the interaction of factors
across personal, family, and cultural systems.
Her current research is on the emotional aspects
of managing chronic illness.
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 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).
Jean-Michel Roulet,
Président de la Mission interministérielle de
Vigilance et de Lutte contre les Dérives
sectaires (MIVILUDES)
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)
Vassilis Saroglou is associate professor
of psychology at the Université catholique de
Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), where he
directs the Centre for Psychology of Religion
(www.uclouvain.be/psyreli). He is also the
coordinator of the European Network for
Psychology of Religion (eight university
partners) and Associate Editor of the
International Journal for the Psychology of
Religion. He has carried out many research
projects on personality and social psychology of
religion and authored about fifty scientific
publications. For his work, he received an Early
Career Award from the American Psychological
Association-Division 36 and the Quinquennial
Award (Godin Prize) from the International
Association for the Psychology of Religion. He
is currently vice-president of the International
Academy of Religious Sciences. During the last
three years he directed (together with
Louis-Léon Christians) an interdisciplinary
(psychology and law) research project on
contested religious movements, a project funded
by the Belgian Federal Science Policy and
including, among others, empirical studies on
members’ psychology (predispositions, effects of
belonging, effects of exit, social perceptions).
Among several publications that resulted from
this project, we should note a book: Saroglou,
V., Christians, L.-L., Buxant, C., & Casalfiore,
S. (2005). Mouvements religieux contestés:
Psychologie, droit et politiques de précaution.
Gent: Academia Press, an English summary of
which can be found at
http://www.belspo.be/belspo/home/publ/pub
_ostc/SoCoh/rSO10071_en.pdf
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.
Mr. Ilia Shmelev is a post-graduate
student at the Russian State Humanitarian
University in Moscow. He is a psychologist and
former member of a Bible cult.. Mr. Shmelev
works for the student’s department at the
University. Has has studied cults in Russia for
four years and has written three articles on the
subject.. He is currently working on a
dissertation in this field. Mr. Shmelev also
serves as a volunteer for the Christian Crisis
Line of the Lutheran Hour in Moscow.
Vladimir Vasilievitch
Solodovnikov, Docteur
es Sciences historiques. Né le 7 août 1959 à
Moscou. En 1981 a fini ses études avec mention
d’excellence à la faculté historique de l'Ecole
supérieure régionale N.K.Krupskaja de Moscou et
en 1989 - le cycle d'études préparant à la
soutenance de la thèse de candidat selon la
spécialité «Histoire générale» (Chaire de
l'histoire du monde ancien et des moyens ages).
Spécialiste en histoire de l'Eglise du moyen age
précoce et classique, il s'occupe aussi de
philosophie, de culturologie et de religion
moderne. Auteur de plus de 40 travaux
scientifiques. Ses monographies historiques les
plus connues sont «Calomnies par l'inquisition»
(1997), «Les synodes précoces» (2004) et «Le
luthéranisme : la panacée possible contre
opritchnina?» (2006). À partir de 1991, enseigne
les disciplines humanitaires dans les écoles
supérieures de Russie. A l'expérience de
l'activité de professeur aux Etats Unis
d'Amérique. À partir de 1995, participe aux
conférences scientifiques - pratiques sur la
religion. Contacts possibles : e-mail - :
vsolodovnikov@inbox.ru
Slobodan Spasic, Psychologist. Born
12.3.1971. In Belgrade. Graduated from the
Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Department of
Psychology. He has been dealing with the
problems of mental manipulation, illnesses of
addiction and sects together with gentlemen
Lukovic, Panovic and the late Aleksandar Senic
since 2000. Mr. Spasic also finished the basic
and advanced levels in the Serbian Association
for Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavior
Therapy. He is working in the prevention of
addiction disorders (drug abuse; computer, video
games and TV addiction) and giving psychological
help to individuals. One of the basic fields of
his professional work is the education of family
and individuals to prevent mental manipulation
in various quasi-spiritual or quasi-therapeutic
groups (psycho cults, commercial cults, sects,
guru movements).
Dr. Laurentiu Tanase
est Maître de conférence -
sociologie de religions, Université de Bucarest,
Roumanie. Etudes : 1993 - Etudes à
l`Université de Bucarest, Roumanie, Faculté de
Théologie Orthodoxe ; 1997- Etudes approfondis
en théologie – sociologie de religions, Faculté
de Théologie Protestante de Strasbourg ; 2000 -
Masters en histoire contemporaine de l`Europe,
L`Institut des Hautes Etudes Européenne de
Strasbourg, France ; 2005 - Doctorat à
l`Université « Marc Bloch » de Strasbourg,
sociologie de religions avec une thèse sur : «
Les nouveaux mouvement religieux en Roumanie
après la chute du communisme ».Activité :
Maître de conférence, sociologie de religions, à
l`Université de Bucarest, Faculté de Théologie
Orthodoxe ; 2001-2004 Secrétaire d`Etat pour les
Cultes – Ministère de la Cultures et des Cultes,
Roumanie, 2005 – Membre de la commission
parlementaire de control des archives
communistes (CNSAS). Nombreuses participations
télévisés, auteur des nombreuses articles et
études sur l`évolution du champ religieux,
sécularisation, globalisation et sur le
phénomène des sectes et des nouveaux mouvements
religieux. laurentiu.tanase@culte.ro
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 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 (10) years. She has participated in
various media interviews on cult-related matters
and is President of Info-Cult/Info-Secte in
Montreal, Quebec.
(carolletremblay@tremblaykidd.com)
Carolle Tremblay
est avocate à Montréal. Elle
détient un baccalauréat en service social et une
mineure en économique, diplômes obtenus à
l’Université Laval, Québec. Elle est diplômée
(B.C.L./L.L.B.) de la Faculté de droit de
l’Université McGill, Montréal, Québec
(1984-1988). Elle œuvre en pratique privée
depuis 1989 dans le domaine du droit de la
famille. Au cours des dix (10) dernières
années, elle a agit dans des litiges impliquant
une problématique sectaire et participé à
plusieurs activités médiatiques et entrevues sur
des questions reliées. Carolle Tremblay est
présidente d’Info-Secte, Montréal, Québec.
(carolletremblay@tremblaykidd.com)
Victoria Tretyiakova, a lawyer in
Ukraine, is Docent of the Kiev State
University. She has been Head of Unit for
Humanitarian and International Matters and has
worked on the harmonization of legislation with
EU law and protection of Human Rights for the
Main Scientific-Expert Department of the
Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament)
of Ukraine. She has also participated in,
organized, and supervised conferences, seminars,
and round tables on issues of religion, various
legal issues, human rights (e.g., national
minorities, refugees, apartheid) in Ukraine and
abroad, including Germany, the United Kingdom,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Tajikistan,
and Estonia.
Ms Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist is
currently a doctoral student at the London
School of Economics and Political Science in the
Department of Sociology, as well as the
Information Officer for Inform, a non-profit
information centre specializing in new religious
movements. Her doctoral thesis examines the
second generation of sectarian movements, and
the impact their ‘segregated childhoods’ have
had. As the Information Officer for Inform, she
has encountered many individuals affected by new
religious movements, and frequently writes
in-depth reports on particular new religions, or
issues pertaining to new religions.
Rienie Venter, Ph.D. is a senior lecturer
at the Faculty of Education at the University of
South Africa. She is a senior educational
psychologist and member of CIEC, the Cult
Information and Evangelical Centre, which is
situated in Johannesburg, South Africa. The
theme for her doctoral research was therapeutic
guidelines for ex-cult members.
(Ventema@unisa.ac.za)
N. Evgeny (Yevgeniy) Volkov, Professor at
the State University, Higher School of
Economics, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, is a social
psychologist and member of the Administrative
Council (Board of Directors) of Family and
Personality Protection Society, Ukraine. Mr.
Volkov specializes in counseling, trainings and
expert testimony in the field of social
influence and critical thinking. He teaches
courses on psychology, conflict resolution,
critical thinking, and social engineering,
including a course “Psychological Defense
Against Psychological and Spiritual Abuse.” Mr.
Volkov has over 80 publications, including “The
Criminal Challenge to Practical Psychology: A
Phenomenon of Destructive Cults and Mind
Control,” “Methods of Recruitment and Mind
Control in Destructive Cults,” “The Basic Models
of Mind Control (Thought Reform),” and
“Consultation with Victims of an Intensive
Mental Manipulation: Basic Principles,
Specificity of Practice.” His translations of
books on social influence and cults are widely
known in Russia. Mr. Volkov also teaches
psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers,
and educators at seminars and gives trainings in
many cities of Russia and NIS. He consults with
municipal, governmental and non-governmental
organizations, lawyers, and journalists, and has
participated in many TV-shows and TV
documentaries about cults and psychological
abuse. He also consults with individuals and
families adversely affected by psychological and
spiritual abuse in various groups and
organizations. http://evolkov.iatp.ru
volken@mail.ru
Dana Wehle, LCSW, MFA., is a certified
psychoanalyst and licensed clinical social
worker in private practice in New York City and
administrative supervisor at the Cult Clinic of
the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s
Services. She received her psychoanalytic
training at the National Institute for the
Psychotherapies, is a member of the Association
for the Psychoanalysis of Society and Culture,
and has presented on the theme of cults on
Internet webcasts, at Rutgers University, the
William Alanson White Institute, and at other
community, professional, and educational
settings. As a classically trained painter, her
interest in cultic violation of creativity has
coalesced through intensive clinical work with
former members, second generation adults (SGAs),
and families of adult children in cults. Her
article, "The Suppression of Creativity in
Cults," is included in Miguel Perlado's book,
Psychoanalytic Approaches to Cult Recovery, and
she will join him in discussing his successful
treatment of a case involving a jazz musician
and his cultic following at the 2007 ICSA
conference in Brussels. Ms. Wehle is editing a
special issue of Cultic Studies Review on "the
Impact of Cults on Creativity."
(DWehle3@earthlink.net)
Luc Willems
Sénateur Avocat Depuis 1989 :
conseiller communal (Alost) 1995-1999 : membre
de la Chambre des représentants 2000-2003 :
conseiller provincial (Flandre orientale) Depuis
2003 : sénateur Depuis 2003 : membre du
parlement Benelux Au sénat Président de la
commission des Finances et des Affaires
économiques Vice-président de la commission de
la Justice 1997 : rapporteur de l'enquête
parlementaire sur les sectes en Belgique
Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Esq., is a founding
partner of Tokyo Kyodo Law Office, a 30-lawyer
practice, in Tokyo, Japan. He is the General
Secretary of the National Network of Lawyers
against the illegal activities of Moonies, a
network with over 300 lawyers. He is a
well-known published author regarding cult and
mind control in Japan.
Takashi Yamaguchi, Esq., is a member of
the Tokyo Bar Association and practices law at
Link Law Office founded by Masaki Kito. He
represents victims of cultic groups such as
Unification Church, Home of Heart etc., in and
out of court. He is a member of the "National
Network of Lawyers against Spiritual Sales" and
is also a board member of the "The Japan Society
for Cult Prevention and Recovery (JSCPR)".
Benjamin D. Zablocki, Ph.D. Professor of
Sociology at Rutgers University has been
studying cults, communes, and charisma for 36
years. He is the author of The Joyful
Community (1971) and Alienation and
Charisma (1980) as well as numerous articles
on these topics. He is co-editor (with Thomas
Robbins) of a book, Misunderstanding Cults:
Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial
Field, published in 2001 by University of
Toronto Press. This book attempts to find a
middle ground between the theories of the “cult
apologists” and the theories of the
“anti-cultists.” (zablocki@sociology.rutgers.edu.)
Frauke Zahradnik, born in Wolfsburg,
Germany. 1990 Abitur at the
Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium, Furtwangen. 1999 voluntary
social year at the "Heimsonderschule
Furtwangen." 1992-1997 studies in
Sozialpädagogik at the Catholic University of
Applied Sciences Freiburg. Practical training:
1993: adventure pedagogic project: sailing
project with children, Kinder und
Jungendhilfeverein, Kiel. 1994: Notruf für
vergewaltigte Mädchen und Frauen in Kiel. 1997
Diploma (Dipl.-Sozialpädagogin FH). Since 1997:
Parapsychologische Beratungsstelle Freiburg; an
advisory board which is supportet by the
government for advising people who have
spiritual, religious, or paranormal experiences.
Since 2003: Ph.D. studies in sociology at the
University of Konstanz, thesis: Qualitative und
Quantitative Analyse der Fallsammlung der
Parapsychologischen Beratungsstelle. Member of
the board of "Odenwälder Wohnhof e.V.", "Wissenschaftlichen
Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Parapsychologie
e.V"., Member of "Deutsches Kolloquium für
Transpersonale Psychologie" and "Parapsychological
Association."
Ms. Lubov Zholudeva, a psychologist, is
director of the Christian Crisis Line, She was
born and raised in the USSR and currently lives
in Russia.
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