Save the Date! AFF Conference 2001

“Cults, Conversion, Science and Harm”

May 4–5

Holiday Inn, Newark (NJ) Airport

Pre-Conference Workshops for families, former members, and mental health professionals on Thursday, May 3. Approximately two dozen programs will be offered in the three areas of AFF’s mission:

Assistance   •   Education   •   Research

For more information contact AFF at:

PMB 313, P.O. Box 413005, Naples, FL 34101-3005.

Phone: 941-514-3081; Fax

Lifton to Give Keynote

at AFF Conference

“Conversion in Aum Shinrikyo”

Dr. Robert J. Lifton, author of the classic Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and Director, Center on Violence and Human Survival, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

The Program: Variety and Expertise

Sessions with presenters, panelists, or coordinator.

•       Workshop for Former Group Members (Carol Giambalvo; Joseph Kelly; Wendy Ford Wolfberg, M.Ed.)

•       Workshop for Families and Friends (Livia Bardin, M.S.W.)

•       Cults, Conversion, Science, and Harm (Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.)

•       Cults, Culture, and Human Rights (Randy Kandel, Ph.D., J.D.)

•       After the Cult: Spiritual Issues (Craig Branch, Coordinator)

•       Social Influences on Youth (Dean Borgman, M.A., CAGS)

•       Cults Around the World (Mike Kropveld, Coordinator)

•       Problems in New Catholic Movements (Peter Malinoski, Ph.D. Candidate, Coordinator; Ray Dreitlin, Ph.D.; Fr. Michael Duggan, Ph.D.; Fr. James LeBar)

•       Cults and New Religious Movements: Sociological Perspectives (Stephen Kent, Ph.D. and Benjamin Zablocki, Ph.D., Coordinators; Dianne Casoni, Ph.D.)

•       Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves (Steven Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC.; Discussants: David Clark; Linda Dubrow, Ph.D.; Steve Dubrow-Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP)

•       Conversion Experiences: Positive Accounts (Joseph Szimhart, Coordinator)

•       Sociological Research: An International Perspective (Jean-Francois Mayer, Ph.D.)

•       Cult Members Reflect on The Family’s Experience (Livia Bardin, M.S.W., Coordinator)

•       Cults and New Religious Movements: Psychological Perspectives (Rod Marshall, Ph.D. and Peter Malinoski, Ph.D. Candidate, Coordinators; Lois Kendall, B.Sc., Jodi Aronoff McKibben, M.S., Ph.D. Candidate, Jonibeth Whitney, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate)

•       Cults and the Law: Practical Issues  (Marcia Rudin, M.A., Coordinator; Robin Boyle, J.D., Randy Kandel, Ph.D., J.D., Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq.)

•       Cults: A Thirty-Year Retrospective (Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D.) Conversion Experiences: Negative Accounts (Lorna Goldberg, M.S.W., Coordinator; Maureen Griffo, Mary O’Connell)

•       Developing Accountability Mechanisms in Cults (Benjamin Zablocki, Ph.D. and Stephen Kent, Ph.D., Coordinators; Janja Lalich, Ph.D.)

•       Born and Abused in Cults (Carey Bowen, Coordinator; Arnold Markowitz, M.S.W., C.S.W.; Rev. Robert Pardon)

•       Thought Reform Consultation (David Clark, Carol Giambalvo, Joseph Kelly, Patrick Ryan, Hana Whitfield, Jerry Whitfield)

•       Methodological Recommendations Regarding Scientific Research on Cults (Jodi Aronoff McKibben, Ph.D. Candidate; Discussants: Arthur Dole, Ph.D.; Peter Malinoski, Ph.D. Candidate; Benjamin Zablocki, Ph.D.)