Cultic Therapies

We use the term "cultic therapies" to refer to programs of psychological or medical treatment that may tend toward excessive use of manipulative techniques.  Though some people may be harmed by such programs, others may remain unharmed, and others may benefit.  The existence of harm, however, may result in criticism of the program.

Listed below are articles and book reviews on this site that are relevant to this topic.

Articles

A Psychoanalytic Look at Recovered Memories - Lorna Goldberg

Crazy Wisdom - William Yenner

Creating the Illusion of Mind Reading - Bob Fellows

False Memory and Buridan's Ass - Alan Scheflin

Large Group Awareness Trainings - Michael Langone

Manipulative Therapists - Shirley Siegel

Pathological Psychoanalysis - Amy Siskind

Psychiatric Association Statement on Repressed Memories

Psychotherapy Cults - Margaret Singer, Maurice Temerlin, & Michael Langone

Psychotherapy Cults: An Ethical Analysis - Kim Boland & Gordon Lindbloom

Psychotherapy of a Mass Therapy Encounter Group - Anita Solomon

Residential Treatment: The Potential for Cultic Evolution - David Halperin

Ritual Child Abuse:  Understanding the Controversies - David Lloyd

Some Hazards of the Therapeutic Relationship - Jane Temerlin & Maurice Temerlin

Warning: Meditating may be Hazardous to Your Health - Sandy Brundage

Weaponizing Therapy - Adam Arnold 

Book Reviews

Book Review - Crazy Therapies

Book Review - Madness and Evil

Book Review - Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law

Book Review - Mystical Diets

Book Review - Power Games: Influence, Persuasion, and Indoctrination in Psychotherapy Training

Book Review - Rise and Fall of Synanon

Book Review - Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology

Book Review - The Recovered Memory/False Memory Debate

Book Review - The Suggestibility of Children s' Recollections

Book Review - Therapeutic Touch

Book Review - Therapist

Book Review - Therapy Gone Mad

Book Review - What to do When Psychotherapy Goes Wrong