The sense that a sibling has rejected the family’s core beliefs may spark estrangement. Those who challenge the family’s values through sexual orientation, interracial marriage, religious conversion, political philosophies, unconventional career or lifestyle choices may find themselves cast out.
Coercive control can be looked at from the perspective of the manipulator using drugs as a tool to control the victim. There are two spheres where the use of drugs have been used to establish coercion.
Cult interventionists have become aware that, in addition to the manipulative and coercive tactics utilized by high control groups, there is often a mental health component that needs to be understood and addressed in order for the intervention to succeed.
Assessing a family’s unique situation; understanding why people join and leave groups; considering the nature of psychological manipulation and abuse; being accurate, objective, and up-to-date; looking at ethical issues; learning how to assess you situation; formulating a helping strategy; learning how to communicate more efficiently with your loved one; learning new ways of coping.
“MIND FIXERS: The History of Mass Therapy With its Roots in Mind Dynamics Institute, Misuse of Zen Insights, and Hyping the Positive Thinking of New Thought Religion,” covers a vast arena for specialized workshops that range from one day to several weeks
After having been at the mercy of the leader of a psychotherapy cult or a counselor in an abusive residential treatment center.
As contemporary researchers have focused more on terror groups than cults, the archival knowledge from cult survivors and years of cult research have not been adequately illuminated as a guide for terror studies.
Research suggests that in the West hundreds of thousands of individuals join and leave cultic groups each year. Research studies also suggest that at least a sizeable minority of those who join cultic groups are adversely affected.
Is there a certain type of person who is more likely to join a cult? No.
Individual vulnerability factors matter much more than personality type when it comes to joining or staying in a cult or abusive relationship.