I would like to offer a commentary updating a very significant paper by a pair of leading experts in the field with the intention of introducing some of the many results and insights of neuropsychological and neurobiological research produced since the text was originally delivered as a lecture a bit over 30 years ago. The original text is in black; my hopefully useful comments are in dark red. For those who wish to understand the nature of the "casualties," please see the posts at this link.
Thought Reform Programs
and the
Production of
Psychiatric Casualties
Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph. D. and Richard Ofshe, Ph. D.
Psychiatric
Annals 20:4/April 1990
The term "thought reform" was introduced into
the psychiatric literature by Lifton and the term "coercive
persuasion"' by Schein. Both described the organized "ideological
remolding" programs introduced by the Chinese Communists after their 1949
takeover. Thought reform programs were used in the "revolutionary
universities," other educational settings, and prison environments.
Lifton, Schein, and other authors wrote about psychological effects in military
and civilian prisoners, as well as in individuals exposed to thought reform
programs in non-prison settings. These authors called attention to the
manipulation processes that had been organized into effective psychological and
social influence programs aimed at changing the political beliefs of
individuals.
As early as 1929, Mao Tse-tung [a.k.a. Mao Zedong] was waging a "thought
struggle" to achieve unity and discipline in the Chinese Communist Party.
Following the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, hundreds
or thousands were exposed to thought reform programs to achieve "ideological
remolding." "Group struggle sessions" convinced individuals to
denounce their past political views and to adopt the new state-approved
political outlook.
[Gao Wenqien's Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect
Revolutionary (New York: Perseus Books, 2007) provides an extraordinary
look into the mechanics of thought reform and the maintenance thereof during
Mao's reign of terror, especially during the "cultural revolution"
era of the late 1960s. Mao was an astonishingly adept and adroit manipulator
who managed to build the world's largest cult, albeit one that is now (in 2018)
somewhat less invasive and more tolerant than the one the Kim family continues
to operate from government headquarters in Pyongyang, North Korea.
What Singer, Ofshe and others have failed to note in any
of their work -- so far as I know at this time -- is that the Red Chinese /
North Korean thought reform / mind control model is almost precisely that of
the hyper-authoritarian hijacking of the "mental discipline" for
"mind-emptying" methods of Zen Buddhism in Japan during the Edo
dynasty in the 17th through 19th centuries. Unlike other forms of Buddhism
(including the large Tibetan and Southeast Asian schools), Zen is highly
personal and authoritarian, requiring strict, undeviating and absolute adherence
to the pronouncements and techniques of one's teacher. Further, Zen instruction
depends heavily upon isolation from mainstream culture and internal group
dynamics, whereas "serious" Buddhists in the other main traditions
are free to engage with the rank and file while carefully observing their
reactions to such interaction.]
Neither mysterious methods nor arcane new techniques were
involved; the effectiveness of thought reform programs did not depend on prison
settings, physical abuse, or death threats. Programs used the organization and
application of intense guilt / shame / anxiety manipulation, combined with the
production of strong emotional arousal in settings where people did not leave
because of social and psychological pressures or because of enforced
confinement. The pressures could be reduced only by participants' accepting the
belief system or adopting behaviors promulgated by the purveyors of the thought
reform programs.
["Accepting the belief system" is a fundamental
element in the diversion of "thought reform" from Buddhism in
general, and even Zen Buddhism in particular. Those who have "gotten
it" via Buddhist meditation practice are able to see that belief of any
sort is "the problem." They are not so much anti-belief, however,
as they are aware of belief and its culturally conditioned role in the
operation of the mind (or, as Freud called it, the "ego"). The
Buddhist says, "Belief is there. But it's content is not real. It is simply the
illusory product of conditioning, instruction, indoctrination, socialization
and normalization. And it is the diametric opposite of direct comprehension of
what is actually so via the five senses."
Anyone who has studied cults -- and moreover had direct
experience in them -- knows that cults are about implanting, inscribing,
embedding and in-form-ing beliefs into the mind, as opposed to assisting
members to see, hear and otherwise sense for themselves what is actually so in
any given context. (See Batchelor, Fronsdal, Goenka in Hart, Goleman,
Kabat-Zinn, Kelly, Klein, Kramer, Krishnamurti, Levine, Maharshi in Goodman,
Siegel, Tart, Tolle, Trungpa, and Watts.)]
History of thought reform programs
There have been two generations of interest in extreme
influence and control programs. The first generation of interest was in Soviet
and Chinese thought reform and behavior control practices that were studied [in
the 1950s and '60s]. The second generation of interest is in thought reform
programs either currently operating or that have been in existence during the
last decade in the United States and the Western world.
Far more of these programs exist than most non-specialists
realize, and these newer programs are more efficient and effective. They also
may be more psychologically risky for individuals exposed to them than research
suggests first-generation programs to have been. Second-generation programs use
influence techniques long recognized as essential elements of thought reform
programs, as well as a variety of new influence techniques.
Such programs can and regularly do produce psychiatric
casualties.
Psychiatric casualties appear to result from errors in the
application of these attitude-change programs. The subject person's motivation
to adopt the manipulator's position and to become obedient is manufactured by
inducing extreme anxiety and emotional distress. Lifton reported that the
managers of first-generation programs attempted to closely monitor subjects so
that when they reached the brink of decompensation, pressures could be reduced.
The goal was to hold the subject at the point of maximum stress without
inducing psychosis. Second-generation programs have increased room for error
because subjects tend to be less well monitored, the techniques used to induce
anxiety and stress are more powerful and less predictable in the magnitude of
their effects on an individual, and often these programs attempt to induce
conformity more rapidly than did first-generation programs.
[I never saw an est training in the mid-'70s that did not
produce a small number of immediate "casualties" laying about some
carpet-covered hotel or convention center ballroom after the four-hour-plus
guided meditation on the second day of the first weekend. But, because the vast
majority of the 250 attendees were so "blitzed" by the experience,
few -- if any -- seemed to notice or be concerned about their
"comrades." The training supervisor and his assistants removed the
"victims" from the room in a few minutes, and the session reconvened,
usually without question or comment, thought the trainer had a rehearsed spiel
if anyone did comment.]
Second-generation thought reform programs also pose
psychological risks to subjects because of the sophistication of the influence
tactics employed. Attacking a person's evaluation of the self is a technique present
in both older and newer programs. However, in first-generation programs,
primary attack was made on the political aspects of an individual's
self-concept -- a peripheral aspect of most people's sense of self.
In the newer thought reform programs, attacks appear to be
designed to destabilize the subject's most central aspects of the experience of
the self. The newer programs undermine a person's basic consciousness, reality
awareness, beliefs and world view, emotional control, and defense mechanisms.
We suggest that attacking the stability and quality of evaluations of
self-concepts is the principal effective technique used in the conduct of a
coercive thought reform and behavior control program.
Second-generation programs induce changes in expressed
behavior and attitudes much as the earlier versions did by manipulating
psychological and social influence variables within a format that generally
follows a symbolic death and rebirth theme. Second-generation programs often
include techniques similar to those found in first-generation programs, e.g.,
group pressure, modeling, accusations, and confessions. Additional
sophisticated techniques to destabilize a person's sense of self and to induce
anxiety and emotional distress are also employed. Second-generation programs
often incorporate technical advances in influence production, such as hypnosis
to intensify recalled or imagined experiences, emotional flooding, sleep
deprivation, stripping away of various psychological defense mechanisms, and
the induction of cognitive confusion. Second-generation programs are
illustrated by certain cults, in therapeutic communities gone astray, and in
some large-group awareness programs.
What is a thought reform program?
In essence, a thought reform program is a behavioral
change technology applied to cause the learning and adoption of an ideology or
set of behaviors under conditions. It is distinguished from other forms of
social learning by the conditions under which it is conducted and by the
techniques of environmental and interpersonal manipulation employed to suppress
particular behavior and to train others .
Six conditions are simultaneously present in a thought
reform program:
1) obtaining substantial control over an individual's time
and thought content,
2) typically by gaining control over major elements of the
person's social and physical environment,
3) systematically creating a sense of powerlessness in the
person,
4) manipulating a system of rewards, punishment. and
experiences in such a way as to promote new learning of an ideology or belief
system advocated by management,
5) manipulating a system of rewards, punishments, and
experiences in such a way as to inhibit observable behavior that reflects the
values and routines of life organization the individual displayed prior to
contact with the group, and
6) maintaining a closed system of logic and an
authoritarian structure in the organization and
maintaining a non-informed state existing in the subject.
The last two conditions work because
1) there is no effective way for the subject to influence
the system and
2) because the program moves along in such a way that the
subject is unaware of being changed for a hidden organizational purpose.
In a closed system of logic, criticism or complaints are handled
by showing the subject that he or she is defective, not the organization.
Observations may be turned around and argued to mean the
opposite of what the critic intended. When a subject questions or doubts a
tenet or rule, attention is called to factual information that suggests some
internal contradiction within the belief system or a contradiction with what
the subject has been told: the criticism or observation is "turned
around" and the subject made to feel he or she is wrong. In effect the
subject is told, "You are always wrong; the system is always right."
The system refuses to be modified except by executive order.
In addition, by keeping a subject in a non-informed state,
he or she functions in an environment to which he or she is forced to adapt in
a series of steps, each sufficiently minor so that the subject does not notice
change in him- or herself and does not become aware of the goals of the program
until late in the process (if ever).
The tactics of a thought reform program are organized to
destabilize individuals' sense of self by getting them to drastically
reinterpret their life's history, radically alter their world view, accept a
new version of reality and causality, and develop dependency on the
organization, thereby being turned into a deployable agent of the organization
operating the thought reform program.
[Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 Best Picture Oscar winner,
"The Last Emperor" includes a striking presentation of almost ever
single concept described by Singer and Ofshe in the preceding section. Raised
to see himself as a demi-god, imperial China's final monarch is successfully
re-conditioned, re-socialized and re-normalized to see himself as just another peasant in Mao's new order.
I cannot overemphasize how highly I recommend seeing this
stunning film not only for its considerable explanation of the China with which
we deal today, but for the clarity with which the great director understood the
use of the "six conditions" to not only remodel the mind of Pu Yi,
but those of nearly a million rebellious and "treatment resistant"
Chinese during the 1950s. Because it is the system used by all large
group awareness trainings and (barring a few minor adjustments) many of the
new, "high-tech group dynamic," multi-media, evangelical, fundamentalist
"mega-churches" in the United States of America.]
Types of psychological responses
Not everyone who is exposed to a thought reform system is
successfully manipulated nor does everyone respond with major reactive
symptoms. Some authors described the psychological responses and casualties
seen in the first-generation groups. No definitive figures about casualty rates
for second-generation programs can be offered. However, scattered anecdotal
reports in the psychiatric literature, the number of people seeking treatment,
counseling, and other forms of help after leaving thought reform programs, and
the growing number of persons seeking compensation for damages through
litigation suggests that many experience different degrees and durations of
distress, disability, and dysfunction following such programs.
Actual rates of damage may be far higher than estimations
made from the sources cited above. The sole experimental study of the
destructive potential of encounter groups reports psychological casualty rates
higher than 10% for those groups that use intrusive and high confrontation
techniques with aggressive leaders. These damaging techniques have much in
common with the destabilizing techniques of second-generation programs. The
full range of personality and situational factors that predispose individuals
to become psychological casualties are not known at this time.
Second-generation thought reform programs expose
participants to exercises and experiences that disrupt psychological defense
systems, causing some individuals to be flooded with emotions and others to
dissociate and split off parts of their awareness. Psychological
decompensations and the onset of other symptoms appear related to the combined
effects of features described earlier, especially to rapid, intense arousal of
aversive emotional states and to dissociation-producing techniques.
The analysis presented here is based on observations made
since 1972 with over 3,000 people who have been exposed to thought reform
programs in three types of closed restrictive groups: certain cults, some
therapeutic communities, and certain large-group awareness trainings. At a
surface level, these groups seem to be a varied lot. From the descriptions we
have secured from people who participated in groups carrying out programs that
met criteria for a thought reform program, we have begun to identify types of
psychological responses. This work is in progress, and the following is an
overview of our results to date.
At this point in our research we class the various thought
reform programs into two main groupings that reflect the most characteristic
negative psychological effects observed. The first cluster consists of those
groups whose main effects are the product of intense aversive emotional arousal
states: the second cluster is comprised of groups relying more on the [mis-]
use of meditation, trance states, and dissociative techniques. The thought
reform systems we have studied tend to use a variety of techniques and do not
restrict themselves to only one or the other of our major categories.
A program relying heavily on meditation, trance, and
dissociation techniques is likely to include elements of intense emotional
arousal devices; the reverse also is true. Some of the most intense emotional
arousal responses can be produced by guided imagery and other trance-inducing
procedures. In our preliminary classification of thought reform techniques, we
have used the division of "primarily emotional arousal" or
"primarily dissociative" as our major division.
Our interviewees (all of whom were reporting some form of
distress) were divided into six groups according to their responses after
leaving the program. The first and largest group is the majority reaction
group, and the remaining five groups are the induced psychopathologies.
The majority reaction
Degrees of anomie. The majority reaction seen in people
who leave thought reform programs, almost regardless of the time spent with the
group, is a varying degree of anomie -- a sense of alienation and confusion
resulting from the loss or weakening of previously valued norms, ideals, or
goals. When the person leaves the group and returns to broader society, culture
shock and anxiety usually result from the theories learned in the group and the
need to reconcile situational demands, values, and memories in three eras --
the past prior to the group, the time in the group, and the present situation.
The person feels like an immigrant or refugee who enters a
new culture. However, the person is reentering his or her former culture,
bringing along a series of experiences and beliefs from the group with which he
or she had affiliated that conflict with norms and expectations. Unlike the
immigrant confronting merely novel situations, the returnee is confronting a
rejected society. Thus, most people leaving a thought reform program have a
period in which they need to put together the split or doubled self they
maintained while they were in the group and come to terms with their pre-group
sense of self.
Induced psychopathologies
Reactive schizoaffective-like psychoses. These occur in
individuals with no prior history of mental disorder and from families free of
such history, as well as in individuals with no prior history of mental
disorder, but whose families have members with affective disorders.
These psychotic episodes vary in length from days to
nearly a year's duration, with most ranging from 1 to 5 months. The
decompensation typically occurs in immediate response to a peak stress-inducing
experience. Strong affective components, mostly of a hypomanic or manic quality,
are noted near and after the decompensation. These components appear related to
the behavior modeled in the group and to attitudes advocated by the group.
[est, Psi, Eckankar and Silva Mind Control and the other mass, neurolinguistic re-programming intensives produced these "psychological marines" in battalion strength in the '709s. It was easy to see ho the same people could have been shouting "Long live chairman Mao."]
Certain programs appear to interact with personal histories and situational
properties of the group to produce depressive reactions.
Posttraumatic stress disorders. This type of disorder is
described in section 309.89 of the DSM-III-R.
Atypical dissociative disorders. This type of disorder is
described in section 300.15 of the DSM-III-R.
Relaxation-induced anxiety. This is a type of atypical
anxiety if one uses DSM-III-R classification, but is best described in the
recently growing reports appearing in research literature.
[One has to wade through a mountain of misunderstanding to find anything peer-reviewed and journal-published on this topic. Suffice it to say that it has long been recognized that many -- though far from all -- point-of-focus (e.g.: mantra-reciting) meditators like those doing Transcendental Meditation have reported increasing anxiety as they continued their meditation practice... and decreased anxiety as they eased away from it. My observation is that this sometimes occurs as the result of participating in guided meditations that included indoctrination of discomfiting ideas and/or instruction in techniques obsessively perfectionistic practitioners found impossible to perform (e.g.: total and lasting "thought evaporation."
Miscellaneous reactions. These include anxiety combined
with cognitive inefficiencies, such as difficulty in concentration, inability
to focus and maintain attention, and impaired memory (especially short-term);
self-mutilation; phobias; suicide and homicide; and psychological factors
affecting physical conditions (described in section 316.00 of the DSM-III-R)
such as strokes, myocardial infarctions, unexpected deaths, recurrence of
peptic ulcers, asthma, etc.
[The concept of "Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" -- now awaiting "officializing" publication in the first revision of the APA's Diagnostic
& Statistical Manual (DSM) V -- had not yet been devised when Singer and Ofshe
wrote this paper. (The next ICD will also include the diagnosis, we are told.) A considerably more fleshed out and complicated version of
the largely combat-, severe-conflagration- or rape-induced PTSD known at that
time, it is far more than the behavior that results from prolonged stress: It
is the inflammatory, "allostatic load" on the brain and the
fight-flight-freeze response of autonomic nervous system that may linger (especially if further "agitated") for
weeks, months, years... or even decades.
The specific version of CPTSD I have seen in many cult exiters usually includes such symptoms as paranoia with expectation of abuse by others, hypervigilance and exaggerated startle response, as well as rebounding from both over-trust to intense distrust of others motives and behaviors, and from learned-helplessness-driven depression and/or anxiety to pseudo-narcissistic, hypomanic impulsivity (see my reply on that reddit thread).
According to Kramer & Alstad, medically and psychologically
educated critics of cultic methods in both India and China began to write about
such observed effects and take issue with such manipulations as long as 2,000
years ago.
Vis CPTSD, please see Courtois, Lupien et al, McEwen, Sapolsky, Selye, van der Kolk, Walker, and Wolpe.]
Case Examples
Both of the following cases illustrate the production of
psychiatric casualties in individuals exposed to thought reform programs.
Neither individual described below had a history of personal or family mental
disorder.
Kirk illustrates the splitting or doubling of the self
that occurs when one drops an ordinary world view and accepts the alternative
world view trained through exposure to a thought reform program. Professionals
who treated Kirk diagnosed his condition as relaxation-induced anxiety that
evolved into panic attacks and atypical dissociative states.
He affiliated with a mantra meditation group, initially
attempting to "empty the mind" of all reflective thoughts for a few
minutes each morning and evening. The mantra, supposedly a meaningless word, is
the Sanskrit name of a Hindu deity.
Kirk has an advanced degree in a physical science from a
prestigious university. A friend took him to a free lecture on how to reduce
stress in one's life. Kirk was not stressed, but responded favorably to the
lecturer's charts and graphs alleging scientific proof that meditation was
accomplishing feats unknown to mankind -- except through the group leader's
methods.
Because of its seemingly scientific basis, Kirk paid his
fees and began meditation lessons. These lessons began with short periods of
meditation, which soon lengthened and were combined with prolonged periods of
chanting and hyperventilation.
After a few months he began to have bouts of chest pains,
fainting spells, palpitations, and lassitude. When he complained at the
meditation center of his symptoms, he was assured these were normal signs of
"unstressing" and evidence that he was reaching a higher state of
consciousness. Hence, Kirk discounted his distress, accepting it as the price
he had to pay to reach the leader's promised goal. Had Kirk not been following
the meditation practice with simultaneous involvement with the group, he
probably would have abandoned the practice as soon as he started having these
adverse reactions.
During one panic attack, he was taken to an emergency room
where a physician attributed his condition to "stress and pressure."
He stopped meditating for a few days, and the symptoms disappeared. However,
the group instructed him to increase the time he chanted, hyperventilated, and
meditated.
Over the years his condition worsened. Panic attacks
continued; he reported he felt "spaced out" and forgetful, and he
began to let his career, social life, and intellectual development decline.
Upon advice from the group leader, to help his deteriorating condition, he
frequently spent 8 hours a day for an entire week, chanting, hyperventilating,
and meditating. He spent several individual months on such a regime. His distress increased. He was markedly dizzy and objects
seemed swirl, float, and waver in the air. He felt nauseous, disoriented,
distraught and confused. At work he began to lose confidence in his abilities
and worried that he had slipped into insanity.
He soon found himself unable to focus on his surroundings:
when he did, things appeared distorted, obscure, and foreign. He felt
overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, nausea, and debilitation. He took a week
off from work and sat crying in his apartment in an apparent state of
depersonalization and derealization, accompanied by a multitude of odd
sensations and mental contents. He visited several general practitioners who
could not diagnose his symptoms.
One day while driving he lost his memory. He was unable to
recall who he was or where he was going. He parked and went into a restaurant.
When he left, it took him 2 hours to find his car because he had forgotten
where he had parked. Soon after this transient but alarming amnesic episode, he
resigned from his job because he could no longer instruct workers as part of
his technical job. When he had to speak he felt faint, lost track of what he
was saying, and was unable to function.
Beverly, now 27, was in a cult from ages 15 to 24. For 2
years after leaving the cult, she was too frightened to seek help or tell
anyone what had happened during the years she was in the group. Finally, she
saw a psychologist over a prolonged period. Initial symptoms were severe
depression., anxiety, multiple phobias and identity diffusion. As her story
unfolded during therapy, a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder was made.
The following is abstracted from a report written by her therapist.
The group Beverly joined was started by an immigrant who
conferred upon himself the titles of guru, yogi and teacher after reaching the
United States. He began to collect a small following by advertising himself as
an exercise and diet specialist.
A relative of Beverly's had lived for some time in the
commune he developed. The relative asked I 5-year-old Beverly to spend the
summer in the commune; she remained in the commune for 9 years. Beverly was an
easy mark for the leader and his assistants to completely dominate. His
indoctrination and influence program led her to believe all his claims, that he
was the most learned man alive, that he knew hidden health and living secrets
which he would reveal to her. The group preached bizarre and ever-changing
diets. Beverly came to think the leader was omniscient, omni-present and
omnipotent. He treated her as his protégé, subjecting her to endless sessions
of indoctrination and withdrawing alternative sources of social support until
she became totally dependent on him.
She believed that he knew all the secrets of the universe.
She believed that he held the power of life and death over her and her family
because he claimed that he was above the law and that he could order the
execution of anyone who displeased him. He repeatedly stated that I he would
have her and her family put to death if she ever left him. Eventually when she
did attempt to leave after almost 9 years. he put her under armed guard and
prevented her from leaving.
The most traumatic episodes with the leader began after
Beverly had been in the group several years. He told her that he was going to
cure her of what he termed her sexual neurosis. He proceeded to rape her while
she was held down. After this event, she became stunned, depressed, withdrawn
and suicidal for nearly 3 years, she was anally and genitally raped repeatedly
and given gratuitous brutal beatings by the leader. She became pregnant twice:
each time he leader ordered her to have an abortion. Hours after undergoing one
of the abortions, he raped her.
Beverly eventually ceased to regard him as divine after
she developed herpes and chronic kidney and bladder infections; she saw him
only as a violent, brutal rapist. At this point, the leader assigned armed
guards to restrain her from escaping. She remained virtual prisoner for over a
year. She finally escaped several years ago, still believing the leader or his
helper would find and kill her and her parents. This fear continues.
Beverly has a driving phobia. This appears related to the
leader telling her that if she ever left him she would die in an automobile
crash. After a year of treatment, she is able lo drive short distances, but
only at the expense of considerable anxiety.
Beverly becomes excruciatingly anxious over what she calls
"flashbacks" [the sure signs of any form of PTSD]. She vividly
re-experiences how she felt when she had to sit for endless hours listening to
the rambling, nonsensical lectures given by the leader. During those lectures
she resented having to sit for so long yet she was unable to move or leave. She
feared that the leader had magical powers and that it she incurred his
disfavor, she would come to harm or even die as he claimed happened to those
who defied him. Because of these negative associations with prolonged sitting,
she has been unable to attend classes, church services, or similar events.
Thus, her educational level remains as it was at age 15 when she entered the
cult.
She has panic attacks with agoraphobia in which she has to
abandon whatever she is doing and return to her apartment to feel safe. These
attacks have prevented her from maintaining employment and reliably enjoying
recreational activities. She has an ever-present free-floating sense of foreboding
and dread.
Beverly has trouble going to sleep as fearful images of
the leader intrude, arousing fear. When she does sleep she has nightmares
involving his attacks on her. She sleeps fully dressed because she fears she
may have to flee the leader's guards. This is not without foundation as such
happened before she escaped from the commune. Her numbed, stunned state seen at
the start of therapy has declined, but the rest of the posttraumatic stress
syndrome remains. She feels her life is ruined and suffers generalized
anhedonia.
Summary
The techniques used to induce belief, change, and
dependency by various thought reform programs appear to be related to the type
of psychiatric casualty the program tends to produce. Large group awareness
training programs appear more likely to induce mood and affect disorders.
Groups that use prolonged mantra and empty-mind meditation [a.k.a. "point of focus," as above] hyperventilation,
and chanting appear more likely to have participants who develop
relaxation-induced anxiety, panic disorder, marked dissociative problems, and
cognitive inefficiencies.
[It may surprise some readers to learn that many members of these cults -- especially those who reach levels four to six of the 10-Level Pyramid Model -- fail to comprehend that their chronic anxiety, depression and/or general dysphoria was (and continues to be) induced by the cult practices... and become further enmeshed out of beliefs that the cults' practices are "functional," but that they are not doing them "correctly." (Jenna Miscavige made it clear as crystal in her expose that the Cynical- and Sociopathic- level hierarchy of the CoS counts on this, and manipulates it ruthlessly, even when the dysphoric are their own kin.) This becomes glaringly evident at Pyramid levels seven and eight: the "Gluttons for Punishment" and "Willful Slaves."]
Therapeutic community thought reform programs appear more
likely to induce enduring fears, self-mutilation, self-abasement, and
inappropriate display of artificial assertiveness and emotionality.
[To wit, widely in the SeaOrg of the CoS, as noted above.]
Many people subjected to thought reform programs of
sufficient duration report transient to longer lasting cognitive inefficiencies
with impaired concentration, attention, and memory. Most are self-reported
observations; others come from family and friends who note the inefficiencies
either were not present prior to the thought reform program or are
exacerbations of preexisting tendencies.
Anyone with decades of experience working with cult exiters, codependents and those in recovery from complex PTSD can see that very few people elect to be abused on any long-term basis unless they were conditioned, socialized and normalized to shame, guilt, worry, remorse, regret and morbid reflection in early life. I assert that because I know a "scapegoat" and a "duty victim" from a "mascot" and a "hero" in Bowen's scheme of "family systems," as well as a "rescuer" or "persecutor" from a "victim" on Karpman's Drama Triangle. I have known hundreds of them.]
There is an interactional-transactional interplay between
a program's philosophical contents, exercises, and practices, and each person
exposed to it. The thought reform program impinges on cognition, defenses,
affects, values, and conduct. Additionally, each person's genetic-biological
make-up, life experiences, personality, and mental make-up interact with the
stressors induced by the interface of the person's old value, belief, and
behavior codes with the new beliefs and behavior promulgated by the program.
Prediction of any one person's responses to any one
thought reform regime is difficult, if not impossible. However, as with all
stressful, conflict-inducing, and intense negative emotionally arousing
situations, certain forms of behavioral pathology are more likely than other
types to occur among individuals exposed to certain combinations of stressors.
Dis-I-dentification with the sense of victimhood or delusional empowerment, as well as the group and its beliefs is, of course, crucial. Many find that difficult. But cult enmeshment operates very similarly to any form of behavioral addiction, including gambling, over-exercise, sex & romance, workaholism, pornography, smart phone texting, and social media. Thus, with application of the techniques of "motivational enhancement" originally developed for addiction treatment many years ago along with those of rational-emotive behavioral and other, belief-challenging, cognitive therapies, progress is highly likely.]
Dr. Singer is Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology,
University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Ofshe is Professor, Department of Sociology,
University of California, Berkeley.
This article was presented as the Virginia Tarlow Memorial
Lecture, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, June 1987.
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