CISNEO limits its concerns to exposing unethical, immoral, and illegal practices and makes no judgements concerning doctrine or beliefts.  Therefore, absent from the following list are books whose focus is a defination of cults as groups that deviate from a set of doctrine or beliefs.  Most books are available from www.cultinfobooks.com/ This is the website for The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) and we recommend the purchase of publications from ICSA because proceeds from their book sales support the  research and ex-member recovery activities of this organization.

 1. Understanding the characteristics and methods of cults and the mechanisms of mind control.

These books help the reader understand a subject that is often very difficult to comprehend: the methods that groups and individuals employ to rob normal individuals of their capacity to make rational choices.  Many people concerned about a loved one’s involvement in a cultic group believe they need to gather information about the specific group’s doctrine, practices, and beliefs.  While this is important, it is even more important that the family members acquire a generalized knowledge of cultic methods of psychological manipulation.  Identical methods of manipulation are typically used in cultic groups that, on a superficial level, appear radically different to the outsider.  For example, the methods used to recruit and retain members by fundamentalist Bible cults may differ little from the methods used by some Hindu cults.
 

UNHOLY DEVOTION: Why Cults Lure Christians (aka BY HOOK OR CROOK)
By Harold L. Busséll 

An older book that may be hard to find, but very helpful to people leaving aberrant Christian organizations who wish to retain the positive aspects of Christianity in their lives.  Busséll, a protestant minister who himself had an experience with a high demand Christian group in his youth, sets forth his analysis of what makes Christians vulnerable to being mislead by authoritarian leadership.  Valuable perspectives are given on the legalism that can arise from misuse or misinterpretation of the Bible. 

Crazy Therapies: What are They? Do They Work?
Margaret Thaler Singer and Janja Lalich

Crazy Therapies was written to help consumers become aware of the vast array of therapies being offered by a variety of practitioners in the mental health marketplace today. The book's message is "buyer beware" as the marketplace has become flooded with controversial, "far out" therapies practiced by both licensed and unlicensed "healers." Although a number of widely accepted, ethical, and scientifically-based treatments are also available, consumers may end up wasting a lot of time and money pursuing illegitimate, even harmful treatments. Then there are "crazy therapists," who inculcate bizarre ideas in their clients and make vulnerable clients overly dependent on the therapist, or who may exploit the client financially, psychologically, and/or sexually, all in the name of a cure. Singer and Lalich provide a two-page list of "crazy therapies," including chakra and aura readings, angel therapy, past-life regression, entities releasement, alignment of fluid intelligence systems, etc.

At their most benign, questionable methods may have a placebo effect and make the client feel better, at least for a time. In many instances, however, the client is harmed. For example, a client who comes in for anxiety and sleep problems might be convinced by his therapist that he was abducted by aliens and sexually violated on their space ship. The client becomes obsessed with thoughts of these bizarre events and can't stop talking about them, which results in an inability to concentrate at work and as being regarded as deranged by fellow employees and he is soon fired. The book is replete with similar case examples.

The proliferation of questionable, controversial methods is not confined to adults. Parents of emotionally disturbed and learning disabled youngsters are commonly taken advantage of by certain therapists who capitalize on the parents' intense and even desperate desire to help their children. Singer and Lalich discuss the dangers inherent in so-called Facilitated Communication, a technique developed so that autistic children could communicate after a fashion. The trouble is, the facilitator guides the hand of the child and what gets communicated is often the beliefs and expectations of the adult facilitator. There is an alarming incidence of false allegations of abuse against parents, teachers, and program staff arising from this method. One autistic child was reported to have remembered past lives with the help of Facilitated Communication. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association has issued a position statement that the technique has no scientific validity or reliability.

Neural Organization Technique was devised by a chiropractor who asserted that those with dyslexia and learning disabilities suffer from the faulty motion of certain skull bones when the person breathes. Some psychologists and educators soon became advocates of the method since the founder claimed that the painful pressure treatment to the child's head could be used to treat bedwetting, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and a host of other conditions. Neural Organization Technique has been described as a form of torture by a University of California professor and chair of a fraud task force.

Singer and Lalich believe that good therapy is available and conclude with a chapter on what to consider in evaluating therapy and choosing a therapist, including red flags that should alert the consumer to the possibility of illegitimate, exploitative, and otherwise useless or harmful treatment. Reviewed by Deirdre Conway Rand, Marin Psychological Services, Mill Valley, California.

Cults In Our Midst: Hidden Menace in Our Lives
By Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D., one of the leading authorities on cults, with author and former cult member, Janja Lalich, Ph.D. - Reviewed by Rev. Walter Debold 

The publication of a book must, inevitably, be a matter of gratification for the author. In this case, the publication of Cults in Our Midst will also be a source of gratification for all those who have long admired the wisdom and dedication that Dr. Margaret Singer has brought to the cult-awareness effort. "Margaret Singer stands alone in her extraordinary knowledge of the psychology of cults"—those are the opening words of the book’s Foreword, contributed by Robert Jay Lifton. And that Foreword is "must reading" for anyone who finds himself or herself in need of guidance about the cult phenomenon; it is a precious enrichment of this fine book.

Among her acknowledgments, the author expresses gratitude to "the more than three thousand cult victims who shared their stories, their pain and their healing with me, helping me to learn about cults and the harm they have brought upon so many." Implicit here is the humble admission that even a well-trained psychologist can continue to grow in her understanding of this complex problem which bedevils the existence of contemporary humankind.

After working for some years at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Singer went to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., where she had the opportunity to counsel victims of thought reform among the recovered prisoners from the Korean War.  Since then, Singer has also assisted the survivors and affected families of the tragedies at Jonestown and Waco. She has made countless appearances as an expert witness in court cases concerned with manipulation or "brainwashing."

Cults in Our Midst is not a book about weird people who join crazy groups. It’s about how all of us, at various times, can fall into vulnerable states during which another person can wield more influence over us. Alluding to Big Brother of Orwell’s 1984, Singer says: "Instead of one Big Brother, we see herds of Big Brothers in the world today." And she notes that they promise intellectual, spiritual, political, and self-actualizing utopias. "Eventually these groups subject their followers to mind-numbing treatments that block critical and evaluative thinking and subjugate independent choice in a context of a strictly enforced hierarchy." In the Introduction, Singer observes: "Legend has it that all cult leaders are charismatic. In reality charisma is less important than the skills of persuasion and the ability to manipulate others. In order to start a group, a leader has to have ways of convincing others to follow him or her, and such leaders tend not to relinquish control."

The first chapter presents some definitions and characteristics of cults. The reader is reminded of the variety of cults and the ways in which people are recruited. The author notes in a chapter on the history of cults that cult leaders are opportunists who read the signs of the times and the ever-changing cultures, and then adapt their pitch to whatever will appeal at any given moment.

The chapter on "The Process of Brainwashing, Psychological Coercion, and Thought Reform" is excellent. It is as complete as can be found anywhere. Charts and diagrams are added to make the process understandable for all. The insights of Robert Lifton and Edgar Schein are reported along with Singer’s own contribution. She warns that the methods of attacking the self push people to the brink of madness and even, in some cases, over the edge.

"Recruiting New Members" is a chapter filled with many concrete examples which make for interesting reading and, at the same time, demonstrate the manipulative methods used by many cults. The chapters that follow illustrate first psychological, then physiological persuasion techniques used by a variety of groups. A section on the invasion of the workplace and the development of New Age training programs provides the caution that "certain training programs use the same types of intense influence techniques that are identified with cults." An employee in just about any corporation might be aware of the potential for getting involved (or being urged to get involved) in some well-organized systems of indoctrination. At the same time, many readers—young and old alike—will benefit from Singer’s observation that "Lack of informed consent, the use of hidden agendas, and the use of various forms of coercion characterize the criticisms of both cults and modern-day training programs among those who have experienced them."

The book’s final section addresses the question, "How can we help survivors to escape and recover?" It offers prudent advice made possible by the authors’ years of experience with the cruel effects of thought reform. The reader is reminded, among other things, of the incalculable damage to the personalities of children raised under the control of such groups. At the conclusion of a recent conference this reviewer was approached by a twenty-year-old who quietly said, "Until I was eighteen I grew up in a cult." The resulting struggle out of confusion for such a person must be beyond our imaginations. Perhaps the liberation of the mind will prove to be a lifelong project for many. And how malicious must be the hearts of those who sow such confusion!

Cults in Our Midst is up-to-date with its concluding note on the Order of the Solar Temple, a European-based group notable for the shocking deaths of 53 of its members in Canada and Switzerland: "We hope that such occurrences do not happen, but if they do, let us not call these deaths ‘suicides.’ Let’s view them for what they are: the sad, lonely, dreadful ending of life for people who trusted too much, followed too long, and could not get away from a self-serving and murderous leader."

This book is to be recommended to professionals and laypeople alike. It is an excellent contribution to the growing literature concerned with the "cult problem." In reviewing it there is a natural tendency to emphasize the work of the primary author, Margaret Thaler Singer. That emphasis may be accounted for partly by the fact that she is very well known and partly by the fact that it is impossible to tell where her contribution leaves off and that of her coauthor Janja Lalich begins. But, however self-effacing Ms. Lalich may be, one can be sure that with her experience and editorial skills, she deserves much of the credit for this so well-organized material. The book is a credit to them both, and a boon for the rest of us.
 

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
By Robert Jay Lifton 

The classic 1961 study on totalitarian systems of thought reform, this book details and analyzes the experiences of fifteen Chinese citizens and twenty-five Westerners who underwent the Chinese Communists system of “brainwashing.”  This work is considered to be central to the literature on totalitarianism and cults, and the reader can easily draw parallels between the practices of the Chinese thought reformers and modern day cults.   

“Now, after twenty-eight years, my own sense of this book has changed.  I see it as less a specific record of Maoist China and more an exploration of what might be the most dangerous direction of the twentieth-century mind—the quest for absolute or ‘totalist’ belief systems.”—Robert Jay Lifton in new preface.
 

Women Under The Influence
By Janja Lalich, Ph.D., this special issue of Cultic Studies Journal explores issues of dominance, control, and exploitation of women in groups.

Chapters examine why women are attracted to totalist groups and how they are manipulated.
 

Combating Cult Mind Control
By Steve Hassan

Combating Cult Mind Control offers a general overview and presents the author's views on counseling persons affected by cultic groups.

Influence
By Robert Cialdini, Ph.D. - The New Psychology of Modern Persuasion 

This book presents evidence from research into animal behavior, experimental studies with human subjects; and the author’s penetrating insights drawn from actual experiences with what he calls the “compliance professionals”—the con artists, sales personnel, fund raisers, and cult recruiters. Cialdini presents the data that demonstrates that anyone who understands how automatic human behavior patterns work can exploit others.  He also equips the reader with practical strategies on how to combat the “compliance professionals.”  Read this book before you buy your next car! 

“This marvelous book explains in clear, practical language the ways in which we become persuaded.  It offers excellent insights for those who sell, but even more importantly for all of us who negotiate and buy.”—Roger Fisher, Director, Harvard Negotiation Project.
 

2. Helping Family and Friends involved with cults/abusive relationships

If you have a family member or friend involved in a cult or abusive relationship, we strongly recommend you read one of the following books before attempting to communicate with that person regarding their involvement in the group.  Mind control is a powerful adversary that nearly every person is ill-equipped to counter without first understanding what are proven methods for dealing with it.  Dealing with this problem “from the heart” can often be counter-productive and drive the victim further into the grip of the group. 

TWISTED SCRIPTURES: A Path to Freedom from Abusive Churches
By Mary Alice Chrnalogar

A valuable “do it yourself” approach to breaking the grip of a controlling church or discipling relationship.  By using such devices as repetition of key ideas and information and checklists against which the reader may measure his or her involvement, Chrnalogar seeks to provoke questions which will lead to challenging church teachings and leadership.  The book challenges many of the abusive practices of the “shepherding” or “discipling” movement.  Appendices include a list of resource books and organizations, a brief history of the shepherding/discipleship movement, and a summary of abuses found in aberrant churches.

From the Back Cover: For Someone Else If You’re Concerned. For Yourself If You’ve Ever Wondered. You joined your church because of its intensity for God. Like no other place, it’s helped you discover the meaning of obedience. Of teachableness. Of death to self. If there’s one problem, it’s the confusion that sometimes comes from your own carnal thinking. But God has given you leaders who can lovingly correct a doubting, independent spirit and help you choose God’s best for your life.

How can you go wrong with a church like that? Easily. What you’ve just read actually fits the profile of many abusive churches. Twisted Scriptures reveals in depth how the Bible can be distorted in ways that rob you of the liberty Jesus died to give you. You might be shocked at what you discover.

This book uncovers the subtle but powerful techniques by which, in the name of truth, controlling leaders manipulate and intimidate countless believers. It also supplies tools for overcoming persuasive, deceptive teachings and practices.

Thousands of Christians have already moved from struggle to true freedom and hope through Twisted Scriptures. If you truly want to grow in everything God made you to be, you owe it to yourself to read this book.
 

Churches That Abuse
Ronald M. Enroth. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, xi + 231 pages, no index, 1992.
Reviewer: Margaret Thaler Singer  

In prior works sociologist Ronald Enroth has demonstrated the poignancy and power of case studies to bring alive the interactions between leaders and followers in a range of current religious groups (The Jesus People; The Gay Church; Youth, Brainwashing and the Extremist Cults; and The Lure of the Cults).

In this new book, case histories of individuals, couples, and families whose lives have been devastated by the abusive practices of power-driven leaders are presented in detail. Further, Enroth outlines the backgrounds of the pastors and how the groups evolved. The pastors and groups are named. The authoritarian, idiosyncratic practices rationalized by these abusive pastors are detailed. Most useful are the explanations of why the social and psychological influence techniques work. Their impact on the lives and psychology of members is explicated.

The reader is taken through the processes Enroth used so that his conclusions can be shared. He faced the tasks that those who work with a variety of victims face, namely, conveying that victims do not seek out abuse, nor do they remain with their abusers because they like abuse, nor are they stupid folk. These victims most often are altruistic, trusting persons who may be somewhat naïve, somewhat gullible, but who enter groups because of the global, glowing promises touted to be the path to honor God, to improve the self, and to aid humankind.

Enroth faced the task of exposing the psychological, social, and financial methods unscrupulous pastors use to enroll, train, and retain followers. Without accomplishing this, he could not overcome the centuries-old prejudice that causes many individuals, including some clergy, to blame victims. He has been able to lead readers to see what thought-reform programs are, and how mind control works, that is, how the enticements affect the decision making and commitments of the person who enters and stays in an abusive group.

He accomplished his two central goals: to educate readers about the processes involved so that they can grasp the techniques and methods of pastoral influence, control, and abuse; and to outline the vast range of consequences—psychological, spiritual, social, and financial—suffered by those dominated and controlled by abusive pastors gone astray on personal power trips.

There has been a need for someone of Enroth's stature in both the academia of sociology and Christian scholarship to study and convey the abusive power that pastors gone astray can wield using guilt, fear, and intimidation to control their members. Beyond that, Enroth explicates the details of the processes so that readers can grasp how common, centuries-old manipulative techniques are put into play by the unscrupulous and why such techniques work.

Enroth identified 10 sets of features he found in abusive churches: control-oriented leadership, spiritual elitism, manipulation of members, perceived persecution, life-style rigidity, emphasis on experience, suppression of dissent, harsh discipline of members, denunciation of other churches, and the infliction of painful exit processes.

An overview of the churches described indicates that control was obtained over every aspect of temporal life—ranging from dress codes, the space between parishioners in pews, the kinds of cookies eaten, the assigning of marital partners, the destruction of marriages, the separating of families—to the point that the readers see that individuals were led to replace their conscience and internal accountability with leader-dominated dictates that reflected that man's personal desires. (Few were woman pastors, and most of the pastors were self-appointed rather than ordained.)

These leaders went about training followers to join into a world created by their sermons. The teachings and preachings of abusive pastors produced self-created islands where followers were taught (deceived, coerced, manipulated) through fear, guilt, intimidation, and the use of thought-reform or mind-control techniques to accept values and conduct that relabeled reality. When looked at dispassionately, reality was reinterpreted in order to construct a church with doctrines that permitted the pastor to have excuses to indulge in whatever sexual, financial, or social habits he desired and to establish unchallenged power. These men were not teaching Christianity; they were using their assumed power to produce a group in which whatever they wanted to do was taught as "doctrine." One way of phrasing what the abusive pastors appear to reason is to say, "If I create a community that obeys my rules, these rules are then reality, and if I declare myself a pastor I can put God's imprimatur on my wishes, my fantasies, my desires."

One pastor, who began with the prominent theme of "submitting to him," was not slow to set into play the practice of "dancing before the Lord" (individuals dancing before the congregation) which was eventually transformed by pastoral instruction into "intimate dancing" with one's "spiritual connection." To an outside observer, the pastor had set into play a sequencing of desensitizing activities and mental rationalizations in the thinking and decision-making process of followers that led them to accept very sensual, overtly sexual dancing with a nonmarital partner with implied permission to extend that relationship into intimacy. Relabeling and endorsement of conduct by the pastor gave acceptance to conduct that had devastating effects on individuals, marriages, and families. To the outside observer, the pastor had created explanations under the guise of spiritual teachings that instituted practices that permitted him to indulge in behavior not condoned by either the Christian or secular society.

This semantic reframing was not an isolated instance, but rather a technique widely used by a number of pastors who instituted a plethora of practices not designed to promote Christianity, nor to promote better spiritual and temporal lives for followers, but as ways to permit themselves to instigate practices that gave them what they wanted and permitted them to do as they pleased. They reframed or renamed behavioral practices with spiritual endorsements in order to rationalize what they wanted done, to make possible indulgences in otherwise nonacceptable behavior, to enhance their domination, and to increase their realms of control.

One of the excellent features of Enroth's presentation is his use of examples of pastoral conduct to illustrate psychological concepts that assist readers who are victims themselves to understand what has happened to them. However, the same device allows clergy, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, and others in the helping professions to grasp the mechanics of the influence techniques and to sense the psychological changes these induce.

For example, in discussing the state of unreality many former members of abusive groups experience while they are in the groups, Enroth illustrates the frequently used psychological concept of the "double bind" to explain the actual irreconcilable contradictions found in the exhortations of the abusive pastors. One pastor preached to women to model themselves after his wife and not to appear like "worldly women" and draw attention to themselves. His wife wore a wig, false eyelashes, spiked heels, and as some parishioners commented in their interviews, "The wife looked more like the prostitute Jezebel than the godly wife of Proverbs 31."

This book contains a near-complete catalogue of techniques and conduct used to produce what is termed "swallow-follow" methods of totalitarian controls used by the abusive pastors. It illustrates the technical concept of thought reform and makes the popular term of mind control understandable. The author summarizes certain lingering problems (p. 185) he has noted in victims, such as difficulty relating to supervisory personnel in the workplace; difficulty trusting new friends, acquaintances, and workmates, all while feeling guilty for having a judgmental attitude; experiencing deep fears of abandonment by a spouse, death of one's children, or never again having a date.

He also lists the areas in which healing must occur: between victims and their friends, family, and spouses (who are often pitted against one another by the abusive pastors), and reconciliation with children (often badly abused and neglected by parents at the instigation of the leader). Finding confidence again to approach group or church affiliation and overcoming distorted spirituality are part of a long list of problems to sort out and deal with on the path to recovery.

Enroth sees some troublesome tendencies: "It seems that we have a need to create evangelical gurus, Christian celebrities, superpastors in megachurches, and miscellaneous ‘teachers’ and ‘experts’ that we place on pastoral pedestals. What is it about people, including evangelicals, that explains this apparent need for authority figures, the need to have someone co-sign for our lives? As David Gill noted years ago: ‘We want heroes! We want assurance that someone knows what is going on in this mad world. We want a father or a mother to lean on. We want revolutionary folk heroes who will tell us what to do until the rapture. We massage the egos of these demagogues and canonize their every opinion. We accept without a whimper their rationalizations of their errors and deviations’" (p. 205).

A theme throughout the book is that "spiritual abuse can take place in the context of doctrinally sound, Bible-preaching, fundamentalist, conservative Christianity. All that is needed for abuse is a pastor accountable to no one and therefore beyond confrontation" (p. 189). The author believes that "tendencies toward abusive styles of leadership are more prevalent than most Christians realize" (p. 205). Legalisms, and the destructive applications of discipleship, authority, shepherding, and abuses within charismatic groups are discussed.

Enroth concludes, "In our homes, in our churches, and in our programs of Christian education, we must strive to cultivate critical, discerning minds if we are to avoid the tragedy of churches that abuse" (p. 206).

This book brings information, insight, and direction to those helping and to those needing help after being abused by a wide range of churches. Individuals, couples, and families will find help here directly for themselves. Professionals offering guidance will find that this book spells out for them what has happened mentally, socially, spiritually, and financially to the victims of abusive churches.

Margaret Thaler Singer
Emeritus Adjunct Professor of Psychology
University of California at Berkeley

This book is available free  on-line at www.cultsoncampus.com/books.html

Coping with Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families and Friends
By Livia Bardin, M.S.W. Essential reading for families concerned about a group-involved loved and for those wishing to develop an exit strategy for their loved one. Published by: American Family Foundation, Bonita Springs, Florida, 2000. 

"I found this handbook to be an extremely useful tool in assisting people to evaluate potential cult involvement and appropriate strategies for dealing with a cult involvement.  I would highly recommend it not only for the lay public, but for therapists, lawyers, and other professionals who might want and need to gain a more comprehensive perspective on a particular situation."  --Doni Whitsett, Ph.D.  USC School of Social Work  

"Mrs. Bardin was the right person tackling the right job at the right time.  She is a diligent student of the cult phenomenon and brings to the field the practical skills fo clinical social work.  She also knows how to clarify and organzie, to cut through the fog that confuses so many families and to illuminate for them that which is important." -- Michael Langone, Ph.D.
 

Family Interventions for Cult-Affected Loved Ones
By Carol Giambalvo  

Carol Giambolvo, an experienced exit counselor and former cult member, explains the critical points a family contemplating an exit counseling needs to consider.  She advises the family on the types of information needed for a successful exit counseling and other strategies for success.

I recommend this booklet as a handy reference for families to read before entering into an intervention and exit counseling situation. The quick-fix solutions sometimes associated with the term "exit counseling" are illusory. The fact is that exit counseling is hard work, done by families, contact persons, counselors, rehabilitation personnel, and, most important of all, the ex-member of the group. Moreover, communication, education, and planning are key to a successful intervention. When families contact me after an intervention is completed, I ask them for their recommendations to help me better prepare other families to cope while getting ready for an intervention. Sometimes it takes years for a family to call me back and they echo this thought over and over: "Communication, education, and planning helped me get my loved one out of the group."  --Judy Safransky

3. Recovery from cult involvement

Unfortunately, many members of the mental health community are not educated on the trauma that cults typically inflict on their victims, nor are they familiar with successful treatment options that can be employed in helping cult members recover from this trauma.  Ex-members of cults need to gain an understanding of how they were deceived as a first step on their road to recovery.

Recovering from Churches That Abuse
Ronald Enroth, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1994, 166 pages.
Reviewed by Frank MacHovec, Ph.D.

 This is a short book, but the material is concise, readable, useful, and well referenced. There is an appendix of checklists of factors and forces in “abusive groups” and in recovery from them. Six pages of footnotes further document and clarify the book’s content. Enroth is a sociologist who has written other books on cults and “new religions” and this book’s format and content attest to his expertise. His writing style is clear and the development of the subject logical and well documented. The material reflects a knowledge of the subject and insight into the cogni­tive, affective, and spiritual factors involved in spiritual abuse.

Enroth uses a case study approach, of men and women who were victimized by abusive religions. He allows them to “speak their own thoughts and tell their own stories” which he then “put into narrative form.” His “primary purpose” was “to describe the processes of recovery, obstacles encountered,” and “factors that inhibit or retard recovery” (p. 10). Enroth describes spiritual abuse as “damaging the central core of who we are,” which then “leaves us spiritually discour­aged and emotionally cut off from the healing love of God.” Enroth feels that much spiritual abuse is not intentional but occurs because of narcissistic leaders or those whose enthusiasm or faith renders them insensitive to human needs. Spiritual abuse is more destructive when the victim is in a need state (e.g., substance abuse, depression, desperately seeking help). The abuse is intensified in legalistic, authoritarian, and “spiritually elite” churches where rules are rigid and rigidly enforced and independent thought is prohibited. Social stressors further exacerbate the abused, such as where members are belittled or shunned if they drop out. Other negative effects are reinforcement of depression, low self-concept, rejection, failure, or futility.

Throughout the book Enroth describes the recovery process for each abused person, and the methods used. Among the methods is the four-step Wellspring method: learning to trust again without codependency; process questionable teachings of the abusive church (“twisted hermeneu­tics”); grieving for one’s self; future planning (Wellspring Retreat and Rehabilitation Center in Albany, Ohio, specializes in former cult member clients). Ebaugh’s four stages are also included: questioning commitment; exploring and evaluating alternatives; deciding to leave; creating the ex-role. In this way, the book is a helpful reference for comparative postcult recovery.

Of value to researchers and therapists is the author’s conclusion, after interviewing victims, consulting with experts in the field, and reflecting on common factors, that “the road to recovery is different for each person.” Equally important, abusive religions appear to always erode self-confidence and self-esteem. Of value to society and the future is Enroth’s observation that  “battered believers” can recover (p. 147), and he offers examples where abusing religions have, of and by themselves, seen the error of their ways and reformed themselves. Thus, there is hope for the individual, the sect, and society.

This is a useful book and is highly recommended. It contains real-life cases, their journeys to recovery, a concise review of counseling methods, and examples of how several abusing sects readjusted to healthier, more positive practices. [Reprinted from the ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) Journal, Cults and Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001 This book is available free on-line at www.cultsoncampus.com/books.html]
 

Recovery From Cults
By Michael Langone, Ph.D., Executive Director, AFF and Editor, Cultic Studies Journal

Riveting, if grim, personal accounts and case examples of how individuals are systematically cut off from outside influences, denigrated for expressions of independent thinking, and reduced to psychological dependency are coupled with detailed guidelines for helping professionals working with ex-cult members at various stages of recovery and in a wide range of settings.

In contrast to the days when ex-cult members were dismissed as late adolescent rebels or diagnosed as pathological by mental health specialists, now there is a multidisciplinary core of professionals with expertise in helping former members. Sharing their clinical experiences in the book are a diverse team of experts, representatives of professional psychology (Singer, Langone, Martin), social work (Lorna and William Goldberg, Markowitz), psychiatry (Halperin), nursing (Galanti, Kelley) education (Eisenberg), and counseling (Dowhower, Tobias, Tucker). In short, as the cult member leaves the group, information, rehabilitation, support, psychotherapy, and hospitalization are available as needed. John Clark, the eminent psychiatrist to whom this book is dedicated, is no longer almost alone in providing mental health services. And, in sharp contrast to the days when lawyers tended to avoid cult-related litigation, a group of lawyers with experience in cult cases is represented here by Herbert Rosedale.
 

Captive Hearts, Captive Minds : Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Other Abusive Relationships
by Madeleine Landau Tobias, Janja Lalich, and Michael Langone 

From Library Journal: Tobias and Lalich spent a combined total of 24 years in "restrictive groups" (i.e., cults), and both are currently involved in providing post-cult counseling and therapy. Their first collaboration, this book succeeds as an ambitious, comprehensive explanation of the cult experience and works well on several levels. Its stated focal intent is to encourage and assist those former cultists struggling to readjust to the "real world." Powered by the authors' experience, compassion, and intellect, it capably provides such support. In addition, however, Tobias and Lalich's systematic analysis of the shared characteristics of cults and cult leaders, along with extensive first-person accounts by former cultists, will educate those readers with a purely intellectual interest in the allure, power, and structure of cults. Recommended for public and religious libraries. [Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, Cal.]
 

Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships
by Janja Lalich, Ph.D. and Madeleine Tobias Bay Tree Publishing, Berkeley, CA, 2006.
Reviewed by Doni Whitsett, Ph.D., from Cultic Studies Review, Vol 5, no.1, 2006

 Whenever I’ve been asked to recommend reading to former members, families, or mental health professionals, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships was invariably at the top of my list. I can now feel comfortable replacing it with this revised and re-titled edition. Twelve years have passed since Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias first published Captive Hearts. Destined to become a classic, it was at that time one of only a handful of reputable works available on the subject as the cult field itself struggled towards professionalism and academic legitimacy. Now, twelve years later, Take Back Your Life reflects the progress toward those goals. Designed for both the lay public (particularly former cult members) as well as for mental health professionals and academics alike, this edition expands and deepens our understanding of the complex nature of the cult phenomenon.

The book is divided into four parts: The Cult Experience, The Healing Process, Families and Children in Cults, and Therapeutic Concerns. It includes new information on important themes—dissociation, PTSD, child abuse, etc.—reflecting the maturity of the field of trauma and its potentially devastating aftermath. Updated to include events that have transpired since the first edition, the book includes a description of, among other events, the Heaven’s Gate suicides, the Aum Shinrikyo Sarin gas attack, and the murder-suicide of Children of God ex-member Ricky Rodriguez. There is an entire chapter devoted to children born or raised in a cult, expanding the earlier version. Dr. Lalich’s own theoretical model, known as bounded choice, is a nice addition as well. Other topics which had also been peripherally mentioned in the first edition are discussed at length in this new one, e.g. one-on-one cults, child abuse in cults, with new personal accounts that meaningfully illustrate the theoretical material. Alexandra Stein’s story of recovery—what helped in each stage and what didn’t help—should be of particular interest to therapists.

However, although some neurobiological findings have been included from the work of Bruce Perry, the more extensive information currently available regarding neglect and abuse is somewhat limited. Thus, if any critique can be made about the book, perhaps it is this omission. The authors flirt with addressing insights from the burgeoning field of neurobiology but do not actually discuss them.  For example, on page 37 they mention Kathleen Taylor’s (2004) tome on Brainwashing but shy away from discussing any pertinent insights. Perhaps the reason for this deficit lies in the purpose for which the book was intended, i.e. as a healing tool for the former cult members rather than as an academic delight. Nevertheless, in my own work as a clinician I have discovered that presenting selective neurobiological findings to clients is often an extremely powerful way of helping them understand a dimension of their cultic experience as it highlights the changes and effects at a cellular level.

Shelly Rosen’s chapter on Therapeutic Concerns is informative and insightful. It carries the take-home message of empowerment and collaboration between client (former member) and therapist in contrast to the hierarchy of the cult structure. Ms. Rosen exhorts the therapist to be a new model of authority, someone who is competent yet shows his/her human limitations, in contrast to the cult leader’s grandiosity. Her therapeutic intervention of helping the client distinguish between his/her personal responsibility versus the influence of the social context is an important one. Limited space obviously constrained Ms. Rosen from discussing all the interventions that have been found to be helpful. For instance, the psychoeducational aspect might have been mentioned.  Psychoeducation often includes helping the client develop a timeline showing how she or he was recruited into the group and came to take on its beliefs and practices, including a new, cult-induced self-definition. Additionally, Ms. Rosen’s interpretation of the phrase “being in therapy” as signifying passivity, a lack of agency, is somewhat arguable. Nevertheless, there are excellent suggestions for clinicians, a nice addition to the book.

Take Back Your Life is impressive in its comprehensiveness and  there is something in it for everyone—personal accounts by former members, concrete guidelines and tools for recovery, a useful review of various models of cult dynamics (Part 1). It should take its place among other important works on the bookshelves of all who are interested in understanding the cult phenomenon, be it former cult members struggling to make sense of their experiences, the people who love them, and/or the professionals who treat them. Understanding how people can be lured into an abusive social system and kept there ostensibly not only with their consent but with their collusion is a complex, multi-layered task that Lalich and Tobias have helped to simplify. Take Back Your Life will go a long way in assisting people to recover, recoup, and reconstruct their lives to make them their own.

4. Information on individual groups

After you have gained a general knowledge on cults and mind control, it can be helpful to read about an individual group’s beliefs and practices.  You should not be alarmed, however, if there is little written regarding the group that you are concerned with.  As we have stated previously, the methods cults use to recruit and maintain their membership are strikingly similar.  Learning about the methods of cultic recruitment and mind control in general will equip you to deal with an individual group, even if you are unable to find specific information on that group.

Boston Movement: Critical Perspectives on the ICC
By Carol Giambalvo and Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq.

The International Churches of Christ, formerly known as the Boston Church of Christ and often referred to as the Boston Movement, is often said to be the fastest growing cultic group in the world.   The ICC has recruiters on nearly every college campus (and has been banned from several) and has churches in scores of cities across the United States.  Anyone concerned with the psychological welfare of college students will find this book indispensable.  (Recruiting targets for the ICC has typically been reported to be college students and young professionals)
 

A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed
by Joh Atack  

Atack exposes the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard's bizarre imagination and behavior, tracing the creation of Scientology in the years following World War II to perhaps its final schism following Hubbard's death in 1986. A shocking book that reveals all: the abuses, falsehoods, paranoia, and greed of Hubbard and the powerful organization he built.

THE DISCIPLING DELEMMA
Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr., Editor with articles by Howard W. Norton, Don E. Vinzant, and Gene Vinzant.  Gospel Advocate Co., Nashville, TN, 1988, 205 pages.

This is a good book. It can be recommended, with only a few cautions, to anyone who has a need to know about the shepherding/discipleship movement. It incorporates a good history of the phenomenon with the names of all the leading personalities who have played a part in its spread and development since the early 1970s. Focusing on the discipling movement as it manifests itself within the Churches of Christ, the authors have an understandable concern to defend their churches against the coercive methods of the disciplers, yet what they have to offer is of great value for every denomination.

This book records the great initial impulse for the discipling methodology which came from Gainesville, Florida, where Chuck Lucas shepherded the Crossroads Church of Christ and the campus ministry of the University of Florida. The book then reports on the powerful impact of Kip McKean and the Boston Church of Christ, a church that has nourished many daughter congregations. Yeakley notes the historical background in the Restoration Movement fellowships. Some readers may be familiar with these when they are described as "restoring churches" or "multiplying churches."

A unique feature of this book is the editor's technique of using boxes spread throughout the text to highlight some of the thoughts expressed. While this method was not intended to serve as an outline of the material, it does prove useful for a rapid review. For example, the first box informs the reader that "most of the churches that employed Crossroads-trained campus ministers eventually divided into discipling churches and churches that oppose this approach." Another box summarizes the problem: "Members are controlled in such a way that their personalities are changed to conform to the group norm."

What is the dilemma that the authors are concerned with? In their words, "It involves the question of how we can help others become more and more like Jesus Christ without making them over in our own image and thus changing them in ways that have nothing at all to do with Christianity." One could say, I think, with somewhat more directness, that the dilemma is, "How do you deal with the destructive control employed in this sort of ministry?"

Yeakley is surprisingly optimistic that the Church of Christ can "correct its many failings." He should be in a good position to make a judgment -- in 1985 he undertook a study of the growth of the Boston Church. It was a methodical and objective study in which he assessed personality changes among 900 members. He used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which assumes that a person's "true type" does not change and that when there are changes they do not indicate normal healthy growth. "Healthy growth takes place," he notes, "within a person's true type and does not require denying one's true type and trying to become a copy of someone else." However, the Yeakley study concluded that the Boston Church of Christ is producing in its members the very same pattern of unhealthy personality change that is observed in the studies of well-known manipulative sects. He notes that this pattern of personality change was not found in other Churches of Christ nor in members of five other mainline denominations. He adds that the Boston Church now teaches that Christians must obey their disciplers even in matters of opinion.

Yeakley, a trained researcher in growth, makes an observation which, in view of the facts he has brought to light, seems strange. He contends that the Boston Church is growing not because of what it is doing that is wrong but because of what it is doing that is right. One has to believe that this sentence (which appears on page 72) has escaped his own proofreading. The author's research and this reviewer's experience argue to the contrary. The decisive factor in the expansion of these shepherding/discipleship groups is precisely the manipulative techniques that they employ.

There is another judgment that could mislead the unwary reader. Yeakley says, "Discipling churches are doing many things that are good. Do not reject the good when you reject what is bad." Such an attitude would be seen as extremely tolerant by the people who have escaped from confinement within any of these organizations.

Howard Norton, in his first essay on the missionary effort of the Boston Church, is liberal in praise of the "zeal" and rather uncomplaining about the "methods" of that church. However, in a second article he expresses his own re-evaluation of their approach in Brazil. He notes that the leaders are exalted to the position of dictators and that "submission and loyalty are the coin of the realm." Leaders must be obeyed; followers must submit blindly to their direction.

Norton warns against "adopting an attitude toward these zealous brethren that would preclude the possibility of unity and peace." Some will see this ironic disposition as overly generous and this may be where the dilemma really lies. What is the most prudent and most charitable tack to take in countering the destructive methods of the shepherding/discipleship movement?

Upon reaching page 111 the reader will certainly wince if he or she happens to be Catholic or Protestant. Norton does not like either one very much. He really should be above that. He and this reviewer are at one in a desire to defend and promote authentic religion, to protect it from this ersatz variety which constitutes a spiritual virus for our contemporaries. Similar prejudice mars the following essay by Don Vinzant who grasps the fact that shepherding groups burden their members with guilt. However, when he reaches back to Christianity's fifth century to find the Roman roots of authoritarianism he reads history in a strained way. One can easily share his distaste for the terms "direction" and "spiritual director" in the vocabulary of religion, but it is only in the past two decades that I have seen the exploitation or manipulation of the faithful that he and I now lament.

As for recent history, Vinzant can be thanked for listing the chief contemporary figures: Nee, Ortiz, McKean, Lucas, Mumford, Basham, Baxter, Prince, Simpson, and the exploiters of the charismatic movement within the Catholic church. Vinzant appeals for the Churches of Christ to reject the discipling approach. No doubt he is pleased that since the publication of this book there have been a number of public statements of repentance by some of these early shepherds. One hopes that these conversions are sincere. In charity we must assume that they are. Meanwhile, books such as this one are necessary to caution the public that it is not always a shepherd who appears in shepherd's clothing.