How Cults Cause Psychological Harm

Thumb screw, instrument of torture

HOW CULTS CAUSE PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM

The essential psychological harm is that of psychological trauma.

begin People who go through these types of extremely traumatic experiences often have certain symptoms and problems afterward. The severity of these symptoms depends on the person, the type of trauma involved, and the emotional support they receive from others. Reactions to and symptoms of trauma can be wide and varied, and differ in severity from person to person. A traumatized individual may experience one or several of them. [15]

After a traumatic experience, a person may re-experience the trauma mentally and physically, hence avoiding trauma reminders, also called triggers, as this can be uncomfortable and even painful. They may turn to psychoactive substances including alcohol to try to escape the feelings. Re-experiencing symptoms are a sign that the body and mind are actively struggling to cope with the traumatic experience.

Triggers and cues act as reminders of the trauma, and can cause anxiety and other associated emotions. Often the person can be completely unaware of what these triggers are. In many cases this may lead a person suffering from traumatic disorders to engage in disruptive or self-destructive coping mechanisms, often without being fully aware of the nature or causes of their own actions. Panic attacks are an example of a psychosomatic response to such emotional triggers.

Consequently, intense feelings of anger may frequently surface, sometimes in inappropriate or unexpected situations, as danger may always seem to be present, as much as it is actually present and experienced from past events. Upsetting memories such as images, thoughts, or flashbacks may haunt the person, and nightmares may be frequent. [16] Insomnia may occur as lurking fears and insecurity keep the person vigilant and on the lookout for danger, both day and night. Trauma doesn’t only cause changes in one’s daily functions but could also lead to morphological changes. Such epigenetic changes can be passed on to the next generations, thus making genetics as one of the components of the causes of psychological trauma. However, some people are born with or later develop protective factors such as genetics and sex that help lower their risk of psychological trauma. [17]

The person may not remember what actually happened, while emotions experienced during the trauma may be re-experienced without the person understanding why (see Repressed memory). This can lead to the traumatic events being constantly experienced as if they were happening in the present, preventing the subject from gaining perspective on the experience. This can produce a pattern of prolonged periods of acute arousal punctuated by periods of physical and mental exhaustion. This can lead to mental health disorders like acute stress and anxiety disorder, traumatic grief, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, conversion disorders, brief psychotic disorder, borderline personality disorder, adjustment disorder...etc. [18]

In time, emotional exhaustion may set in, leading to distraction, and clear thinking may be difficult or impossible. Emotional detachment, as well as dissociation or “numbing out”, can frequently occur. Dissociating from the painful emotion includes numbing all emotion, and the person may seem emotionally flat, preoccupied, distant, or cold. Dissociation includes depersonalisation disorder, dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, etc.

Some traumatized people may feel permanently damaged when trauma symptoms do not go away and they do not believe their situation will improve. This can lead to feelings of despair, transient paranoid ideation, loss of self-esteem, profound emptiness, suicidality, and frequently depression. If important aspects of the person’s self and world understanding have been violated, the person may call their own identity into question. [15] Often despite their best efforts, traumatized parents may have difficulty assisting their child with emotion regulation, attribution of meaning, and containment of post-traumatic fear in the wake of the child’s traumatization, leading to adverse consequences for the child. [11][19] In such instances, it is in the interest of the parent(s) and child for the parent(s) to seek consultation as well as to have their child receive appropriate mental health services.

[11] Schechter DS, Zygmunt A, Coates SW, Davies M, Trabka KA, McCaw J, Kolodji A., Robinson JL (2007). “Caregiver traumatization adversely impacts young children’s mental representations of self and others”. Attachment & Human Development. 9 (3): 187–205. PMC 2078523 Freely accessible.

…[15] Carlson, Eve B.; Josef Ruzek. “Effects of Traumatic Experiences: A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet”. National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Archived from the original on 2004-06-12. Retrieved 2005-12-09.

[16] Loyola College in Maryland: Trauma and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

[17] Frommberger, Ulrich (2014). “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge”. Deutsches Arzteblatt International.

[18] Rothschild B (2000). The body remembers: the psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-70327-4.

[19] Schechter DS, Coates SW, Kaminer T, Coots T, Zeanah CH, Davies M, Schonfield IS, Marshall RD, Liebowitz MR Trabka KA, McCaw J, Myers MM (2008). “Distorted maternal mental representations and atypical behavior in a clinical sample of violence-exposed mothers and their toddlers”. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. 9 (2): 123–149. PMC 2577290 Freely accessible. PMID 18985165. doi:10.1080/15299730802045666. end

begin Stress disorders

Main articles: Posttraumatic stress disorder and Complex post-traumatic stress disorder

All psychological traumas originate from stress, a physiological response to an unpleasant stimulus. [34] Long term stress increases the risk of poor mental health and mental disorders, which can be attributed to secretion of glucocorticoids for a long period of time. Such prolonged exposure causes many physiological dysfunctions such as the suppression of the immune system and increase in blood pressure. [35] Not only does it affect the body physiologically, but a morphological change in the hippocampus also takes place. Studies showed that extreme stress early in life can disrupt normal development of hippocampus and impact its functions in adulthood. Studies surely show a correlation between the size of hippocampus and one’s susceptibility to stress disorders. [36] In times of war, psychological trauma has been known as shell shock or combat stress reaction. Psychological trauma may cause an acute stress reaction which may lead on to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD emerged as the label for this condition after the Vietnam War in which many veterans returned to their respective countries demoralized, and sometimes, addicted to psychoactive substances. The symptoms of PTSD must persist for at least a month for diagnosis. The main symptoms of PTSD consist of four main categories: Trauma (i.e. intense fear), reliving (i.e. flashbacks), avoidance behavior (i.e. emotional numbing), and hypervigilance (i.e. irritability). [37] Research shows that about 60% of the US population reported as having experienced at least one traumatic symptom in their lives but only a small proportion actually develops PTSD. There is a correlation between the risk of PTSD and whether or not the act was inflicted deliberately by the offender. [17] Psychological trauma is treated with therapy and, if indicated, psychotropic medications.

The term continuous posttraumatic stress disorder (CTSD) [38] was introduced into the trauma literature by Gill Straker (1987). It was originally used by South African clinicians to describe the effects of exposure to frequent, high levels of violence usually associated with civil conflict and political repression. The term is also applicable to the effects of exposure to contexts in which gang violence and crime are endemic as well as to the effects of ongoing exposure to life threats in high-risk occupations such as police, fire and emergency services.

As one of the processes of treatment, confrontation with their sources of trauma plays a crucial role. While debriefing people immediately after an event has not been shown to reduce incidence of post-traumatic stress, coming alongside people experiencing trauma in a supportive way has become standard practice. [39]

[17] Frommberger, Ulrich (2014). “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge”. Deutsches Arzteblatt International.

...[34] Carlson, Neil. Physiology of Psychology. Pearson Education Inc. ISBN 0-205-23939-0.

[35] Seyle, H. (1976). “The Stress of Life”. McGraw Hill.

[36] Brunson et al. (2005). “Mechanisms of late-onset cognitive decline after early-life stress”. Journal of Neuroscience.

[37] Frommberger, Ulrich (2014). “Post-traumatic stress disorder - a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge”. Deutsches Arzteblatt International. 111 (5): 59–65. PMC 3952004 Freely accessible. PMID 24612528. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2014.0059.

[38] Straker, Gillian (1987). “The continuous traumatic stress syndrome: The single therapeutic interview”. Psychology and Society.

[39] McNally RJ; Bryant RA; Ehlers A (2003). “Does early psychological intervention promote recovery from posttraumatic stress?”. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 4 (2): 45–79. doi:10.1111/1529-1006.01421. end

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_trauma#Symptoms

—“Psychological trauma,” Wikipedia

 

Question: What causes psychological stress in cults? Answer: Dissociative disorders. 

 

begin Dissociative disorders involve problems with memory, identity, emotion, perception, behavior, and sense of self. Dissociative symptoms can potentially disrupt every area of mental functioning.

Examples of dissociative symptoms include the experience of detachment or feeling as if one is outside one’s body, and loss of memory or amnesia. Dissociative disorders are frequently associated with previous experience of trauma.

There are three types of dissociative disorders:

- Dissociative identity disorder

- Dissociative amnesia

- Depersonalization/derealization disorder

The Sidran Institute, which works to help people understand and cope with traumatic stress and dissociative disorders, describes the phenomenon of dissociation and the purpose it may serve as follows:

Dissociation is a disconnection between a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of who he or she is. This is a normal process that everyone has experienced. Examples of mild, common dissociation include daydreaming, highway hypnosis or “getting lost” in a book or movie, all of which involve “losing touch” with awareness of one’s immediate surroundings.

During a traumatic experience such as an accident, disaster, or crime victimization, dissociation can help a person tolerate what might otherwise be too difficult to bear. In situations like these, a person may dissociate the memory of the place, circumstances or feelings about of the overwhelming event, mentally escaping from the fear, pain, and horror. This may make it difficult to later remember the details of the experience, as reported by many disaster and accident survivors. end

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/dissociative-disorders/what-are-dissociative-disorders

—“What Are Dissociative Disorders?” American Psychiatric Association, reviewed by Philip Wang, M.D., Dr.P.H., August 2018

 

Cults create the conditions that give rise to dissociative disorders. 

 

begin WHAT MAKES A SECT DESTRUCTIVE?

Steve Hassan, an ex-sect member, says that destructive sects have authoritarian leadership, deception, and destructive mind control.

A destructive sect is an authoritarian group with an all-powerful leader, who claims to have special information or power that is available only from him. Again, there is nothing wrong with being a powerful leader. The difficulty arises when this power is abused to deceive members, making them dependent on him and incapable of thinking critically and making their own decisions. Most leaders are actually psychopaths.

Destructive sects use deception to attract and recruit members. Potential members are offered all sorts of things to get them to come along to group meetings, meals, weekends away, and the like. Communication skills, a way to make money quickly, a way to understand the Bible, the offer of new friends, better relationships, better health, etc., etc.

But what they end up getting can be very different - a different set of values, a pseudo-identity or a pseudo-personality, loss of friends, breaking up of family relationships, spending their time working for nothing, while any income they do generate goes to the leader, and so on.

The members making the offers can be very convincing, firstly because they have been deceived themselves (having been exposed to the same mind control techniques they themselves are now using to recruit), and secondly because they may actually believe completely in what they are offering.

And thirdly, the use of destructive mind control, which is a system of influence designed to unfreeze the person’s identity, make changes, and freeze a new identity, a pseudo-identity in place. By using a rigidly controlled, high-pressure social environment, destructive cults change people’s Behaviors, Emotions, and Thoughts and controls their access to Information. (This is Hassan’s BITE model.) In essence, they take over and control their minds. end

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/destructive-sects.html

—“Destructive Sects – What Are They? How Do I Recognize Them?” Decision Making Confidence

 

begin Margaret Singer in her book Cults In Our Midst describes her six-point system, where

- the person is unaware that there is a system controlling them,

- their time and environment is controlled,

- they’re made fearful and dependent,

- previous behaviors and attitudes are repressed,

- new behaviors and attitudes are installed and

- they are presented with a doctrine which actually has a closed logic. end

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/mind-control.html

—“What Is Mind Control?” Decision Making Confidence

 

A major source of psychological stress is that during this process of creating a pseudo-identity, cult members are placed under extraordinary pressure to submit to ideas that they do not accept, at least not with full, conscious, and critical volition, and to conform to behaviors that they consider unethical and that moreover, in the cultic context are actually so. Examples: 

begin DOCTRINE IS REALITY

Cult’s doctrine is considered the ‘Truth’ with a capital T, it covers every eventuality and members are expected to accept it completely, even if they don’t understand it. Eric Hoffer says that the best cult doctrines are unverifiable and un-evaluable. This means they cannot be proven or disproved, they have to be accepted on faith.

A fundamental aspect of cult psychology is to get the person to distrust themselves, and to develop a new identity where the doctrine is the master program for all thoughts, feelings, and actions. This pseudo-identity (see later) does not need to be in the presence of the group leader to know what to do. In any given situation, the program tells them how they should act, think, or feel (in order to satisfy the cult leader!).

BLACK AND WHITE, GOOD VERSUS EVIL

Cults typically reduce things to black and white. Shades of grey are not allowed. After all, if they have the ultimate Truth (with a capital T), then every other group must be wrong, which leads to an ‘us versus them’ mentality. You’re either with the group or you’re an outsider. (This is often an aspect of the paranoia of cult leaders, too.)

This goes part of the way to explaining how group members end up distancing themselves from family and friends. They are made to believe that outsiders (i.e., those not in the group) are a bad influence and are stopping them from growing, evolving, progressing in some way.

The cult psychology of black and white thinking extends to many other areas, too. You are fully committed or not, you accept everything the leader says or not. You are sexually liberated or you are not (how’s that for powerful manipulation?!?).

Words like ‘never’, ‘always’, ‘everyone’ are used frequently. end

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/cult-psychology.html

 

—“Understanding Cult Psychology,” Decision Making Confidence

begin They have double sets of ethics - there is one set of rules for the leader and another set of rules for the members. For example, the members are celibate but the leader has sex with everyone. The members cannot criticize the leader but the leader criticizes them frequently. Members confess everything honestly in the group, but lie to outsiders to recruit them.

…For cult leaders, the ends justify the means. That allows them to basically do what they like, with no morals or ethics. Remember that many leaders are psychopaths, with all that entails!

…Destructive cults typically have two purposes - recruiting new members and fund raising. Other groups do this, too, of course, in order to better the members’ lives or contribute to society. The difference is that in destructive cults, all work and funds serve the cult, or more specifically, the leaders. end

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/destructive-cults.html

—“Destructive Cults – How to Spot Them,” Decision Making Confidence 

 

begin THE GROUP 

Many destructive sects offer friendship, companionship, and the option to make new friends with like-minded people. And indeed, the new recruits are often exposed to what is called ‘love bombing,’ where they are showered with affection, pleasantries and made to feel special. Note that this is how psychopaths typically build artificial relationships with their intended victims.

However, closer inspection of friendships in groups usually reveals them to be very shallow. For example, when somebody leaves a group, the friendship typically dissolves and they are quickly forgotten, no matter how ‘strong’ a bond there was with other members within the group.

Or if somebody commits a ‘sin’ within a group or breaks the rules in some way, very quickly they may find themselves ostracized by the group. It may even have been their best friend who informed the leadership of their misdeed!

The leader does not want friendships, he or she wants the attention for himself. end

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/cult-contradictions.html

—“A List of Cult Contradictions,” Decision Making Confidence 

 

The psychological damage caused is not uniform among former cult members.

begin FACTORS AFFECTING EFFECTIVENESS

The destructive effects of mind control are proportional to:

- the techniques used

- the number of techniques

- whether there is hypnosis and/or hypnotic mind control used,

- how often the person is exposed to it and for how long

- how close they are to the cult leader, how much direct contact there is

- how much exposure to the outside world is allowed

- presence of sexual abuse

- whether the member continues to have support from family and friends and so on.

For example, a person who has lived and worked in a cult environment for 5 years where the members live together, who rarely leaves the group compound and who has frequent, direct contact with the cult leader will have suffered much more from the effects of cult control than someone who attends a 2 hour class given by the cult leader once a week for 2 months.

In one-on-one cults, in an intimate relationship with a sociopath, for example, a husband and wife situation, where all the attention is given to one victim, the results can be very disturbing. end

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/mind-control.html

—“What Is Mind Control?” Decision Making Confidence

 

Many of the foregoing cultic attributes define Opus Dei, all perpetrated under the sponsorship of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.