Recovery from Cults
Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse a 1995 book about counselling and therapeutic approaches for individuals exposed to coercive or harmful practices in cults. It is edited by Michael Langone, director of the anti-cult non-profit organization International Cultic Studies Association (formerly the American Family Foundation), and is published by W. W. Norton & Company. The book examines coercive cult practices through theories of social influence, cognitive psychology, and psychotherapy.
The book has 22 contributors, primarily from the International Cultic Studies Association. Designed as a reference for people seeking help past New Religious Movements/Cults/Sects experiences.[1]
Reviews
The review in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease observes that the book "looks at cults from the perspective of ex-cultists and the mental health specialists who help them to break away and, equally difficult, to pick up and integrate the threads of normal living once again." It notes that the work begins "with an introduction and historical background and then presents an edited collection of 19 essays that are, taken individually, stimulating and informative and that, taken as an ensemble, give a rounded view of cultic processes and exiting from cults." The review summarizes the contents as descriptions of cult dynamics; strategies and insights from therapists; and interpretation of cult dynamics through theories of social influence, cognitive psychology, and psychotherapy. The reviewer concludes: "I regard this as a good book, value for money and also value for the time it takes to read it...It will be particularly useful for therapists whose clientele includes present and former cult members".[2]
A review in the British Medical Journal stated that the work appears mostly aimed at people who are concerned a friend or relative might be in a cult, little exploration of why an individual would join a cult, that there is little analysis of the definition or effectiveness of "exit counselling" that the book recommends, and there is little difference in the outcomes of exit counselling irrespective of whether the person left the cult voluntarily versus being ejected.[3]
References
- ^ Recovery from Cults, XBK info: A guide to life after leaving the Brahma Kumaris, 2006
- ^ Gallagher, Eugene B. (February 1995). "Langone, Michael, ed.: Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 183 (2). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: 122. doi:10.1097/00005053-199502000-00021.
- ^ Jerram, T (1994). "Book Review: Recovery from Cults". British Medical Journal. 308 (6937): 1175. doi:10.1136/bmj.308.6937.1175. (registration required)
Further reading
- Saliba, JA (1995). "Book Review: Recovery from Cults". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 34 (4): 531–532. doi:10.2307/1387351. JSTOR 1387351. (subscription required)
- Wallace, Edwin R. (1994). "Recovery From Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 272 (12): 979. doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03520120089039. ISSN 0098-7484.
External links
- Available online, through Google books, Pages displayed by permission, W. W. Norton & Company
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- APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control
- Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons
- Cult Awareness Network
- Cult Information Centre
- Cultists Anonymous
- International Cultic Studies Association
- The Family Survival Trust
- Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
- National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
- People's Organised Workshop on Ersatz Religion
- Jean-Marie Abgrall
- John Gordon Clark
- Steve Eichel
- Martin Faiers
- Leon Festinger
- Carol Giambalvo
- Steven Hassan
- Ian Haworth
- Galen Kelly
- Stephen A. Kent
- Masaki Kito
- Janja Lalich
- Michael Langone
- Saul V. Levine
- Casey McCann
- Jesse S. Miller
- Sayuri Ogawa
- Ted Patrick
- Tsutsumi Sakamoto
- Rick Ross
- Chris Shelton
- Margaret Singer
- Eito Suzuki
- Alain Vivien
- Cyril Vosper
- Louis Jolyon West
- Lawrence Wollersheim
- Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
- Christian Research Institute
- Dialog Center International
- Dialogue Ireland
- Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
- Institute for Religious Research
- Personal Freedom Outreach
- Midwest Christian Outreach
- New England Institute of Religious Research
- Reachout Trust
- Spiritual Counterfeits Project
- Watchman Fellowship
- Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
- Nicolas About
- Serge Blisko
- Georges Fenech
- Ford Greene
- Stephen Mutch
- Catherine Picard
- Kenneth Robinson
- Paul Rose
- Tom Sackville
- Nick Xenophon
- About–Picard law
- Anti-Mormonism
- Assassination of Shinzo Abe
- Governmental lists of cults and sects
- Mass suicide of Heaven's Gate
- Jason Scott case
- Persecution of Baháʼís
- Persecution of Falun Gong
- Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
- The Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act
- Tokyo subway sarin attack
- Waco siege
- All Gods Children (book)
- Another Gospel
- Bounded Choice
- Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
- Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
- The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
- Churches That Abuse
- Combating Cult Mind Control
- Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
- Cults in Our Midst
- Cults of Unreason
- Deadly Cults
- The Incendiaries
- The Kingdom of the Cults
- The Making of a Moonie
- Misunderstanding Cults
- The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions
- On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left
- Recovery from Cults
- Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change
- Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare
- Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
- Twisted Scriptures
- When Prophecy Fails
- The Wrong Way Home
- Zealot: A Book About Cults