More About Cults
And Their Effects

This is part 3. Read part 1 of this article about cults here, and Part 2 here.

What else happens?

In destructive cults, members are manipulated and exploited, they may distance themselves from their family and friends and even leave their careers to work in the cult, often for little or no pay. Their own beliefs and values have been changed to those of the group, and they identify with the group and the leader. They suffer psychological and emotional abuse, and there may be physical or sexual abuse.

And very often, at the same time, they believe that they've never been happier in their lives. Such is the power of mind control!

Usually there is an elitist mentality because they have access to information or their leader in a way that outsiders do not. They become very defensive of their leader and in a way their identity and their well-being becomes linked the well-being of the leader.

Hence, they will usually be very quick to defend him/her, often aggressively!

In the most obvious cases, family and friends notice that there has been a significant change since the person joined the group. A change in their beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and values. They often say it's like dealing with a different person. This can be very distressing in families where a child is isolated from their parents by the cult leader. The siblings and even the parents can be very angry at the child because of the way the child now treats the family. The assumption is that the child is making their own choices and is deliberately going against everyone at home.

It's important to keep in mind that cult members are not making their own decisions. The cult leader has built a false reality and forced the members to live within this reality. For the member in this reality, it makes perfect sense to do certain things. For example, if the cult leader has convinced the members that the parents are evil, are full ef dangerous entities, or even that the parents are preventing the child from becoming independent, running away from the family becomes a 'logical' choice.

 

Pseudo-identity

Cults basically dismantle the personality of the members, it creates changes and then freezes these changes in place. Each member has a new pseudo-identity imposed upon them which represses and dominates their old identity. This pseudo-identity is typically a clone of the leader that has been imposed over time using mind control tactics.

Occasionally the real identity can appear, the person may seem as before, and then the pseudo-identity reasserts itself and the cult person reappears. This can happen very suddenly and is very disconcerting for the family member or friend witnessing it!

This new pseudo-identity lives in a different reality, a reality narrowed by the doctrine of the group, and so the decision making has been limited to things that make sense within that reality. So when we hear about cults and the things that they do, remember that while things may not make sense to outsiders, what the group members do and think is reasonable and rational... to them!

This pseudo-identity is built with strong influence techniques over a long period of time. A system of rewards and punishments is used to extinguish some behaviors and introduce the new cult behaviors. The member is not aware of how much they are changing. They are not aware of the techniques being used against them to bring about the change. This means that when the member leaves, the pseudo-identity does not simply disappear. It persists indefinitely unless the person works to undo it, although it may weaken somewhat over time.

 

Impact on society

When we think about cults in this way, it is obvious that they are detrimental to society in many ways. Nowadays, young and old alike are susceptible to being recruited. When people think about cults they do not often consider older people, but nowadays old people are targets because they have money, and may be extremely vulnerable, for example, they find themselves living alone after the recent death of their spouse.

When and if members manage to leave, they may need an extensive period of recuperation before they can integrate themselves usefully into society again.

Some cults are so large that they have extraordinary (and frightening!) influence in the media, in politics, and in lawmaking. They may dominate whole communities.

Some cults are violent, leading to suicides and murders.

Destructive cults thrive on conspiracy and fraud, and the legal system is often ill-equipped to deal with them.

Cults deny people their freedom. They take away their possessions.

Frequently there is sexual abuse.

It's possible that many 'mentally ill' people have been in cults, and don't know it. The symptoms they have after leaving a cult are interpreted as mental illness (yes, post-cult symptoms can be that severe!) And they are treated as such, instead of getting the advice and counseling from experts who understand their situation, and can actually help them to undo the mind control and the harmful effects.

Cults are using mind control techniques to indoctrinate their members with the beliefs and values of their leaders who are often psychopaths/sociopaths. Even after the members leave a cult, if they do not receive appropriate treatment and counseling, these beliefs and values persist. (See mind control for more info on this)

The effect of this on the individual can be disastrous. The effect on society has not been given enough consideration yet!!

 

About cults - more reading

Read the first part of this article on destructive cults and the second part. You can also read about how to leave a cult. You can learn a lot about cults and mind control in movies, too...

Like this page?