Cults in America: Programmed for Paradise; Psychodynamic Perspectives on Religion, Sect and Cult

Iron fists/velvet gloves: A study of a mass marathon psychology training.

“…They oscillate between confusion about their commitment to the organization and a rudimentary understanding of the complex process to which they were subjected, between despair over the necessity of pulling their lives together and occasionally hopefulness about a future unencumbered by the thought-reform milieu. The last two types of clients should be treated in a manner similar to a religious-cult victim (see Cushman, 1983; Galper, 1983; Markowitz, 1983; Singer, 1979). They need to study the behavioral tactics common in restrictive groups and the psychological dynamics of thought reform and social coercion.…”