Introduction to Special Collection: Recovery From Cults: A Pastoral/Psychological Dialogue - Personal Accounts of Former Group Members
The following articles are edited transcriptions of talks given by four former group members who participated in a joint two-day conference of AFF and Denver Theological Seminary: Nancy Miquelon, Patrick Knapp, Carson Miles, and David Clark. The conference’s title was “Recovery from Cults: A Pastoral/Psychological Dialogue. In addition to the former member talks published here, the conference included talks by Dr. Ronald Enroth, Dr. Michael Langone, Dr. Paul Martin, and Gretchen Passantino. Dr. James Beck of Denver Seminary moderated the conference. Herbert Rosedale, Esq., of AFF and Dr. Douglas Groothuis of Denver Seminary were discussants.
The talks of the former members were designed to illuminate the psychological and spiritual issues former group members frequently encounter and the similarities and differences of evangelical and secular approaches to recovery issues. Two of the former members (Clark and Miquelon) have been active in cult educational work with secular organizations and rely primarily on the thought reform model of cult conversion. Two (Knapp and Miles) initially sought help from evangelical cult educational organizations and have been associated with Denver Seminary. They also recognize the abusiveness of cultic environments, but rely on family systems and pastoral counseling models of cult conversion. All four contributors are currently practicing Christians.
AFF is grateful to Denver Theological Seminary for providing a facility for the conference and for collaborating in its design, promotion, and execution. We are grateful, in particular, to Dr. James Beck, director of the seminary’s counseling program, and Dr. Douglas Groothuis, Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Ethics. A special debt of gratitude is owed Sharon Hamm, a writer from Fort Collins, Colorado. Ms. Hamm volunteered to prepare these talks for publication. Without her patient and skillful editing, these papers would have remained rough transcriptions.
AFF also wishes to thank the speakers, whose thoughtful contributions made the conference stimulating and memorable. The papers presented here will, I hope, help readers appreciate the complexity and subtlety of the cult experience and recognize that we need more nuanced theories of cult conversion than currently exist.
This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1998, Volume 15, Number 2, pages 107-108. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.
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References
Two groups of former cultists were administered the MCMI and other psychological tests in order to assess the nature and magnitude of post-cult psychological problems. One group consisted of 13 former cultists who attended an educational conference on cults. The other group was made up of Ill former cultists who attended a residential treatment center. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this treatment, 66 members of the latter group participated in a six-month followup. Post-cult distress at initial testing was high and did not differ between groups. Pre-post evaluations of the treatment group indicated a strong treatment effect. Marked personality configuration shifts in the MCMI profile after treatment occurred. Results appear to support the view that dissociative processes are central to the cult experience.
| AFF News Briefs - Vol. 01, No. 04, 2002 - print |
| Childhood Verbal, Physical, Sexual Victimization, Symptomatology and Family Environments within Coercive Groups and Resultant Treatment Outcomes |
| INTERNATIONAL: Sweden-American Cult Experts Consult in Sweden |
| Overcoming the Bondage of Revictimization: response to Passantino |
| Paul Martin |
| Pitfalls To Recovery by Dr. Paul Martin |
| Post-Cult Symptoms As Measured by the MCMI Before and After Residential Treatment |
| Professional Profile: Dr. Paul Martin |
| Study Indicates Rehab's Benefits |
| The Lifton Scale |
The Wellspring Treatment Model for Victims of Cults and Cultic Relationships
Paul R. Martin, Ph.D.
ICSA is sad to report that Dr. Paul R. Martin passed away after a long illness on Friday, August 14, 2009. Dr. Martin was one of the leading figures in the cultic studies field. He contributed immeasurably to the recovery of more than 1,000 former cult members, provided counsel to families, trained professionals, and was a pioneer of clinical research in this field.
You will find personal details in Dr. Martin's obituary. We wish his family and friends our deepest condolences.
 Paul R. Martin, Ph.D., a former member of Great Commission International (currently called Great Commission Association of Churches), was a psychologist and Director of the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center in Albany, Ohio, a residential rehabilitation center for ex-cult members that has treated over 1000 clients. Dr. Martin was author of Cult-Proofing Your Kids. He wrote numerous articles on cults, including several contributions to Cultic Studies Journal, such as, “Pseudo Identity and the Treatment of Personality Change in Victims of Captivity and Cults” (Vol. 13. No. 2). He was interviewed by many newspapers and radio and TV stations concerning cults. He served as an expert witness in cult cases around the world, and was the lead expert witness for the Lee Boyd Malvo trial (the Virginia sniper case) and testified in the Zacarious Moussoui case, (the 20th hijacker) on the process of terrorist recruitment. He was the 2006 ICSA recipient of the Herbert L. Rosedale Award for leadership in preserving and protecting individual freedom. In 1993, he also received the John G. Clark Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Cultic Studies.
Return to Dr. Martin's Obituary
Video's by Paul Martin
Reflections from reFOCUS
In our E-library
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Study Indicates Rehab’s Benefits
Because cults can be oppressive environments, and because people who leave cults are frequently disillusioned and overwhelmed by the challenge of adjusting to mainstream society, former cult members experience a high level of distress. Research studies suggest that more than one-third and possibly more than one-half of those who have left cultic groups have been detrimentally affected by their cultic experience. One researcher has written: “Members may be harmed in that they lose their psychological autonomy and, frequently, their financial assets. Furthermore, the group’s partial-to-total disconnection from mainline society deprives members of the opportunity to learn from the varied experiences that a normal life provides. Members may lose irretrievable years in a state of ‘maturational arrest.’ In some cases they undergo psychiatric breakdowns and/or suffer from physical disease and injury.” A survey of 350 ex-cultists from 48 different groups found that former members suffered from residual effects of their cult experience lasting from 43.8 months to 139 months, with an average duration of 81.5 months. These effects included such things as depression, loneliness, guilt, anger, fear, humiliation, disorientation, “floating” in and out of altered states, nightmares, and an inability to break mental rhythms of chanting, meditation, or speaking in tongues. Deprogrammed subjects appeared to recover more quickly. Clinicians who have worked extensively with former cultists say that most require six months to two years to adjust adequately. Some require much more time.
Ex-cultists often need so much time to readjust because so many areas of their lives are adversely affected simultaneously. Most cultists are implicitly, if not explicitly, encouraged to burn all interpersonal bridges to the mainstream world. When they leave the cult, they are usually shunned by their cult “friends” and met with puzzlement, hurt, and anger by the old friends and relatives they had ignored for so long. Because of their devotion to the cult’s “cause,” many cultists abandon school, career plans, and even functioning careers in order to serve the group. Leaving a group that appeared to provide spiritual meaning will often leave ex-cultists feeling spiritually empty or spiritually raped. And, in part because they had been indoctrinated in the cult to believe that the group was always right, many former cultists consider themselves to be failures or seriously inadequate. Thus, former cultists often have interpersonal, vocational, spiritual, and intrapersonal conflicts and deficiencies.
Although it can certainly be helpful, weekly psychotherapy may be insufficient for many former cultists. That is why many have attended special residential treatment programs. The Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, for example, offers a comprehensive program of in‑depth psychological assessment and treatment usually lasting two weeks. Clients receive a full psychological test battery and assessment interview. They participate in workshops that address common postcult problems, e.g., depression, grieving and loss, establishing career goals, spiritual issues. All clients receive extensive one-on-one therapy. And all clients receive an intensive education on psychological manipulation, thought reform programs, and the cult conversion process.
The term “rehabilitation” has been applied to this process because, like persons recovering from physical injuries, ex-cultists require an intensive program in order to bring them back at least to the level at which they once functioned. Also, as with the physically injured, most ex-cultists were relatively normal before they were seduced into a destructive group.
Wellspring has conducted the only formal outcome evaluation study with the ex-cult rehabilitation population. The results are encouraging. Wellspring clients are routinely administered the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) at intake and, in most cases, at a six-month follow-up. The improvement in all clinical sub-scales, including dysthymia and anxiety, was dramatic, with the exception of the psychotic delusion scale, which was normal at the time of admission. Treatment effectiveness was not enhanced, on the Millon inventory, if clients sought further psychiatric care once they left Wellspring. Wellspring research indicates, then, that additional psychotherapy following postcult rehabilitation does not appreciably reduce the ex-members’ symptomatology. The study, however, did not include consideration of psychotherapy gains through work with mental health professionals trained to recognize and deal with cult-related symptoms and dynamics. Such work may greatly aid the recovery process.
To conclude, an intensive postcult rehabilitation program may be a cost-effective treatment for former cult members. By clarifying the cult-related issues troubling the client, it can lay the groundwork for a more productive psychotherapeutic relationship.
Langone, M.D., Destructive Cultism: Questions and Answers. Bonita Springs, FL: American Family Foundation, 1982, 7.
Conway, F. et al. Information Disease: Effects of Covert Induction and Deprogramming. Update 10 (3) 1986, 63-65 and Update, 10 (3). 45-57
This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1992, Volume 9, Number 2, pages 219-250. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.
Post-Cult Symptoms As Measured by the MCMI Before and After Residential Treatment
Abstract
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