Heaven’s Gate, a secretive group of celibate “monks” awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at [...]
Cult victims and those who have suffered abusive relationships often suffer from fear, confusion, low-self esteem, and post-traumatic stress. Take Back Your Life explains the seductive draw that leads people into such situations, provides guidelines for assessing what happened, and hands-on tools for getting back on track. Written for the victims, their families, and professionals, [...]
Meet Beth: A therapist led Beth to believe that more than one hundred entities, otherworldly beings trapped between life and death, had invaded Beth’s body and were causing all her problems.
Meet Rose: She was rolled inside a cotton rug that simulated the birth canal. After struggling to free herself in a birthing exercise, Rose was [...]
Clinical psychologist Margaret Thaler Singer, emeritus professor at Berkeley, and former cult member Janja Lalich (author of Bounded Choice) here present an instructive report on the cult phenomenon, which they regard as a growing menace around the world. They define cults as organizations that feature “coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavioral control,” many religiously [...]
Edited by Janja Lalich, this special issue of the Cultic Studies Journal explores issues of dominance, control, and exploitation of women in groups.
Chapters examine why women are attracted to totalist groups, how they are manipulated, and how they can be helped. Personal accounts provide dramatic examples of the issues discussed.
The “Introduction: “We Own her Now,” [...]
This book is currently out of print, although occastionally used editions can be found online. The book has been revised and updated and reissued in 2006 as Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships.
From a review in Library Journal: This book succeeds as an ambitious, comprehensive explanation of the cult experience and [...]