Resources
For a long time after I escaped the cult, I blamed myself – sure that I’d been the dumbest person on the planet to let myself get pulled in and then stay so long. I grieved the many lost years of my life.
Then, I began reading and educating myself about cults and how they operate, including predatory practices and mind control. This helped me stop disparaging myself and begin the healing process. Here are some resources that helped me. I hope they help you, too.
For the basics, start here
Why do people join cults? This animated six-minute Ted-Ed talk provides a primer on the basics of how cults recruit and manipulate members, produced by cult studies expert Dr. Janja Lalich.
Organizations: There are many great ones; here are a few
The Cult Education Institute (CEI) maintains an online library with information about cults and controversial groups and movements. Its archives are constantly expanding to include new research.
Freedom of Mind Resource Center
As a young man, Steven Hassan fell prey to Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, which he escaped after two years. Today, he is a PhD, a licensed mental health professional, and one of the world’s most renowned cult experts. His organization provides extensive education, workshops, training models, and courses on cult dynamics, as well as recovery coaching and guidance for interventions to help a loved one. He is the author of four books on cults.
The mission of #igotout is to inspire survivors of high-demand environments who have experienced cultic, religious, or spiritual abuse to tell their stories, learn from each other, and help educate the public. It states, “By courageously sharing your stories, you can shed light on the universal patterns of coercive control, abuse of power, and manipulation.”
International Cultic Studies Association
The ICSA helps former cult members recover, supports families of cult members, educates the public about cultic organizations, and trains professionals. The organization is a leader in academic research to advance our understanding of psychological manipulation. It offers conferences, professional training, and publications, including the International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation.
Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion
Janja Lalich, PhD, is an international authority on cults, extremism, and coercion. A researcher, author, educator, and political cult survivor, Dr. Lalich specializes in recruitment, indoctrination, and methods of influence and control. The Lalich Center helps cult survivors, as well as friends, families, and professionals, by providing learning resources, workshops, courses, and discussion groups.
Books
On the websites above, you’ll find many excellent books about cult dynamics, including how to escape and recover. Here are some that have meant a great deal to me in my own recovery.
Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults by Steven Hassan
This landmark book has helped thousands of ex-members and their families, therapists, clergy, and law enforcement understand the use of mind control techniques in cults. Hassan exposes the troubling facts about cults' recruitment, their use of psychological manipulation, and their often-subtle influence on government, the legal system, and society.
Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Janja Lalich
Cult victims and those in abusive relationships often suffer from fear, confusion, low self-esteem, and post-traumatic stress. Take Back Your Life explains the seductive lure of cults, their impact, and tools for recovery. Written for victims, their families, and professionals.
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton.
A groundbreaking book, first published in 1961. Lifton outlines "Eight Criteria for Thought Reform,” based on interviews with victims of mind control. His findings helped establish the foundation for our modern-day understanding of cultic psychological manipulation.
You might also like to check out Goodreads’ diverse collection of books about cults.
Articles
5 Steps to Help Your Cult-Involved Loved One
With compassionate understanding, Ashlen Hilliard, the founder of People Leave Cults, offers practical advice about what to do – and not to do – to help someone you love who is entrapped in a cult.
Annie Lennon explains from a neurological perspective how cultic behaviors and rituals can have devastating effects on the brain, disabling critical thinking processes and freezing emotional processing.
Signs Your Job Is More Than a Little Like a Cult
Former cult member Megan Liscomb asked others in the BuzzFeed Community to share the most cult-like things they’ve witnessed at work. A fascinating article on how insidious cult-style manipulation can be – not only on the job but in other places you wouldn’t suspect. A potent reminder to keep your guard up when you see the telltale signs.
What Do Cult Leaders Have in Common?
Megan Gannon explains that despite wide differences in goals, ideologies, and lifestyles, most cult leaders have key traits in common. Recognizing these characteristics is crucial.
Why aren’t more cults prosecuted in the court of law? Retired attorney Phil Elberg answers this question that has puzzled many people.
Podcasts
Think you or someone you love might be in a cult? Want to know the signs? Listen in as Sarah Edmondson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames (seen in the critically-acclaimed HBO series The Vow) share their stories, have frank and unscripted conversations with other survivors and cult experts, and do a deep dive into how devotion can become dysfunction.
On her podcast and YouTube channel, Shelise Ann Sola, a former devout Mormon, exposes dangerous cults and creates a safe space to amplify the voices of survivors. Her mission is to help survivors break free of and heal from their psychological indoctrination and to educate others so they may also find compassion for survivors.
On her weekly podcast, Rachel Bernstein sits down with former cult members, intervention experts, and people who have left narcissistic and controlling relationships of all kinds to hear their stories and discuss their past experiences.
Do you think SoulCycle is a cult? What about the Royal Family? What about Disney Adults? Or spiritual influencers? Is Instagram itself a cult? Co-hosts Amanda Montell, Chelsea Charles, and Reese Persephone Oliver analyze a different fanatical group each week to try and answer the big question: Sounds like a cult, but is it really?”
Cult survivors Lola Blanc and Meagan Elizabeth talk to fellow survivors, former and current believers, experts, and everyone in between to try to get to the bottom of how extreme belief happens, who's susceptible (hint: everyone), and what being in a cult is actually like.