From the Book - Revised edition
What are cults? Defining cults. Definitions and characteristics
A brief history of cults. Cults in the 1800s
The 1960s : fertile ground for cults
The 1970s : cults to expand awareness
The 1980s : psychological, occult, and prosperity cults
The process of brainwashing, psychological coercion, and thought reform. Historical examples of brainwashing
Impermissible experiments.
What's wrong with cults? Cults threaten legitimate institutions
Cults harm our children and tear apart our families
Cults engage in conspiracy and fraud
Small cults can be just as harmful as large
Cults take away our freedom
Cults take away our possessions
What is to be done? How do they work? Recruiting new members. First approach
Follow-up : gaining greater commitment
Young and old alike are vulnerable
Physiological persuasion techniques. Mass marketing of experiential exercises
Techniques producing predictable physiological responses
Meditation may not always be good for you.
Psychological persuasion techniques. Trance and hypnosis
Revision of personal history
Peer pressure and modeling
Intruding into the workplace. Clarification of New Age
Violation of civil rights
Development of a New Age training program : a case example
Problems with being "transformed" at work
Buyer beware : thought-reform processes at work
The threat of intimidation. Co-opted professionals
Intimidation and harassment of critics.
How can we help survivors to escape and recover? Rescuing the children. Children of Jonestown
What children learn in cults
Leaving the cult. Why it's hard to leave
Deprogramming and exit counseling
Recovery : coming out of the pseudopersonality. Recovering from cult aftereffects
Psychological and emotional difficulties
Social and personal relations
Philosophical and attitudinal issues
Helpful tasks for individuals leaving cults
There is life after the cult
Postscript to the first edition : the millennium, cults, and the end of the century.