Posted by Perry on March 06, 2006 at 13:21:44
In Reply to: Children and Cults part 1 posted by Perry on March 06, 2006 at 13:21:14:
Treatment Issues
We know very little about the psychological treatment of children who have left cults. No systematic study of childrens' post-cult psychological picture has been conducted. Very little clinical work has been reported on.
The suggestions that follow are based more on reasoning than experience. Essentially we are saying: "we know A about cults; we know B about child developmeni; we would expect, based on our knowledge of A and B, that children leaving cults would exhibit C and require treatment D." Therefore, we urge the reader to be very cautious in applying the following approach to the treatment of children who have left cults. Heed the dictum, "treat each case individually." Adult or young adult cult joiners have a more or less mature personality before they enter the cult..~ noted in the Introduction to this book, they may develop a cult "pseudopersonality" in order to adapt to the intense and conflicting demands of the group. Leaving a cult and recovering from the experience requires, among other things, an "awakening" of the pre-cult personality.
Children born in cults or brought into cults at an early age do not have a mature pre-cult personality to awaken. They are socialized into an environment that denigrates independent critical thinking, maintains members in a state of dependency, and fosters a private insecurity by attacking members' while demanding that they not protest and show a positive front to the world. Thus, the cult environment can create an anxious dependent personality (Martin, 1992). In the case of adults, this is a "pseudopersonality," ergo the rapid and large decline in dependency after cult rehabilitation (Martin, 1992). For children, however, anxious dependency may indeed be fundamental to the child's character.
People who join cults as adults learn a great deal about the mainstream world before they join. They may be indoctrinated into a bizarre belief system with bizarre practices. But if they leave, they can call upon their pre-cult knowledge about the world in their attempts to adjust to mainstream society.
Children raised in cults have little knowledge about the world, especially if their group was isolated. Therefore, when they leave a cult, even if its practices and beliefs were highly deviant, they will take the cult's world view with them because they know no other. Hence, their capacity to think critically and act independently may be deficient, not merely "blocked" as may be the case with ex-cultists who joined as units. Ironically, those children who were most uncooperative in the cult, those who rebelled may be most likely to make an effective transition into mainstream society, because they will not have imbibed the group's world view so completely as others.
The picture painted above suggests that persons raised in a cult will experience culture shock upon leaving (whatever the reason). Moreover, their capacity to negotiate the transition successfully is likely to be hampered because the society they are entering places a premium on critical thinking and independence, both of which were stifled in the cult. If they have also been physically abused or neglected, they may have medical problems and the residuals of psychological trauma. Moreover, the family, the normal primary support system of children, may be unavailable, or even part of the problem picture rather than part of the solution. How does one help such persons?
First of all, medical attention may be needed. A complete physical examination should be performed as a precaution. The medical exam should include a thorough history, especially in regard to abuse and neglect. The examiner should keep in mind that experiences that we would readily identify as abusive may be perceived as the normal course of events to the former cultist, especially if he or she is still a child and has had little exposure to the non-cult world.
Second, a long-term psychotherapeutic relationship will probably be advisable. The magnitude of adjustment confronting such ex-cultists, their limited capacities, and the likely lack of a social support system beyond the immediate family (if that) suggest that much time and psychological support will be needed. Psychotherapy with these persons is not likely to be traditional. They will probably need immense educational effort, not only about how cults work, but about how the mainstream world works as well. Their education will have to include skill building, especially social skills, as well as cognitive learning. Many things that we take for granted may be alien to these former cult members.
Third, these persons will also probably need socialization experiences. Socialization is different from education because it involves much more than systematic learning. It consists of a myriad of experiences through which people learn the unwritten rules and expectations of a culture. It is difficult to "teach" someone about thousands of minor rules such as, to take an extreme example, the inappropriateness of asking a bus driver where one should sit. Individuals accustomed to years of totalism may be inclined to ask just such a question of someone they may perceive to be an authority figure. To a great extent ex-cultists born in cults must learn these types of rules and expectations through guided experience. Therapy can help with the guiding, but it cannot provide the real-life experiences. Furthermore, unlike in traditional therapy, the therapist may not be able to assume that the ex-member client will necessarily encounter experiences from which to learn. Unless the therapist actively encourages the client to seek out experiences that will contribute to socialization, the ex-member client may be likely to fall into a safe routine that limits his or her growth.
The suggestions above apply more to adults or young adults who were born in a cult. Young children will not only need therapeutic, educational, and socialization experiences, but will also need management as well. Someone will have to.. make sure that the various remedial interventions are coordinated and make sense to the child. Parents may be able to do this, although they may also be struggling with post-cult issues. Therefore, the therapist, or some other helper, may be called upon to function as an ombudsman, as the child's advocate.
Conclusions
Investigation of this field has at times been upsetting. The abuses to which children have been subjected can be horrendous. The degree to which cult leaders can escape accountability by hiding behind the First Amendment is troubling. And the lack of concern and action about this problem is shameful. In this chapter we have tried to shed light on this problem so as to make psychotherapistis and other helpers more effective when they encounter children or adults born in cults. Because of the number of adults and young adults who joined cults in the 1980s, the number of such persons will probably increase dramatically during the next five to ten years as people born in cults leave. Our suggestions, however, are very preliminary.
Consequently, if the helping professions are to deal effectively with this problem, we must learn more. As a minimum we need well articulated case studies. But we especially need to research this problem systematically. We need to survey child care workers, physicians, and others. We need to interview and survey former cult members. And we need to examine adults and children born in cults in a systematic, scientific manner. We hope that some of our readers will be inspired to take on some of these important tasks.
References
Beatings, mutilations, in cultish church. Cult Observer, October 1986 p.9. From The Toronto Sun, July 11, 1986.
Bellefeuille, R. (1986, February 14). MoiseTheriault et ses disciples perdent la garde de leurs enfants. Le Soleil, 1. Church of First Born members indicted. Cult Observer, 9(8), 1992, p. 4. From Mesa Tribune, August 25, 1992.
Convicted in daughter's death. Cult Observer, March/April 1986, p. 19. From CHILD Newsletter, Winter 1986.
Couple asks supreme court to review faith-healing conviction. Cult Observer, May/June 1988, p. 6. From "U.S. Supreme Court Will Be Asked to Review Faith-death Conviction," CHILD Newsletter, Spring 1988, p. 4.
Cult leader's son charged with sexual abuse. Cult Observer, 9(1), 1992, p. 4. From CAN News, November 1991, p. 6.
Ecclesia 'slavery' indictments. Cult Observer, 9(2), 1991, p. 4. From New York Times, 2/10/91.
End Time couple charged. Cult Observer, 8(1), 1991, p. 6. From AP in Miami Herald, 12/20/90.
"End Time" reversals and convictions. Cult Observer, 9(6), 1992, p. 4. From Lake City Reporter, 7/3/92, pp. 1,2 and 7/6/92, pp. 1,2.
Faith Assembly pleas. Cult Observer, 8(2), 1991, p. 5.
Faith-healing believers sentenced in child's pneumonia death. (1984, September 25). Minneapolis Star and Tribune, 8.
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Harms,W. (1982, December 5). Cult members say "gum" made them beat boy. Chicago Tribune. HebrewIsraelites charged with abuse. Cult Observer, May/June 1986, p. 28. From UPI and the Boston Globe, April 6, 1986.
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Policeseek cult leader. Cult Observer, November 1984, p. 3. From the New York Times, 11/23/84, A19 and the Middlesex (MA) News, 11/15/84, 13A.
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Teens allege magazine sales slavery. Cult Observer,9(7), 1992, p. 5. From G. Weigel, "Teens say magazine sales jobs like slavery," Seattle Times/Seattle Post Intelligencer, 6/21/92, A7.
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