Update on Recommended Online Books on Spiritual Abuse

In the right side of this blog, there is a widget "Recommended Online Books on Spiritual Abuse." Since GeoCities was closed 3 days ago, the two links that I had there stopped working - those for "Chapters from Twisted Scriptures by Mary Alice Chrnalogar (in html)" and "A Summary of The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson & Jeff VanVonderen (in html)" because these books were published in GeoCities websites. Fortunately, both websites were saved in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and these books can be found there. I changed the links in the widget. However, it is somewhat complicated to find each chapter of Twisted Scriptures in the Internet Archive. These chapters were also published in CAIC website, but there is the same problem. In another blog, I posted lists of the links to each chapter in both websites:
http://lemanal.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/update-on-the-twisted-scriptures/
http://lemanal.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/online-version-of-twisted-scriptures/

Polls and Guestbook

I wonder how many visitors of my blogs have been in cults or abusive churches and how many of them have their significant others (family members, relatives or friends) there. Also, I am interested to know how many of those who were in cults had any therapy or counseling after they left. So, I created three polls with these questions in my other blog: http://lemanal.wordpress.com/polls/. I did not post them in this blog because it would be quite complicated. All the polls are completely anonymous. I will be thankful to all the people who will vote.

Also, in that blog, I created a guestbook: http://lemanal.wordpress.com/gb/. Although I enabled comment posting below each post in both both blogs, I think that visitors may have some general comments, not related to any specific post, such as general questions or subjects for discussions in the line of both blogs. So, I provided a special place for such comments. In blogs in WordPress, it is possible to make not only posts like in blogs, but also pages like in websites. So, it was much easier to make a guestbook in that blog than here.

Update. Since in less than 2 weeks I got 46 spam comments sent to the guestbook, I changed its URL in order to make it harder for spammer robots to find it.

My New Blog

I started a new blog: http://lemanal.wordpress.com/. In that blog, I will post information about some materials that I consider to be helpful for ex-members of cults. Since in this blog, there are many posts on various subjects, I think it will be more convenient to have a separate blog to post information about helpful books, articles, videos, and so on. Of course, I am going to continue this blog as well.

One of the things that attracted me in WordPress is that the blogs there actually combine features of blogs and sites. To me, it seems quite convenient.

The description of the new blog which I published there: http://lemanal.wordpress.com/about/:

In this blog, I publish information about articles, books, and videos that in my opinion might be helpful for the post-cult recovery (psychological and spiritual) of ex-members of cults, especially, of Bible-based cults (abusive churches and cults of Christianity). Mainly, I consider resources that are available freely in Internet. I hope that this information will be helpful for ex-members of cults in their recovery.

However, I do not encourage anyone to read or watch all these materials uncritically. In my opinion, it is very good to read as much as possible on a certain subject (for example, on the recovery from cults), compare different opinions, and make one’s own conclusions. I think it is especially helpful for ex-cult members in order to recover the ability of independent and critical thinking.

Visitors of this blog are also welcome to visit my blog in Blogger and my site in Google Sites.

I am interested to know the visitors’ opinions and suggestions regarding this blog. Anonymous comments are allowed here (it is not mandatory to fill out name, e-mail, and website in the comment form when you post a comment). However, in order to prevent spam, I have enabled comment moderation, so all the comments will be published after my approval – the same as in my blog in Blogger.

I am not a mental health professional or an ordained Christian minister. I am just an ex-cult member who has some knowledge and experience.

Margaret Singer's Writings Available in Internet

In this post, I am publishing a list of Dr. Margaret Singer's works which are available in Internet. I think her works are helpful for ex-members of cults. Since Rick Ross's website (http://www.rickross.com/) does not work now, I am posting links to Google cached copies of the documents from his website.

1. Excerpts from Cults in Our Midst:
1) From Introduction
2) From Chapter 3 (Google cache)
3) From Chapter 6 (Google cache)
4) From Chapter 7 (Google cache)
5) From Chapter 11 and part 1 of Chapter 12 (Google cache)
6) Part 2 of Chapter 12 (Google cache)
7) Part 3 of Chapter 12 (Google cache)

2. Articles, Lectures, and Interviews
1) Coming Out of the Cults (Google cache)
2) Mental Health Issues (Google cache)
3) The "Not Me" Myth: Orwell and the Mind (Google cache)
4) An interview with Margaret Singer on Undue Influence (Google cache)
5) Coercive Persuasion and the Problems of Ex-Cult Members (Google cache)
6) Group Psychodynamics and Cults (Google cache)
7) How the United States Marine Corps Differs from Cults (Google cache)
8) Thought Reform Programs and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties (Google cache)
9) Intruding into the Workplace (Google cache)
10) Coping with Post-Cult Trauma
11) Issues in Diagnosis and Treatment of Cult Victims
12) Margaret Singer's Interview on Heavenly Gates - Part 1
13) Margaret Singer's Interview on Heavenly Gates - Part 2
14) Margaret Singer's Interview on Heavenly Gates - Part 3
15) Six Conditions for Thought Reform
16) Thought Reform Exists: Organized, Programmatic Influence
17) Excerpts from "Crazy" Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work?
18) Undue Influence and Written Documents: Psychological Aspects
19) Book Review of Churches that Abuse
20) Attacks on Peripheral versus Central Elements of Self and the Impact of Thought Reforming Techniques

3. Materials based on Margaret Singer's writings
1) Post-Cult After Effects
2) Coercive Influence Continuum
3) Some Persuasion Techniques Used by Cults
4) Coercive Mind Control Tactics
5) How Thought Reform Works
6) Common Questions and Answers on Mind Control
7) Conditions for Mind Control

4. Videos
1) Recovery from Cults
2) Margaret Singer's Interview on Falun Gong - Part 1
3) Margaret Singer's Interview on Falun Gong - Part 2

How Long Does It Take To Recover from Cults?

Somehow, many people believe that it takes many years to completely recover from cult mind control. Some ex-cult members who left cults 20 or more years ago say that they are still recovering. It seems that a number of people believe that if a person was involved in a cult, it will take practically the whole life to recover and that it will take much counseling and therapy.

In Cults in Our Midst, chapter 12, Margaret Singer writes:

Not all former cult members encounter all the problems listed on Table 12.1, nor do most have them in severe and extended form. Some individuals need only a few months to get themselves going again. After encountering some adjustment problems to life outside the cult, they make rather rapid and undeventful reintegrations into everyday life. Generally, however, it takes individuals anywhere from six to twenty-four months to get their lives functioning again at a level commensurate with their histories and talents. Even then, however, theat functioning may not reflect what is still going on insed them. Many are still sorting out the conflicts and harms that grew out their cult experience long after two years have gone by. Each former member wrestles with a number of problems. Some need more time than others to resolve all the issues they face, and a few never get their lives going again.

Then, she wrote:

Coming out of the cult pseudo-personality is about reeducation and growth. Self-help through reading can be invaluable for those who live far from knowledgeable resources such as exit-counselors, cult information specialists, former member support groups, and mental health professionals.

According to Margaret Singer, the time of recovery depends on the person. She did not write about 20 years or longer. Instead, she wrote about several months, 2 years or longer. In addition, she did not write that is is necessary to get a counseling or a therapy in order to recover.

A Book on Post-Cult Recovery

For quite a long time, I tried to find something like a textbook on the post-cult recovery. Most books on cults are mainly focused on the cult involvement and only in the end there are some recommendations on the cult recovery. Well, the Bible says: "Seek and you will find." Yesterday, I found Recovery from Abusive Groups by Wendy Ford. This book is a handbook on the cult recovery - both for ex-cult members and their families. In my opinion, this is a very helpful book for ex-cult members. Actually, I found some new things for myself there that I even did not think about.

Videos on Post-Cult Recovery

Recovery from Mind Control by Dr. Margaret Singer (November 1991) - 1:11:41




Cult Recovery (Part 1) by Madeleine Tobias - 54:09




Cult Recovery (Part 2) by Madeleine Tobias - 1:07:03