Lists of Post-Cult Problems: Positive and Negative Effects

Quite a number of mental health professionals who counsel ex-members of cults write about post-cult after effects and make lists of them. These symptom lists can be found in many websites and books. Just some of these books are:
1. Steven Hassan, Combatting Cult Mind Control
2. Steven Hassan, Releasing the Bonds
3. Margaret Singer & Janja Lalich, Cults in Our Midst (part 1, part 2, part 3)
4. Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse, edited by Michael D. Langone (Post-cult Problems: An Exit Counselor's Perspective by Carol Giambalvo)

In some previous posts, I considered the possible harm of such symptom lists which is the possibility of suggestion of symptoms. So, in my opinion, it is necessary to to stress that not all the ex-members of cults have all these post-cult after effects.

Hassan did not write about this important point in his books, in his website, and did not say about it in his presentation in ex-Mormon conference in October 2008 (this video is available in YouTube). Actually, he paid much more attention to his symptom list than he did in his books. So, there is a possibility that people who watch it might gain these symptoms through induction.

However, Margaret Singer introduced her list of post-cult after affects in the following way:

Just as cults vary greatly, so do their members, their after-effects, and the duration of those effects. Yet those who help former cult members have seen certain patterns in the types of trauma, damage, and emotional and cognitive difficulties. This has been true for former members of a variety of cults and groups that use thought-reform processes.

Not everyone who is exposed to thought-reform processes is successfully manipulated, however; nor does everyone respond with major reactive symptoms. An evaluation of what a person may experience after belonging to a cult requires study of the group's particular practices, social and psychological pressures, and conditions.

Then, she continues:

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.

Here, she made clear that not all the ex-members have all the post-cult after effects and that everyone has a different experience. Also, there is an important difference between what Hassan and Singer include into their lists. Hassan's list mainly includes the points that can be considered symptoms of some disorders (dissociative disorder, PTSD, and so on). Singer's list includes many things that are not symptoms of psychiatric disorders such as practical, social-personal, and philosophical-attitudinal issues.

There is also another difference. Margaret Singer writes about five main areas of post-cult adjustment in order to help ex-members in their post-cult adjustment. She ends this chapter in the following way:

The discussion in this chapter does not cover the conflicts, turmoils and disturbing aftereffects that ex-cult members have struggled with. But it should help the reader begin to understand the breadth of the recovery from cult conditioning and cult experiences that must occur.

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.

So, her intention was to educate ex-members. Hassan has absolutely different purpose in posting his list as it is clear from his "Help for Oneself". His purpose is to convince ex-members of cults that they will not be able to recover without his counseling and he uses his list as a support for this idea. In other words, his purpose is not to help ex-members to recover by themselves, but to gain more clients who will pay him more money.

In Post-cult Problems: An Exit Counselor's Perspective, Carol Giambalvo writes:

Clients, especially walkaways and castaways, feel relieved when they learn that, given the situation, what they are experiencing is normal and that the effects will not last forever.

In my opinion, it is another benefit that can be gained from such lists of post-cult after effects and problems. When ex-members learn that other ex-members experience similar problems, that it is normal to experience these problems after leaving, and that these problems will not last forever, they feel relief.

So, in my opinion, lists of post-cult after effects, problems and symptoms may have two sides, and it depends on the way they are composed. The negative effects of such lists (they are true for Hassan's list):
1. Suggestion of symptoms because ex-members are not aware that they are not expected to experience all the symptoms.
2. Sense of disappointment due to inability to get special counseling and believing that these symptoms will last forever.
Well, I personally had both problems after reading Hassan's books.

The positive effects of such lists are:
1. Help through education about the areas of post-cult adjustment.
2. Relief through learning that these problems are normal and temporal.

Whether the lists will be more beneficial or more harmful probably depends on the way how they were composed and what was the purpose of the author - whether he or she just wanted to gain more clients and make more money like Hassan or whether he or she really wanted to help people like Margaret Singer and Carol Giambalvo.