New PublicationsPsychology Today: Escaping the Osho CultPsychotherapist and cult survivor Nicola Ranson recalls escaping a violent cult.
Nicola Ranson discusses her ten-year involvement with the Osho/Rajneesh cult, detailing her experiences in her upcoming memoir, A Slice of Orange.
Ranson was drawn to the movement in 1979 at age 24, initially fascinated by its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western psychotherapy, along with the charismatic leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho). She notes that emotional vulnerability played a role in her susceptibility; she was experiencing a transitional life phase, lacking family support, and feeling uncertain after a failed job interview.
The movement eventually collapsed in Oregon following criminal acts by its leadership—including a massive bioterror attack. Ranson remained emotionally tied to the community. Despite recognizing red flags, cognitive dissonance and the cult’s conditioning to mistrust her own instincts kept her involved.
Ranson’s recovery process was gradual. Leaving required establishing a new life outside the commune, which was challenging since her fellow disciples felt like family. She attributes her healing to supportive friends both inside and outside the movement, as well as her professional studies in social work and group dynamics, which helped her understand the mechanisms of undue influence and coercive control.
Legislative & LegalNews Nation: Russia seizes Jehovah’s Witnesses properties
A Moscow court has ordered the confiscation of 123 real estate properties belonging to Jehovah’s Witnesses, officially transferring the assets to the Russian state. The seized real estate includes 63 residential and commercial buildings spanning over 11,000 square meters, alongside 60 plots of land covering 5.6 hectares across various regions in the country.
These properties had previously been registered under the religious organization's Swedish branch. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office filed the lawsuit to claim the assets, arguing that property transfers made by the group to various foreign entities between 2016 and 2017 were sham transactions designed specifically to protect the real estate from being seized by the state.
This mass confiscation is the latest escalation in a years-long crackdown on the religious group. In 2017, Russia’s Supreme Court officially banned Jehovah’s Witnesses, labeling the denomination an "extremist organization." Although the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2022 that the ban and subsequent property seizures were entirely unlawful and violated fundamental human rights, the Russian government has ignored the ruling. Since the ban took effect, Russian authorities have conducted widespread raids, and hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced severe persecution or lengthy prison sentences simply for participating in prayer sessions.
ScienceReincarnation: What Science Says and Doesn’t (or Can’t) SayThis article from Skeptic explores the controversial but enduring scientific research into reincarnation, spearheaded by the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Founded in 1967 by the late psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson, DOPS is a unique academic research group dedicated to empirically investigating extraordinary human experiences, including near-death experiences, out-of-body phenomena, and children’s memories of past lives.
Stevenson’s foundational work involved rigorously documenting thousands of cases worldwide where young children recalled specific, verifiable details about deceased individuals. Notable examples highlighted in the text include a young boy who accurately remembered the life, career, and exact age of death of an obscure 1930s Hollywood agent, and an Indian child born without fingers who recalled losing them in a machinery accident in a past life. Stevenson even published an exhaustive 2,000-page medical volume correlating specific birth defects with the fatal wounds of the people these children claimed to have once been.
Today, modern researchers at DOPS—such as Philip Cozzolino, Marietta Pehlivanova, and Bruce Greyson—are moving beyond collecting field anecdotes. They are bringing these anomalies into the laboratory to study the underlying neurological processes. Current research involves using brain imaging to compare how a child’s brain functions when recalling a past-life memory versus a conventional memory or an imagined scenario. They are also examining whether children reporting violent past-life deaths exhibit physiological signs of trauma exposure, despite having peaceful current lives.
The DOPS team emphasizes that their goal is not to definitively prove reincarnation. Instead, they aim to investigate these scientifically puzzling anomalies with strict academic rigor. While the field faces intense skepticism and the constant risk of self-deception, researchers argue that the unexplainable knowledge some children possess warrants serious inquiry, raising profound questions about the fundamental nature of human consciousness.
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