Event, Cult Recovery, Cult Therapy, Drugs, Coercive Control, Natural Law Party, Yogic Flying, Transcendental Meditation
ICSA Annual Conference: Clinical/Therapeutic Assessment of Former Cult Members - What are other Clinician's Using in Therapy?
June 25, 2022 (4:00 pm-4:50 pm EST)
When clients/patients who have been former cult members come in for therapy, clinicians, such as counselors, social workers, and psychologists, usually assess clients utilizing psychological tests and psycho-social interviews. Clinicians utilize these tests and assessments to identify problems and issues such as trauma, depression, suicidal ideation, etc. Clinicians use the information gathered to have a baseline from which they can start therapy, plan interventions, evaluate and diagnose the client, and measure client progress during therapy. However, clinicians may not have a clear understanding of the psychological and clinical assessments/ tests that may be most appropriate when working with former cult members. Based on a research survey of 112 licensed clinicians working with former cult members (2019), the presenter will discuss the psychological assessments/tests, including psycho-social interviews, most used by ICSA clinicians/counselors. The presenter will also discuss several other assessments that have been developed by ICSA Counselors, Psychologists and Researchers, such as The Spiritual Abuse Scale (Keller, 2015), Psychological Abuse in Manipulative Groups (Almendros et al, 2011) and the Group Psychological Abuse Scale (Chambers et al, 1994). Case studies will also be utilized in discussing when different tests/assessments might be more appropriate. Participants, after leaving the session, should have a better understanding of what is available to them when working with former cult members, and which tests/assessments might be more appropriate for which clients.
ICSA Annual Conference: Drugs as a Tool for Coercive Control
Friday, June 24th (12:00 PM-12:50 PM EST)
"Description: Coercive control can be looked at from the perspective of the manipulator using drugs as a tool to control the victim. There are two spheres where the use of drugs have been used to establish coercion. In one sphere, federal prosecutors have brought human trafficking cases based upon the trafficker supplying drugs, then withholding drugs, and continuing to manipulate the victims to create a coercive environment to cause the victims to engage in commercial sex, for the perpetrator's gain. Human trafficking cases against three defendants resulted in long-term convictions: Andrew Fields (Florida), Jeremy Mack (Ohio), and Monta Croce (Wisconsin). In those cases, the prosecutors framed a human trafficking case around the theory of coercive control. They argued it was used by the trafficker to control the victims to do what he wanted for his gain. For human trafficking, an element of the crime is whether the perpetrator used fraud (lies), force (physical), or coercion. These cases were built on the theory that coercion was used. In another sphere, a victim came forward complaining of a doctor, Ricardo Cruciani, at Beth Israel Medical Center in NY, who prescribed powerful opioids to a patient, Tanisha Johnson, increased the doses, and eventually sexually abused her. The use of drugs to control and coerce the victim may be a new way to think about coercive control. It could also be applicable in cult-like organizations."
Speaker: Robin Boyle Laisure, JD, Professor of Legal Writing, St. John's University School of Law, is on the editorial board of ICSA's International Journal of Cultic Studies. She lectures on topics concerning cults and the law. In 2005, she received the Faculty Outstanding Achievement award from the President of St. John's University. Her publications relevant to cultic studies include:
With co-author Andrea Laisure, in ICSA Today (Vol. 8, no. 3, 2017): Staying Safe: Observing Warning Signs of a Dangerous Liaison.
Employing Trafficking Laws to Capture Elusive Leaders of Destructive Cults, Oregon Review of International Law (2016).
Current Status of Federal Law Concerning Violent Crimes Against Women and Children: Implications for Cult Victims, Cultic Studies Review (2002).
How Children in Cults May Use Emancipation Laws to Free Themselves, Cultic Studies Journal, (1999)
Women, the Law, and Cults: Three Avenues of Legal Recourse - New Rape Laws, Violence Against Women Act, and Anti Stalking Laws, Cultic Studies Journal (1998).
Natural Law Party: Yogi Flyer 1995 (video)
"The NATURGEGETZ party, awakening to a new consciousness (Short name: NATURAL LAW) was a small party in Germany, which was founded in 1992 and existed until 2004."
"Cult expert and journalist Hugo Stamm on Yogic Flying and the Guru-Cult around Transcendental Meditation.
The interview was shot in 2008 in Rütli, Switzerland, for the production of the documentary "David wants to Fly" by David Sieveking."
David Sieveking: "David Wants To Fly"
"David Sieveking follows the path of his idol, David Lynch, into the world of Transcendental Meditation. That leads him to the movement's founder, Maharishi. Today TM is a global conglomerate, promising world peace and yogic flying. How does this chime with the dark films of Lynch? Inspired by his idol, the young director starts to meditate, too, submerging himself deeper in the world of TM."
Michael D. Coleman, Ph. D: Lies My Guru Told Me
" ... One of the wonderful things about email on the Internet is the "democratization" of knowledge. We can compare notes with others around the world easily and quickly. No authoritarian structure can block it. Dictatorial structures hate free dialogue.
Recently I have been "listening in" to an on-going dialogue among three friends who have been sharing stories of their time with Maharishi. This made me realize that even 25 years after leaving the TM Movement, I have not come clean with myself and with others about the lies Maharishi encouraged me to believe and required me to tell others.
This is an open letter to anyone within the TM movement who is beginning to feel that they must be "crazy" because of the dissonance between what they are aspiring to and what the TM movement actually seems to be doing. It is also for everyone who has left the TM movement to validate your sanity."
News, Education, Intervention, Recovery
Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.
CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
CultNEWS101.com: news, links, resources.
Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.
Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.
Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.
