To help individuals rebuild their lives after cult experiences, providing information about how cults operate is crucial as it helps them understand the manipulation tactics and reduces guilt. Giving survivors a safe space to share their stories is also therapeutic. Cult operations have similarities over time, focusing on control, with a shift towards meditation and guru-based groups. Cult leaders often exhibit narcissistic traits which enable them to control and exploit others, with tactics that seem to be innate rather than taught.
Popular culture is endlessly fascinated with cults, and they have the capacity to make ordinary people do unthinkable things.
Today - how cults reel people in, how coercive control keeps them there and what it takes to get out.
This episode was first broadcast in October 2022.
And if you enjoyed listening, you should check out our episode The History of Brainwashing.