ADDICT, IDOL AND CULT MEMBER:
Reflections on the Loss of Self

(NOTES FOR AN INFORMAL TALK ON THE
PSYCHOLOGY OF MIND CONTROL)

by Allen Tate Wood

  • 1.) A PHENOMENOLOGICAL MORPHOLOGY OF DESTRUCTIVE CULTS

    • A. ABSOLUTE LEADER
    B. ABSOLUTE TEACHING
    C. HIERARCHICAL SOCIAL STRUCTURE
    D. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE ADVERSARY
    E. THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS AS A MODUS OPERANDI
    F. CRISIS PSYCHOLOGY
    G. THE INNER CIRCLE

  • 2.) AN EXAMINATION OF THE VARIABLES AT PLAY DURING THE PROCESS OF RECRUITMENT AND INDOCTRINATION

    • A. MILIEU CONTROL
    B. COMUNICATION WEB/THE MANIPULATION OF INTIMACY
    C. PEAK EXPERIENCES AND PLANNED SPONTANEITY
    D. THE SPLITTING PHENOMENON: THE EXPERIENCE OF EVIL
    E. METAPHOR AND RITUAL: THE BINDING CHAINS
    F. THE REPUDIATION OF THE CONSCIENCE, THE REJECTION OF THE CRITICAL FACULTIES AND THE COLONIZATION OF THE IMAGINATION UNDERSTOOD AS AN EXPERIENCE OF GOD.

  • 3.) AN EXPOSITION OF THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE
    PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF ADDICTION AND THE
    PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF INDOCTRINATION

    • A. SUBSTANCE ADDICTION VS. PROCESS ADDICTION
    B. INTRAPSYCHIC SYMPTOMS: FLASHBACKS AND FLOATING
    C. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE "FISHBOWL"
    D. PARALLELS IN RECOVERY

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