John Ballou Newbrough: 19th Century Cult Leader "When you meet the friendliest people you have ever known, who introduce you to the most loving group of people you've ever encountered, and you find the leader to be the most inspired, caring, compassionate and understanding person you've ever met... and all of this sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true! Don't give up your education, your hopes and ambitions, to follow a rainbow."

Jeanne Mills, Former member of the People's Temple, 1978

Leaders may be...

The friendliest people you have ever met. Too interested in what you like to do. People who think you are wonderful and know you have connections, influence, or financial resources. People who have all the answers. Hiding a greater "truth" from you until a more "appropriate" time. (Estabrooks, 1999) Signs to look for that mark destructive organizations are...

A Totalitarian worldview: A group that approves of unethical behavior while claiming goodness and promotes the goals of the group over the individual. Exploitation: There is pressure to give money, to spend a great deal of money on special projects. Exploitation can be financial, physical, or psychological. Alienation: Separation from family, friends, and society, a change in values and substitution of the group as the new "family". Exclusivity: Secretiveness or vagueness by followers regarding activities and beliefs; recruiting and fund-raising with hidden objectives and without full disclosure; use of "front groups". If you have questions or concerns about these types of groups, there are many people with whom you can talk.

Evaluating Your Cult Involvement Reviewing your recruitment: What was going on in your life at the time you joined the group or met the person who became your abusive partner? How and where were you approached? What first interested you in the group or leader? How were you misled during recruitment? What did the group or leader promise you? Did you ever get it? What didn't they tell you that might have influenced you not to join had you known? Why did the group or leader want you? Understanding the psychological manipulation used in your group: Which controlling techniques were used by your group or leader: chanting, meditation, sleep deprivation, isolation, drugs, hypnosis, criticism, fear? List each technique and how it served the group's purpose. What was the most effective? the least effective? What technique are you still using that is hard to give up? Are you able to see any effects on you when you practice these? What are the group's beliefs and values? How did they come to be your beliefs and values? Examining your doubts: What are your doubts about the group or leader now? Do you still believe the group or leader has all or some of the answers? Are you still afraid to encounter your leader or group members on the street? Do you ever think of going back? What is going on in your mind when this happens? Do you believe your group or leader has any supernatural or spiritual power to harm you in any way? Do you believe you are cursed by God for having left the group? --adapted from Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Abusive Relationships. Madeleine Landau Tobias and Janja Lalich, Hunter House, 1994. Reprinted with permission

Mind-Manipulating Groups: Are you or a Family Member a Victim? The following statements, compiled by Dr. Michael Langone, editor of Cultic Studies Journal, often characterize manipulative groups. Comparing these statements to the group with which you or a family member is involved may help you determine if this involvement is cause for concern. Place a checkmark beside all items that characterize the group in question. If you check many of these items, and particularly if you check most of them, you might consider examining the group more closely.

Keep in mind that this checklist is meant to stimulate thought, not "diagnose" groups.

We suggest that you check all characteristics that apply to your or your loved one's group, then print this browser page for future reference. You may find that your assessment changes over time, with further reading and research.

 The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. 

 The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. 

The group is preoccupied with making money.

 Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. 

 Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). 

 The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth). 

 The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity). 

 The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society. 

 The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations). 

 The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities)[minister's flying out of body to spy on other ministers]. 

 The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them. 

 Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group. 

 Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group. 

 Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members 

If you or anyone is seeking help in dealing with the aftermath of being involved in any of the Oahspe Cults, please contact: www.oahspe.com