This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1985, Volume 2, Number 1, pages 31-90. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

Cult-Induced Psychopathology,
Part 1: Clinical Picture

Stephen M. Ash, Psy.D.

Abstract

A conceptual framework is proposed to synthesize the literature on the psychological impairment caused by participation in extremist cults. This framework includes three stages of cult departure (incorporating previously presented stages of cult recovery), upon which are hung the various details of the clinical picture of these cult victims. The essence of the observed psychopathology is a combination of dissociation and dediffentiation of ego boundaries (or mind extension or expansion). The resulting dissociative disorder is distinguished from William James' description of mystical experience, as well as from other psychiatric disorders that incorporate these two ego defense mechanisms as core features of their ego structures (i.e., multiple personality, borderline and narcissistic personality disorders). Utilizing a metaphor of water, the clinical picture of the cult-induced disorder is described according to the changes which occur during the stages of cult departure and recovery.
 

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