This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1989, Volume 6, Number 2, pages 1-117. 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.
 

Deprogramming: A Case Study, Part 1: Personal Observations of the Group Process

Steve K. D. Eichel, Ph.D.

This special issue of the Cultic Studies Journal is, to our knowledge, the only professional, detailed analysis of deprogramming, a central source of controversy in cultic studies. The observer of the deprogramming, Dr. Steve Dubrow-Eichel, completed this study as part of his doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Dubrow-Eichel’s work illuminates this often misunderstood and sensationalized phenomenon. The CSJ presents his research to advance understanding of the behavior change processes that occur in deprogramming and cultic conversions.

Opinions expressed by the author and by participants in the deprogramming are their own individual opinions and do not reflect the views of the editor, the CSJ Editorial Advisory Board, or others associated with the American Family Foundation. We hope that this special issue will stimulate further analysis, research, and discussion.

Abstract

This issue of the Cultic Studies Journal presents detailed impressions of the deprogramming of an International society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) devotee. The five-day-long successful deprogramming was observed and audiotaped. The deprogramming team consisted of three primary and two secondary deprogrammers. This deprogramming was a persuasive conversation and moral discourse in which the primary activities were asking for and receiving information (education), and self-disclosing (affiliation). It relied initially on the establishment of rapport and trust between the devotee and his deprogrammers, which subsequently permitted the devotee to consider discrepancies between ISKCON philosophy and actions without feeling threatened. Qualitatively, the deprogramming has distinct “formal” (cultist-focused) and “casual” (subgroup-focused) modes. To study the deprogramming process in greater detail and with enhanced objectivity, segments of the audiotapes representing the beginning, redecision (“snapping”), and ending stages of the deprogramming were subjected to content and process analyses; these results will be presented in a future article.
 

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