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Traumatic Abuse in Cults: A
Psychoanalytic Perspective
Daniel Shaw, C.S.W.
Abstract
Using his own ten-year experience in Siddha Yoga under the leadership of
Gurumayi, the author presents psychoanalytic conceptualizations of narcissism in
an effort to develop a way of understanding cult leaders and their followers,
and especially of traumatic abuse in cults from the follower's perspective. A
psychoanalytically informed treatment approach for working with recovering cult
followers is proposed, consisting of providing: 1) an understanding of the
leader's extreme dependence on the follower's submission and psychological
enslavement; 2) a clear, firm, and detailed understanding of the leader's
abusiveness; and 3) an exploration of normative and/or traumatic developmental
issues for the follower, as part of a process of making sense of and giving
meaning to the follower's experience.
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