Here you will find a set of criteria, eight psychological themes against which any environment may be judged.  In combination, they create an atmosphere which may temporarily energize or exhilarate, but which at the same time pose the gravest of human threats.

(BRIEF OUTLINE)

1.  MILIEU CONTROL

The most basic feature is the control of human communication within and environment if the control is extremely intense, it becomes internalized control -- an attempt to manage an individual's inner communication control over all a person sees, hears, reads, writes  (information control) creates conflicts in respect to individual autonomy groups express this in several ways:  Group process, isolation from
other people, psychological pressure, geographical distance or unavailable transportation, sometimes physical pressure. 
Often a sequence of events, such as seminars, lectures, group encounters, which become increasingly intense and increasingly isolated, making it extremely difficult-- both physically and psychologically--for one to leave. sets up a sense of antagonism with the outside world; it's us against them closely connected to the process of individual change (of personality)

2.   MYSTICAL MANIPULATION (Planned spontaneity)

Extensive personal manipulation seeks to promote specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such
a way that it appears to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment, while it actually has been orchestrated totalist leaders claim to be agents chosen by God, history, or some supernatural force, to carry out the mystical imperative the "principles" (God-centered or otherwise) can be put forcibly and
claimed exclusively, so that the cult and its beliefs become the only true path to salvation (or enlightenment)
The individual then develops the psychology of the pawn, and  participates actively in the manipulation of others the leader who becomes the center of the mystical manipulation (or the person in whose name it is done) can be sometimes more real than an abstract god and therefore attractive to cult members legitimizes the deception used to recruit new members and/or raise funds, and the deception used on the "outside world"

3.   THE DEMAND FOR PURITY

The world becomes sharply divided into the pure and the impure, the absolutely good (the group/ideology) and the absolutely evil(everything outside the group). One must continually change or conform to the group "norm" tendencies towards guilt and shame are used as emotional levers forthe group's controlling and manipulative influences.
Once a person has experienced the totalist polarization of good/evil (black/white thinking), he has great difficulty in regaining a more balanced inner sensitivity to the complexities of human morality the radical separation of pure/impure is both within the environment (the group) and the individual ties in with the process of confession -- one must confess when one is not conforming.

4.   CONFESSION

Cultic confession is carried beyond its ordinary religious, legal and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself sessions in which one confesses to one's sin are accompanied by patterns of criticism and self-criticism, generally transpiring within small groups with an active and dynamic thrust toward personal change is an act of symbolic self-surrendermakes it virtually impossible to attain a reasonable balance between worth and humility.
A young person confessing to various sins of pre-cultic existence can both believe in those sins and be covering over other ideas andfeelings that s/he is either unaware of or reluctant to discuss often a person will confess to lesser sins while holding on to other secrets (often criticisms/questions/doubts about the group/leaders that may cause them not to advance to a leadership position)  "the more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you."

5.   SACRED SCIENCE

The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic doctrine or ideology, holding it as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence questioning or criticizing those basic assumptions is prohibited.
A reverence is demanded for the ideology/doctrine, the originators of the ideology/doctrine, the present bearers of the ideology/doctrine.
Offers considerable security to young people because it greatly simplifies the world and answers a contemporary need to combine a sacred set of dogmatic principles with a claim to a science embodying the truth about human behavior and human psychology.

6.   LOADING THE LANGUAGE

The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliche (thought-stoppers), repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon "the language of non-thought."
Words are given new meanings -- the outside world does not use the words or phrases in the same way -- it becomes a "group" word or phrase.

7.   DOCTRINE OVER PERSON

Every issue in one's life can be reduced to a single set of principlesthat have an inner coherence to the point that one can claim the experience of truth and feel it.
The pattern of doctrine over person occurs when there is a conflict between what one feels oneself experiencing and what the doctrine or ideology says one should experience if one questions the beliefs of the group or the leaders of the group, one is made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them.
To even question -- it is always "turned around" on them and the questioner/criticizer is questioned rather than the questions answered directly.
The underlying assumption is that doctrine/ideology is ultimately more valid, true and real than any aspect of actual human character or human experience and one must subject one's experience to that "truth"
the experience of contradiction can be immediately associated with guilt one is made to feel that doubts are reflections of one's own evil when doubt arises, conflicts become intense.

8.   DISPENSING OF EXISTENCE

Since the group has an absolute or totalist vision of truth, those who are not in the group are bound up in evil, are not enlightened, are not saved, and do not have the right to exist "being verses nothingness."
Impediments to legitimate being must be pushed away or destroyed one outside the group may always receive their right of existence by joining the group.
Fear manipulation -- if one leaves this group, one leaves God or loses their transformation, for something bad will happen to them, the group is the "elite", outsiders are "of the world", "evil",
"unenlightened", etc.
 

In a thought reform program:  the self concept is destabilized the group/leaders attack one's evaluation of self

SELF:     2 Elements in one's self-concept

Peripheral Sense:  adequacy of public &  judgmental aspects, social status, role performance, conformity to social norms

Central Sense of Self:  adequacy of intimate life, confidence in perception of reality, relations w/family, goals, sexual
experiences, traumatic life events, religious beliefs, basic consciousness and emotional control

When you attack a person's self-concept, aversive emotional arousal is created

6 CONDITIONS THAT NEED TO BE PRESENT IN ORDER TO CONSTITUTE MIND
CONTROL:

1.   CONTROL OVER TIME
     Especially thinking time
     Use techniques to get a person to think about:
          . the group
          . beliefs of the group
     as much of their waking time as possible

2.   CREATE A SENSE OF POWERLESSNESS
     Get people away from normal support systems for a period of time
     Provide models of behavior (cult members)
     Use in-group language
     Use of songs, games, stories the person is unfamiliar with or they are
       modified so that they're unfamiliar
     New people tend to want to be like others (acceptance, feeling part
       of a group)

3.   MANIPULATE REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO
     SUPPRESS OLD SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Manipulate:  social rewards
                  intellectual rewards
REWARDS: support positive self-concept for conformity to new
              thought system
PUNISHMENTS:   attack person's self-concept  for non-conformity

 Effects of behavioral modification (reward/punishment):
          DEPLOYABLE AGENT:
     1.   accept a particular world view
     2.   procedures for peer monitoring w/feedback to group
     3.   psychological, social & material sanctions to influence the
               target's behavior

 When there is control of external feedback, the group becomes the only source -- there are no reality checks

BEHAVIORS REWARDED:  participation, conformity to ideas/behavior, zeal, personal changes

BEHAVIORS PUNISHED:    criticalness, independent thinking, non-conformity to ideas/behavior

PUNISHMENTS:   peer/group criticism, withdrawal of support/affection, isolation, negative feedback

THE PERSON IS DEPENDENT UPON THE GROUP FOR EXTERNAL VALIDATION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY

 RESULTS:  confusion, disorientation, psychological disturbances

Manipulate experience:
               altered states of consciousness (trance)
               hypnosis

Hypnosis: (see Ericksonian hypnosis)
               speaking patterns
               guided imagery
               pacing of voice to breathing patterns
               parables, stories with imbedded messages
               repetition
               boredom
               stop paying attention to distractions, focus  inwardly to what's going on inside you
               the use of one's voice to get people's attention focused
Chanting, Meditation
          Teach thought-stopping techniques
          Work them up emotionally to a negative state:
               re-experience past painful events
               recall negative actions/sin in past life
          Then rescue them from negative emotion by giving them a new
               way to live

4.  MANIPULATE REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO
     ELICIT NEW BEHAVIOR

Models will demonstrate new behavior
     Conformity: dress, language, behavior
     Using group language will eventually still the thinking mind

5.  MUST BE A TIGHTLY CONTROLLED SYSTEM OF LOGIC
     No complaints from the floor
     Pyramid shaped operation with leader at the top
     Top leaders must maintain absolute control/authority
     Persons in charge must have verbal ways of never losing
     Anyone who questions is made to think there is something inherently wrong with them to even question
     Phobia induction:
          something bad will happen if you leave the group
          if you leave this group, you're leaving God
     Guilt manipulation

6.   PERSONS BEING THOUGHT REFORMED MUST BE UNAWARE THAT THEY
     ARE BEING MOVED THROUGH A PROGRAM TO MAKE THEM DEPLOYABLE
     AGENTS, TO BUY MORE COURSES, SIGN UP FOR THE DURATION, ETC.

     You can't be thought reformed with full capacity, informed consent
     You don't know the agenda of the group at the beginning or the full content of the ideology

THOUGHT REFORM SYSTEM:
     Coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavior control
     Use of pop psychology techniques found in sensitivity training and encounters groups

2nd Generation Thought Reform Systems  (attacks on central elements of
                                        self):
     1.  enlist recruit's cooperation, offer something they want (personal
          growth, salvation, etc.)
     2.  obtain psychological dominace by making the target's continuing
          relations contingent upon continuing membership
     3.  use seduction by developing bonds and encouraging targets to
          believe the group can provide something
     4.  develop dependency by direct social pressure to influence a
          decision that the group has special power or knowledge or
          can solve a problem; the people in the group are made to seem
          interested in what is best for the target -- then they "up
          the commitment level"
     5.  shift the target's social and emotional attachments to individuals
          who have already accepted high commitment and are conforming to
          the behavior

WHILE
          decreasing the target's outside relationships

6.   increase the CHANGES in the target's:
          income
          employment
          personal friends/social life
          finances
          sexuality
          THIS INCREASES THE THREAT TO THE PERSON IF THEY WANT TO LEAVE
          THREATS:  ARE TO THE INDIVIDUAL'S
                    stability of identity
                    emotional well-being

     7.   the community standards become the ONLY standards available for
          self-evaluation

     1. extreme identity confusion 
     2. dissociative states - "floating"(getting triggered back into cult mode) 
     3. panic and anxiety attacks 
     4. depression 
     5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ( P.T.S.D.) 
     6. psychosomatic symptoms (headaches, backaches, asthma, skin problems)
     7. problems with decision-making- dependency 
     8. retarded psychological development- loss of psychological power 
     9. guilt 
     10. fear 
     11. sleep disorders/ nightmares 
     12. eating disorders 
     13. sexuality problems 
     14. lack of trust/ fear of intimacy and commitment- people work 
     15. harassment and threat 
     16. grieving loss of friends, family 
     17. spiritual "rape"of the soul

Questions to help the assessment process

1. Who is the leader? What are his/her background and qualifications?
Have you relied solely on trust that all of the information you were given is true or have you done
independent investigation?
Do you feel pressure to accept and not question at all?
Is it possible that there are misrepresentations or falsehoods? 
Is there external corroboration for extraordinary claims of accomplishment or are they simply his/her
say-so?
If "miracles" have been performed, can they be replicated under open observation or even under
scientific conditions?
Are there other explanations for the "miracles," such as magic tricks, hypnosis, etc.? 
If there is a former leader or member, have you sought him or her out to hear for yourself critical
information? If not, are you afraid to trust your ability to discern the truthfulness of what you learn?
If you find yourself saying that you don't care if there are major deceptions, ask yourself if you knew
this information before you became involved, would you have even bothered to make a commitment
of time and money?

2. Are there exclusive claims made to wisdom, knowledge, love, and truth?
If so, the burden of proof is on the leader to demonstrate his or her superiority, not on members to
disprove it. A truly "developed" spiritual being exudes love, compassion, and humility. Any person
who claims to be "superior" but does not practice what they preach is of questionable character.
There is never incongruency between words and deeds. A person who uses fear and phobia
indoctrination to control followers demonstrates insecurity and lack of spiritual maturity.

3. Is total submission and obedience required? 
Any relationship that demands giving up one's personal integrity and conscience is dangerous and
leads to totalitarianism. Be wary of those who advocate "the ends justify the means," especially when
it clearly serves their own self-interest. Also, make sure that your desire "to believe" doesn't simply
activate the common psychological defense mechanisms: denial, rationalization, justification, and
wishful thinking. If a doctrine is true or a person is truly spiritually advanced, they will stand up to the
scrutiny of objective evaluation. If they do not prove themselves, they are probably not worthy of
your commitment and devotion.

4. Does he/ she have a criminal record, a legacy of allegations against him/her or a history of
misconduct? 
If there are allegations of misconduct against the leader, the responsible follower must seek out the
negative information and the sources of that information to evaluate the truth. If a leader claims to be
celibate and allegations are made that the leader engaged in inappropriate sex, this is an extreme
violation of integrity. It must be investigated vigorously. It is never appropriate for teachers, therapists,
or spiritual masters to take advantage of a power differential over followers. This is especially true in
the area of sexuality. It is grossly unethical to engage in sexual relations with someone who has placed
their trust in as a teacher/advisor/master. Many followers are incredibly vulnerable to this and unable
to resist sexual intimacy. Anyone should be able to say "no."
Is he or she a "trust bandit," stealing hearts, souls, minds, bodies, and pocketbooks for his or her own
ends?

5. Does the leader demonstrate psychological problems and awareness of their existence? 
Does the leader have addictions to power, drugs, alcohol, sex, even television or shopping? Does the
leader have emotional outbursts? 
Does the leader physically abuse followers?
Does the leader drive expensive cars and wear expensive clothes while extolling the virtues of
renunciation? 
Does the leader financially exploit followers by expecting them to live in poverty while he or she
indulges in luxury? 
Is the group or leader's driveway habitually filled with luxury cars while ordinary people find him or
her inaccessible and unreachable? 
Does the leader ever encourage deception or use deception as a "technique" to trick followers into
so-called correct thinking and understanding?
Codependent behavior by a spiritual teacher should be a warning sign of danger. Codependency
includes: obsessively trying to control others; allowing people to hurt and use them; lack of clear
boundaries; being reactive, not proactive; tunnel visioned; obsessive worrying and denial; expectations
of perfection and suppression of human needs. (Beattie, Beyond Codependency, Harper/Hazelden,
1989)

6. Are questions and doubts permitted within the organization? 
A healthy spiritual environment must engage individual followers at their level of experience and should
encourage them to feel and think and therefore question their beliefs and exercise good
decision-making. In this way, the follower can investigate, discriminate, and test the dogma and the
environment they are being asked to accept, between what his or her personal issues are and what
might be an unhealthy environment. If intense pressure is used to dissuade people who wish to talk
with former members or critics, it is a clear sign of information control. Controlling information is one
of the most essential components of mind control.

7. Is the organization open or closed? 
Are there organizational secrets? 
Are there "in" groups and "out" groups? 
Are there restricted teachings for initiates only? 
Are there secret texts and publications "for your eyes only"? 
Is there real financial accountability? 
If a group says that you can look at its accounting records, does it actually provide access? The only
way to know is to ask to see the records. If you are afraid to ask, what does this say about the
atmosphere of the group? 

8. What structural checks and balances exist within the organization to prevent abuse of power?
Are there divisive sectarian biases, even in the name of interdenominational ecumenicism and
universality? 
Is there an independent "ethics"committee to challenge and change policies of the group? If there are
abuses or injustices, what structure exists to correct them?
Can anyone legitimately question the actions of the leader without threat of emotional withdraw or fear
of expulsion to "hell"? 
Do the rich and powerful get preferential treatment? 
Are "indulgences" (spiritual pardons) sold? 
Is there a "Sicilian" code of silence against unethical behavior of leaders? 
Ways to evaluate a group's control 
over personal freedom

Mind Control - The B.I.T.E. Model 

[From Chapter Four of Combatting Cult Mind Control (Park Street Press, 1990) by Steven Hassan]
Destructive mind control can be understood in terms of four basic components, which form the
acronym BITE:

I. Behavior Control
II. Information Control
III. Thought Control
IV. Emotional Control 

These four components are guidelines. Not all groups do every aspect or do them extremely. What
matters most is the overall impact on a person's free will and ability to make real choices. A person's
uniqueness, talents, skills, creativity, and free will should be encouraged, not suppressed. Destructive
mind control seeks to "make people over" in the image of the cult leader. This process has been
described as "cloning". This "cult identity" is the result of a systematic process to dissociate a person
from his or her previous identity including important beliefs and values as well as significant
relationships. The result is the creation of a dual identity, what I refer to "John-John" and "John
cult-member".

I. Behavior Control

1. Regulation of individual's physical reality
a. Where, how and with whom the member lives and associates with
b. What clothes, colors, hairstyles the person wears
c. What food the person eats, drinks, adopts, and rejects
d. How much sleep the person is able to have
e. Financial dependence
f. Little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations

2. Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals

3. Need to ask permission for major decisions

4. Need to report thoughts, feelings and activities to superiors

5. Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques- positive and negative).

5. Individualism discouraged; group think prevails

6. Rigid rules and regulations

7. Need for obedience and dependency

II. Information Control

1. Use of deception
a. Deliberately holding back information
b. Distorting information to make it acceptable
c. Outright lying

2. Access to non-cult sources of information minimized or discouraged
a. Books, articles, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio
b. Critical information
c. Former members
d. Keep members so busy they don't have time to think

3. Compartmentalization of information; Outsider vs. Insider doctrines
a. Information is not freely accessible
b. Information varies at different levels and missions within pyramid
c. Leadership decides who "needs to know" what

4. Spying on other members is encouraged
a. Pairing up with "buddy" system to monitor and control
b. Reporting deviant thoughts, feelings, and actions to leadership

5. Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda
a. Newsletters, magazines, journals, audio tapes, videotapes, etc.
b. Misquotations, statements taken out of context from non-cult sources

6. Unethical use of confession
a. Information about "sins" used to abolish identity boundaries
b. Past "sins" used to manipulate and control; no forgiveness or absolution

III. Thought Control

1. Need to internalize the group's doctrine as "Truth"
a. Map = Reality
b. Black and White thinking
c. Good vs. evil
d. Us vs. them (inside vs. outside)

2. Adopt "loaded" language (characterized by "thought-terminating clichés"). Words are the tools we
use to think with. These "special" words constrict rather than expand understanding. They function to
reduce complexities of experience into trite, platitudinous "buzz words".

3. Only "good" and "proper" thoughts are encouraged.

4. Thought-stopping techniques (to shut down "reality testing" by stopping "negative" thoughts and
allowing only "good" thoughts); rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism.
a. Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking 
b. Chanting
c. Meditating
d. Praying
e. Speaking in "tongues"
f. Singing or humming

5. No critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate

6. No alternative belief systems viewed as legitimate, good, or useful

IV. Emotional Control

1. Manipulate and narrow the range of a person's feelings.

2. Make the person feel like if there are ever any problems it is always their fault, never the leader's
or the group's.

3. Excessive use of guilt
a. Identity guilt

1. Who you are (not living up to your potential)
2. Your family
3. Your past
4. Your affiliations
5. Your thoughts, feelings, actions
b. Social guilt
c. Historical guilt

4. Excessive use of fear
a. Fear of thinking independently
b. Fear of the "outside" world
c. Fear of enemies
d. Fear of losing one's "salvation"
e. Fear of leaving the group or being shunned by group
f. Fear of disapproval

5. Extremes of emotional highs and lows.

6. Ritual and often public confession of "sins".

7. Phobia indoctrination : programming of irrational fears of ever leaving the group or even questioning
the leader's authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future
without being in the group.
a. No happiness or fulfillment "outside"of the group
b. Terrible consequences will take place if you leave: "hell"; "demon possession"; "incurable diseases";
"accidents"; "suicide"; "insanity"; "10,000 reincarnations"; etc.
c. Shunning of leave takers. Fear of being rejected by friends, peers, and family.
d. Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group's perspective, people who leave are: "weak";
"undisciplined"; "unspiritual"; "worldly"; "brainwashed by family, counselors"; seduced by money, sex,
rock and roll.

The Three Stages of Gaining Control of the Mind
[Adapted from Kurt Lewin's three-stage model as described in Coercive Persuasion (Norton, 1961)
by Edgar Schein]

1. Unfreezing
a. Disorientation / confusion
b. Sensory deprivation and/or sensory overload
c. Physiological manipulation
1. Sleep deprivation
2. Privacy deprivation
3. Change of diet
d. Hypnosis
1. Age regression
2. Visualizations
3. Story-telling and metaphors
4. Linguistic double binds, use of suggestion
5. Meditation, chanting, praying, singing
e. Get person to question self identity
f. Redefine individual's past (implant false memories, forget positive memories of the past)

2. Changing
a. Creation and imposition of new "identity" done step by step
1. Formally within indoctrination sessions
2. Informally by members, tapes, books, etc.
b. Use of Behavior Modification techniques
1. Rewards and punishments
2. Use of thought-stopping techniques
3. Control of environment
c. Mystical manipulation
d. Use of hypnosis and other mind-altering techniques
1. Repetition, monotony, rhythm
2. Excessive chanting, praying, decreeing, visualizations
e. Use of confession and testimonials

3. Refreezing
a. New identity reinforced, old identity surrendered
1. Separate from the past; decrease contact or cut off friends and family
2. Give up meaningful possessions and donate assets 
3. Start doing cult activities: recruit, fundraise, move in with members
b. New name, new clothing, new hairstyle, new language, new "family"
c. Pairing up with new role models, buddy system
d. Indoctrination continues: Workshops, retreats, seminars, individual studies, group activities

Remember,cult mind control does not erase the person's old identity, but rather creates a new one to
suppress the old identity (John-John and John-cult).