Articles
Spiritual Abuse Resources - Traumatic Abuse in Cults: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
Daniel Shaw, MSW
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.
Federal Court Orders Carbondale Café, Owner to Pay $98K in Back Wages, Damages to 31 Employees, Rectifying Jury Decision That Shorted Back Wages
US Labor Department v. Dayemi Organization
The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court order requiring a Carbondale café to pay 31 workers $98,400 in back wages and damages for operating an illegal tip pool, almost six months after a jury awarded the workers $4,900 – just 10 percent of their back wages – in what the department alleged was an error based on the jury’s instructions and how they interpreted the evidence at trial.
On Jan. 13, 2023, Judge Staci M. Yandle of the U.S. District Court for Southern District of Illinois in Carbondale issued a memorandum and order amending the jury’s July 2022 award. The court responded to a motion made by the department to alter the judgment in light of the error.
Books We Like
Podcasts We Like
Videos We Like
Jon Atack (former Scientology member)
Why I Left an Evangelical Cult
The Psychology of Cult Leaders
The Heart of Cult Recovery
Narcissism in Leadership | The Signs
8 Ways Narcissists Are Like Cult Leaders
TV & Movies We Like
The Vow | HBO
Content Warning: sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
Eerily similar to our group even though this goes even further and into more disturbing depths. The first episode brilliantly conveys the good feelings you get when you first encounter this kind of group. It’s remarkable how these pseudo-gurus all seem to work from the same playbook.
Seduced | Starz
Content Warning: sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
About the same group (NXIVM), told from one family’s perspective. It goes more intimately into one person’s experience. Very powerful.
Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence | Hulu
Content Warning: sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
A very graphic story about a man who preyed on young college students, drawing them into a cult, sometimes for years. The filmmaker is a survivor of the group, making the footage raw and intimate
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief | Amazon Prime
Very good scientology documentary.
Scientology and the Aftermath | A&E
Another great series. Scientology is frightening like all cults, but it’s especially vengeful and controlling over its public perception. There are many stories about from escapees.
Holy Hell | Peacock
Content Warning: Sexual, emotional, and spiritual abuse.
Another great and horrible depiction of a cult with a sexually predatory leader. Made by a survivor of the group, so really gets to the heart of it.
Holy Sh*t. We’re in a Cult!
3-part doc about Andrew Cohen’s downfall and reemergence having “learned lessons.” Very similar to our experience. “Murshid” was acquainted with Andrew Cohen, and met with him at least once in Europe.
Wild Wild Country | Netflix
When a controversial cult leader builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal.