Selective Recruitment&Strategic Rejection as Tactics
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: July 14, 2004 11:01PM
[b:af19d1ce11]Selective Recruitment, Gaslighting and Strategic Rejection as Mental Manipulation[/b:af19d1ce11]
A discussion of this subject developed on this thread entitled 'Do Not Expect Gratitude and several correspondants began describing their experiences of this form of abuse.
Access the thread here [board.culteducation.com]
scroll down to the post by 'Leopardgirl'spost dated 7-12-04. Starting with that post and the others below it, you'll find some reflections on this topic. If you've suffered this kind of experience, we hope you can add your own insights.
Strategic Rejection can be perpetrated by itself. But when combined with Selective Recruitment of vulnerable persons, the two tactics form a deadly duo.
We are hoping that more people can describe their experiences of this, and what aided them in recovering from its effects.
When perpetrated, this conbination of Selective Recruitment/Strategic Rejection is often done in one-on-one relationships or in groups that are small enough where 'everybody knows your name.'--examples of this are toxic esoteric groups, magickal groups, badly run Fourth Way groups, to name just a few. This list is by no means exhaustive.
Often what one has is a larger group with a respected reputation, whose larger membership receives genuine benefits. But this larger group may conceal a carefully selected, very secretive inner circle centered on the leader. The members of the inner circle torment each other and are tormented by the leader and conceal thier misery from the larger, non-elect membership. All too often these disciples rationalize their misery as the price they must pay for the prospect of accelerated spiritual achievement!
Selective recruitment means that a subpopulation of vulnerable persons are either attracted to, or are intentionally recruited into the group--or its inner circle.
One of the finest (and most horrifying) descriptions of a group with this dynamic is in [i:af19d1ce11]The Sorcerer's Apprentice:My Life With Carlos Castaneda [/i:af19d1ce11]by Amy Wallace. Wallace was selectively recruited into the inner circle of a group centred upon Carlos Castaneda. She was lucky to escape with her life; 5 other persons close to Castaneda disappeared after he died and are presumed dead, most likely from suicide.
Once in the group, you're encouraged to make the group (or its inner circle) your world. The prestige of the group and the danger of life outside the group are increasingly emphasized. Discipline is more and more heavily enforced and one means of doing so is cultivate terror that members will be kicked out--and for no clear reason.
When skillfully practiced, victims are in such pain that they may not understand exactly what was done to them, and may have great difficulty describing it to a psychotherapist.
Groups and persons who perpetrate Selective Recruitment and Strategic Rejection, often run another harmful mind game called 'Gaslighting'--tricking people into believing they have beliefs, feelings, and attitudes they dont actually have at all. Or tricking people into believing they are crazy, or in some state of political sin for which brutal revolutionary de-conditioning/re-education is the only remedy. There's a book about this tactic entitled
*Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation, and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis* by Theodore L Dorpat MD (psychiatrist and forensic specialist--analyzes how relationships, especially counseling relationships can become coercive, sometimes unintentionally so, and how to prevent this from happening.)
[www.amazon.com]
In extreme cases, victims of this kind of subtle abuse may feel afraid to seek counseling, especially if the perpetrator was a therapist or was an unlicensed practitioner who abused techniques and concepts derived from therapy. (Which can happen in so-called psychotherapy cults)
Because this abuse is usually perpetrated in small groups, many such groups remain under the radar and do not show up on Google searches.
We hope others can describe this kind of abuse and identify what assisted you in recovering--and what was not helpful and best avoided.
[/b]
A discussion of this subject developed on this thread entitled 'Do Not Expect Gratitude and several correspondants began describing their experiences of this form of abuse.
Access the thread here [board.culteducation.com]
scroll down to the post by 'Leopardgirl'spost dated 7-12-04. Starting with that post and the others below it, you'll find some reflections on this topic. If you've suffered this kind of experience, we hope you can add your own insights.
Strategic Rejection can be perpetrated by itself. But when combined with Selective Recruitment of vulnerable persons, the two tactics form a deadly duo.
We are hoping that more people can describe their experiences of this, and what aided them in recovering from its effects.
When perpetrated, this conbination of Selective Recruitment/Strategic Rejection is often done in one-on-one relationships or in groups that are small enough where 'everybody knows your name.'--examples of this are toxic esoteric groups, magickal groups, badly run Fourth Way groups, to name just a few. This list is by no means exhaustive.
Often what one has is a larger group with a respected reputation, whose larger membership receives genuine benefits. But this larger group may conceal a carefully selected, very secretive inner circle centered on the leader. The members of the inner circle torment each other and are tormented by the leader and conceal thier misery from the larger, non-elect membership. All too often these disciples rationalize their misery as the price they must pay for the prospect of accelerated spiritual achievement!
Selective recruitment means that a subpopulation of vulnerable persons are either attracted to, or are intentionally recruited into the group--or its inner circle.
One of the finest (and most horrifying) descriptions of a group with this dynamic is in [i:af19d1ce11]The Sorcerer's Apprentice:My Life With Carlos Castaneda [/i:af19d1ce11]by Amy Wallace. Wallace was selectively recruited into the inner circle of a group centred upon Carlos Castaneda. She was lucky to escape with her life; 5 other persons close to Castaneda disappeared after he died and are presumed dead, most likely from suicide.
Once in the group, you're encouraged to make the group (or its inner circle) your world. The prestige of the group and the danger of life outside the group are increasingly emphasized. Discipline is more and more heavily enforced and one means of doing so is cultivate terror that members will be kicked out--and for no clear reason.
When skillfully practiced, victims are in such pain that they may not understand exactly what was done to them, and may have great difficulty describing it to a psychotherapist.
Groups and persons who perpetrate Selective Recruitment and Strategic Rejection, often run another harmful mind game called 'Gaslighting'--tricking people into believing they have beliefs, feelings, and attitudes they dont actually have at all. Or tricking people into believing they are crazy, or in some state of political sin for which brutal revolutionary de-conditioning/re-education is the only remedy. There's a book about this tactic entitled
*Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation, and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis* by Theodore L Dorpat MD (psychiatrist and forensic specialist--analyzes how relationships, especially counseling relationships can become coercive, sometimes unintentionally so, and how to prevent this from happening.)
[www.amazon.com]
In extreme cases, victims of this kind of subtle abuse may feel afraid to seek counseling, especially if the perpetrator was a therapist or was an unlicensed practitioner who abused techniques and concepts derived from therapy. (Which can happen in so-called psychotherapy cults)
Because this abuse is usually perpetrated in small groups, many such groups remain under the radar and do not show up on Google searches.
We hope others can describe this kind of abuse and identify what assisted you in recovering--and what was not helpful and best avoided.
[/b]
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