randomfactor;
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Yet in practice, they essentially attack your ability to perceive reality, instead substituting an intensely subjective reality in it's place. And since you all agree on that reality, it becomes the Group Reality.
This is what I have found true about all cults and "thought reform programs" I have encountered. (See the thread on Alcoholics Anonymous in particular). These organizations used a variety of means to achieve this replacement of perception, such as applying new meanings to language, stop-think techniques, psychological ploys like inducing shame and guilt, and appeals to see "with the heart rather than the mind".
This is also the core tool at the disposal of the disfunctional family.[b:3a93c55763] The thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of the family members are invalidated in order to preserve an internal and external image that is more to the liking of the leading family members[/b:3a93c55763], (iow. usually one or both parents).
In the family, "reality replacement" is often used to hide secrets the family does not want revealed.
I have not done that much research on the subject, but, if I'm not mistaken, implanting a different or false reality is what brainwashing is all about.
[b:3a93c55763]In the disfunctional family this technique is especially damaging because it causes the children to doubt their own senses, and leaves them vulnerable to many kinds of abuses in adult life[/b:3a93c55763]. It takes a very strong ego to break away from this pre-conditioning and regain faith that their own version of reality is valid.
Those children who are labeled "rebellious" might actually have the strongest defense against mind control.[b:3a93c55763] Accusing prospective cult members of "rebelliousness" is something I encountered within all of the thought reform organizations I have been involved with.[/b:3a93c55763] This accusation is intended to make the prospective member more compliant, and break down their stubborn resistance to accepting a new view of reality.
A friend of mine, (who had been a battered woman), put it like this; "[b:3a93c55763]I think the only time people run into real problems [psychological] is when they doubt themselves.[/b:3a93c55763]"
I though about what she meant for a long time, and realize that in my own life this has been the case. Whenever I tried to accept a version of reality other than my own I became emotionally distressed. [b:3a93c55763]The level of distress I experienced was directly proportional to group pressure to accept the new version of reality presented.
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In some groups, compliance with "group think" is not as much of a requirement as it is in other groups.[b:3a93c55763] I found that I experienced the most distress when I had a strong motive for wanting acceptance within the group, and when agreement with the group concensus of reality was most highly stressed.[/b:3a93c55763]
Recovery from mental stress, for me at least, has always come from recovering faith in my own perceptions.
I would think that an ability to calmly accept another view of reality would predispose someone towards involvement in cult thinking. I don't know whether or not this has been researched.
Please forgive my digressions. I doubt that the "group concensus" would have the same power for an isolated individual. Physical proximity to the group would seem to be a necessary factor for implanting a new reality, because pressure to conform would not be as intense for the loner.