If somebody who is a drug or alcohol addict becomes enamored by one of these groups, what do you think is the likely outcome?

If they do drop the drugs and alcohol, but end up obsessed with Landmark, along with all the typical bizarre behavior, isn't it just trading one addiction for the other?

So, is it a good thing if they found ANYTHING that would keep them away from drugs, or is Landmark going to cause them to implode regardless? Or will it likely be a temporary fix for their drug addiction?

Hope that made sense.

Dear Concerned and Sad:

I'd recommend getting and reading Cults: Inside and Out by Rick Ross.

And Mr Ross is always available by email and you can PM him here.

Meanwhile, your priority is to keep yourself healthy and balanced. The important thing is to learn what is within your direct control and what is not. That is where
Cults: Inside and Out is very helpful.

I am not a professional. It would be great if we could have an addiction counselor contribute to this thread.

I can offer some guesses but they are only speculations, layman's hunches.

One area where cults and addiction may be similar is that both entail mood
management, getting high. They both create social venues that normalize behavior that is considered annoying or downright harmful by the rest of society.

One thing that may differ between cults and addictions is cult recruitment always begins with deceit.

By contrast, addictions don't seem to begin with lies. Most who become addicted are well aware of the dangers presented by drugs and alcohol - we get drug education in school, many of us know or have heard of addiction related tragedies.

Most addicts started out unaware of having a physical predisposition to addiction. Or they knew they were at risk but underestimated the staggering
undertow that is unleased when physical predisposition to addiction is exposed to enough doses of a triggering agent.

But chemical addicts often lie to themselves*after* their addiction takes hold and becomes unmanageable. Addicts tell themselves they're not actually addicted. They may feel shame ridden and conceal their addiction and its consequences.

But these are private people in a private struggle, going from crisis to crisis, one day at a time.

This is not the same as a long term public relations campaign a cult devises to freshen up its public image!

Cult recruitment, however, begins with lies. Many lies. Often intentional and strategic.

A big part of cult deceit is to present an appearance of love and
respect, while concealing that most of the nice behavior directed at you
is from a training manual.

Addicts self select into addict venues. By contrast, cults often
seek to control your social behavior and friendship patterns by orchestrating ways to cut you off from friends and families who disapprove of the cult.

That is why education (lie busting) is THE key ingredient of cult exit counseling. The core of the exit counseling process is to give - not - impose but give a cult member exactly the information the cult hides. To give
exactly the information that would have kept the person from ever joining
the cult.

Cults and addictions get power from mood management - they get you high, get you hopeful. But unlike addiction, cults operate through intentional information control. They operate by hiding information during the recruitment process and hide a lot of information from current members.

Many members leave the cult when they learn how exploitative it actually is
and that so much of the behavior was not spontaneous love, but came from a script or training manual. But this discovery can take years. Tragedies can take place.

The recruit is given only information favorable to the group. Incomplete information is presented as though it is full disclosure.

The distinguishing feature of a cult is that by intention of the leadership
the potential recruit is not given full disclosure about the leader or the group.

(Exit counseling offers this very same educative process to a recruit but gives unmasking information about the cult in just a few hours and in a safe venue. The recruit now has perspective on the cult and on his or her future prospects .within just a few hours, instead of having to lose years and opportunities to make that same discovery. )

The potential recruit is not told about the finances of the group - such as the leader's family being enriched while those lower on the food chain are encouraged to max out their credit cards.

The potential recruit is not told whether the group once had other names and changed names due to bad publicity.

Potential recruits are not told that once they are involved, there is no exit point, no final graduation. There is always more to do, always new courses to pay for.

The potential recruit is not told about the leader's past history or in some cases is not told who the actual leader is.

Potential recruits are not told what will be done to them during the retreat or seminar. They will NOT be told that they will be deprived of sleep, will be
subjected to verbal abuse, trance induction, stimulus overload.

Potential recruits are not told that pressure will be put on them if they attempt to leave. They will not be told that they will be pressured to give up
their mobile phones, laptops.

Recruits are not told that the leader's methods are not at all original but
have all be borrowed from earlier sources, some known to be harmful. told what will be done to her during the retreat or seminar. Rec

I am not a professional, so this is just guesswork.

Cults and addictions may not be the same. But from my layman's
perspective, I see some interesting similarities, which I listed below.

It would be terrific if a professional addiction specialist or two
could come here and give further information.

Some time ago, I posted something here. Maybe it will be helpful.


[forum.culteducation.com]

What I think is the important observation is the Ullman's observation that
an addiction diminishes up, whether it is addiction to a substance or a process (eg, gambling, religion), because use of an addictive trigger does not create maturity or lead to the development of character.

Instead, we get mood relief from this external 'prosthesis', making us more and yet more dependent on this artificial aid.

Many recovering addicts report that their emotional and social development
slowed, and even stopped right at the time their habit became addictive.

Again, I am not a professional, and want to emphasize that these hunches are speculative.

As a layperson, all I can suggest is that there do seem to be some
similarities between how chemical addicts behave and how people behave after indoctrinated ('processed') into LGATs and other cults.)

Addict Behavior/ Cult Recruit Behavior -Comparisons

Let us look at what people do when they're addicted to drugs or alcohol.

are recruited into cultic relationships with a human potential program, a guru, or group.

** Addiction makes your world smaller and yet smaller. You get fragile
inside as your mood regulation becomes yet more dependent on the chemical
which happens because your neurotransmitters become depleted. You avoid
more and more situations in which you feel uncomfortable. You hang out more and more with other addicts or by yourself.

**(People in cults lose ability to enjoy relationships with people who
do not share their beliefs or who disagree.)

* Denial that one is dependent on ETOH or drugs.

(Denial that one is being lied to, exploited, by the cult - such as hiding
how much money you are spending, hiding pictures of your guru, hiding that you are coming to believe that those who do not share your beliefs are evil.)

* Pestering others to join one in one's use of the chemical. Addicts
feel comfortable around other addicts, and get nervous around non addicts.

(Pestering others to join the LGAT.)

* Living life in a constant busy scramble to get money for one's drug of choice, find a dealer for one's drug of choice, lying to one's boss
and one's friends to conceal one's habit.

(The constant hustle working for an LGAT to meet its recruitment goals)

* Lying and stealing to support one's habit

(LGAT converts become part of an institutionalized lie - that is what LGATs
are about. Examples of this are pretending to be friends, but only to recruit
you for the LGAT, lying to friends and relatives to join them for an event
without telling them the event is an LGAT recruitment seminar.)

* Abandoning relationships with non addicted friends and socializing mostly or
only with other 'users'.

( Abandoning relationships with those who don't share your beliefs and refuse to be recruited.)

* Glamorizing one's use of drugs or alcohol as being 'empowering' 'hip'
and that refusing to use drugs means one is close minded.

(Believing that one's membership in an LGAT means one is on the cutting edge of all humanity and has found 'It"

* Confining oneself more and yet to social groups defined by drug intake and its terminology.(Ecstasy/clubbing, extreme potheads, extreme users of "entheogens' such as ayahuasca)

Again, these are hunches on my part. I am not a professional. Here is to hoping that a licensed addiction counselor could offer some insights.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/2015 12:26AM by corboy.