Hi Citygirl

I think you are right to be alarmed. I want to post a little bit about my experience. I think it's relevant to your daughter.

Cults do not have to be confined to physical spaces. Members do not have to wear orange, shave their heads, and live in a remote compound (or even in a townhouse in Manhattan). They do not have to be under the direct physical control of a charismatic leader all the time. Rather than saying someone is in a cult, it might be more accurate to say that that person is in a cultic relationship.

Cult leaders implant the cult in members' minds. Leaders engage in thought reform, mind control, and use all sorts of techniques that even very educated people are not educated about in order to exploit their victims. Just because your daughter still has freedom of movement and freedom of choice in whom she dates does not mean that she has freedom of mind.

Cults are about being exploited and deceived by an authority figure you trust who makes you promises s/he has no intention of keeping, and that might not be keepable. (Many cults promise the ability to fly; gravity being what it is on planet Earth, that promise can't be delivered on.) In fact, deception and manipulation are at the heart of the cultic relationship; not chanting six hours a day and wearing funny clothes.

I lived on my own and dated whoever I wished during my entire, very damaging time in a cultic relationship. At no point did I sound like anyone other than the opinionated, confident, assertive person my parents have know me to be since birth.

I wish my parents (both highly educated professionals) had done more to get me out a terribly scarring situation. Please read the links rrmoderator provided. Please also read the parts of the gigantic Byron Katie thread where poster The Anticult writes about mind control techniques. Much of what he writes is not available in any book on cults, and it's essential knowledge.

I was not involved in the Wright Institute, but from what I've read I've concluded it fosters dangerously exploitative, unfree relationships. Share what you learn on this site with your daughter, and if possible, consider ExLand's wise advice to talk with an exit counselor before you meet with your daughter.

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ExLand
Most importantly don't try to do this alone- seek professional advice.

Exland

I agree with this. Seek Professional help. Seek out someone who has knowledge of LGAT's. My wife, upon her return from the PSI Ranch, told me that she wanted to go to marriage counseling; she left a couple of weeks later.

I had no idea what PSI was about and only learned about it after my wife left. I continued to see the counselor and after learning about PSI I asked the counselor about LGAT's and she had no idea what they were.

I sometimes wonder if my wife was setting me up with the counseling to begin with. I was not the type to go to counseling and I think she was going to use this as an excuse to leave if I had refused to go. Now I realize my marriage was in trouble after her return from this "program" and I only wanted to save my marriage. I loved my wife. I loved her enough to sit in counseling and talk to a stranger in order to save my marriage. And I still failed.

Hi Christa,

Could you be a bit more specific about which Byron Katie thread contains the stuff on mind control that Anticult wrote about. I've tried searching the forums but there are lots of gigantic byron katie threads, so I'm not sure which ones to read.

Thanks Exland

Yes, I know what you mean. We've actually been trying different ways to index that thread or break out some of the info. That whole thread is truly an extraordinary ongoing contribution; it's on the level of a graduate seminar.

The link below will take you to a post by corboy where he links to several parts of the Katie thread and suggests search terms to use. corboy's posts, while rarely on the mechanics of mind control, are equally insightful and helpful

A poster named The Anticult is extremely knowledgeable about mind control and NLP. Searching on his name and then going to the Byron Katie/Eckhart Tolle threads might be another way to get at his info on mind control.

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