Department of Forensic and Legal Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, United States
Review Article
Former Cult Members: Background and Treatment Implications
Author(s): Sylwia Prendable*
Cults have been studied for over two decades since they have become more prevalent in our society. A cult is defined
as a religious or other collective or radical political group with socially deviant and novel beliefs and practices.
Although not all cults are violent, they can cause serious implications to those who are enticed to join them and can
bring serious psychological harm, especially to those that try to escape them. Among all the cults that exist in our
society, we can find religious, military, business, satanic and gang cults; some highly interconnected self-improvement
groups and other political movements or even terrorist groups also exist, all following distinctive beliefs and attracting
different types of individuals... View more»