VCE VM - Year 2 (2025)

Cults & Cult Advocacy

Victoria is looking into religious cults - here’s what it should examineNew laws are needed to tackle exploitation and coercive control in religious cults What can other states learn from Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry?

Joining a "Cult": Religious Choice or Psychological Aberration?In this article, I will analyze the different theories about "cult" membership and conversion, specifically focusing upon whether or not conversions to cults ought to be respected by the law in the same way that the law respects conversion to and membership in, mainstream religions. In section II, I attempt (unsuccessfully) to define a "cult." In section III, I discuss the civil liberties issues surrounding "cults" and the public furor they have engendered. In secion IV, I discuss the different and competing theories about why young people join "cults," and the implications of those theories for public polic responses. Finally, in section VI I conclude that none of the arguments which attempt to draw distinctions between "cults" and mainstream religions are solid enough to ground legal interventions against those who choose to join new religious movements.

Cult Membership as a Source of Self-Cohesion: Forensic ImplicationsThe study of cults and the types of individuals drawn to them has long been of interest to psychiatrists. Although many studies have been done on personality types and psychopathology in cult members, no consensus has emerged. Studies of psychopathology in cult members have viewed these individuals as having either no significant impairment, displaying elements of character pathology, or being severely impaired. The result is that no clear theoretical framework has been developed to explain cult membership. Psychoanalytic self psychology, as developed by Heinz Kohut, can provide such a framework. The cult may be understood as serving a number of functions for its members, all of which are designed to restore self-cohesion. Such a formulation implies a degree of self, or narcissistic, pathology in many cult members. This article reviews the literature on cults, offers a self psychology formulation to explain the function that cult membership serves for narcissistically vulnerable personalities, and describes forensic applications of these principles.

Cult membership: What factors contribute to joining or leaving?We assumed that, as in the case of addiction disorders, former cult members exhibit vulnerability and protective factors for cult commitment and membe…

Questionnaire insights - Inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups - Parliament of Victoria

The 25 Signs you’re in a High-Control Group or Cult by Anastasia Somerville-WongIt is a really healthy and rewarding thing to be part of a movement for positive change and progress, and to be part of a community which encourages moral and spiritual growth. It can do wonders fo…

Cult or Movement?Amidst accusations and rumors, Teal Swan explains that Teal Tribe is not a cult.

www.parliament.vic.gov.au/492cd2/contentassets/9fcf4d1effea422e9b6d46c5b702163f/01.12.25-pm-hearing---parliamentary-inquiry-into-cults.pdf

Cults: Defining Criteria

Human Trafficking, Cults, & Coercion: The Use of Drugs as a ToolThanks to the successful prosecution of sex traffickers, the definition and proof of “coercion” now encompasses evidence showing the use of addictive drugs as a tool. This article describes two case examples, and in both, the perpetrators supplied abundant amounts of addictive substantives. Once those victims became addicted and feared the pain of withdrawal, the sex traffickers forced the victims to perform commercial sex acts to pay off the drug debt they incurred, feeding the addiction the traffickers caused. Coercion by way of intentional drug addiction and control is a theory that expands the operative word “coercion.” This short article summarizes key points of my presentation at the Annual International Conference for the International Cultic Studies Association held in June 2022.

Legal Implications of Cults (Chapter 14) - A Clinical and Forensic Guide to Cults and Persuasive LeadershipA Clinical and Forensic Guide to Cults and Persuasive Leadership - July 2025

www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/responding-to-authoritarian-cults-and-extreme-exploitations-a-new-framework-to-evaluate-undue-influence

Research Guides: Evaluating Sources: The CRAAP TestUse the resources in this guide to help you develop the critical evaluation skills to select the best books, journal ariticles, and web sites to support your research projects.

These Former Cult Members Now Help Others EscapeCult mediators tell us about their most dangerous cases—from finding their house covered in blankets to helping recruits break free from groups where babies were breastfed by mothers high on acid.

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