Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over

Description

We think of cults as bizarre, inexplicable, or otherworldly places that only strange people inhabit, but cults and other abusive and high-demand groups (and relationships) are actually quite commonplace. In fact, the behaviors, social pressures, and authoritarian structures that create cults exist to a greater or lesser extent in every human relationship and every human group. In the first in-depth research of its kind, the author interviewed sixty-five people who were born in or grew up in thirty-nine different cultic groups spanning more than a dozen countries. What’s especially interesting about these individuals is that they each left the cult on their own, without outside help or internal support. In Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over, the authors craft Lalich’s original and groundbreaking research into an accessible and engaging book, the first of its kind focusing on this particular population. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. We Weren’t There by Choice 2. The Transcendent Belief System: Purity, Perfection, and the Eradication of Individuality 3. Charismatic Authority: Exhilarating Vision, Electrifying Charisma, and Total Domination 4. Systems of Control: Official Rules, Formal Structures, 5. Systems of Influence: Social Pressures, Rigid Expectations, and Constant Manipulation 6. Landing on Mars: Finding Their Way in an Alien World 7. Surviving and Thriving: Trauma, Resilience, and Integration Appendices Appendix A: Research Methodology Appendix B: Print and Multi-Media Resources Appendix C: Cult Information and Resource Websites Appendix D: Influence Methods that Support a Behavioral-Control System References Index