Cults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association

by Marc Galanter (Editor)

Subtitled "A Report of the American Psychiatric Association from the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion," this book presents the findings of "a three-year study on cults and their members" (from the dust jacket fly leaf.

Contents: Preface. Overview on the Issues. Psychotherapy of cult members. Civil liberties, cults, and new religious movements: the psychiatrist's role. Perspectives on Cults and New Religious Movements. Cults and new religious movements. New religious movements in historical perspective. Contemporary youth: their psychological needs and beliefs. Life in the cults. Families of cult members: consultation and treatment. Psychotherapeutic implications of new religious affiliation. Psychological perspectives on cult leadership. Persuasive techniques in contemporary cults: a public health approach. Religious cult membership: a sociobiologic model. The psychology of induction: a review and interpretation. Deprogramming (involuntary departure), coercion, and cults. The civil liberties of religious minorities. Options for legal intervention. Public reaction against new religious movements. Index.

Contributors: Ted Bohn, David G. Bromley, Richard Delgado, Alexander Deutsch, Galanter, Jeremiah S. Gutman, David A. Halperin, Paul Hamburg, David Hoffman, Brock K. Kilbourne, Saul V. Levine, Paul C. Mohl, Rober C. Ness, E. Mansell Pattison, James T. Richardson, Anson Shupe, J. Thomas Ungerleider, David K. Wellisch, Brian Wenegrat, Louis Jolyon West, and Henry Work.

346 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1989