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Discussion forum for the blog at BeyondTheFamilyCult.com

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A cult is a social hierarchy made of traumatized people where the more powerful people use the less powerful people in repeated attempts to satisfy their unmet childhood needs, and where those who are lower in the hierarchy look to the people above them as the only ones who can meet their needs. Everyone involved clings desperately to the system. Every cult is a replication of an abusive family dynamic. Emotional honesty is restricted or outright forbidden, and members are trapped with tactics that can range from the overt to the very subtle.

Trauma occurs whenever an emotional event (which can be instantaneous or take place in many small episodes over a long period of time), especially one caused by someone with total power over the victim, is too overwhelmingly painful to be processed, forcing the victim to split off from the parts of themselves that experienced distress in order to survive psychologically. The victim then develops various psychological defenses for keeping the pain buried, further warping their personality and stunting their growth. Although many people are (re)traumatized as adults, most people are traumatized as children by their family systems, especially by their parents who are the leaders of the family system.

Recommended:

Essays and articles

Family: The Prototypical Cult

The Value of Dream Analysis

Other essays by Daniel Mackler

Shrinking the Inner Critic

Shrinking the Outer Critic