2. Introduction
• The term cult usually refers to a social
group defined by its religious, spiritual, or
philosophical beliefs, or its common interest
in a particular personality, object or goal.
• The term itself is controversial and it has
divergent definitions in both popular
culture and academia.
• Groups said to be cults range in size from local
groups with a few members to international
organizations with millions.
4. Introduction
• Beginning in the 1930s, cults became the object of
sociological study in the context of the study of
religious behaviour.
• From the 1940s the Christian counter cult
movement has opposed some sects and new religious
movements, and it labelled them as cults for their "un-
Christian" unorthodox beliefs.
• The secular anti-cult movement began in the 1970s
and it opposed certain groups, often charging them
with mind control and partly motivated in reaction
to acts of violence committed by some of their
members.
6. Introduction
• The term "new religious movement" refers
to religions which have appeared since the
mid-1800s.
• Many, but not all of them, have been
considered to be cults.
8. Introduction
• Sub-categories of cults include: Doomsday
cults, personality cults, political cults,
destructive cults, racist cults, polygamist
cults, and terrorist cults. Various national
governments have reacted to cult-related issues
in different ways, and this has sometimes led
to controversy.
10. New Religious Movements
• A new religious movement (NRM) is a
religious community or spiritual group of
modern origins (since the mid-1800s), which
has a peripheral place within its society's
dominant religious culture.
11. Sub-Categories
Destructive Cults
• "Destructive cult" generally refers to groups
whose members have, through deliberate
action, physically injured or killed other members
of their own group or other people.
• Psychologist Michael Langone, executive
director of the anti-cult group International
Cultic Studies Association, defines a
destructive cult as "a highly manipulative group
which exploits and sometimes physically and/or
psychologically damages members and recruits"
13. Sub-Categories
• Doomsday Cults
• "Doomsday Cult" is an expression which is
used to describe groups that believe in
Apocalypticism and Millenarianism, and it
can also be used to refer both to groups that
predict disaster, and to groups that attempt
to bring it about.
15. Sub-Categories
• In the late 1980s doomsday cults were a
major topic of news reports, with some
reporters and commentators considering
them to be a serious threat to society.
The Family Cult
16. Sub-Categories
• Political Cults
• A political cult is a cult with a primary
interest in political action and ideology.
• In their 2000 book On the Edge: Political
Cults Right and Left, Dennis Tourish and
Tim Wohlforth discuss about a dozen
organizations in the United States and Great
Britain that they characterize as cults.
18. Polygamist Cults
• Cults that teach and practice polygamy, marriage
between more than two people, most often polygyny,
one man having multiple wives, have long been noted,
although they are a minority.
• It has been estimated that there are around 50,000
members of polygamist cults in North America.
• Often, polygamist cults are viewed negatively by both
legal authorities and society, and this view sometimes
includes negative perceptions of related mainstream
denominations, because of their perceived links to
possible domestic violence and child abuse.
20. Racist Cults
• Racist Cults
• Sociologist and historian Orlando Patterson
has described the Ku Klux Klan, which
arose in the American South after the Civil
War, as a heretical Christian cult, and he has
described its persecution of African
Americans and others as a form of human
sacrifice.
22. Racist Cults
• Secret Aryan cults in Germany and Austria
in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries had a strong influence on the rise of
Nazism.
23. Terrorist Cults
• Terrorist Cults
• In the book Jihad and Sacred Vengeance:
Psychological Undercurrents of History,
Psychiatrist Peter A. Olsson compares
• Osama bin Laden to certain cult leaders
including Jim Jones, David Koresh, Shoko
Asahara, Marshall Applewhite, Luc Jouret and
Joseph Di Mambro, and he says that each of
these individuals fit at least eight of the nine
criteria for people with narcissistic personality
disorders
24. Terrorist Cults
• At a 2002 meeting of the American Psychological
Association (APA), anti-cultist Steven Hassan said
that Al-Qaida fulfills the characteristics of a
destructive cult.
• He added: "We need to apply what we know about
destructive mind-control cults, and this should be a
priority with the war on terrorism.
• We need to understand the psychological aspects of
how people are recruited and indoctrinated so we
can slow down recruitment.
• We need to help counsel former cult members and
possibly use some of them in the war against
terrorism."
26. Destructive Cult
• A destructive cult is a cult or other religious
movement which has caused harm to its
members or other people, or which will
likely do so.
• There is a discussion of what harm really
means in this context.
• For most researchers, it includes physical
harm, so organisations who injure or kill
their members qualify
28. Destructive Cult
• Some researchers also include mental abuse in
this notion of harm, for example:
• "A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped
authoritarian regime with a person or group of
people that have dictatorial control.
• It uses deception in recruiting new members
(e.g. people are NOT told up front what the group
is, what the group actually believes and what will
be expected of them if they become members
30. Destructive Cult
• Psychologist Michael Langone defines a
destructive cult as "a highly manipulative
group which exploits and sometimes
physically and/or psychologically damages
members and recruits".
• Lifton's "Eight criteria for thought reform"
are criteria to identify a destructive cult
32. Warning Signs of Destructive Cults
• Potentially unsafe groups or leaders "come
off very nice at first, they go for vulnerable
people who are looking for answers, lonely,
what you'd call 'normal people.' They're
very good at what they do and can get
people to believe anything. You might think
you'd never get taken in, but don't bet on it.
"
-- Margaret Singer, Ph.D
34. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Based on the insightful work of Deikman and
other researchers, as well as long-time
investigation of spiritual movements old and
new, here is a lengthy list of warning signs
about cults, interspersed with remarks
about signs of healthy spiritual groups. An
absence of these warning signs characterizes
healthy spiritual groups.
35. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional
Cults
• Craving for followers;
• seductive recruiting strategies or tactics of
conversion (including “love bombing,” that is,
showering prospective recruits with friendly, but
strategic, attention).
• If the spiritual movement is pure and its
members are radiant with virtuous qualities
and deep spiritual realization, new people will
be attracted to the movement intuitively,
spontaneously, and naturally.
37. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Intimidating indoctrination procedures that
psychologically break a person down so that s/he can
be rebuilt according to the group’s ideal of a docile,
unquestioning, compliant member.
38. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Expensive entry fees or initiations.
• In fact, the less the group has to do with money,
the better.
• The greatest spiritual masters charge no
money whatsoever for sharing their love and
guidance.
• Their work is supported via voluntary donations
from those who can easily afford it or are inspired
to give without being asked. Beware groups that
demand from members much or all of their
assets.
40. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• A hidden agenda that becomes known to a
group member only after s/he is heavily
invested in the cult membership.
• In a healthy spiritual group, completely
informed consent is standard policy.
42. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Excessive demands on the time and energy of
the group members.
• Slave labor, overwork, or sleep/food deprivation
demanded on behalf of the group as proof of
loyalty.
• Obsessive scheduling, such that every moment of
one’s waking life is controlled by the group.
• In a healthy group, members’ donation of their
time and energy are a voluntary gift, not
compelled.
44. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Trapping or holding onto members.
• People should be able to leave the group at
any time for any reason without fear of
damnation, reprisal, scorn, or being pursued
or shunned by cult members.
46. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Cultivation in members any attitude of childish
dependency upon exploitative, authoritarian
leaders who require absolute, exclusive devotion.
• Jesus enjoined us to be “child-like,” not childish.
Surrender to God is fine, and even some forms of
hierarchical relationship are healthy and
empowering (e.g., student-teacher, apprentice-
master, and disciple-guru).
• But let us beware any disempowerment strategies
that leave members feeling inadequate, without
autonomy or inner locus of control, and no real
hope of ever reaching the same
47. Cultivation in members any attitude of childish
dependency upon exploitative, authoritarian leaders
48. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Chronic group feeling of righteous anger,
revenge, turmoil, anxiety, shame, guilt, self-pity,
fear, despair, mindless euphoria, ego-excitement,
adrenaline rushes, self-inflated fervor or
futuristic anticipation.
• Authentic spiritual movements are permeated
by a deep feeling of genuine love, kindness,
peace, freedom, bliss, ease of being, spontaneity,
focus on the present situation and trust in Spirit or
God.
52. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Crusading agenda to save the world or
convert all souls to “the true way.”
• For a healthy spiritual group, service and
giving are defined primarily as charitable
assistance and generosity toward one’s
community, family, friends, and the world at
large, not slavish service toward the narrow,
voracious cult.
53. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Proud feeling of being the chosen people, of
possessing the exclusive truth or means of
salvation, or being superior to those outside the
group.
• Heavily polarized “us-them,” adversarial
thinking, projection of one’s own shadow qualities
onto others, seeing outsiders as homogeneously
negative, devoid of positive qualities (“they” are
“bad” and “we” are “good”).
55. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• A chronic need to find and persistently maintain
enemies inside or outside the group. Targeting or
isolating of anyone inside or outside the group as
a source of evil or contamination or “bad
energy.” Negative thought-forms aimed at others.
• By contrast, in healthy spirituality, the leader
and group promote empathy, compassion,
respect, and seeing the Divine in all beings:
56. A chronic need to find and persistently
maintain enemies inside or outside the group
57. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Paranoia—either delusions of grandeur by
the leader or group, or self-pitying feelings of
being persecuted and misunderstood by
outsiders.
• Healthy, continuing contact and discussion
with people and institutions outside the
group will usually prevent or obviate any
persecution and misunderstanding that
might arise
59. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Turning cult members into watched objects
who have no privacy in their solitary
behaviour or relationships with others.
• Manipulative system of rewards and
punishments.
• Totalitarian structure of permission and non-
permission regarding basic behaviors
including personal hygiene, interpersonal
communication, etc.
61. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Ganging up on individual members to criticize or
humiliate or coerce them; “working on them” to
violate their own sense of conscience or autonomy.
• Brainwashing or mind-control techniques or high-
pressure group dynamics coercing members to
conform to a worldview, agenda, or code of conduct.
• Physical or psychological violence. Giving and
withholding of love or praise as a manipulation
technique.
• Frequent testing of members for loyalty, commitment,
or obedience.
63. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Preventing contact with outsiders, ex-members, and
even certain fellow members of the dysfunctional cult.
• Breaking up couples and families to gain power over
individuals and prevent coalitions that could more
effectively criticize unsound, corrupt leadership.
• Rigid isolating of cult members in an exclusive
"family" away from their relatives and friends outside
the cult so that the cult becomes the sole source for
support, self-esteem and interpersonal connection.
65. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Blind obedience to harmful or unwise
directives from on high. Abusive, domineering
top-dog leadership.
• In healthy groups, the leader(s) functions
more as an advisor and inspirer rather than
as “control freak” dictating how members
should think and act.
• Members are never threatened or
subordinated in ruthless, bullying manner.
67. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Hoarding of money, power or prestige by
anyone— corruption and intrigue are not far
behind. Beware lavish accommodations and
lifestyle for leader and close assistants, while
everyone else is reduced to inferior living
standards.
69. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Double standard of behaviour for leader(s) and
members.
• Spiritual leaders should maintain high moral
standards and exemplary virtuous behaviour.
Beware any rationalizations given to excuse the
leader’s un-virtuous behaviour as well as self-
aggrandizing, vanity and excessive self-
referencing by the leader (e.g., “I am the World
Teacher,” “I am the greatest incarnation of
God to appear on this planet,” “think always
and only of me,” etc.).
71. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Reinforcing or excusing unethical behaviors
(killing, injuring, lying, stealing, plagiarism,
bribing, gossiping, sexual misconduct).
72. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Suppression of dissent, doubt, critical
thinking, sincere questions, discussion or
independent judgment. Regarding of leader’s
or sacred text’s teachings as infallible.
Attachment to doctrinal certainty.
73. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Anti-scientific thinking.
• Healthy persons and groups can constructively
express criticism of reductionist scientism and
limitations in the current scientific paradigm.
• But the danger with dysfunctional cults is their
frequent emphasis on pre-scientific, mythical
thinking and on bizarre, unverifiable claims that
can’t be consensually validated by rational
persons.
75. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Isolation from other worldviews; censorship
or control of what people read; prevention of
studying sacred texts from other traditions or
visiting other genuine spiritual masters.
• A healthy spiritual group is open to spiritual
truth from whatever source, and knows how
to distinguish wise from unwise teachings
77. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Orwellian double-speak
• “manipulating language to suggest a meaning
and value opposite to the real situation”).
Code-words or buzzwords.
• Reinvention of language—e.g., excessive
amount of jargon—to widen gulf between
insiders and outsiders and exert mind-
control.
78. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Excessive fascination with altered states of
consciousness.
79. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Over-use of junk food or adherence to
unhealthy diets.
• Beware any use of mind-altering drugs
80. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Beware exploitation of sex in any form.
Sometimes this may be rationalized as “good”
for the group member.
• But every person has the right to refrain
from sexual activity as s/he sees fit, without
any kind of pressure.
82. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Legalistic obsession with myriad rules.
Enslavement to authoritarian, military-style
organization and procedure.
83. Warning Signs of Dysfunctional Cults
• Obsession with invisible or other-worldly
entities or forces other than God.
84. Cults & Mass Suicides
• Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring
when a group of people simultaneously kill
themselves.
• Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious
settings.
85. Cults & Mass Suicides
• Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide
rather than being captured.
• Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide that
are sometimes planned or carried out by small
groups of depressed or hopeless people.
• Mass suicides have been used as a form of
political protest, which shows that they can
also be used as a statement making tool.
87. Religiously Motivated Suicides
• Peoples Temple (1978)
• On November 18, 1978, 918 Americans died in
Peoples Temple–related incidents, including
909 members of the Temple, led by Jim Jones,
in Jonestown, Guyana.
• The dead included 276 children. A tape of the
Temple's final meeting in a Jonestown pavilion
contains repeated discussions of the group
committing "revolutionary suicide", including
reference to people taking the poison and the
vats to be used.
88. Peoples Temple (1978)
On November 18, 1978, 918 Americans died in Peoples
Temple–related incidents
89. Religiously Motivated Suicides
• The people in Jonestown died of an apparent
cyanide poisoning, except for Jones (injury
consistent with self-inflicted gunshot wound)
and his personal nurse.
90. Solar Temple (1994–97)
• From 1994 to 1997, the Order of the Solar
Temple's members began a series of mass
suicides, which led to roughly 74 deaths.
• Farewell letters were left by members, stating
that they believed their deaths would be an
escape from the "hypocrisies and oppression of
this world.”
92. Heaven's Gate (1997)
• From March 24th to the 27th, 1997, 39 followers
of Heaven's Gate died in a mass suicide in
Rancho Santa Fe, California, which borders
San Diego to the north.
• These people believed, according to the teachings
of their group, that through their suicides they
were "exiting their human vessels" so that their
souls could go on a journey aboard a spaceship
they believed to be following comet Hale–Bopp.
94. Adam House
• In 2007, in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, a family
of 9, all members of a novel "Adam's cult"
committed mass suicide by hurling themselves
onto a train.
• Although the Daily Mail initially reported that
they were victimized for converting to
Christianity, diaries recovered from the victims'
home, "Adam House" related they wanted a
pure life as lived by Adam and Eve, freeing
themselves from bondage to any religion and
refused contact with any outsiders.
96. Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments of God (2000)
• On March 17, 2000, 778 members of the
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments of God died in Uganda.
• The theory that all of the members died in a
mass suicide was changed to mass murder
when decomposing bodies were discovered
in pits with signs of strangulation while
others had stab wounds.
97. Movement for the Restoration of the Ten
Commandments of God (2000)
98. Training centre for release of the Atma-
Energy
• This sect was originally a splinter group of the
Brahma Kumaris and is known for a police and
media scare in which an alleged attempt to commit
ritual suicide took place in Teide National Park in
Tenerife in 1998.
99. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
• The first thing to realise is that people in
cults are not crazy but are the same
intelligent, creative and interesting individuals
they were before.
• As with falling in love they are just crazy
about the group, its amazing leader and its
great potential to change the world and
them with it.
101. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
• The most important piece of advice is to not
criticise, condemn or judge, even if you have
serious concerns. Instead, focus on why this
person identifies with the group so much, and
what they believe they are getting from it.
102. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
• It may feel cheesy, but the point of this
approach is to draw on the psychological
technique of motivational interviewing, so
that these positive statements, similar to those
the person has made themselves, will
eventually lead them to question whether they
are really true – we call this the “strategic and
personal oriented dialogue” approach.
104. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
• Often members are made to feel unworthy
and are humiliated. They can never measure
up to the ideals and perfection of the leader,
and bit by bit their hopes for what the group
offers start to crumble.
• Remind them, supportively, that it’s great
they’re moving forward with their life so
positively in the group, and the penny will
suddenly drop.
106. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
• Sure, it is a crazy destructive group, but I
understand why you got involved.
• We all fall for con artists and swindlers once
in a while – you still have a lot to offer and I
can help you move on with your life.
107. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
108. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
• After the cult, the world can seem a bleak and
less exciting place.
• But, with the help of family and friends, the
former member can build a new and more
authentic life and purpose.
• Hang in there and you’ll be what they really
do need at the end of the rainbow.
109. How to take someone out of a damaging cult
(Cult Deprogramming)
112. Automatic Writing
A cause of Death
• The police so far believe that the deaths were a result of an
occult ritual gone wrong.
• Automatic writing or psychography is a claimed psychic
ability allowing a person to produce written words without
consciously writing.
• The words purportedly arise from a subconscious, spiritual or
supernatural source. Scientists and skeptics consider automatic
writing to be the result of the ideomotor effect
114. Delhi mass killing: Diary reveals 'dead father'
instructed family through son
• According to police, Narayan Devi's youngest son
Lalit, masterminded the "mass suicide" and made
notes "planning" the deaths on someone's
"direction“
• "It appears that Lalit had been hallucinating that his
father was giving instructions to the family through
him,“ an officer who studied the diaries, as saying.
116. Possible Explanation
• Ideomotor effect
• Actions of an individual can be in influenced
by suggestion and expectations without that
they are themselves consciously aware of it.
117. Possible Explanation
• This is known as the ideomotor effect. In
motor behavior, there are two parts to the brain
activity. The first is the activity that results in
the motor activity; the second is the
registration of that activity in the conscious
mind.
• The ideomotor effect happens when the second
part, the conscious registration, is
circumvented.
119. Ideomotor effect
• The ideomotor effect has been well
documented; however, it still remains an effect
that is largely unknown to most people,
including scientists.
120. Ideomotor effect
• The effect was first observed by William
Benjamin Carpenter in 1852, in his
investigation of dowsing. He proposed the
ideomotor effect as a third class of
unconscious behavior, along with excitomotor
(such as breathing and swallowing) and
sensorimotor (reflex actions).
122. Other References
• Seth Material
• The Seth Material is a collection of writing
dictated by Jane Roberts to her husband from
late 1963 until her death in 1984.
• Roberts claimed the words were spoken by a
discarnate entity named Seth.
124. Seth Material
• According to Roberts, Seth described himself
as an "energy personality essence no longer
focused in physical matter" who was
independent of Roberts' subconscious,
although Roberts expressed skepticism as to
Seth's origins, frequently referring to Seth's
statements as "theories".
126. Seth Material
• Roberts claimed that Seth indicated he had
completed his earthly reincarnations and was
speaking from an adjacent plane of existence.
The Seth personality described himself as a
"teacher", and said: "this material has been
given by himself and others in other times
and places, but that it is given again, in new
ways, for each succeeding generation
through the centuries."
128. Case Study
Cults & Human Trafficking
• Human trafficking is a form of undue influence and
a serious global issue.
• Pimps and traffickers control the environment,
access to information, relationships – every aspect of
a person’s life – using techniques that manipulate
how a person thinks, feels and acts.
• Using the lens of undue influence, activists, social
workers, law enforcement, and mental health
professionals can better learn how pimps and traffickers
recruit, how to spot current victims, how to ethically
intervene in a trafficking case, and how to help
trafficking survivors recover from their experience.
130. Pimps and traffickers use tactics listed in the
BITE Model of cult mind control
• They use gifts, flattery, the promise of love,
violent rape, modeling jobs, other
employment offers, threats to harm family,
and threats to expose in order to recruit and
maintain control over their victims.
• Often, pimps and traffickers are much older
than their potential victims.
132. Human Trafficking BITE Model
Behavior Control
• Regulate individual’s physical reality
• Dictate where, how, and with whom the member lives and
associates/isolates
• Manipulation, exploitation, and control of sexuality
• Control types of clothing that are permissible, colors, hairstyles worn
by the person
• Regulate diet, withhold food/drink as a form of punishment
• Take away passports or other vital documents; abduction; physical
imprisonment, torture
• Sleep manipulation and deprivation
• Use of drugs (which are administered at times without informed
consent)
• Financial exploitation, manipulation, and dependency; use of “quota”
system to control
134. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Rewards and punishments (thus modify
behaviors, both positive and negative) –
beating, torture, burning, cutting, rape, tattooing
as branding
• Discourage individualism Impose rigid rules
and regulations
• Threats of harm to family/friends
• Little or no medical treatment and/or mental
health
• Instill obedience and dependency
136. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Information Control
• Deception (No Informed Consent)
• Deliberately withhold information
• Distort information to make it more acceptable
Systematically lie
• Minimize or discourage access to competing sources of
information, including:
• Internet, TV, radio, books, articles, newspapers, magazines,
other media
• Critical information including service providers
Trafficking survivors Keep them so busy they don’t have
time to think and investigate
138. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Control through cell phones with texting, calls,
internet tracking
• Compartmentalize information into Outsider
vs. Insider doctrines
• Ensure the information is not freely accessible
Control information at different levels
• Only trafficker decides who needs to know
what and when Encourage spying on others
139. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Thought Control
• Member required to internalize the trafficker’s
doctrine as truth
• Adopting the trafficker’s “map of reality” as
reality Instill black and white thinking
• Decide between good vs. Evil
• Organize people into us vs. them
• Change person’s name and identity
Dissociation
141. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Memories are manipulated and false memories
are created
• Thought-stopping techniques, which shut down
reality testing by stopping negative and allow
only so-called good thoughts, are used
• Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful
thinking Rejection of rational analysis, critical
thinking, constructive criticism
• No critical questions about trafficker, doctrine, or
“rules” allowed Alternative belief systems viewed
as illegitimate, evil, or not useful
143. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Emotional Control
• Manipulate and narrow the range of feelings – healthy
emotional impulses such as desire for love or a work
opportunity are exploited
• Emotional numbing Emotion-stopping (like thought-
stopping, but blocking feelings of homesickness, anger,
doubts)
• Make the person feel that problems are always their own
fault – never the trafficker’s fault
• Excessive use of guilt Identity guilt You are not living up to
your potential Your family is deficient Your past is suspect
Your affiliations are unwise Your thoughts, feelings, actions
are irrelevant/selfish Social guilt
144. Human Trafficking BITE Model
• Extremes of emotional highs and lows – love
bombing and praise, then you are horrible,
unworthy, etc.
• Phobia indoctrination: inculcating irrational
fears about leaving or questioning the
trafficker’s authority
• Threats Harm to self and/or others
• Public sharing (telling one’s family or others in
order to embarrass/dishonor)
• Turning over to law enforcement; incarceration
Death