stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

AFTER THE ORDEAL 475
See also the preface to Wakefield (1991) for her claimed frightening
experiences, including alleged death threats, after having
left Scientology. Plus, Chapter 9 of Wakefield (1996), and the epilogue
of Malko (1970), for comparable allegations.
And yet, even after all that, the Muktananda-quoting Caplan,
as recently as 2001, could still write:
There is the occasional Jim Jones, Charles Manson, or Marshall
Applewhite (Heaven’s Gate) who comes into the spiritual
scene and presents a physical danger to the very lives of
the students whom they claim to be saving. But these instances
are negligible in comparison to the majority of spiritual
schools and teachers, who present no danger of physical
harm to their students.
The hard data, however, available for over twenty years by
now, argues exactly the opposite. For, as Conway and Siegelman
reported in 1982, based on a survey of over four hundred former
“cult” members from forty-eight different groups:
Incidences of physical punishment, reported by approximately
one in five respondents, included beatings, starvation,
physical bondage, cold showers and dousings and long
hours of humiliating and degrading labor.
Nor were those the only alleged negative effects to be disclosed
by Conway and Siegelman’s study. Rather, nearly 20% of their respondents
battled long-term health problems, while two in every
three faced lasting emotional difficulties. Further, 14% claimed to
have suffered from psychiatric delusions (e.g., hallucinations) for
up to eight years after breaking away from their respective organizations.
Also, more than one out of every five former members in
the survey had suicidal or other self-destructive feelings during the
rehabilitation period after leaving—a time which averaged more
than sixteen months.
Interestingly, beyond the first three to six months, the impact
of “cult ritual” and indoctrination did not correlate with the difficulties
faced by the member after leaving the group. That is, “most
of the damage appears to be done in the first few months” of (esp.
residential) membership.
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