I will begin this post with the same warning to ex-members of cults and abusive churches as the previous two posts. Not
all the ex-members have all the post-cult after effects. It is normal
to have only some of them or not to have any of them. If you did not
notice that you had a certain post-cult after effect or you are not
sure whether you had it or not, do not try to analyze your experience
to find this after effect. Consider it as somebody's else experience.
You may have never experienced it and may never experience it in the
future. Phobias are very important part of Hassan's theory. According to Hassan, phobias are irrational fears indoctrinated by cults that frustrate people to leave cults and to live a normal life after leaving cults. He did not write anything about phobias in Compatting Cult Mind Control. However, in Releasing the Bonds, the whole chapter 10 is on phobias. Also, phobias included into his BITE model as items of the emotional control: Phobia indoctrination : programming of irrational fears of ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader's authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group. In Releasing the Bonds, he describes in a very detailed way the possible kinds of phobias, how they are indoctrinated, and how to get rid of them. He also writes that it is very important to help a person to get rid of phobias before the intervention (exit counseling), otherwise, he or she will feel extreme fear to leave the cult. He said that other ways of exit counseling (other than Hassan's) are not so good because they do not deal with phobias. However, even after leaving a cult, an ex-member still has many phobias. He or she must identify them and get rid of them. Otherwise, he or she will always have problems. Not long before in Hassan's "freedomofmind" group was deleted, one Hassan's former client complained there that she left a cult 15 years ago, but still has phobias. Hassan admitted that it takes a long time to get rid of phobias. This means that even 15 years is not sufficient. Reading Dr. Margaret Singer's works where she described post-cult after effects - Cults in Our Midst, chapter 12 and Coming Out of the Cults - I did not find anything about phobias. She did write about some fears such as fear of cult and fear of the world. However, these fears are not phobias. Hassan wrote about phobias only in his second book, and it seems that it was his own invention. In my opinion, phobias can be easily indoctrinated not only in cults, but also in exit counseling. Then, I think they also can be easily suggested through reading Releasing the Bonds, especially, through his detailed list of phobias. The first time I read Releasing the Bonds in 2003, several months after I left the cult. I did not understand many things in that book until I read Combatting Cult Mind Control in 2006. However, I was quite impressed with that chapter on phobias. I even tried to check what phobias I had. To my surprise, I had almost all the phobias. Now, I am not sure whether I had all these phobias before reading that book or they were suggested through reading it. Probably, they were suggested. I do not remember if I had problems with phobias before reading Releasing the Bonds. It is possible that I had and just do not remember. However, I definitely had these problems after reading that book. In my opinion, this chapter on phobias can suggest them. In addition, it is quite strange why Margaret Singer did not write anything about cult phobias if they really exist. Her description of post-cult adjustment is much more detailed than Hassan's. This makes me think that Hassan invented cult phobias, though they do not exist in reality. |