How cults work:

Cults target people who are alienated and primed for separation from their support network. They work to deepen this separation as much as possible. Once the target is isolated or semi-isolated, they begin the indoctrination process. 1/

The cult begin consistently addressing some of their target's unmet support needs until the target begins to rely on the cult for support. The cult begins to take away support whenever the target exhibits behavior that goes against the doctrine the cult wants them to adopt. 2/

If the target modifies their behavior in the hopes of getting back in the cult's good graces, the cult responds with support. This training continues until the target behaves in the way that is expected of them. It's called an intermittent access to reward protocol. 3/

Given that this programming strategy relies on unmet support needs to work, I suggest that the best thing we could do to encourage people who have been indoctrinated to reclaim personal agency is to offer non-coercive options for them to receive support outside of the cult. 4/

If you are someone who believes you are part of a cult and that you cannot meet your support needs without them, you are not alone, and you can. They're not the whole world, they just want you to think they are.

Oh! Another sign you're part of a cult: the cult wants you to be kept in a constant state of fear of the outside world + what will happen if you lose their support. It may be hard to tell right now with so much happening, but if *all* the news you get is scary, that's a red flag.

The messaging of cults tend to be deliberately alienating to people not in the cult because it creates a feedback cycle of rejection for the cult members that affirms that only other people in the cult will support them or be people they can trust.

That doesn't mean that everything the cult tells you isn't true. They work in things that affect you that you feel most people don't understand so you feel like they get you + then they train you to distrust your other instincts. Part of deprogramming is trusting yourself again.

A lot of people think of religious cults when they think of cults, but any organization that behaves this way is a cult. That includes political organizations, community groups, event spaces, fandoms. Any organized group of people that acts like a cult is a cult!