Dangerous Persuaders.

How do cults gain recruits? Why do so many people seeking personal development find themselves becoming dependant on a powerful organisation? Are there any legal restraints on how groups recruit members? How dangerous are cults and personal development courses?

Louise Samways, a practising psychologist, explains what cults and personal development courses are, how they operate, and the mind-control techniques they use on recruits. She describes how these types of organisations ensure their message is continually reinforced, and how people become unable to question the group's demands or to break away from it.

From her book Dangerous Persuaders:

"...In particular there needs to be better understanding of how easily memory can be distorted and totally false memories created in people. “Recovered” memory “therapy” has become a common technique used to cause rifts within families. The victim of such techniques becomes increasingly dependent on their therapist and “new family” who believe their recovered memories of abuse..."

"...gurus and leaders assume that what comes up from a person’s subconscious...are memories of something that actually happened. This is not necessarily the case, but ‘evidence’ manufactured or exaggerated under hypnosis can give cults ammunition to destroy other relationships in the recruits’ lives, thus making them more dependent..."

Dangerous Persuaders was published by Penguin and is now out of print, however it can be downloaded as an e-book