In recent years, it's been debated as to whether 12-Step programs are cults. As I had very little in-person experience, I do not consider myself qualified to answer that question. However, what I do know from personal experience is cult tactics are commonplace.
There were a couple of things I noticed. First, I knew quite a few individuals who had something in common with me. While each person has his/her own situation and history, a common factor was the absence of the problems for which the programs were created.
Of all the individuals I knew who met that description, I only knew one person who somehow managed to withstand the pressures and manipulations. A middle-aged woman who clearly stated she attended meetings to be supportive of her family member's recovery was the only person I encountered who managed to retain her original purpose.
Others, including myself, were not so fortunate. Although I was not familiar with the term or concept at the time, the approach taken was "ignoring the presenting problem." The problem I'd reached out for help with was set aside. Some people thought it was irrelevant, some didn't understand it, but the downfall came with a variety of individuals who ignored their own programs entirely.
While I rarely say anything in favor of 12-Step programs, I must give credit where it is due: cult tactics I experienced, and described in this book, are not condoned by the well-known 12-Step programs; in fact, some examples are in direct opposition to what the programs teach.
Second, while I noticed "red flags" all over the place, I had no knowledge or experience with such things and did not understand what they meant. Some of those red flags were cult tactics.
The late Dr. Margaret Singer, the world's leading expert on cults, described certain features: Destabilize the person's sense of Self.. get the person to drastically reinterpret his or her life's history, radically alter their worldview, and accept a new version of reality and causality.
My introduction to this topic came from the first 12-Step member I met in person. He'd worded it differently, though- with the babble-nonsense allegedly common in a previous generation, he called it "mind-games." Examples included What you heard is not what I said.. My Truth is the only Truth.. and The way you experienced something is not the way it really happened..
As for me personally, I reached out for help with a long-term, ongoing problem with a relative that I was unable to resolve. I believed I could obtain input and perhaps a solution from individuals who were not involved in situation, and, therefore, could be objective. I was told the way to a better life was to work the 12 steps.
However, while working steps certainly would not have resolved the problem, that's not the issue. What is the issue are the approaches some take instead. Examples are described in this book.
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