There are more parallels between how cults indoctrinate and control their members and how highly dysfunctional families perpetuate their abuse than most are led to believe.
While there is no universal list of cult basics, one of the two most commonly used resources is that of clinical psychologist and cult expert Dr. Margaret Singer.
Below are the criteria adapted from her “Conditions for Thought Reform,” 1995.
1. Keep the person unaware of what is going on and how she or he is being changed a step at a time. Potential new members are led, step by step, through a behavioral-change program without being aware of the final agenda or full content of the group. The goal may be to make them deployable agents for the leadership, to get them to buy more courses, or get them to make a deeper commitment, depending on the leader's aim and desires.
Most abusive, highly dysfunctional families rely on their ability to keep young children within them isolated from the healthier norms of other families and society at large.
