Cult Chat

 

From CultChat: 

 

How do you recover from leaving a cult? Dr Gillie Jenkinson from Hope Valley Counselling is the expert on this topic – and a total superstar in her field. The award-winning psychotherapist, who is coming all the way from the UK to NZ in October, will give a keynote talk at Decult about “Walking Free” – her therapy model that has helped so many leavers around the world. 
We’re very grateful that Dr Gillie is offering an exclusive debriefing session for cult survivors at the end of the conference, when things might feel intense. Have a listen to her recent Cult Chat conversation with Lindy Jacomb from the Olive Leaf Network - another one of our fantastic presenters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWqHY48Dfk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

 

In this interview, Gillie offers some ideas for recovery which are applicable to those born and or raised in a cult.

 

 

 

 

Gillie explains some areas of psychoeducational theory that may be helpful for former members in their recovery and answers some of the attendees questions.

 

This series was recorded to offer support to former cult members and survivors of spiritual abuse in the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Click on the images to access the interviews.

 

 

 

 

In this interview, Gillie offers some ideas for recovery which are applicable to all former cult members.

 

Click on the image to access the interview.

 

 

 

 

I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

 

In this recorded talk Dr Gillie Jenkinson discusses the intersection of apostasy or leaving a religion and some of the mental health impacts on those who leave.

 

My part of the talk starts at 2 hours 18mins and can be accessed here.

 

I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

 

Media - BBC 2 Victoria Derbyshire

 

Dr Gillie Jenkinson was interviewed for a news article on a group called The Jesus Army on BBC 2 Victoria Derbyshire Programme on 19th July 2017.  See the link below. The article is around 20mins in.

 

This same news report was also on Radio 4 PM programme 5-6pm on 19th July 2017 and can also be found on iPlayer.

 

This came about after Gillie was contacted by the Survivors Association in regard to her Post-Cult Counselling. Gillie has delivered face to face counselling and a Recovery Workshop to some of the survivors.

 

Check out the interview.

 

Link to Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association

 

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - BACP - have a brief article on their website about this report

 

Link to BACP

 

Abstract

In this paper, I offer an additional explanation for the state of trance many cult members experience—the confluential trance. These concepts arose from doctoral research into what helped 29 former cult members recover from an abusive cult experience (Jenkinson, 2016). I address a new concept, and whilst it applied to some participants and potentially applies to coercive cults more broadly, further research is required to establish the veracity of this concept and whether it is generalizable across former-member populations. I discuss how the confluential trance may make it psychologically difficult to leave an abusive cult, and I explore how some of my doctoral-research participants experienced this altered state and broke free through formal and informal interventions.

 

Whilst the term trance is applied ubiquitously and across a spectrum of states, and more often in relation to hypnotic trance, I adopt the term to imply an “altered state of consciousness” in which an individual becomes suggestible, lacks critical thinking, and is therefore more “vulnerable to social influence” (Galanter,1989, p. 65).

 

Within a Gestalt-psychotherapy theoretical framework, the confluential trance is shown to be a result of a merged state—confluence—which results in the cult member becoming open to introjecting the cult ideology without “chewing it over.” I hypothesize that the resulting confluential trance is further explanation of why the cult leader/ship and thought reform have such a deep impact on many.

 

Keywords: confluential trance, former member, abusive cult, thought reform, exit counseling, Gestalt

 

 

 

 

 

Gillie’s chapter (written with Dr Nicola Crowley) is included in the Second Edition of ‘Spirituality and Psychiatry’ Chapter 17 published by Cambridge University Press

 

The summary from the website states:

This chapter describes the psychopathological consequences of harmful spiritual beliefs, practices and experiences. It explores the concepts of spiritual defences, offensive spirituality, false spiritual teachers or gurus, and attempts to define the characteristics of cultic groups and compare how they differ from healthy groups. Terms such as ‘conversion’, ‘brainwashing’, ‘thought reform’, ‘coercive persuasion’ and ‘mind control’ are discussed. The complex psychopathology experienced by people who have been harmed by cult-like organisations and the related abuse is examined, and specific diagnostic issues are considered. Current evidence-based recovery-orientated psychotherapeutic interventions are also described. Treatment may best be understood in four phases: separation from the cult, psychoeducation and story-telling, emotional healing, and – finally – a resumption of an authentic identity and new life. The themes of the chapter are explored in a series of case studies.

ICSA Book chapter

 

Dr Gillie Jenkinson's chapter outlining her Time Away for Post Cult Counselling model was published in 2017 in the book 'Cult Recovery' and available for purchase on the ICSA website.

 

This landmark, 500-page book, with chapters from leading clinicians and researchers, describes the current state of the art in helping people adversely affected by a cultic dynamics, whether in a cult, mainstream religious denomination, psychotherapy, family, or other interpersonal relationship.

 

Click on the image to access the book.