Cult Deprogramming

How to deprogram from cult influence

Rick Alan Ross is an American deprogrammer, cult specialist, and founder and executive director of the non-profit Cult Education Institute, and author of the book “Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out”. Here we watch him answer many questions around all kinds of cults, including how to help friends and loved ones escape, and how to deprogram after coming under the influence of a cult:

In case you don’t have time to watch the above video, here are some key takeaways:

How to help someone leave a cult (preparation stage):

  1. Don’t be critical
  2. Don’t have arguments with them
  3. Don’t say “oh you’re in a cult” (the cult will have programmed them to cut off communication if you do that)
  4. Be a good listener
  5. Keep your lines of communication going
  6. Let them know how you care about them
  7. Find out more about the group, its leader, and what is actually going on

How cult deprogramming works (once you have finished the preparation stage above):

  1. Deprogramming starts with a surprise, for a example a surprise visit from family and friends. The cult victim may be upset at the lack of advance notice, but without surprise, they will talk to other people in the group first and you will lose your opportunity to help.
  2. You will need to find a way for them to totally unplug from the group for a period of time, including both in-person contact and electronic communication.
  3. Have the following 4 blocks of conversation:
    • Define what is a destructive cult, using historical examples of other cults and terrible tragedies within them. Ask what do all of these groups have in common, and see if there are any parallels with the group that your friend is in.
    • What is thought reform, how does it work, and how do those steps parallel with the group you’re currently in?
    • What has the group hidden from you? Share well-researched evidence about the group, it’s history, finances, law-suits, etc, that the group hides from it’s members.
    • At the end of the process, which should take a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, the person is given the choice to leave the cult, or take a break from it, or re-join. After this deprogramming process, Rick Ross finds around 70% choose to take a break or leave.

Further cult deprogramming resources

For cult deprogramming with a Christian focus, explore the resources on this website, in particular:

Exit Counsellors

Experts often prefer the term exit counsellor rather than cult deprogramming.

Cult-deprogramming is a controversial term for several reasons:

  • As discussed elsewhere in our blogs, the word cult is contested and defamatory, and instantly puts people inside cults on their guard, often terminating any chance of communication and therefore jeopardising the attempt to rescue a cult victim.
  • In past decades, you could get a court order allowing you to conduct a cult deprogramming session without voluntary permission from the cult member, but this is no longer the case in countries like the USA and the UK – this would be illegal in many countries as it would essentially be regarded as abducting an adult against their will to change their beliefs. Even children cannot be deprogrammed in this manner under modern law in most countries, even if their parents or carers with legal custody of the child request it.

The legally acceptable alternative to cult-deprogramming is exit counselling, which is a voluntary, non-coercive, and therapeutic approach where professionals help a member critically evaluate their group involvement.

Cult expert Steve Hassan has developed a form of exit counselling called Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA).

Essentially, exit counselling is cult deprogramming with the consent of the cult member, and is a much safer term to use because many people assume that cult deprogramming refers to an involuntary process that is now illegal. The process involves asking questions to find the core issue, separating the member from cult influence temporarily, and providing information to help them make good choices.

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