Under the Influence: Gaslighting In Cults
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When it comes to cult phenomena, there is one phrase I hear over and over: That would never happen to me.
And it’s easy to understand why. With cult content ceaselessly streaming across platforms, viewers always have the upper hand. “I would never fall for that,” we think to ourselves behind phones, laptops, or TV screens.
“How could they be so gullible?” we wonder. Then, having concluded that the explanation must lie with the victim’s own faults, we move on with our day.
But one thing I have learned from over 30 years of psychoanalytic practice with countless clients of all stripes and situations is that it can, indeed, happen to you. And the insidious nature of gaslighting is a big reason why.
Just ask Daniel Barban Levin, a survivor of the Sarah Lawrence Cult. On my podcast, The Gaslight Effect, Daniel reflected on his descent into gaslighting at the hands of cult leader, Larry Ray, while a student at Sarah Lawrence College. Daniel confessed that he would have said to himself, “I’m not someone who would be abused or would be in a cult, or would be manipulated,” while, at that very moment, he was in a cult “experiencing these things, which, in retrospect, were extreme.”
Daniel was like any of us: skeptical that he, too, could fall under the influence of a cult. But the cunning and deceptive nature of gaslighting does not discriminate. When a gaslighter wields their power over a group of individuals, the seeds of a cult can be easily sown.
To be sure, cults and gaslighting are two distinct phenomena, but they share many similarities, such as manipulative and controlling behavior. Let’s unpack each of them to better understand their warning signs and overlapping characteristics.
Content retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/power-in-relationships/202501/under-the-influence-gaslighting-in-cults.
