Citation

Grattagliano I, Tangari D. Clin. Ter. 2015; 166(5): e335-e343.

Affiliation

Sezione Criminologia Dipartimento Interdisciplinare di Medicina, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari, Italia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Societa Editrice Universo)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

26550820

Abstract

Psychological cults are of particular interest to criminologists due to their complex and multi-faceted structures. They may come in the form of organizations, movements, and training centers that make promises to their victims of developing or strengthening their psycho-relational capacities, thus resulting in improvements in their social, professional, and personal lives. Starting from the complex and delicate story of a professional couple who join a cult, the authors describe one case of a organization that are referred to as "psycho-sects", and with a significant number of followers. These cases came to our attention through judicial authorities, and they offer us an opportunity to look at two aspects associated with psycho-sects: The need of individuals to belong to such groups; and the risk of abuse and violence that they face.

Language: it