Former Amway adherents suffer psychological problems

Shyam

The inflexibly puerile and abusive 'Amway' protestant, Mr. Scott'Tex' Johnson, continues to disrupt your Blog by baiting your regular contributor, 'Joecool,' with ridiculous and irrelevant accusations. Other than maintaining his absurd morally and intellectually superior alter ego, Johnson's only motive would appear to be a transparent attempt to stop your readers from using their critical and evaluative faculties.

Despite Mr. Johnson's sterling efforts and those of the masked 'Amway' Lord Haw Haw, Mr. 'IBOFB' Steadson, we continue to publish thought-provoking evidence and analysis that clearly and logically explains how the organization most-commonly referred to as 'Amway' exhibits all the essential characteristics which identify a pernicious or criminogenic cult.

Classically, of a chronic cult adherent, Mr. Johnson (a man who is undoubtedly ill-educated and unqualified, but who likes to pour scorn on anyone who is not) currently remains unable to accept that he is the victim of a systematic deception which was maliciously designed to enslave vulnerable individuals (like himself) using co-ordinated devious techniques of social and psychological persuasion (variously described as: 'covert hypnosis', 'mental manipulation', 'coercive behaviour modification', 'group pressure', 'thought reform', 'ego-destruction', 'mind control', brainwashing', 'neuro-linguistic programming', 'love-bombing', etc.). These techniques are designed to fulfil the hidden criminal objectives of cult leaders by provoking in their adherents an infantile total dependence on the group to detriment of themselves and of their existing family, and/or other, relationships. Pernicious cults manipulate their adherents' existing beliefs and instinctual desires, creating the illusion that they are exercising free-will. In this way, adherents can also be surreptitiously coerced into following potentially harmful, physical procedures (sleep deprivation, protein restriction, repetitive chanting/moving, etc.) which are similarly designed to facilitate the shutting down of an individual's critical and evaluative faculties without his/her fully-informed consent.

Mr. Johnson has previously imagined that I have published a definition of cultism. In reality, pernicious or criminogenic cultism is a complex and evolving historical phenomenon which (like an elephant) cannot be simply defined. It is possible, however, to list all the essential identifying characteristics of cultism. Interestingly, one of these characteristics is the reaction of chronic cult adherents, who always deny absolutely that they are being deceived and exploited. However, the long term core adherents of pernicious cults are psychotic (i.e. suffering from psychosis, a severe mental derangement, especially when resulting in delusions and loss of contact with external reality). Core-adherents who manage to break with their group and confront the ego-destroying reality that they have been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. For many years afterwards, recovering former adherents can suffer from one or more, of the following psychological problems (which are also generally indicative of the victims of abuse): depression; overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.); dependency/inability to make decisions; retarded psychological/ intellectual development; suicidal thoughts; panic/ anxiety attacks; extreme identity confusion; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; insomnia/ nightmares; eating disorders; psychosomatic illness (asthma, skin disorders, headaches, fatigue, etc.); sexual problems/ fear of forming intimate relationships; inability to trust; etc.

David Brear (copyright 2010)