It can be very hard to take responsibility for your actions if you blame the manipulations of a cult for them. As Hoyt says, it is vital to take responsibility for your own story: it is a lot easier to fool someone than to persuade them they've been fooled. Some people blame themselves entirely for their negative behavior and others shrug it off because of 'mind control'. To recover from a cult experience, we have to weigh up the balance between the manipulation of the cult and our own agency.
Links:
Alan Scheflin's Social Influence Model
Jon's spiffy new site
Jon's old site (with all his art and poems and things)
