Suggestions for Current Member of a Group

If you are currently involved in a group, you may very well approach AFF and related organizations with suspicion, or even hostility. Much simplistic and sensationalized material has been published about "cults" in the popular press and elsewhere. Since AFF engages in professional research in this area and in public and preventive-education activities, we realize that it is impossible to communicate the complexity and subtlety of the cult phenomenon in popular media, which demand brevity and simplicity. That is why we emphasize that those who think they may have been personally affected by an abusive group should not rely upon popular accounts, although these can certainly be very helpful. If you want to be informed, you must read more than a handful of newspaper or magazine articles.

If you are currently in a group and asking questions about it, we recommend that you consult our Suggestions to Ex-members . It may also be helpful for you to examine your group in light of the Checklist of Cult Characteristics .

If you think that our perspective is too negative and you want material from people who are less critical, we suggest that you order our Cultic Studies Bibliography . This bibliography is partly annotated and contains bibliographic data on a number of articles and books by people who might view themselves as opponents of the perspective we hold. You may also find other resources produced by people critical of our position in most good libraries.

The following books (the last two are available from AFF) do not deal with cults per se, but many members and former members of cultic groups have found them to be illuminating:

• Techniques of Persuasion: From Propaganda to Brainwashing
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

This guide also contains information packets (mostly magazine and newspaper articles) on groups that have generated considerable press coverage and on certain topics and general categories of groups (e.g., psychotherapy; Bible-based; occult; new age; child custody; child abuse; legal implications; neo-Nazi). For suggestions on finding information on lesser-known groups.

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