| Foreword | p. xi |
| Acknowledgments | p. xv |
| Introduction to the Revised Edition | p. xvii |
| Introduction to the First Edition | p. xxi |
| What Are Cults? | p. 1 |
| Defining Cults | p. 3 |
| Definitions and Characteristics | |
| Cult Types | |
| Who Joins Cults? | |
| Why Do They Join? | |
| A Brief History of Cults | p. 29 |
| Cults in the 1800s | |
| The 1960s: Fertile Ground for Cults | |
| The 1970s: Cults to Expand Awareness | |
| The 1980s: Psychological, Occult, and Prosperity Cults | |
| Examples of New Cults | |
| Cause for Concern | |
| The Process of Brainwashing, Psychological Coercion, and Thought Reform | p. 52 |
| Historical Examples of Brainwashing | |
| Packaged Persuasion | |
| Attacking the Self | |
| How Thought Reform Works | |
| Producing a New Identity | |
| Impermissible Experiments | |
| What's Wrong with Cults? | p. 83 |
| Cults Threaten Legitimate Institutions | |
| Cults Harm Our Children and Tear Apart Our Families | |
| Cults Are Violent | |
| Cults Engage in Conspiracy and Fraud | |
| Small Cults Can Be Just as Harmful as Large | |
| Cults Take Away Our Freedom | |
| Cults Take Away Our Possessions | |
| Cults Escape Scrutiny | |
| What Is to Be Done? | |
| How Do They Work? | p. 103 |
| Recruiting New Members | p. 105 |
| First Approach | |
| Invitation | |
| First Cult Contact | |
| Follow-Up: Gaining Greater Commitment | |
| Young and Old Alike Are Vulnerable | |
| The Double Agenda | |
| Physiological Persuasion Techniques | p. 125 |
| Mass Marketing of Experiential Exercises | |
| Techniques Producing Predictable Physiological Responses | |
| Meditation May Not Always Be Good for You | |
| Psychological Persuasion Techniques | p. 150 |
| Trance and Hypnosis | |
| Trickery | |
| Revision of Personal History | |
| Peer Pressure and Modeling | |
| Emotional Manipulation | |
| Psychotherapy Cults | |
| Intruding into the Workplace | p. 182 |
| Clarification of New Age | |
| A Clash in the Workplace | |
| Violation of Civil Rights | |
| What Goes On in an LGAT? | |
| Development of a New Age Training Program: A Case Example | |
| Problems with Being "Transformed" at Work | |
| Psychological Casualties | |
| Buyer Beware: Thought-Reform Processes at Work | |
| The Threat of Intimidation | p. 209 |
| Co-opted Professionals | |
| Intimidation and Harassment of Critics | |
| How Can We Help Survivors to Escape and Recover? | p. 241 |
| Rescuing the Children | p. 243 |
| Children of Jonestown | |
| Children of Waco | |
| Children of Other Cults | |
| Role of the Cult Leader | |
| Role of Cult Parents | |
| What Children Learn in Cults | |
| After the Cult | |
| Children Are Survivors | |
| Leaving the Cult | p. 266 |
| Why It's Hard to Leave | |
| Ways of Leaving the Cult | |
| Deprogramming and Exit Counseling | |
| Recovery: Coming Out of the Pseudopersonality | p. 295 |
| Recovering from Cult Aftereffects | |
| Practical Issues | |
| Psychological and Emotional Difficulties | |
| Cognitive Inefficiencies | |
| Social and Personal Relations | |
| Philosophical and Attitudinal Issues | |
| Helpful Tasks for Individuals Leaving Cults | |
| There Is Life After the Cult | |
| Postscript to the First Edition: The Millennium, Cults, and the End of the Century | p. 335 |
| Postscript to the Revised Edition | p. 339 |
| Chapter Notes | p. 357 |
| Resources and Organizations | p. 379 |
| Further Reading | p. 383 |
| The Author | p. 385 |
| Index | p. 387 |
| Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved. |
