Miviludes — Annual Report (2006)

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Report to the Prime Minister

Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Aberrations - MIVILUDES -

This document is a translation of the French version. Only the original French version is legally binding.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY THE CHAIRMAN

1 s t section: PROTECTION OF VICTIMS: Assessment of the risks and aberrations

1 The sectarian hold or "inducing of a state of subjection" 14

2 The collateral victims of sectarian aberrations: 37 family and friends

3 Professional training and sectarian risks 58

4 The economic approach of sectarian movements

A Analysis of the economic functioning 76 of sectarian movements: a partial explanation of sectarian risk

B The example of Tradition, family, property, a specific organisation intended for the collection of donations and non-identified objects 93

5 Influence strategies implemented by sectarian movements in 2006 in the legal, media and parliamentary fields 102 2nd section: ANALYSES AND STUDIES

1 Sectarian risk in the psychotherapeutic field and transactional analysis 136

2 Sectarian risk relating to the use of certain classified products other than drugs 160

3 Sectarian risk: legal and administrative provisions in Europe and North America 169

3rd section: ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES 2006

A – Miviludes

1 Educational and informative activities 210

2 Cells of vigilance, a year of transition 216

B – Ministries

1 Justice 223

2 Foreign affairs 235

3 Home office and planning 240

4 Defence 244

5 Economy, finance and industry 255

6 National education, higher education and research 257

7 Youth, sports and associative life 259

8 Employment, social cohesion and housing Health and solidarity 267

CONCLUSION 289

APPENDICES

Example of reporting 292

Parliamentary activity: Written questions 297

Addresses and useful links 303 FOREWORD BY THE CHAIRMAN

In 2006, the main event in the combat against sectarian aberrations was the creation of the third parliamentary investigatory commission which specifically considered the damage which was likely to be caused to the moral or physical health of minors exposed to this risk. If all victims of sectarian aberrations must be contacted by public authorities, there is no doubt that the weakest victims, such as minors, must be reassured that all action is taken to avoid this risk or to assist them, if prevention is ineffective.

The actual powers of the parliamentary investigatory commission enabled it to carry out an exhaustive analysis of the phenomenon, obtain difficult-to-access information and establish an evaluation which received substantial media attention, thus improving the information reaching the public. The proposals in the report by the parliamentary investigatory commission follow these lines and provide the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Aberrations (MIVILUDES) with clear guidelines for action by public services in coming months.

MIVILUDES itself has continued its efforts to meet the expectations of all those waiting for the state to take a clear position in favour of victims. Its annual activity report is also a means of taking lessons from previous action, assessing changes in the phenomenon and considering the effectiveness of efforts made without room for complacency.

Since its creation, four years ago, MIVILUDES, the successor to the Interministerial Mission of Combat against Sects (MILS), has been able to specify its role and its position in the action of the government in terms of prevention and the combating of aberrations by an increasing number and range of organizations and individuals. The activities of the mission are supported by an Orientation council including members of Parliament, academics, leaders of parent-teacher associations, representatives of families, victims and non-victims of the phenomenon, experts from legal, medical, and administrative fields and specialists in sectarian questions.

The mission is determined to not lose view of its target in a secular Republic, prohibiting the wearing of any type of judgment on values concerning doctrines, theories or beliefs as such, and systematically denouncing all aberrations, abuse or infraction independently to the author or origin.

Criticism was inevitable from this point, and attempts to restrain or paralyse action were unavoidable. It was therefore necessary to explain why France intended to continue with its vigilance programme, particularly on the international scene where the main transnational movements are lobbying frenetically.

We needed to once again remind critics that the real victims are not those subject to the so-called "witch hunts", but the unfortunate individuals whose lives are often definitively destroyed in the spiral of sectarian commitment, via a trusting submission to individuals motivated by power and gains, or simply devoid of moral meaning or the slightest respect for fellow human beings.

It has become fashionable for these organizations or their leaders to act as victims and to deny any responsibility in the fortunes of their followers. If these individuals are obliged to recognise that a complainant exists, they do not hesitate to turn them into a scapegoat, an apostate who initially consented and who is now entirely responsible for the current situation.

In addition, applicants joining this type of movement, must initially eliminate the former human existing in him or her, who was necessarily a bad person, and reconstruct a new person, formatted by the group's beliefs, and therefore better. Any unsatisfactory element in the previous life of the new follower was his or her fault. The person was therefore guilty when he or she arrived and will remain guilty unless the group's beliefs are satisfied during the period of belonging to the movement.

The person will become even guiltier, of treason and earthly sins, if he or she leaves the group.

Neither is there room for indulgence or pity, or respect, brotherhood or generosity in such a system. The rule of thumb is not even the cynical "everyone for himself", the group applies the pure and simple negation of dignity, as inherent to each human being, which ensures that the master can predominate followers and,.. god help anyone who steps out of line!

It is the duty of the Republic to ensure that the mutual tolerance shown by citizens and popular communities can be freely exercised and without consideration of origins, beliefs or differences between individuals. However, the Republic is also responsible to the nation for maintaining the social cement which assumes that no individual has the right to breach the fundamental rights of any woman, man and child.

In view of this responsibility, the protection of all citizens, from the youngest to the oldest, against sectarian aberrations, is a basic obligation for the state.

Jean-Michel Roulet Prefect MIVILUDES chairman INTRODUCTION

The Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Aberrations must, according to the decree founding the mission, present an annual report to the Prime Minister.

MIVILUDES was created in December 2002 and has therefore presented four reports during the current Parliament.

The mission focused successively on sectarian aberrations and sectarian risks in the two first reports, in chronological order, with a clear definition of the scope for activities and with specification of the nature of risks and the means of apprehending the reality in strict compliance with law, intended for the attention of the Parliament which closely monitors its action and citizens, which expect the state to protect them against a danger which is considered as particularly intolerable.

Last year, in its third report, the Mission highlighted and presented examples of four major sectors which require increased vigilance and exhaustive notification of elected officials and the entire nation in view of the quality of the potential victims: approaches targeting minors, sectarian aberrations in the field of health in the wider sense of the term, the risk of penetration of economic systems and the infiltration of a leading sector in terms of image, i.e. humanitarian assistance.

The three main focal points selected over the three previous periods remain applicable today, and it would have been possible to develop these issues once again with an update in view of fully reminding all parties that the defence of individual freedoms and the dignity of the human being against the action of gurus of all sorts is a long-term process and that we cannot drop our guard.

We finally decided to focus on new issues, which more clearly reflect changes in the sectarian environment, and the capacity of these organizations and their leaders to adapt on a daily basis.

A study has been dedicated to the means of gaining hold on victims and the consequences on the people concerned in order to identify sectarian risk and assess the extent of damage to the victims of doubtful movements or of badly understood theories.

Several members of the MIVILUDES' Orientation council desired that the crucial issue of collateral victims of sectarian membership be considered, i.e. the consequences of the follower's commitment for families, relations and friends. This aspect will be developed in human and legal terms.

The sector of professional training is currently expanding dramatically and requires substantial funding. Organizations or individuals looking to invest in something should not remain inactive. The dangers faced by employees, administrations and companies are described in this document and have been subject to new and fresh analysis.

An in-depth study on the risk of sectarian penetration in companies, initially scanned over in 2005, focusing on the consequences in terms of economic intelligence, is presented in this report together with a poignant example of the abuse of economic procedures.

Finally, the multiplication of service paralysis companies responsible for vigilance and combat against sectarian aberrations by a few movements in particular is considered in administrative and legal terms.

An overview of misinformation techniques used by these movements, their satellites or their members is also included in a chapter describing the approaches towards administrations and the media.

In the second section, MIVILUDES has selected studies and documents on issues which have lacked attention until now:

This led to research on the contrasting outcome of a method taken from North America, i.e. "'Transactional analysis", in view of demonstrating that the use of certain practices by pseudo-practitioners, sometimes self-proclaimed, was likely to have dramatic consequences.

The problem of the emergence of shamanist practices requiring the use of hallucinogens such as ayahuasca or iboga, is presented as a risk which goes beyond a passing trend and the plethora of aberrations which accompany this practice are insisted on.

Until now, no comparison of public policies implemented for this issue, by the main European and North American states had been summarised. This summary now exists, in the form of a dedicated chapter focusing on applicable legal, regulatory and administrative provisions in more than a dozen countries and the perception of the three large transnational groups which, here and there, are considered as a problem in these countries.

MIVILUDES could clearly not copy all of the impressive set of works completed by the parliamentary investigatory commission on the damages likely to be caused to the moral or physical health of minors exposed to sectarian aberrations, however the mission refers readers to the report submitted by the commission 1 , and to the questions raised throughout the year by deputies or senators.

Finally, each administration on the Pilot executive committee of the Mission was able to submit its own annual activity report in order to provider complete information on their activities for readers.

MIVILUDES itself reports on its activities in the fields of action defined in its founding texts: distribution of information, training sessions, departmental cells of vigilance, international approaches, liaising with associations for the defence of families, meetings, at their request, with the leaders of movements wishing to contact the public authority, publication of a brochure on aberrations relating to Satanism, etc.

2006 can be looked back on as a year of work and effort, enabling victims and their families to be listened to, respected and supported when facing difficulties. Our activities for 2006 have also ensured that sectarian movements and their leaders have no doubt concerning the determination of the Republic to stand firm in its mission in favour of those requiring its solidarity and security.

1 S T SECTION

PROTECTION OF VICTIMS ASSESSMENT OF THE RISKS AND ABERRATIONS 1 - THE SECTARIAN HOLD OR "INDUCING OF A STATE OF SUBJECTION"

"Man is no good-natured individual, a heart dying for love, who is assumed to defend himself when attacked, but, on the contrary, an individual whose instincts integrate a fair portion of aggressiveness. Consequently, man does not see his fellow man as a mere auxiliary or possible sexual object, but also as a source of temptation. Man is indeed tempted to satisfy his need for aggression to the detriment of follow man, to exploit his services without remuneration, to use a person sexually without consent, to take his assets, to humiliate him or inflict suffering, to martyr or kill him".

Sigmond Freud, Civilisation and its Discontents 2

The "inducing of a state of subjection" defined by About-Picard's law of 12 June 2001, which enables the application of the article from the penal code on the abuse of weakness for victims of sectarian activity, sometimes appears difficult to apprehend for law practitioners.

This consideration of the difficulties of using the legal provision lead MIVILUDES to once again focus on the notion of hold. This term is more familiar to court experts, psychiatrists and psychologists, and sectarian specialists.

MIVILUDES therefore created working groups including: magistrates involved in sectarian cases (before and after the About-Picard law), experts, psychiatrists and psychologists required to give their opinion for these cases, and lawyers.

This work was initiated in 2006 and should lead to the organization of a colloquium for magistrates and experts during 2007.

To begin with, it was important to report on the notion of hold.

HOLD AND HOW IT WORKS 3

The terms "sectarian hold", or "inducing of a state of subjection" have gradually replaced the term "mental manipulation" in the vocabulary used by associations of victims and in legal and administrative terminology. The expression has been generalised as psychologists have made significant progress on the notion of perverse hold or moral harassment 4

Degrees of ambition in terms of what an individual aims to obtain from someone: occasional behaviour, sharing of an opinion, belief, desire, acceptance to commit, voluntary submission to rules, trust, beneficial passiveness. Sales staff, educators, politicians, lovers and believers attempt to obtain these results with varying levels of success. This aspect becomes more complicated when active participation, expensive and long-term services, entry in a transformation process, total availability or full reserve-free submission is aspired, without visible constraints. This absolutely requires, not merely initial consent, which will have little effect, but a chain of successive points of acquiescence, which the subject will perceive as deliberate and conscious decisions 5 .

In fact, the subject consents to one procedure, but is unaware of the nature of the actual transformation process to be applied, of the final result of this transformation and of the real aims of the "master".

Working on decisions

All of the important decisions taken by human beings, and a significant percentage of daily decisions are based on reasoning, pragmatism and affection. However, they are also part of a historical, contextual, contractual and ethical environment.

The historical environment relates to culture, family values, beliefs, attachments, and expectations and projects. Decisions will depend, to a large extent, on links, current relations, adaptation to the circumstances, and the language used to describe the world due to the contextual environment. The contractual environment will define all explicit or implicit commitments, the sectors towards which each individual is guided, and assigned tasks in society. The ethical environment for decisions will represent the universe of values in which the decisions must be taken. These four types of environment are precisely the targets of sectarian groups to gain a hold.

Sectarian groups almost systematically investigate the past of the individual in view of disqualifying this past. The future follower will be baited with the well known phrase: "Let's forget the past", or, to quote Dante: "Ye who enter here, abandon all your past beliefs". Work on the conception of the future follows similar lines. A negative tone of voice is used to state that "If you continue like this, you are done for" or a positive tone of voice declares that "Everything can change if you really want it to". The sapping continues for other aspects of the family, emotive or social life of the future follower, with a recommendation to break with the past, or to take distance.

The links created with the new group are strengthened by requests for increasing participation. Occasional, possibly innocent-looking micro-commitments are multiplied in parallel 6 concerning practical help, participation, donations, formalities, and daily lifestyle. These sporadic, apparently innocent, points of consent, will have an impact on more important decisions: we could mention the example of marriage. You will meet a handsome young man (or a beautiful young woman). You accept to go out for a drink. You accept a second outing to the cinema... and step by step, suddenly, one day you find yourself, slightly surprised saying "I do". The progression of steps is particularly difficult to stop as it is very gradual: you cannot stop seeing someone without a serious reason at the fourteenth evening out!

The same type of process is applied to the ethical bases for taking a decision. Prior ethical references are disqualified, demythologized, and are subject to critical analysis and gradually replaced, in a very structured manner, by the group values. Group values will be based on the same deep aspirations, but will be guided towards exclusivity.

An emotive and affective environment will be provided to simplify the process, carried along by the group's dynamism. The psycho-sociologist Eric Depret put this well: "Research has shown that, in fact, the more costly the rituals and the more severe the initiatives, the greater the attraction for the group. This continues in the line of the principle to commitment described by Machiavel when writing to the Prince: 'People will appreciate you more because of what they have done for you, than for what you have done for them'.

The gradual behavioural commitment is hence a means of influence of alarming effectiveness: how can an individual not be convinced of the good nature of someone to whom he/she has given so much, and how to doubt something which has already cost so much? It often appears easier to adapt your beliefs than to question your behaviour, especially if the sacrifices requested have already made you take several steps towards the target (power, wisdom, health, redemption or nirvana) which, although not in sight cannot be much further...".

Seduction

However, this does not explain how a person who is normally entirely integrated and lucid, can be duped by this practice. The image of "Sects" reflected in the media after the tragedies in Waco, Vercors and others, has been so devalued in the public opinion that very few people would currently accept to join a group which used this term to refer to itself. These groups tend to use approaches such as: "We are not what people think, come and see, make your own mind up".

"Sectarian organizations trigger a projective identification process with their victims. Followers believe that they have found their dream organization in the sect and are not aware that they have projected their own ideals on the group. To begin with, followers are convinced that the sect is fully contingent and will satisfy their ambitions (getting well, being happy, need for spirituality, etc.), they feel invested in the group and respected in a way they never have felt previously. The sect will subsequently embed and then "drown" the ambitions of the follower in the collective project created by the leader. The project will be greater and more seductive: purify the earth, total individual bliss, divine contact, achieving immortality, etc. J-M. Abgrall calls this second phase 'the retaining seduction 8 .

In fact, the desire of the subject (his or her ambition) is completely denied to the benefit of the leader's ambition. The subject becomes a desired object 9 .

In the context of the ideology, membership may correspond to a reaction to fatigue and the loss of credibility of social, political and religious regimes. The citizen reacts negatively to the flood of information received, passing from disappointment to revolt, without any means to analyse this data, let alone take action. This leads to a fascination - or, at the very least, curiosity - with what is presented as a radical alternative. This combines with the seduction inherent to the consistency of a reducing argument and the apparent harmony of these universal theories. Eugène Enriquez specifies the content of arguments put forward by the sectarian group: "Message proclaiming the guilt of the everyday world and the need for redemption and the birth of a new society via the word of the master. In parallel, the group predicts death (individuals have an immortal soul and will be saved), establishes the mandatory nature of the dual relation between the master and his or her disciples (which excludes third parties, the only means of guaranteeing the absence of indistinction and a love-based or hypnotic fusion) and installs an imaginary world in which everything is possible and time does not exist. What better message could be transmitted to individuals running from the reign of critical, sceptical reasoning which destroys all forms of idolatry? These individuals treasure fond images of the father (Freud), comforted by the image of paradise being "at arm's reach", they feel "small" [and have] no confidence in their abilities, but entirely trust those of "big" people 10 , people who claim to be superior (as they have taken the risk of spreading the new word), they will necessarily be convinced by a message which gives them everything they require, while they have the impression that they have nothing and are worth nothing.

However, these arguments might not be enough. The listener must be informed that they will be saved, they are among the elected individuals and therefore they are part of those who can spread the new word and become missionaries. They also need to taste the joys of paranoia, to spread the word, to feel invested with a special mission, to be able to initiate new members and be entrusted with chasing out evil. They are all paranoiacs! What joy! The good, the righteous on one side, the bad on the other. Everyone recovers their original innocence".

The dynamics proposed for the ideology are based on the gradual acquisition and learning of reserved knowledge, and the discovery of unknown realities via a new language. The fascination for the fusional "us" 11 is more common than approaches to contemporary individualism would have us believe. The elitist-by-definition sectarian group apparently satisfies two needs: to be immerged in a group with identification to the other members and to stand out from the crowd via the selection of the "best".

"The megalomaniac promises made to followers reflect their archaic experiences in the early childhood, still present in their minds in the form of unconscious mnestic traces: memories of the omnipotence of thought and the fusion with the mother. These promises are not presented directly in this format, but in a sublime manner. An attempt to increase intellectual capacities conceals the fantasy of omnipotence and attempting to merge with divine entities conceals the fantasy of merging with the mother. The golden age, once known by the subjects and now totally forgotten, appears to be at arm's reach. The individual can once again believe that the constraints of reality can be overcome, just like when their life started 12 The transformation of the personality

The future follower is proposed with acquisitions (performance, power, harmony, spiritual progress), progress and promotion, in a manner which appears highly attractive and potentially risk-free. Accepting the proposals is simplified as the master will refer the listener to their own motivation: "If you want to be one of us, you must accept to participate or learn" or: "Only you know if you want to progress".

The actual procedure includes many elements: vulnerable points for the subject, group effects, use of emotional strings, neo-language, production of visible shortterm effect, increased distance from external influences, orders, progression in learning about the doctrine, steps in promotion and ascension to missions with responsibility. This process is spread over a long period as immediate and total belief would not be likely to last if it was not followed up by in-depth multi-dimensional work.

With regards neo-language, Eric Depret 13 considers that: "Language and thought are closely related, therefore redefining vocabulary (and associating the good, the true, the positive, and the "us" with the projects of the master and the evil, the false, the negative, and the "them" with all sources of opposition) will certainly assist in thought-control, in the same way as information and speech-control, as fully illustrated by Georges Orwell in his novel 1984".

One essential condition is the initial provocation of a certain psychological destabilisation, and a period of indecision, perplexity and insecurity in which past values will be reconsidered. If the person wishes to "play the game", he or she must accept to abandon certainties, prejudices, interpretations and explanations, and be open and available to receive the arguments proposed.

The person must become a novice, an apprentice, a pupil who must learn everything. Depending on the group, a context may be created, in which the applicant is no expert, caught out, questioned, has no existing references, occasionally made to feel guilty, deprived of the control of the situation, and systematically emotionally manipulated.

Techniques may affect the body and mind, the intellect and affectivity. The use of special postures 14 , the repetition of identical gestures 15 , an unusual position imposed in dialogue, a ritual and collective gesture, certain breathing exercises or bodily expressions are regularly used and lead to certain types of receptivity.

Several techniques are used to obtain varying degrees of changes in vigilance, similar to levels of hypnosis 16 Psychotropic drugs may have been exceptionally employed, but it is clear that fasting, extreme fatigue, and certain exercises modify levels of vigilance. Reliving past traumas and reviving underlying feelings of guilt cause deep disorientation and a feeling of authenticity, the conviction of finally accessing the "real" person inside. The revelation of new concepts and a new logic are found in most groups maintaining a hold over their followers. The usual vocabulary is disqualified. The "voluntary" subject is asked to renounce to his or usual means of analysis and interpretation 17 . Group effects combine with individual exercises leading to a highly effective result.

We are aware that it is very difficult to resist collective emotional movements. It is simple to imagine the intensity of the effect produced if an individual decides to participate fully and play the game, even if it is just "to see what it's like" 18 .

"The leader uses techniques based on narcissistic perversion. The follower is given to understand that he or she is indispensable for the success of the project. In fact, the success of the project depends solely on the follower, who is a unique being, an exceptional being, and part of an elite (as this person is now a member of the sect). The follower, now convinced by the narcissistic approach and the new responsibilities, will forget his or her initial ambitions, which suddenly appear very unimportant or far too egocentric, and, will feel thoroughly committed, believing that he or she is capable of achieving the impossible. (...) The psychological destabilisation will principally cause the regression of the new follower to an infant state, in all meanings of the term. This may lead to moments of acute regression; Sophie Beal 19 gives a clinical illustration of this phenomenon in her thesis: "[The follower] lay on his wife, crying: You are my mum, I am your son, I want to become a child again" 20.

Reconstruction

Simply creating a condition of destabilisation, disorientation and vulnerability would not be enough if new references, acquisitions, a different project, i.e. a means of restructuring the personality on the basis of a defined model were not simultaneously combined.

Each of the elements questioned must have a corollary in the process of restructuration.

The satisfaction of a successful experience combined with relaxation in a reassuring environment will replace the feeling of discomfort and strangeness caused by certain exercises, attitudes and physical conditions. The kind presence of the leader of the experience will counterbalance the perplexity and disorientation. The unshakable certainties of the leader replace doubt and questions. The reassurance of being accepted, of participating in a common project replaces a disqualified past, and guilt. The fusional warmth of the group will replace former relations. And finally the follower is reassured that "This is true, you have tried it for yourself, you really felt it". This "truth" always includes a share of some incommunicable aspect: this aspect cannot be verified via vulgar means of logic, and is not refutable.

Young followers will pass through a period of happiness 21 . They will feel physically and psychologically better. This is confirmed by Denys Ribas: "The period of regression will lead to significant levels of satisfaction. The dissolution of the individual and collective superego in the alienation of the leader, masochistic and incestuous benefits of being possessed by an idealised parent, the abolition of the taboo of incest and fairly frequent sexual liberation, appears, on a regressive tone, more like a sort of fusional auto-erotism than as an objectal relation. Disappearance of guilt. It may even be possible that followers who are aware of the brain washing techniques which may be used against them are subject to a certain tendency towards drug abuse, or a certain form of analgesic relief. Followers are tempted towards nonthought- According to Bion "Thinking is detrimental, for the non-being targeted by the death drive of individuals 22 .

Back to normal life, the former follower will become aware of this condition, the transgressions committed, and the lack of perception. The consequent shame will prevent the follower from prosecuting the sect or seeking psychotherapeutic assistance for a certain period. He or she will feel guilty for the denial and rejection of the outside world combined with the integration of the sect for a long period (forever?): According to Emmanuel Diet "Sectarian groups are not simply looking to wildly demonise the presence and possible malfunctioning of existing values for the primary attachment group [the family], its very structural and functional existence depends on denial, which allows its followers to relate and identify themselves, creating internal bonding. Submission to the leader, commitment to the doctrine, and the mutual dependence of all parties on the compound archaic figure of the guru are all based on this denial. The paradoxal link between followers is constructed on the shared denial of violence, madness, perversity and the weakness of the master. In the imposed context of regression, this obliges the followers to submit and to avoid all thought in order to maintain the ideal image of the leader by means of force. Having thus projected all forms of both imaginary and actual perfection and goodness in their nature on the guru, followers are without defence against disqualification, as they are themselves devoid of all of their qualities 23 .

Reinforcement techniques

Hold can only last if it includes answers to the doubt and discouragement which may affect any "beneficiary" when the period of fascination starts to fades. This is when what the behavioural experts call "reinforcements" are used to boost the feeling of belonging and the hold.

A support and surveillance structure is created in all groups. This structure is responsible for compensating for the failures and deviations of each subject. This mission is not the exclusive privilege of the hierarchy, it also involves the group members closest to the subject: encouragement, pressure, promises and testimonies will be used. If the process is well underway, loyalty to the group and the leader is one of the most powerful arguments: leaving would mean betraying the group and joining the mediocre herd of uninitiated beings or the enemies of the truth. Inadequate efforts to learn, lack of availability, obedience and the rejection of former values are used to explain languor, early signs of criticism, and the weight of constraints and ruptures. In serious cases, the follower is isolated and threatened with abandonment. Doubt is not interpreted as a sign of lucidity which would enable the criticism of the system on the basis of valid criteria, but as a setback in the progression down a "freely chosen" road.

Eric Depret 24 emphasises that: "While the rupture with previous social relations represents the main element of the sectarian hold, it is often justified via the demonisation of the outside world. (...) Threatened by external enemies, engaged in a holy war, a mortal combat between good and evil, sectarian arguments turn paranoiac. As mentioned by Deconchy 25 , in orthodox social systems, characterised by the strictness of the internal regulation system (or power system), rules are not merely accepted, but expected (the justification of these rules is part of the doctrine), and an enemy or an external threat is also required. The existence of an actual or imaginary threat is considered to accord legitimacy to orthodox operations, meticulous internal control, the identification of traitors, and the rejection of heretics. (...) The strictness of the internal control system is probably made necessary by the rational fragility of beliefs (when it comes to believing or not believing, being a friend or foe, compromise and doubt are not possible).

(...) [These groups] are characterised by a powerful internal control system (purity of beliefs, morality of behaviour), applying the principles of selfaccusation and confession, denunciation and threats. These systems clearly contribute to ensuring obedience and conformism. (...) The master will hence accumulate all the elements required for power, be they non-coercive (expertise, legitimacy, references, information) or coercive (rewards and punishments)".

Whatever he or she does, the follower will effectively never reach the ideal condition, which is impossible to reach. The carrot will constantly retreat and will always depend on a regression or a demotion which must be compensated for by renewed effort under the critical eye of the leaders and the group. Each group has its own vocabulary for "deviations" which threaten the necessary cohesion.

Results

Certain parties have heavily insisted on the difficulty of defining a sect. However, witnesses, close friends and family or even occasional acquaintances rapidly identify the changes in a follower. Witnesses initially notice the affirmation of exclusive, peremptory certainties, the impossibility to contest these certainties, combined with a distant approach, a refusal to reconsider issues. The veneration of leaders and the group justifies a docile approach and unconditional submission and availability. The claim to hold the exclusive truth will lead to intolerance of varying degrees and the condemnation of any divergent analysis. All values claimed are subordinate to unconditional loyalty.

The follower has not simply acquired invasive convictions and occupations, but has transformed his or her understanding and interpretation of the world, as if a selective filter had been installed.

All information received will be processed and selected according to their orthodoxy on the basis of the group's doctrine.

"For psychoanalysts, [sects] correspond to the execution and the implementation of procedures and processes which attack thought, individual desire, the creation of social links and the conditions of collective living. They aim at programmed alienation, and total submission to a new order 26 .

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE HOLD?

The About-Picard law concerns both individuals committing the defined breaches and the groups. This makes the application of this law complex, particularly as it overlaps two types of experience and various types of expertise. However, the law defines that group life causes prejudice to individuals, that group injunctions may lead to the committing of breaches, and that these breaches would not necessarily have occurred in another context. Experts must deal with this complex situation if an individual is identified as vulnerable.

Court experts consulted by MIVILUDES highlighted the complexity of the means of gaining a hold. The history of the deep internal construction of the individual is important. Expertise concerning the responsibility of the author is simpler, however the difficulty is proving the hold on the victim. A hold is not in itself an infraction, unless it leads this person to execute an act or apply an abstention which causes prejudice to the individual. The guru would then necessarily be responsible, and the follower would be both the author and victim.

Does hold affect the deep internal psychological profile of the individual? What is the difference between hold and irrational action?

Do the individuals in question agree with the group's convictions? Have relations been alienated, i.e. delegated to a third party (individual or group)? What factors create a predisposition for hold?

As shown, the analysis of hold cannot be envisaged without extensive knowledge of the individual concerned, as the entire background of this person must be considered. What are the predispositions of the person? Was manipulation the unavoidable consequence of a favourable environment and an adroit manipulator? It must be stressed, even at this stage, that this type of logic can be pernicious for the person subjected, whose status as a victim depends on a type of pre-existent psychic aptitude.

Identifying the conditions for joining the group

"Clinical analysis has proved that followers are generally seduced by the group (or one single person) at a time of psychological fragility: death of a loved one, moving, separation, divorce, unemployment, crisis (adolescence, leaving home, starting work, mid-life crisis), etc. All of these situations involve a loss and the mourning of the object in question (a person, a situation, a job, etc.). The subject will be encouraged to withdraw libidinal investment from the lost object and turn to the ego as a form of protection from this objectal loss. A narcissistic regression will then occur, or a regression to the Ego. This narcissistic regression supervised by a sectarian group will systematically involve:

-in objectal terms, a withdrawal from family, friends employment, etc. (e.g. separation, distance, resignation),

in Ego terms, overinvestment in the Ego demonstrated by new narcissistic claims such as: 'I want to be independent and live my life,' 'I have found myself,' '...I have discovered my mission in life', etc. 2 7.

Psychiatrists, experts designated by courts, are required to question the changes in the subject when joining the sect.

Do not simply accept the individual background of the subject

However, simply accepting an assessment on the basis of the individual background of the subject is inadequate. If the follower has symptoms which could be considered as psychotic, these apparently psychotic symptoms will cease: "The psychic profile of followers partially operates on the basis of primary processes, therefore the symptoms can appear psychotic: automatic thinking, irrational ideas, hallucinations, etc. To give an example, the follower could say (a neurotic subject recently having left a sect): "it is time [the leader] was aware of the attacks on Mars and visited Mars to attempt to clarify the situation 28 . However the presence of apparently psychotic symptoms will not necessarily lead the clinician to diagnose a psychotic condition. Indeed, the "psychotic" condition of followers is reversible and will disappear as they take a "psychic" distance from the sectarian experience 29 .

Emmanuel Diet 30 clearly demonstrates that the individual background of the subject is not enough: "It would be an illusion to reduce the suffering or the psychic pathology of the follower and the subject to the mere idiosyncratic characteristics of his or her background and personal profile. The subject, just like any human being, will have sources of anguish and conflict, fantasies and affects based both on original and oedipal experiences. Irrational topics, anaphasis and separation in a singularly paranoid tone are often obvious to the attentive listener.

The listener could be tempted to view these obvious phenomena as the symptoms of a borderline structure or initial psychosis, and consider the sectarian recruitment as the consequence of pathological elements existing in the subject.

In other words, the sect simply represented a pretext and the opportunity to apply existing processes, and could even be considered as satisfying a psychic purpose, with the subject acting as a container or reference. This role would thus, for example, avoid major psychotic collapse for the subject. In fact, clinical tests have proved that in most cases, followers were not initially suffering from an identified pathology independently to their state of suffering and destruction when leaving the group. (... It appears radically necessary for the analysis of intrapsychic processes to account for the actual elements at work in sectarian experiences (...) and to understand the destructiveness as an after effect, reactivating narcissistic failures and injuries. (...) Attacks on relations, the image of the body, genealogy and family relations, narcissism and identity, desiring and desire, parental imagos, invested objects, values, language and common sense, rationality and the entire being, paradoxalities, denial and disqualification are all implemented by the sect and must be assessed together with their repercussions, after effects and their traumatic value in view of the background of the subject in terms of family relations, personal experience, internal fantasies and conflicts. It is only when considering countertransference that we can obtain the elements enabling the identification and designation of the perversity applied to the more or less consenting victim, while allowing the victim to recognise the experience as the desire of an other person and to establish his or her position as a victim of irrational and external influences".

"Voluntary servitude" 31

Sectarian stories often reach the general public due to their totally transgressive side: collective killings/suicides mistreatment or abandonment of children, criminal complicity, etc. Penal justice is applied for serious events. How can we make people understand that the guru is able to remove even the most deep-rooted of traditional taboos and the basic education of individuals, violating the conscience of victims before turning to physical violation or any other particularly shocking, or even unthinkable aggression?

"Sectarian suicide represents such a scandal for societies throughout the world (for which this act is a total disclaimer) that a "negation of reality" is experienced. Whenever a new collective suicide occurs, media sources assume that the guru must be on the run after having killed their followers. Media talk barely changes when the guru (despicable as he may be) is found among initial victims: Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, the guru of Heaven's Gate, the two leaders of the Order of the Solar Temple (OTS), Luc Jouret and Jo di Mambro, and most probably the Ugandan guru Joseph Kibwetere, whose corpse was recognised by a close relative. Mysterious actors are therefore mentioned (the Mafia, the secret services), or a war between leaders, "financial difficulties", etc. When a third suicide occurs (such as with the OTS), the media, rather than recognising self-destruction inspired by shared beliefs, goes quiet. The desperation of Amazonian or Mexican tribes is also denied when entire families hang or poison themselves rather than changing their lifestyle 32

At the end of the day, what responsibility can be accepted by the follower in terms of this servitude which was initially freely chosen, even if the "contract" the victim thought he or she was signing was clearly totally deviated by the guru and the sect?

A certain form of pleasure gained from transgression cannot be denied: "Many transgressions are not only permitted within and outside of the sect, but demanded. The destruction of social and cultural taboos enables individuals to defy prohibition and the law and give free reign to the realisation of fantasies and all real or imaginary, sexual or destructive ambitions" 33 .

We could mention the "group illusions" defined by Didier Anzieu 34 . Individuals within a group are systematically threatened by a loss of personal identity to the benefit of the collective identity. Michèle Bertrand 35 considers the following issue: "Can the loss of identity lead to the sacrifice of the person's own creation in the case of a murder ordered by the founder? We need to identify how such a sacrificial scenario can be accepted and demanded of the others. Primary narcissism may include an element which pushes the individual to rupture, and hence an extreme form of death drive, but this only partially explains the situation".

Denys Ribat suggests one possible explanation: "In view of the instinctive defusion relating to withdrawal, the death drive created can only be applied within the sect. (...) The final recourse of a human being faced with a mortiferous instinctive defusion is to use a process to export the defusion. I feel that this is what happens with narcissistic perversion. (...) the final recourse would involve the export of the defusion to a victim, not in view of sadistic satisfaction, but to feel the radical loss of hope until only death becomes desirable. (...) If these possibilities are even partially true, this would imply that the master of a sect heading towards suicide is very sick, and exporting his own instinctive defusion to his or her false sacrificed children and their own children, which is doubly unacceptable.

This is not, in fact, an "altruistic" suicide such as that of a melancholic individual, this is an attempt to export the chaos and suicide threatening the guru. This attempt is initially successful but doomed to ultimately fail 36 .

According to Paul Denis, suicides can be better explained by the collapse of the psychic structure constructed within the group: "Sects have fixed, irreconcilable, axiomatic, irreplaceable beliefs which are merged with the investment of the individual stating the beliefs, thus constructing psychic towers which can fall if their foundations are removed. If the sectarian belief is destroyed after having removed any other relation, the psychic tower will fall. The poem by Gustav Schwab, La chevauchée du Lac de Constance, provides a metaphor of the collapse which can follow the fading of an illusion, the loss of belief: one winter's day, a knight was trying to reach Lake Constance before nightfall. He galloped across an empty clearing and stopped at the first houses on the way to ask if the lake was close-by. A resident told him that he had just crossed the lake and by miracle had not fallen in despite the thin ice: "Your horse just walked on a knife's edge... ". "The knight stayed on his steed... All he could see was the black hole following him. His sprit fell to the bottom of the pit and into the darkness" and the man died. The collective suicides of certain sects or the individual suicides of subjects in sects could correspond to the sudden collapse of the sectarian belief 37 This rapid analysis of sectarian hold could lead to several observations and several questions.

Once again, we can note that victims have objective reasons to complain: attracted by false promises - concerning their health or spirituality - they are recruited and lose control of their life. They understand what their family and close friends had rapid identified too late.

Major difficulty is also faced, not in understanding sectarian hold, but in expressing this hold in effective legal terms.

This leads to certain questions: what exact mission should a judge entrust to an expert psychiatrist or a mandated psychologist? Who can and must analyse the entire sectarian context (texts, video recordings, etc.)? If we want to create a body of "knowledgeable individuals", what criteria should be used to recruit these individuals? And finally, how can responsibility be shared between the individual committing the criminal act, under a sectarian hold, and those manipulating the former individual. The consideration of the "inducing of a state of subjection" is far from over.

2 - COLLATERAL VICTIMS OF SECTARIAN ABERRATIONS FAMILY AND FRIENDS

A young woman contacted MIVILUDES by e-mail to indicate the situation of one of her friends, who had been looking to change her lifestyle which she found provided little satisfaction, had found the opportunity to carry out a neo-shamanistic course with use of iboga in Normandy via the internet and proselytizing in her professional environment. Prior to the course, her two best friends attempted, without success, to prevent her from going. After the course, they noted modifications to the personality of their friend, who demanded a rupture in relations in the name of her freedom of lifestyle.

A grandmother saw her calm life filled with affection transformed when one of her two daughters (married, with four children) began psycho-spiritual sessions with a doctor from a pseudo-religious community and decided to cut all relations with her family because "Mum, there are powerful unsaid elements between us, if I explained, you would collapse or you would refuse to believe it. You have to ask yourself questions and discover these elements". Since this day, she has almost no contact with her grandchildren and absolutely no contact with her daughter 38 .

"All of these facts prove that they have taken away my right to be a father", were the words of a father separated from the mother of his children, herself a Jehovah's witness, and therefore with very taut relations with her daughter aged 12 and living with her mother.

These are just a few examples from the plethora of the situations indicated to MIVILUDES in 2006, providing information on the pain of families faced with a loved one joining a sect. While it is natural to consider the follower as a victim of sectarian aberrations, the consequences for people close to the victim and particularly the family, which are almost always dramatic, must not be trivialised, neglected or ignored.

Families are disconnected, spouses may attempt suicide due to the sudden and irredeemable change in behaviour of the partner under the hold. We often hear the phrases "I suddenly found myself facing a wall" or "I felt excluded from the family", which systematically reflect immense suffering.

A sect transforms the follower into a direct victim and the follower's family and friends into indirect victims.

However, the effects are not only moral and emotive, tangible and financial repercussions must also be accounted for.

I- THE CONSEQUENCES OF A LOVED ONE JOINING A SECT

The person joining the group often acts this way in reaction to unsatisfied ambitions. This is the road to initiation: the itinerary is signposted at precise stages and levels which the follower must reach, if he or she is considered capable:

infantilisation,

renouncing to previous values,

unconditional belief as proof of loyalty,

certainty to be part of an undividable entity,

belief in the unity and the long-standing nature of the group,

important sacrifices and the acceptance of the authority of the master,

elitist supremacy,

This hold leads to taking distance from the other members of the family which may be more critical towards the guru or the sect's doctrine.

The isolation of the follower is systematically applied when joining a sect as this simplifies the control of the psychic profile of the follower. The consequences for the family are therefore unavoidable.

A - The division of the "family" unit

Divorce is in itself a traumatic family event, particularly if the child is an element in the family dispute. "The worst effects are observed when the parental conflict preceding the divorce is intense, and particularly when the children are included: They may be used as witnesses or hostages, as accomplices or confidants by either of the parents. They are involved in an extricable conflict of loyalty which will directly cause any pathological developments" 39 .

This situation is undeniably worsened if one parent is a sect member and the other not.

1 - The child of the follower

The child will adopt the beliefs of his/her parent(s) and the child is the most vulnerable of the loved ones of the follower(s) due to age and submission to the parent(s).

The prejudice to the child can be analysed differently depending on the following criteria:

Concerning the parents:

Both parents are followers of a sect: if the child is born into a sect and has no other parental model or references, the sect will represent the "normal" for the child. This child may become a follower. However, if the parents become followers after the birth of the child, he or she will retain memories of the "real world".

Only one of the parents is a follower, the other has never joined the group.

One parent is a follower, the other parent is a former follower.

In both of these cases, conflict will arise in terms of parental authority to prevent the follower from involving the child in unshared beliefs. However, the situation with a former follower is slightly different as the person is often fragile due to the past in the group. In addition, there is a loss of "credibility": "You initially agreed to the "religion" for the education of your child. You are now breaking this agreement ...".

Concerning the family:

Many of the child's family members (uncles, aunts grandparents, etc.) are followers: The child is entirely immerged in the sect. No action is possible. The authorities will not be informed by a member of the family.

One side of the family is part of the sect: The consequences for the child will now be different. The child will learn to lie, to keep silent, to adapt to each situation for each family. This comes back to the conflict of loyalties faced by the children of divorced parents, however, this situation is particular in that, for the child, it is founded on the opposition of magic and real, rational and irrational ... This particularity is only rarely identified in the social and psychological enquiries ordered by the judge.

What therapy should the child receive?

If the child is totally immerged (parents and family), no external therapist will be called on. The guru is the therapist, and applies the doctrine as the therapy.

If one of the two parents is a current follower: Therapy will fail as the follower will contest the approach used by the authority, sometimes slyly, and the child will not be influenced. An absence of therapeutical cooperation will lead to the failure of any therapy given to these children.

Both parents are former followers of a sect: it is possible to provide therapy for the child, but it is often started late due to the difficulties faced by the parents themselves in understanding their experience.

Continued relations between the child and the outside world

The child's family are followers. A third party may exceptionally ask the judge to maintain relations with the child. This may be the case for former partners, an uncle, a aunt-in-law, etc; who may claim the brutal rupture of an emotive relation with the child, and which is not in the interest of the latter. Continued or new emotive relations are considered as a "window on the outside world" in this case.

The child is the only person in the entourage of the follower who is subject to influences, but cannot react independently to the extent of hold.

2 - The spouse or former spouse of the follower

During divorces, excluding sectarian complications, the parent with which the child lives may attempt to manipulate the child mentally, generating parental alienation. "This creates a state of unreserved fusion between the child and one of the parents,the good person,who is loved and with whom the child lives, and simultaneously, a state of unreserved hostile abandonment for the other parent, the bad person, who is hated and with whom the child no longer lives.

A rupture arises between the good and the bad parent... With parental alienation, the parent implementing the disaffection consciously or unconsciously indoctrinates the child. This influence is clearly a form of abuse and will lead to serious psychic consequences for the child and the alienated parent 40 .

This alienation will have a particularly strong impact if the "bad parent" is demonized due to his or her lifestyle and if all approaches outside of the sect are stigmatised.

In case of divorce, the spouse (or former spouse), i.e. the person who shares, or has shared, the life of the follower, is often accused of using the sect membership to promote his or her interests. However, the spouse mentioning the sect membership of the other parent is obliged to provide tangible proof of the damaging impact of the beliefs and practices of the follower:

on the marriage, for divorce proceedings,

on the psychological or physical health of the children, for issues concerning parental authority.

Under all circumstances, sect membership in itself cannot be used as an argument, tangible elements must be identified such as behaviour which is particularly traumatic for the child and relates to conviction-based practices or a total rupture with marital links due to full investment in sectarian practices.

Spouses which use the sect membership of the other parent as an argument may also be former followers. This is the case if one of the spouses has left the sect and was unable to bring the partner with him or her. This situation is complicated as the spouse, the former follower:

will recurrently refer to the experience with the group,

will feel guilty for having betrayed the guru, for having been unable to ensure the departure of the spouse and children, and for having been abused by the movement.

This sense of guilt will continue long after leaving the sect and will often prevent the person from taking action. To give an example, the person will not request that the child lives with him or her from the initial separation, or will exclude the sectarian context from the legal proceedings due to a sense of shame and, sometimes, due to a fear of not being believed, or a fear of reprisal.

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