Understanding The Language Of Narcissistic Abuse In The Scientology Cult

 

 

I recently read an article at a blog detailing the language of narcissistic abuse. It's striking to realize the similarities between how cults operate and how abusers in one on one or family groups operate. I believe Janja Lalich did a great job in describing this in the book Take Back Your Life. I also feel Daniel Shaw describes this quite well in Traumatic Narcissism.

Basically in large or small groups if individuals fail to recognize the human rights of other human beings and treat human beings as mere objects to exploit then  the same kinds of relationships develop. Abusive relationships use psychological weaknesses and vulnerabilities whether it is one on one or in a cult or large group. They are not exactly identical but quite similar.

I believe many ex cult members, ex gang members and people who have been in abusive relationships can all benefit from examining the forms dysfunctional relationships take on both the micro and the macro scale. Obviously the contrast is between the lone abuser and the group like a cult, gang or totalitarian government.

I am going to quote terms from the article Understanding The Language Of Narcissistic Abuse and place those in blue. I will then attempt to describe to some degree how these terms apply in the Scientology cult, which I was in for twenty five years.

Love Bombing

A manipulation tactic involving lavish demonstrations and constant bombardments of attention and affection in an attempt to gain control by moving the relationship forward quickly.

First off in a one on one relationship this is often called seduction. You get treated great. With a narcissist or sociopath they may listen closely to you and mirror your interests to be appealing to you. They may seem to value your positions on topics and see value in you which others do not. They look for a need you have and to seem to be a perfect fit for it. That's the one on one application.

In the Scientology cult it is done but with a twist. If you are being regged (sold something) you get lots of strong encouragement and momentary praise. If you are being recruited for staff or the Sea Org people are very friendly at first. They act like you really matter and are an extraordinary person. Honestly if you are open to being recruited and qualified for staff or the Sea Org a recruitment team will love bomb you ruthlessly.

If you are close to completing a course or auditing program and an executive wants it done you may get love bombed too, to get you cooperating.

Grooming

A calculated and predatory act of maneuvering a person into a more dependent and isolated position by claiming a “special connection” where they are more vulnerable to accepting future abusive behavior.

A lone abuser may make a victim financially dependent and leave a victim with no one else to turn to. Often a victim will be discouraged from having close friends or family members they can turn to. Conflict with family members and estrangement are used to control and humiliate victims. The abuser can pretend to be the only one who really loves you.

In Scientology from the beginning cult members are gradually taught more and more that they are special because they are trying to find something - which of course Scientology claims to be. Scientology gives new members a little boost in esteem by in the doctrine stating they are superior to other people, particularly people who are not Scientologists. Ron Hubbard often praises Scientologists as students, auditors, Sea Org members and staff members. He encourages the members to participate and gives esteem that grows in the cult proportional to commitment or financial donations.

Whatever role a person ends up in in the cult they are told it's vitally important and it rapidly becomes a sacred irrevocable trust. By making the commitment sacred it makes leaving an act of evil betrayal. But the initial investment in Scientology doesn't make it clear that getting out will be quite difficult.

Additionally the cult uses a large array of tools to make Scientologists isolated and vulnerable. The cult members usually disconnect from family who are not Scientologists as part of the indoctrination process. It may be immediately or over a long period of time. And family members who are also in the cult all are under threat of expulsion if they are not submissive to the authority of Scientology.

So a cult member is made particularly vulnerable to further exploitation. If they are public Scientologists they know they can lose the family and friends they have in the cult. If they are staff or Sea Org members they usually by receiving little or no pay are left dependent on the cult for food, housing and basic needs. Some staff have jobs with Scientology companies and would immediately lose them if they rejected Scientology or were expelled. I have known groups of staff that rented a house or apartment together and all shared their expenses. If any of them are kicked out they would literally be homeless and they often have no credit or savings.

Empath

A highly sensitive and empathetic person who feels and often takes on the emotions of others often at the expense of their own emotional well-being.

Sensitive individuals get exploited by narcissists one on one and definitely get the same result in the Scientology cult. Their idealism is used to distract them from the reality of the cult and make a dream be what they chase.

Pathological Liar

A person who habitually and compulsively lies in order to suit their own needs.

This is noteworthy because Ron Hubbard was a pathological liar but in the cult it is hidden by many methods. His true past is hidden and looking outside the cult to verify his story is forbidden. It's clearly not allowed. 

Hoovering

Named after the Hoover vacuum, it is a tactic used to “suck back in” the victim by exhibiting improved or desirable behavior.

Occasionally the cult has lured people back. Hubbard pretended to cancel disconnection and fair game when the cult shrunk, but really continued them both. The cult occasionally offers an amnesty to get disaffected members to return. They even rarely review SP declares and cancel them to get old members back.

Normalizing

A tactic used to desensitize a person to inappropriate or abusive behaviors; manipulating a person to agree or accept something that is in conflict with the law, social norms, or their own basic code of behavior.

There is a tremendous amount of Scientology doctrine and practice that fills the role of normalizing. Hubbard used the indoctrination methods called training routines (TRs) to get cult members to give up personal boundaries. Hubbard's Code Of Honor and Two Rules For Happy Living are designed to entirely obliterate your honor and personal integrity. He has an extensive Ethics Technology doctrine and practices that are specifically to achieve this as well. Very rigid control is used to get Scientologists to progressively agree to more antisocial and extreme behaviors. 

Supply

A narcissist’s insatiable need to gain the attention and adoration of others for the purpose of building them up and confirming their false sense of superiority and entitlement.

Hubbard loved admiration. He described admiration as the most valued thing possible in the Factors. He told Scientologists in the Code Of Honor to never seek to be liked or admired. He coveted admiration for only himself and wanted his followers to accept a stark lack of love and recognition as individuals worthy of rights. He made the cult function as a machine that generates fanatics and zealots as devoted slaves and wealth to fight legal battles and run espionage operations. The machine is run by David Miscavige now but can largely run on automatic. Miscavige has done a tremendous amount of abuse in his own right, but Hubbard laid it out initially.

Ambient Abuse

The stealthy, subtle, underground currents of maltreatment that sometimes go unnoticed even by the victims themselves until it is too late; the fostering and enhancement of an atmosphere of intimidation, fear, and instability; often viewed as the most dangerous type of abuse.

The cult environment has many, many aspects of ambient abuse. A group can utilize social elements in a far more effective manner than a lone abuser. This issue is worthy of several books in its own right. Robert Cialdini's book Influence, Margaret Singer's book Cults In Our Midst and Robert Jay Lifton's Eight Criteria For Thought Reform all elaborate on this. Even Eric Hoffer's book True Believer sheds light on this. 

Gaslighting

A form of mental abuse that includes brainwashing or convincing a mentally healthy individual that their understanding of reality is false, making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity; the term is from the 1944 movie “Gaslight,” in which the villain used this technique.

Scientology has extensive covert mental abuse. Actually the auditing, indoctrination and ethics technology ALL serve as gaslighting. They reframe memories, induce euphoric trance states and install false memories. The indoctrination itself induces stress and physiological reactions to cognitive dissonance and reframes them falsely as symptoms of fraudulent barriers to study. This creates severe confusion, anxiety and stress over time. Extensive auditing can create doubts of one's own sanity as well. The most notorious and obvious brainwashing in Scientology is the Truth Rundown which makes a victim deny reality to submit ti the cult. I covered many of the details of this in the earlier blog post Insidious Enslavement: Study Technology and several other posts on mind control in Scientology.

1)Insidious Enslavement: Study Technology
http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/01/i...ology.html?m=0

2)Basic Introduction To Hypnosis in Scientology

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/01/b...is-in.html?m=0

3)Pissed It's Not Your Fault !!!

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/01/p...fault.html?m=0


4)The Secret Of Scientology Part 1 Control Via Contradiction

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/01/t...art-1.html?m=0

5)Burning Down Hell - How Commands Are Hidden, Varied And Repeated To Control You As Hypnotic Implants

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/02/m...-hell.html?m=0

6)Why Hubbard Never Claimed OT Feats And The Rock Bottom Basis Of Scientology

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/02/m...never.html?m=0

Projection

A psychological defense mechanism where a person “projects” their own undesirable thoughts, feelings, or actions onto someone else in order to seek acquittal from their own conscience; example: accusing the victim of cheating when the accuser is actually the one cheating.

Hubbard was in my opinion sufficiently a malignant narcissist to have a severe pathology. He constantly used projection of his flaws and crimes onto others. He denied his faults and undesirable qualities. He used reversals to switch places with others by painting them as abusers and enslavers and himself as honest and decent. A total switch. He also reversed terms often stating his practices did the opposite of their true functions. I detailed many in earlier blog post Propaganda By Reversal Of Meaning.

Propaganda By Reversal Of Meaning In Scientology

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/03/p...ng-in.html?m=0

Silent Treatment

A preferred weapon of Narcissists; a passive-aggressive form of emotional abuse in which displeasure, disapproval, and contempt exhibited through nonverbal gestures, such as glaring, while maintaining verbal silence.

Amusingly enough many Scientologists end up giving each other the silent treatment as they become more narcissistic over time in the cult. It isn't required by doctrine, it just occurs as the cult member becomes abusive over time. 

All of the following also occur. Any Scientologist should easily be able to spot examples.

Dosing {small and temporary revivals of the love bombing phase}

Denial {denying one’s actions even in the face of physical proof}

Bait & Switch {luring the victim in with kindness and affection and once they are “hooked” the abuser switches to being demanding, inattentive, and cruel}

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A personality disorder in which the individual has a distorted self-image, unstable and intense emotions, is overly preoccupied with vanity, prestige, power and personal adequacy, lacks empathy, and has an exaggerated sense of superiority. NPD is closely associated with egocentrism—a personality characteristic in which people see themselves and their interests and opinions as the only ones that really matter

The term narcissist is an exact description of Ron Hubbard. It also describes the organization as a whole and how it treats its members. It sadly fits the identity a cult member takes on as they submit more and more to the cult. As the cult member buys into the idea of Hubbard being far, far above all others they also buy into themselves being above everyone because they become more Hubbard like and help him. 

It's only natural to raise yourself by association as Hubbard becomes an infallible God you as his servant get to be above humanity by being his follower. It's delusional but you don't see that. 

I believe Hubbard was a malignant narcissist and through his cult he influenced his victims to take on an identity as a mental pseudo clone of him. They take on to a degree sociopathic and narcissistic qualities. Sometimes to an extreme degree. 

This is a well researched aspect of cults and described by Daniel Shaw in Traumatic Narcissism and looked at in totalistic identity theory as well. I explored it in my blog post Scientology's Parallel In Nature: Malignant Narcissism.

Scientology's Parallel In Nature - Malignant Narcissism

http://mbnest.blogspot.com/2015/05/s...ure_3.html?m=0

I hope this brief post has given food for thought and a starting point for exploring how cultic abuse is narcissistic abuse.

All the blued terms were quoted from

Understanding  The Language Of Narcissistic Abuse
http://www.elephantjournal.com...