Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out

By: Rick Alan Ross

Narrated by: Daniel Adam Day

You’ve seen them in movies and on TV, but cults are more prevalent than you think - and they’re armed with strategies that can brainwash and persuade even the most unlikely of candidates.

But how do individuals get involved with cults in the first place, and what steps can be taken to “deprogram” and heal those who have been drawn into these damaging groups?

These questions and more are addressed in Cults Inside Out, written by leading cult expert Rick Alan Ross. Over the course of three decades, Ross has participated in around 500 cult interventions, provided expert court testimony, and performed cult-related work all around the world.

With the help of current and former cult members, Ross demonstrates many of the tactics the groups use for control and manipulation - and, more importantly, some of the most effective methods he and other experts have used to reverse that programming.

As a result, listeners will find themselves armed with a greater understanding of the nature of destructive cults and an improved ability to assess and deal with similar situations - either in their own lives or the lives of friends and family members.

©2014 Rick A. Ross (P)2021 Rick A. Ross

So important

This book has a lot of very important and impactful information. Please listen, read, share, etc as much as you can. More people need to learn this information.

Very informative

I loved how this book provided information about common cults and their tactics. It was very informative and helped me understand how to help someone who may be in a cult.

A fascinating & thorough explanation of cults

Ross provides you with relevant literature & perspectives from an array of fields to help better understand cult involvement. He shows you how he applies this data through out a career that has spanned since the early 80s, to intervene in a cult involved individual's life. The information is read to you clearly and harmoniously by the audiobook narrator. This is a must read for anyone & everyone. The valuable education shared here could save your life one day.

Informative and interesting read!

Reads a little like a text book in the middle but if the topic interests you this is a must read!!
The author outlines success stories and failures, it makes for an extensive perspective about dealing with people and interventions.

Very insightful book

This is an excellent book, clearly written by someone with a remarkable command of his subject. The real-world experience that the author brings to bear on the subjects of cults and undo influence is evident throughout this fascinating book. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in cults, persuasion, and the misuse of influence.

Fascinating, informative, dry-ish study of cults

This book is not sensationalist, funny, demeaning, histrionic, terribly political or even philosophical. It is "drier" than I guess I expected but after finishing it, that is probably a good thing. But it is a good, workmanlike history of cults through history, particularly modern ones like Heaven's Gate, the Branch Davidians, Scientology, Amway, Falun Gong and many, many more.

Ross details in psychological terms what leads people into cults, why they stay despite, perhaps because of, abuse and isolation, and why some of them get out either with help or by themselves. He spends a lot of time talking about his own experience being brought in by spouses, parents and other family and friends to break the hold cults have on their adherents. Most of the time, he says, he succeeds, but not always.

Besides discussing the cults themselves, he provides some very interesting history on how police, governments, the press, and mainstream religions react to and (usuallyt) try to battle cults.

I grabbed this book from Audible to get away from the long list of political books I've been reading and failed in that goal. Though this book was written before Trump's campaign and election, I couldn't help hearing just how much Trump's rhetoric resembled that of cult leaders in convincing them that he, and only he, could "fix" things and every time someone challenges him, it is a "witchhunt" or an attack.

It is also interesting that Ross discussed not only religious cults but many other types of organizations that try to control their adherents, including multilevel-marketing scams, yoga Gurus, and even family cults.

He does try to make a distinction between mainstream religion and dangerous cult religions, but sometimes it feels like he glosses over inconvenient facts there.

The reader in my Audible version, Daniel Day Adams, was pretty much as staid and workmanlike in reading as Ross was in writing the book. So don't expect an emotional experience listening to this book, but he is clear and concise in reading and, I guess, makes the book everything Ross intended. At 16h 20m, it is a long book and I admit I found myself wandering occasionally and having to go back and re-listen to parts, but overall, I feel I learned a lot by listening.

Must-read, actionable advice in practical contexts

This is an excellent book packed with advice based on real-world scenarios. In addition, this book is a must-read text for anyone who is struggling with a loved one under the influence of any kind of mind control. Ross' case studies examine everything from full-blown destructive cults to abusive relationships, and are extremely easy to follow and understand. His decades of experience as a deprogrammer, expert witness, and researcher is deeply important work, and in our current political climate, timely in a way he might not have ever predicted when he first wrote the text.

On a practical level, if you have a loved one who is in a situation that might be a destructive cult, this book will help you identify the hallmarks of such groups. If you have a loved one in an abusive relationship, there is a case study towards the end of the book that has a checklist that can help identify the characteristics of such a situation. Ross also has a website, https://culteducation.com/ where you can go to find help and learn more. I am blown away by the scope and breadth of his work, and appreciate him greatly, and also people like him who are helping the friends and families of those who have been manipulated by destructive cults and their deceptive, damaging practices. His website has a reading list on it for further study, if you click on the "books" link.

But back to this review. Years ago, my mother fell in with a group that transformed into a cult, and it had a terrible and painful impact on her, on me, and on my family. I'm pleased to report that our story had a happy ending, and my mom got out safely, with all her previous relationships intact, but it seemed utterly hopeless for a long time. She was isolated at a group compound in another state, and we lost contact with her for months. It was excruciating, and it took years for everyone, especially my mom, to heal.

I wish with all my heart that this book had been around then to guide me. I also wish the Internet had existed, but it didn't at the time. Reading this book recalled so many truths, and as Ross breaks down the patterns associated with cults and manipulative leaders, I found myself nodding my head and exclaiming out loud, "Exactly!" again and again. He knows what he is talking about.

Trigger warning- if you have a hard time listening to stories of child abuse, including murder and sexual assault, you may be very uncomfortable with the opening chapters, which lay out some of the most heinous cult behaviors of the last century. I know I did, but I forced myself to listen anyway- the writing and narration in this book is objective, and these stories are presented as factual events, not sensationalized in any way. They are also in a justified context, because it is critically important when evaluating cults to understand the havoc that they can create in people's lives. Understanding the history of what is possible when cults escalate to fever pitch grounds their potential to damage in a real context, as hard as it may be to fathom.

The book itself is on the academic side, and the general tone is scientific, objective and clinical. This description applies to both the text and the narration, which is good, but also sounds very much like a textbook. This is not the sensational text equivalent of a tabloid TV special, it's a factual book meant to educate the public about what cults are, how they develop, and how to deal with them. I was particularly impressed with how Ross is very respectful of both those who have become embroiled in cults and those who are trying to help them. He always sounds mindful, thoughtful, and understanding of each context in every one of the case studies described. This is the person you want guiding you if you are in any situation that might prompt you to consult a book like this because of circumstances in your own life.

Finally, this book clearly lays out what works and what doesn't when it comes to helping loved ones who are stuck in cults free themselves. There is a proven path to success, and Ross is very transparent about his own experiences in both successful and failed deprogramming efforts. I am thankful for this book, and I will be seeking out all other publications and work by this thoughtful author, whose work is nothing short of a public service.