Cult Therapy

“It would never happen to me.” That's what cult expert Rachel Bernstein's subjects thought before becoming ensnared by the cults that took over their lives. In Cult Therapy, veteran therapist and cult intervention expert Rachel Bernstein takes readers inside her private practice to reveal the shocking ways people surrender their freedom to cults, and how they fight to get it back. Blending thirty years of professional expertise with shocking, real-life stories, this book follows ten of her most unforgettable clients through the grueling process of undoing total mind control. The book details the lives of a brother and sister who grew up in and escaped an FLDS cult; a struggling couple whose lives were upended by a cultic therapy group; a college student sucked in by a slick dating guru and manipulated into gender transition; and a woman exploited by a predatory mystic who turned her clients into handmaidens and drained their bank accounts. Why do ordinary people end up committed to following bizarre rituals, signing over their bank accounts, and surrendering their autonomy? As Bernstein illustrates, cult leaders are master manipulators who know exactly how to weaponize our human desires for connection, purpose, and guidance against us. Cult Therapy is an entertaining, eye-opening journey into the fringes of human behavior. It offers a deep look at how cult-like forces can infiltrate our daily life, while providing readers with practical strategies to resist their hypnotic allure.