There has never been any standard deprogramming procedure and the descriptions vary greatly.

Another contributing factor could be, that there is a lot more media coverage to be found regarding deprogramming, which does contain more elements which are " newsworthy ".

There are several ways people leave a cult: Popular authors Conway and Siegelman conducted a survey and published it in the book Snapping regarding after-cult effects and deprogramming and concluded that people deprogrammed had fewer problems than people not deprogrammed.

This is attempted through various processes of deprogramming using neuro-linguistic programming, cybernetics, hypnosis, biofeedback devices, meditation, controlled use of hallucinogens, and forcibly acting out other reality tunnels.

In the 1970s, the scientific status of the " brainwashing theory " became a central topic in U. S. court cases where the theory was instrumental in justifying the use of the forceful " deprogramming " of cult members.

Steven Hassan in his book Releasing the Bonds spoke decidedly against coercive deprogramming methods using force or threats.

During the 1970s and 1980s a series of techniques called deprogramming were developed to persuade or force a person to abandon allegiance to a religious or political group.

People who practice exit counseling ( exit counselors ) often distinguish between " involuntary deprogramming " and " voluntary exit counseling ", pointing out that exit counseling, in contrast to deprogramming, includes neither forceful abductions, physical force or threats and is aimed at getting the cult member to make a voluntary, informed decision, though there are also people who distinguish between " involuntary deprogramming " and " voluntary deprogramming ," and others who distinguish between " involuntary exit counseling " and " voluntary exit counseling ".

* Beginning in the 1970s, many parents responded to the initial conversion with " deprogramming.

" The essence of deprogramming was to physically abduct the convert, isolate him and physically restrain him, and barrage him with continuous arguments and attacks against his new religion, threatening to hold him forever until he agreed to leave it.

Numerous testimonies by those who were subjected to a deprogramming describe how they were threatened with a gun, beaten, denied sleep and food and / or sexually assaulted.

The deprogramming process begins with abduction.

Members of the deprogramming group, as well as members of the family, come into the room where the victim is held and barrage him with questions and denunciations until he recants his newly found religion "

But with deprogramming, judges routinely granted parents legal authority over their adult children without a hearing.

One of main objections raised to deprogramming ( as well as to exit counseling ) is the contention that they begin with a false premise.

* The Cult Awareness Network ( CAN ) was driven into bankruptcy in 1996 in part by a number of Scientology-related lawsuits ( CAN had also been held liable for over $ 1 million in damages for the kidnapping and abusive deprogramming of a member of the Life Tabernacle Church, a church unaffiliated with Scientology ).

Exit counseling is distinguished from deprogramming by the fact that it is a voluntary procedure, that the follower is treated with respect, can leave any time, and that the decision to stay with the group or leave it is wholly up to the follower and will be accepted by the exit counselor.

Unlike deprogramming, which is usually defined as including coercive factors, exit counseling is usually seen as a voluntary agreement between a follower and an exit counseling specialist to talk about the follower's involvement with the group and it is usually done in presence of the family of the follower.

The terms " exit counseling " and " deprogramming " are not always clearly distinguished and at times consciously used interchangeably, especially by critics of the practices who disagree with the basic assumptions.

David Clark states " the only necessary distinction between exit counseling and deprogramming is, that the latter physically confines the cultist, at least initially ..." and concludes from this that exit counselors have to establish a rapport with the person almost immediately, while this is not required in deprogramming.

Some critics see no difference between deprogramming and exit counseling or claim that exit counseling is just another name for deprogramming used after a number of legal problems with the latter, and that it includes at least emotional or intellectual coercion.

There, the legendary U. S. Army Special Forces veteran known as Big Boss noticed her extroardinary abilities and brought her with him to the United States, where she received counselling and deprogramming to remove her Iraqi brainwashing, leaving only her fighting abilities with her.

One of Patrick's last deprogramming cases in Chattanooga occurred in 1980 ; it involved a police detective who, according to Swantko, had his 27-year-old daughter arrested on a falsified warrant in order to facilitate her deprogramming, with the support of local judges.

But one does not have to rely on the victims for stories of violence: Ted Patrick, one of the most notorious deprogrammers used by CAGs ( who has spent several terms in prison for his exploits ) openly boasts about some of the violence he employed ; in November 1987, Cyril Vosper, a Committee member of the British cult-awareness group, FAIR, was convicted in Munich of " causing bodily harm " in the course of one of his many deprogramming attempts ; and a number of similar convictions are on record for prominent members of CAGs elsewhere.

Sometimes the word deprogramming is used in a wider ( and / or ironic or humorous sense ), to mean the freeing of someone ( often oneself ) from any previously uncritically assimilated idea.

Many of these critics advocated or engaged in deprogramming as a method to liberate group members from apparent brainwashing.

One such is " Anti-Trauma Inc ." who are hired to " normalize " children, although what they do is more akin to " deprogramming ", as performed on children retrieved from cults.

A succession of new titles and accompanying terms have likewise responded politically to the need felt by many professionals to distance themselves from the title " deprogrammer " and the term " deprogramming ".

However, Bromley's role soon extended from that of an observer as he expressed his opposition to the claims of brainwashing and the practice of deprogramming.

During the trial it was also established that the Cult Awareness Network, contrary to its publicly stated policy, in which it dissociated itself from deprogramming, had for many months during the 1990s paid Kelly a monthly stipend for preparing a pamphlet on Lyndon LaRouche.

He states that deprogramming destroys a person's identity and is likely to create permanent anxiety about freedom of choice and leave the deprogrammed subject dependent upon the guidance and advice of others.

Professor of psychiatry Saul Levine suggests that it is doubtful that deprogramming helps many people and goes on to say that it actually causes harm to the victim by very nature of the deprogramming.

Lawyers for some groups who have lost members due to deprogramming, as well as some civil libertarians, sociologists and psychologists, argue that it is not the religious groups but rather the deprogrammers who are the ones who deceive and manipulate people.

There are at least three ways people leave a NRM: 1 ) by one's own decision, 2 ) through expulsion and 3 ) or through intervention ( Exit counseling, deprogramming ).

Sylvia Buford, an associate of Ted Patrick who has assisted him on many deprogrammings, described five stages of deprogramming ( Stoner, C., & Parke, J.

And we have to admit that we have met former members who have related to us their deprogramming experience – several of handcuffs, weapons wielded and sexual abuse.

During the 1990s, Rick Ross, a noted cult intervention advocate who took part in a number of deprogramming sessions, was sued by Jason Scott, a former member of a Pentecostalist group called the Life Tabernacle Church ( part of United Pentecostal Church International ), after an unsuccessful forcible deprogramming.

Perhaps notable among the sociologists of religion is Eileen Barker, who criticizes theories of conversion precisely because they function to justify costly interventions such as deprogramming or exit counseling.

For deprogramming to work, the victim must be convinced that they joined a religious group against their will.

During the 1990s, deprogrammer Rick Ross was sued by Jason Scott, a former member of a Pentecostal group called the Life Tabernacle Church, after an unsuccessful deprogramming attempt.

In the 1974 case of Kathy Crampton, whose abduction and deprogramming were televised nationally, she went back to the Love Family group several days after the apparently successful deprogramming.

In November 1987, while a committee member of the British cult-awareness group, FAIR, he was convicted in Munich on charges of false imprisonment and causing bodily harm to German Scientologist Barbara Schwarz in the course of a deprogramming attempt.