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Group psychological abuse

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Group psychological abuse refers to groups where methods of psychological abuse are frequently or systematically used on their members. Such abuse would be practices that treat the members as objects one is free to manipulate instead of respecting their autonomy, human rights, identity and dignity.

Psychological abuse refers to practices that, simply stated, treat a person as an object to be manipulated and used, rather than as a subject whose mind, autonomy, identity, and dignity are to be honored.

Such groups can be whole countries, applying psychological coercion on their population like the People's Republic of China or North Korea, or political, commercial, or religious groups.

Some scholars in the wake of Robert Lifton or Margaret Singer have associated group psychological abuse with brainwashing or mind control and with cults. The concepts to have similarities and overlap in some places, but they are not identical.

References

  • Chambers, W., Langone, M., Dole, A., & Grice, J. (1994). The Group Psychological Abuse Scale: A measure of the varieties of cultic abuse. CSJ, 11(1), 88-117.
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