Jean-Marie Abgrall

Author Jean-Marie Abgrall is a practicing psychiatrist and a professional criminologist. He serves as an expert witness to the French Court of Appeals and is a member of the Inter-Ministry Committee on Cults. This book is the fruit of 15 years of research, and delivers the first methodical analysis of the cult phenomenon, decoding the mental manipulation for mystified observers as well as for victims and their families. Abgrall’s work earned him enemy status with the Church of Scientology; he has been threatened, beaten and harassed, and his mail has been stolen. To describe this psychopathology and the means to resist it, the author applies the framework of criminology and medico-legal psychiatry. The criminal nature of cults–slavery, essentially–is a “crime against individual rights” and should be regulated by the criminal code. Originally published by Documents Payot, Paris, 1996.