Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Coping With Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families & Friends
Interview with Livia Bardin by Pat Ryan
"A cult involvement is often a situation to manage, not a problem to solve."
From the Foreword:
This book, which was written to explain these forms, is built on the knowledge and experience gained from years of working with families in workshops and in private consultations. This is not a “fun” book. Nor is it a book that aims to validate feelings of anger, hurt, helplessness, and fear, although it does that to some extent. This book is a handbook, a tool designed to help you achieve a goal, namely, to help a loved one. As with all tools, the book requires effort to learn how to use it. It is not something that you merely read. It is something that you use, something that you wrestle with, that you come back to again and again.
If you are willing to give the requisite time and mental exertion that this book demands, I am confident that you will find it to be extremely helpful. It may not solveyour problem, for, as Mrs. Bardin states in the Introduction, a cult involvement is often a situation to manage, not a problem to solve. The book will, however, make you confident that you are doing all that you realistically can to manage, if not solve, the problem that has caused you so much distress.
About the Author:
Livia Bardin, MSW, is a clinical social worker who has been engaged with cult victims and their families for more than fifteen years. She is particularly interested in the interface between high-demand groups and cults and mainstream society. Her research in this area has been published in the Cultic Studies Review and the Journal of Public Child Welfare. Now retired, Ms. Bardin has provided training on cult-related issues for mental health professionals in the Washington area and elsewhere, She is the author of Coping with Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families and Friends of cult members. In 2014 Ms. Bardin received ICSA's Margaret T. Singer Award.
Coping With Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families & Friends
Interview with Livia Bardin by Pat Ryan
"A cult involvement is often a situation to manage, not a problem to solve."
From the Foreword:
This book, which was written to explain these forms, is built on the knowledge and experience gained from years of working with families in workshops and in private consultations. This is not a “fun” book. Nor is it a book that aims to validate feelings of anger, hurt, helplessness, and fear, although it does that to some extent. This book is a handbook, a tool designed to help you achieve a goal, namely, to help a loved one. As with all tools, the book requires effort to learn how to use it. It is not something that you merely read. It is something that you use, something that you wrestle with, that you come back to again and again.
If you are willing to give the requisite time and mental exertion that this book demands, I am confident that you will find it to be extremely helpful. It may not solveyour problem, for, as Mrs. Bardin states in the Introduction, a cult involvement is often a situation to manage, not a problem to solve. The book will, however, make you confident that you are doing all that you realistically can to manage, if not solve, the problem that has caused you so much distress.
About the Author:
Livia Bardin, MSW, is a clinical social worker who has been engaged with cult victims and their families for more than fifteen years. She is particularly interested in the interface between high-demand groups and cults and mainstream society. Her research in this area has been published in the Cultic Studies Review and the Journal of Public Child Welfare. Now retired, Ms. Bardin has provided training on cult-related issues for mental health professionals in the Washington area and elsewhere, She is the author of Coping with Cult Involvement: A Handbook for Families and Friends of cult members. In 2014 Ms. Bardin received ICSA's Margaret T. Singer Award.
