International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA)

The International Cultic Studies Association is the primary network of lay and professional cult experts. The world’s largest secular cult-information organization, it is one of the professional organizations recommended by the publishers of Apologetics Index. (Note that Apologetics Index provides a set of Guidelines for selecting a counselor/cult expert).

The ICSA offers:

• Websites
• www.culticstudies.org Cultic Studies: Information about Cults and Psychological Manipulation
• www.cultinfobooks.com Books, periodicals, reprints from the Cult Studies Journal (now Cultic Studies Review), videos and conferences
• www.culticstudiesreview.org Cultic Studies Review: An Internet Journal of Research, News & Opinion. This triannual periodical is also available in print.
• An information service that annually responds to more than 2,500 inquirers.
• An E-Library with more than 4,500 news and scholarly articles and E-books, with thousands of items to be added in the future.
• Free E-Newsletter, which enables you to keep abreast of events of note, new publications, news, popular articles, and research and educational activities of ICSA’s volunteers and other experts and activists.
• A Web-based scholarly journal (with an abridged print edition), Cultic Studies Review, which will keep you abreast of the latest advances in the field, including newspaper accounts and academic and professional reports
• An annual conference where you can learn about new research and other developments, meet experts and others interested in the field, and attend practical sessions for families, former group members, and professionals.
• Workshops and mini-conferences for former group members, families, and mental health professionals.
• Volunteer professional committees
• Educational resources
• Scientific research (research plan)

The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) is an interdisciplinary network of academicians, professionals, former group members, and families who study and educate the public about social-psychological influence and control, authoritarianism, and zealotry in cultic groups, alternative movements, and other environments. Founded in 1979 as AFF (American Family Foundation), ICSA took on its current name in late 2004 to better reflect the organization’s focus and increasingly international and scholarly dimensions. ICSA is guided by a distinguished Board of Directors and Executive Advisory Board- Source: About ICSA and Overview of Issues

The reasons behind the name change provide insight into the nature and direction of the ICSA:

The change of name had been discussed for many years. Until a few years ago, those who felt that “AFF” had established an identity and was “known” had prevailed. However, several factors tilted the name-change decision in favor of those wanting a change.

First of all, the constituency of the organization has changed over the past 25 years. Initially, nearly everybody who contacted AFF for help did so because he/she had a child involved in a cultic group. AFF’s unique role was to bring these parents into contact with helping professionals, increasing numbers of whom became interested in and/or involved with AFF as time passed. By the early 1990s, however, the majority of people contacting the organization were former group members who had left their groups without an intervention (”walk-aways”). By the late 1990s, AFF and people associated with the organization had completed a sizeable body of research and an increasing number of people, particularly researchers, from outside the United States began to get involved with the organization. At some recent conferences 25% of the attendees were from outside the U.S. Today, we speak of our four international “constituencies” of family members, former members, researchers, and helping professionals (including mental health, law, clergy, educators – some of whom are also former members of groups or family members of involved persons). Consequently, although “family” may have reflected the organization’s focus in its early years, it no longer is THE focus, though it still remains a vital concern.

Most people favored “cultic studies” because it expressed the organization’s interest areas without being so narrow and precise as to exclude phenomena that might be similar but not equivalent to those associated with the admittedly vague concept “cult.” Many high-control or abusive groups from which people leave are not necessarily “cults” in a strict sense, but they may nonetheless resemble “cults” in some ways. “Cultic studies” also gives us a link to the past, for our journal has used that term since 1984 and our main Web site has used the term for the past several years.

The growth of the Web has also influenced the name change in that nearly everybody who contacts the organization today found out about us through a Web search. And these people rarely ever heard of “AFF” or “American Family Foundation.” Therefore, a name that more accurately reflects what concerns the organization will more effectively “welcome” Web surfers than a name that many people associate with right wing political organizations, despite the fact that AFF/ICSA has always included people from across the political and religious spectrums.- Source: ICSA E-Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 1, Feb. 2005

ICSA’s Approach to cult issues

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 •  This page was first posted: Jan. 13, 2006
 •  This page was last updated: Jan. 13, 2006
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