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Dear x,
Today, on Cult Awareness Day, we pause to reflect on the profound and often unrecognised harm caused by cultic and high-control groups. At ICSA, we believe that awareness is the first step towards recovery, prevention, and change.
Here are a few key facts:
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Although precise numbers are difficult to establish, multiple independent surveys indicate that, at least two million Americans have been involved in cultic groups, and an estimated 500,000 people belong to such groups at any given time. Source: Langone, drawing on Lottick, ICR Survey Research Group, and multiple national surveys.
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A UK-based survey of survivors from 36 different high-control groups found that 60% of respondents experienced suicidal thoughts, that members had done unpaid labour, and many were isolated from families and lost years of life. Source: The Family Survival Trust, 2022
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A recent study found that 70% of families affected by coercive control were cut off or severely restricted from seeing their loved one. Among 264 participants, 42.6% had no face-to-face contact and 25.1% had no regular contact. Source: Almendros et al., Journal of Family Violence (2025) .
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Most mental health professionals receive little or no training on cultic dynamics, leaving survivors to educate their therapists or rely on under-resourced peer networks. ICSA helps fill this gap by educating professionals and connecting survivors with informed resources.
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Legal systems remain poorly equipped to recognise or prosecute coercive control. Despite hundreds of cult-related lawsuits in the U.S. from the 1970s to early 2000s, only a small fraction resulted in meaningful legal victories due to legal technicalities and First Amendment protections. Source: Van Hoey, “Cults in Court,” Cultic Studies Journal (Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, p. 42).
These are not fringe issues. They affect individuals, families and communities.
Over the next weeks, we’ll launch a campaign around Giving Tuesday 2025 (2 December), inviting your support to help ICSA continue advancing understanding, providing resources, supporting recovery, and promoting professional training in this field.
We hope you’ll join us. Stay tuned.
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