The Wrong Way Home

The Wrong Way Home
Book cover, 1994 paperback edition
AuthorArthur J. Deikman, M.D.
Subjectcults
Genrenon-fiction
psychiatry
PublisherBeacon Press
Publication date
September 1994
Publication placeUnited States
Media typepaperback
Pages208
ISBN978-0-8070-2915-2
OCLC31483796
Preceded byThe Observing Self (book) 
Followed byThem and Us: Cult Thinking and the Terrorist Threat (book) 

The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, is a book on cult culture within the United States, written by Arthur J. Deikman, M.D. The book was originally published in hardcover format in December 1990 by Beacon Press, and reprinted in paperback form September 1994. Dr. Deikman (d. 2013) was a professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.[1]

The book is used as part of the curriculum for the course "Cults and New Religious Movements" at St. Francis Xavier University.[2] It is a cited reference in the Encyclopedia of Psychology, and is quoted in the article on cults, where the article asserts that: "Certain types of political groups and terrorist organizations are still other examples of 'cults' that defy the common definition of the term."[3]

Deikman revised and republished the book in 2003 under the title Them and Us: Cult Thinking and the Terrorist Threat (Bay Tree Publications of Berkeley), with an introduction by Doris Lessing.[4]

Reviews

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The book was reviewed by Robert L. Boyd, Ph.D. in Social Science Quarterly.[5] It was reviewed in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, by Larry J. Halford,[6] in the Library Journal, by Lucy Patrick.

Patrick wrote: "Although we live in a democracy, cult behavior manifests itself in our unwillingness to question the judgment of our leaders, our tendency to devalue outsiders and to avoid dissent. We can overcome cult behavior, he says, by recognizing that we have dependency needs that are inappropriate for mature people, by increasing anti-authoritarian education, and by encouraging personal autonomy and the free exchange of ideas."[7]

Genevieve Stuttaford wrote in Publishers Weekly: "Although Deikman sometimes stretches the analogy of cult behavior too far, his provocative book uncovers a psychopathology of everyday life in a discerning analysis."[8]

References

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  1. ^ JHP website Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, Sage Publications, Arthur Deikman, Affiliations: School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
  2. ^ "Cults and New Religious Movements", Dr. Annette J. Ahern, St. Francis Xavier University, RELS 225/SOCI 226, Section 11.
  3. ^ Cults, Encyclopedia of Psychology.
    Dr. Arthur Deikman, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, is one of many psychologists who has observed cultic behavior in many areas of society other than in extremist religious groups. In the introduction to his 1990 book, The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, Deikman asserted that "behavior similar to that which takes place in extreme cults takes place in all of us," and suggested that "the longing for parents persists into adulthood and results in cult behavior that pervades normal society."
  4. ^ Futcher, Jane (2006-02-26). Demystifying cults: Psychiatrist analyzes why people join groups, Marin Independent Journal
  5. ^ Social Science Quarterly, 72, (1991):863-864
  6. ^ The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion March 1992 v31 n1 p108(2).
  7. ^ Library Journal Dec 1990 v115 n21 p144(1) Mag.Coll.: 58A2543.
  8. ^ Nov 9, 1990 v237 n45 p52(1) Mag.Coll.: 57H3633. Bus.Coll.: 54U0203.
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