OuR
Story
Antidote started with a story that may be like yours...
Antidote started with a story that may be like yours.
It started with a young idealistic girl named Diane Benscoter who was looking for a way to make a difference in the world. She didn’t seem to fit in, either at her school or in the small town where she grew up. She felt lost in her world.
She met some people who shared her idealism and subsequently joined a religious cult.
Of course, she didn’t know that then. She thought she had met “the Messiah” and that God had called her to do his work.
Diane's photo ID from The Unification Church (commonly known as The Moonies) at age 19.
Diane’s mother worried and cried. It was hard to understand what had happened to her daughter. She did all she could to free Diane from this controlling group. Eventually arrangements were made for a “deprogramming”.
Deprogrammings were often done by former cult members because of the credibility they brought. Diane reluctantly agreed to talked with a former “Moonie”. This conversation lasted several days. She came to realize what had happened to her. Her idealism and naivety had been taken advantage of. She had been indoctrinated into a group and belief system which utilized tactics of psychological manipulation to control its members.
Diane left the group. She was 21 years old and had been a member for 5 years.
When she heard about an opportunity to work in a rehabilitation house for people leaving religious cults she jumped at the chance. From there she began going out on deprogrammings. These deprogrammings were often involuntary.
Desperate families would find a way to get their loved one, who they believed to be in a cult, into an environment where the deprogramming could take place. Sometimes this meant the family would not allow the cult member to leave a house for several days while the deprogrammers talked with them. Often this practice led to the person leaving the group, like it did for Diane.
There were many problems with this type of deprogramming, however. First and foremost, it is illegal to not allow an adult to leave a house. Even though the people standing in front of the doors were family members who cared deeply about the person in the cult, it was still illegal. If the cult member left the house while still under the influence of the group, they sometimes went to the police and reported a kidnapping. This is what happened in a case Diane was involved in.
This resulted in Diane’s arrest.
Diane's mug shot arrested for helping others escape religious cults, August 1st 1988.
Diane quit deprogramming, as did most other deprogrammers of that era. We had to find another way to help individuals and families. The problem did not go away.
Several cult experts still do exit counseling but none, that we are aware of, do involuntary deprogrammings.
Diane began to see that the problem expanded beyond religious cults. She was determined to do all she could to help those who were affected by psychological manipulation. She wrote a book about her experience and gave a TED talk. She travelled and interviewed former members of cults, hate groups, terrorist groups and gangs for her YouTube channel. She gave interviews and wrote articles. The more she made herself available, the more often she was contacted asking for help. Eventually she knew it was time to take her work to another level and she founded Antidote.
With the support of a talented and dedicated the board of directors, and early donors who believed in the mission of Antidote, we can now take a public health approach to the problem of psychological manipulation. We can build a solution that is proportionate to the problem.
She travelled and interviewed former members of cults, hate groups, terrorist groups and gangs for her YouTube channel.
The more she made herself available, the more often she was contacted by distraught people asking for help. Eventually she knew it was time to take her work to another level and she founded Antidote.
With the support of a talented and dedicated board of directors, and the generosity of early donors who believed in the mission of Antidote, we can now take a public health approach to the problem of psychological manipulation. We can build a solution that is proportionate to the problem.