136. Deep Dive: Cults, NXIVM, and HBO's The Vow

This week, Kate has two slightly different episodes that discuss topics related to HBO Max's hit series about the NXIVM "celebrity sex cult," The Vow. In this deep dive, Kate is solo and focuses on the psychological tactics used in the NXIVM cult and compares them to self-help gurus, religious organizations, and MLMs through discussion of the BITE model, Neuro-linguistic programming, and other facets of mind control. She also tells a semi-relevant story about why she got super into researching more about cults over the weekend after a spooky trip. This topic is a little- nay, a lot - outside of Kate's wheelhouse so forgive her for any clunkiness, however, she wanted to explore the 'whys' of how people got themselves into this criminal organization under the guise of professional development. The next episode (will be out soon) is a lighthearted conversation with Kate Casey from the popular podcast Reality Life With Kate Casey where they discuss The Vow (before Kate had finished it) and have a few different conversations surrounding reality TV and various docuseries. Enjoy!

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Sources:

https://frankreport.com/2017/11/18/guest-view-did-raniere-salzman-use-nlp-and-hypnosis-to-get-followers-to-commit-crimes-for-nxivm-and-have-sex-with-raniere/

https://www.insider.com/nxivm-used-real-psychology-to-fetishize-vulnerability-manipulate-2020-9?amp

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/NXIVM/esp10.html

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/NXIVM/esp4.html