Diane Benscoter
Diane Benscoter is an American author and cult deprogrammer. She is the founder of Antidote.ngo, a nonprofit organization working to expose the dangers of misinformation and psychological manipulation.
Early life
Benscoter grew up in York, Nebraska with her three older brothers and younger sister. Diane attended York High School until 1973 when she dropped out at the age of 16.[1] After dropping out of high school, she moved to Lincoln, Nebraska[1] , where Benscoter joined The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as The Unification Church. The religious cult members are commonly known as “Moonies” and follow the church leader Sun Myung Moon.
Cult experience
Benscoter spent 5 years as a religious cult member, joining The Unification Church at the age of 16 and leaving at the age of 21.[1] The Unification church's beliefs are based on Moon's own book, The Divine Principle. Moon believed he was the Second Coming of Christ. He claimed to complete the mission started by Jesus of beginning a new family and fulfilling the prophecy of creating a larger human lineage, free from sin. The Unification Church is well known for its "Blessing" or mass wedding ceremonies. The church supports and influences many other programs and organizations that are started or followed by fellow Moonies. The cult's involvement in politics includes anti-communism and support for Korean reunification.
When Benscoter joined the church, her family worried for her. They claimed she was young and impressionable and had been taken advantage of.[1] Benscoter refused to acknowledge this and, through her new religious teachings, believed Satan was using them and speaking through them. When they did speak, Benscoter would try to get her family to join the cult, while her mother would try to convince her to leave the cult. This dynamic quickly led Diane to completely cut ties with her mother and family. [1]
During her time within the cult, Diane lived out of vans and spent her time fundraising through selling candy and flowers or attending trainings.[1] Benscoter says it was constantly reinforced that she had a purpose that was much higher than that of anyone else in the world, which is what had initially appealed to her. Benscoter began in their Nebraska center, then soon after joining, she was sent to training at a monastery in upstate New York where she would begin her mission, fundraising.[1]
Throughout her mission, Diane would be sent back for cyclical trainings that could last up to 120 days. Benscoter states these cyclical trainings are what kept members’ circular logic intact. They worked through consistently reinforcing beliefs and continually erasing any doubt members had.[1]
After 5 years as a Moonie, Benscoter began slowly questioning her faith. Her family was able to reach her and convince her to speak to some ex-members of the church. This would lead to Diane being de-programmed – a drastic measure in which ex-members keep current members in a house for days at a time to converse with them about their current situation until they agree to leave the church.[1]
Post cult experience
After being de-programmed, Benscoter became a de-programmer herself. This would lead to her arrest on August 1st of 1988. Although the intentions of de-programmers were genuine, it was an ethical issue to not allow an adult to leave a house against their will for days at a time, as this qualifies as kidnapping. Some de-programming cases led to members leaving, like Diane. Others led to members leaving the house while still influenced by the church and reporting de-programmers to the police for kidnapping. In Diane's case, a member left the home and reported her for kidnapping, leading to her arrest.[1]
Benscoter acknowledges in her later work that this was an ethical issue. This influenced her later work to create a different approach when rescuing victims of psychological manipulation.[2]
Career
Benscoter owned and operated a business serving the technology industry for much of her adult life. Later in her career, she released a novel and is now a speaker and workshop facilitator through her nonprofit organization, Antidote.
Benscoter released her book Shoes of a Servant: My Unconditional Devotion to a Lie in 2013.[1] This book tells the story of her upbringing, cult experience, deprogramming, and current experiences helping others deprogram.
After Diane recovered from her own cult experience, she realized that psychological manipulation expanded beyond religious cults and became determined to help fight this issue. This founded Antidote, Diane Benscoter's nonprofit organization aimed at addressing the problem of psychological manipulation. [3]
In 2009, Benscoter appeared in a TED Talk titled How Cults Rewire the Brain.[4] She also made appearances with podcasts from companies like ABC News Australia, NPR, and WHYY-FM.
Antidote
Benscoter is the founder of Antidote, a non-profit organization made to educate, prevent, and rescue those experiencing psychological manipulation.[3]
Antidote's vision is a world where psychological manipulation is recognized as a public health concern and global efforts are made to reduce its harm to the public.[3] The organization states that extremist leaders and organizations abuse individuals and families and harm society. Themes of manipulation, recruiting, control, and taking advantage of vulnerable people are what Antidote sees at the core of psychological manipulation. Outside of religious cults, Antidote acknowledges groups that use these themes similarly. Street gangs, terrorist groups, and racist movements are all communities that Antidote identifies as psychologically manipulative alongside religious cults.[3]
The Antidote approach centers itself around using their comprehensive database of resources, prevention by addressing psychological manipulation as a public health problem and providing care to those directly affected.[5] The Antidote formula is about prevention and support, through support services, outreach, and education. Their support services involve mentors, health professionals, coaches, and support groups.[5] Antidote's outreach programs include building partnerships with what they consider to be "first responders". School administrators, guidance counselors, mental health professionals, youth program leaders, police departments, and community organizers are all people Antidote aims to partner with as "first responders" to increase the early prevention of psychological manipulation. The education program utilizes both in-person and web-based campaigns featuring interviews with former victims to expose the ways extremist leaders, groups, and movements use deceptive techniques. [5]
Antidote's Board of directors includes Yael Flusberg, Paul Jensen, Lisa Kohn, Tanya Silverman, and Julie Kohtz, Benscoter's younger sister.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Benscoter, Diane (2013). Shoes of a Servant: Unconditional Devotion to a Lie. Reno, Nevada: Lucky Bat Books. ISBN 9781939051370. Search this book on
- ↑ "Our Story". Antidote. 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "ANTIDOTE.NGO – Diane Benscoter – Author, Speaker, Facilitator". Retrieved 2023-04-04.
- ↑ Benscoter, Diane (2009-06-17), How cults rewire the brain, retrieved 2023-04-19
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "OUR APPROACH". Antidote. 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ↑ "OUR TEAM". Antidote. 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
External links
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