ABSTRACT
This chapter details the critical stage of breaking followers through three elements that work together: isolation from others, engulfment in the closed system, and threat. I describe the ensuing emotional and cognitive disorganization that results as followers turn to the fear-arousing group in a failed search for comfort. When this process is successful the brainwashed follower’s feelings are disrupted and a disorganized attachment to the leader or group is formed. Their thinking about the relationship is disrupted. The totalist ideology and orders can now replace their autonomous thinking and the controlled follower can be deployed at the service of the leader.
