All Articles by Frank MacHovec, MA, PhD
Dr. MacHovec is a retired clinical psychologist who worked 30 years in mental health clinics and hospitals and in private practice. In addition to BA, MA, and PhD degrees, he earned two post-PhD diplomates and was a certified forensics examiner who testified as expert witness in civil and criminal cases.
Cults and Terrorism, Part 2 – Lessons from History
Continued from part one. There have been cult-like groups in Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, and Judaism. In 1090 CE, the Muslim Hassan-I Sabbah led the Nizariya faction of Shia Muslims from a mountain fort near the Caspian Sea in present-day Iran. He was called “Sheik of the Mountain” with forts in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. He sent assassins to kill Sunni leaders, by knife or garrote, usually in broad daylight and in public places for maximum impact. Assassin derives from hashishin, a follower of Hassan but can also refer to a hashish user.
Cults and Terrorism, Part 1 – The Problem of Definition
Cults make the news when there is a large number of deaths of cult members or their victims. Terrorism is also in the news when there is violence or catastrophe, such as the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Not all cults are dangerous but there is a risk and likelihood of violence from terrorists. As their name implies, terrorists intentionally use violence to achieve their goals.
Is War A Psychosis?
I have no future but I am a force. -- Robin Williams, as a terrorist, in Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, 1996In 1967, the Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing wrote, "Insanity is a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world. Normal men have killed 100 million of their fellow men in the past 50 years." Wartime behavior deviates markedly from crosscultural social norms and values.
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