Ex Scientologist Message Board

This cult is an offshoot of Scientology, founded by Lews S. Bostwick in 1973. According to a twenty-year student of the Berkeley Psychic Institute who calls himself "PsychDoctorate", Bostwick was a top auditor in Scientology before he squirreled the tech (my words, not his) and created CDM/BPI, which has spawned a number of offshoots. Here is a blogpost on the similarities between Scientology and Bostwickism:

http://berkeleypsychiccult.blogspot.com/2009/02/scientology-berkeley-psychic-institute.html

And here is Wikipedia's article on the group:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Psychic_Institute

It's interesting stuff....what I've noticed in these cults or abusive organizations is that somebody may begin an idea, others will come along and change it in ways, and yet more will copy the second generation and it will go on and on like that. Moving away from strict cults, you can see how the ideas of Synanon were taken and adapted into The Seed, and then Straight, Inc., and finally the KIDS of Bergen County and the KIDS of El Paso.....all of the groups I listed after Synanon were drug and atitude rehabilitation centers for children; Synanon was a thereputic commune with cult-like elements. All the groups were abusive, and thankfully, all are now closed, though there are less extreme knockoffs floating around.