Customer Reviews

The Pattern of The Double-Bind in Mormonism

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There is an on-line version of this book that I stumbled onto late one night. If someone is thinking about joining the LDS church, I would recommend they read this book first. The author tells a great story of transformation and evolution. She started out accepting everything she was told by church authorities, even though she had some doubts. Then she developed the courage to explore some of those doubts, which led her down a path of enlightenment.

"The mind is a dark genius, it can rationalize anything"
-- Denis Waitley

This is a remarkable and unique book!

It probes deeply into the psyche and values of the Mormon/LDS Church in a way that the standard "Bible thumping" book doesn't. It was interesting that when Mitt Romney was running for President that in a Gallup Poll they found that Evangelicals had doubts about Mormons due to their theology while non-Evangelicals (including those without ties to any organized religion or faith in God) had doubts about them because, "they're just weird!".

This book explains primarily the latter while explaining how one could hold faith in the former even though it is one of the most convoluted and irrational belief systems in the world.

Personally I've found that most of my Mormon friends -- often some of the most intelligent people that I know -- have complex, illogical and often contradictory reasons for staying in the LDS Church. This book answered the question that I've been asking in that regard for years, "Why?"

The stories cited here are both sobering and scary! They demonstrate just how error prone and self destructive we mere mortals can be.

Finally, I would add that you should read this book if you interested in gaining a better understanding of how people get drawn into cultic systems and then (even more bizarrely) stay IN them long after they've decided that they're in error. This isn't JUST a book for and about Mormons. True, Mormonism is used as the case study here but the implications are universal. Specifically, this books gives TREMENDOUS insight into the psychology and mechanics of cults, sects and other dysfunctional groups bound together in a state of group psychosis.

For example this reviewer (who is a Evangelical Charismatic) was reminded of situations where he had been on both sides of the Binder-Bound equation during his experiences growing up in the Nazarene Church, in the Jesus Movement and the Charismatic Renewal of the 1970's, in the Shepherding Movement of the 1970/80's, and the Reconstructionism of the 1980's. I was also reminded of Business cultures I have worked in that were as much as a cult as any community of faith that I'd be in. While my experiences were NEVER, even remotely, close to how the Double Bind is employed in the LDS Church there were still many similarities.

My experience isn't really that unusual or unique and I suspect that others who have had to endure (or are enduring) extreme and/or manipulative authority systems that employee Double Bind techniques would also find much to relate to here!

So if you don't buy the "paper" book then by means, please read the online version (just google on "Marion Stricker" and you'll find it). This is a book that, in my opinion, everyone should read.

Related books that also address the themes discussed in this book and review:
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Twisted Scriptures: A Path to Freedom from Abusive Churches

Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships

Keeping the Faith: Guidance for Christian Women Facing Abuse

Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, The, repack: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

Boundaries

Healing Spiritual Abuse: How to Break Free from Bad Church Experiences

Tired of Trying to Measure Up, repack: Getting Free from the Demands, Expectations, and Intimidation of Well-Meaning Christians

Toxic Faith

Toxic Churches: Restoration from Spiritual Abuse

I found this book exceptionally moving and a fine psychological study of the lives of many people within or who have left the LDS church. For those who are curious, I am one of the latter.

I relinquished my previously treasured membership after years of historical study and spiritual contemplation but also prior to reading Marions book. Having read it post-mormonism, i found it paralleled many of my own experiences and validated my own conclusions for deciding to leave the 'fold'. I also thoroughly enjoyed her book because it is a seeming rarity among general literature as a methodical psychological approach to the LDS church. The themes within can be expanded beyond into any religious organisation, or any social interaction for that matter, but I particularly liked Marions book because of its cultural specificity and its ability to speak to LDS members, who are unfortunately too well versed at dismissing any critical non-LDS sources. Sure, Marion is an ex-mormon NOW but her sources are drawn from her LIFETIME of LDS experience as well as a boatload of other people's LDS experience. I found the sheer content of case studies really supported her thesis, and that they in some ways held more convincing sway then her subsequent explanations.

The only detraction i found in the book was the sometimes murky presentation, where Marions personal expression of meaning got lost in her flair for the poetical, and where her metaphors impeded the logical coherence of her argument. I thought she could've been a bit more rigorous in the construction of her 'double-binding model' with a few connections she could've expanded upon (or clarified), but for the most part i found it very enlightening as well as giving me some new ideas to think about.

Overall, a very good book and perfect for those who're interested in the LDS church or the psychology of religion. In fact I'd recommend it to anyone with a philosophical slant fascinated with the epistemology of truth-seeking, and how this is manifested in every human seeking personal vs. group identity. Marions book simply highlights this process going wildly out of control

I wouldn't be able to praise this book enough, but here it goes. Her book towers above any scholar's work about the truth because of her courage. Szasz wrote that looking at the truth takes courage. Nice words, but with this book, you can see it in action! Truly an amazing person. Anyone can look at the truth, provided you have courage to fearlessly ask questions and "reason without fear."
Books like this are dangerous because they they are too dangerously close to telling the truth about big religion. Every free thinker should read this book.

Stricker's book has some insight into the psychology of those who do not find fulfillment in the Mormon church.

While I found the presentation of her theory initially somewhat opaque, I was quite taken by the discussion and analysis of a large number of case studies derived from personal accounts posted on exmormon.org. Stricker focuses on how a lack of fulfillment stems from feelings of guilt in lose-lose situations of "damned if I do, damned if I don't" (The Double-Bind). She chronicles how these situations arise in various forms in the lives of those who eventually leave Mormonism, and how Mormon leaders, perhaps unwittingly, create these situations.

While the work is poignant, readers should know that the account is decidedly one-sided, honestly so, but there is an amount of axe-grinding and hyperbole. As a happy, practicing Mormon, I see the work as a cogent analysis of why Mormonism fails to work for some people. I, however, would point out that this does not mean it fails for everyone. This is only a volume of failures.