Ethical, Legal, and Psychodynamic Considerations in Intervention of a Possible Cult Member

A 17-year-old boy is brought involuntarily by his parents for admission to an adolescent unit after running away from home to join a cult. The adolescent is admitted to the hospital for a multidisciplinary assessment. Follow-up 6 months after discharge shows the family to have continued in family therapy with the patient remaining at home with no additional contact with the cult. The case raises important ethical and dynamic issues about whom the child psychiatrist serves—the parents, the adolescent, or society. Discussion by an ethicist, lawyer, and child and adolescent psychoanalyst follows the case presentation. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc, Psychiatry, 1990, 29, 6:975–981.