# What Really Happens Inside Cults?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bibliofilles-7704872/what-really-happens-inside-cults
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bibliofilles-7704872/what-really-happens-inside-cults.md
Podcast: [The Bibliofilles](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bibliofilles-7704872)
Published: 2026-07-13T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/LPS3493822460.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/LPS3493822460.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-bibliofilles-7704872/episodes/what-really-happens-inside-cults
Duration seconds: 2690

## Resource

What's the difference between a community and a cult? According to researchers and survivors not as much as you'd think. In this episode of The Bibliofilles, we're going deep on one of the most fascinating, disturbing and frankly addictive topics out there: cults. We cover the psychology of why ordinary, intelligent people join them, the language that keeps them in, and why the world we live in now has made all of us more vulnerable than ever. We discuss: •⁠  ⁠Hannah Murray's (Skins, Game of Thrones) memoir The Make Believe — and how a Reiki healer in LA sent her down a rabbit hole she nearly didn't come back from •⁠  ⁠Ruby Frankie, Eight Passengers and the cult of influencer culture and how it ended with her in prison •⁠  ⁠Cultish by Amanda Montell — how the language of cults is already inside your Instagram feed, your fitness studio and your political news feed •⁠  ⁠The BITE model — the framework built to explain exactly how cults control behaviour, information, thought and emotion •⁠  ⁠Cult fiction: The Girls (Emma Cline), The Heart Goes Last (Margaret Atwood), Station 11, Arcadia and more •⁠  ⁠One of our hosts' own family connection to EST — the therapy cult John Denver helped make famous The uncomfortable argument at the centre of all of this? It's already happened to you. 🎧 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 📚 Join our Substack for exclusive bonus content ⭐ Like, comment, subscribe it genuinely makes a difference #Cults #TrueCrime #BookTok #Psychology #HannahMurray #CultPodcast #BookRecommendations #AuthorInterview #Memoir Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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## Transcript

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