Group Control Spectrum
Being part of a group can offer connection, meaning, and support. It can also come with expectations about how you spend your time, who you trust, and which decisions you get to make for yourself. Examples of groups include families, clubs, teams, workplaces, and religious communities.
This tool invites you to look at how your decisions work in a group you belong or used to belong to.
About this tool
This is a reflection tool, not a validated assessment.
You can use it on your own, as therapy homework, or as a starting point for a conversation. You don’t need to decide whether the group was good or bad to notice how it affected you.
How to use it
Choose one group and a particular period to reflect on. Move each slider toward the description that comes closest to your experience. Select “Not applicable / not sure” to skip a field. Skipped fields won’t count toward your summary.
For every slider:
Move a slider to see the description that fits your experience.
Summary
Answer at least three fields to see your summary.
The overall position of the summary slider is an equal-weight average of the sliders you use; skipped fields are excluded. It does not determine whether a group is a cult or how much an experience affected you.
This is a reflection tool, not a validated assessment. Having more freedom in one field does not cancel out threats or restrictions in another.
Discussion Questions
Which field brought a particular experience to mind?
Were there choices that felt available in theory but difficult to make in practice?
What happened when you wanted something different from the group?
Is there anything you’d like more room to decide for yourself?
If you do not currently have a therapist and would like to explore these topics, please feel free to Request a Free Consultation with me.
Learn more about religious trauma therapy
About this tool
This tool was developed by me, Mike Rothschild, LPC, (with AI assistance) to offer concrete descriptions of how groups can respond to personal choices. Its eight fields are prompts for reflection, not a diagnostic checklist. The descriptions and calculation have not been validated through research.
You can use it on your own, as therapy homework, or as a starting point for a conversation. You don’t need to decide whether the group was good or bad to notice how it affected you.