ABSTRACT
This article presents a case study of voluntary exit from a far-right group in the United States. Our analysis of ‘Tom’ (a pseudonym) foregrounds the role of psychological development in ‘Tom’s' narrative of disengagement. While developmental factors are sometimes referenced in the radicalization/deradicalization literature, they are often reduced to risk factors or early environmental adversities that are viewed as predictors for subsequent involvement in extremism. By contrast, we offer a deeper understanding of psychological developmental factors as a ‘core need.’ While the core need originates in normative development and attachment history, it also arises out of an individual’s idiographic context and unique path through development, helping to establish identity security and acting as the tacit background driver across entry and exit. In this case study, and in our qualitatively informed model, the developmental core need is crucial to understanding the often idiosyncratic processes of radicalization, disengagement, and deradicalization.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 We recognize the importance in psychological development of both attachment and lifespan approaches. The latter emphasizes changing developmental challenges across the lifespan vis-à-vis changing psychosocial and maturational contexts of significance. While we view both approaches as important, we only emphasize attachment in this article.
2 Of course, psychotherapy is inextricably embedded within the cultures in which it is practiced, and so we do not assume that the therapeutic relationship unfolds in the same manner in all cultural contexts.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Amy Fisher Smith
Amy Fisher Smith, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, and Associate Professor and chair of the University of Dallas Department of Psychology.
Charles R. Sullivan
Charles R. Sullivan, PhD, is Graduate Director of the University of Dallas Braniff Graduate School’s Leadership programs and Associate Professor in the Department of Human and Social Sciences.