“The effect can be devastating.” How manipulation works in the case of the “spiritual master” Ovidiu Argeșanu
Labels like “you're a disaster” or “you're an angel incarnate” make the psyche vulnerable, destabilize self-esteem and make the person easier to exploit, manipulate and abuse, he explains psychologist Silvia Ciubotaru (Guță) in an interview about the practices of the spiritual “master” Ovidiu Dragoș Argeșanu, writes the investigative site Snoop.
- Police are investigating after Snoop's revelations about the alleged abuse Ovidiu Dragos Argesanu. Several women accuse him of sexual assaults.
- Over six months, Snoop contacted nearly 50 clients and witnesses, either directly or through other sources. The women describe the same pattern of manipulation, documented incognito and by Snoop. First he labels them negatively, then he tells them that he sees something special in them: they are “angels incarnate”.
- Snoop spoke with Silvia Ciubotaru (Guță), specialized in experiential psychotherapy, about how fascination, fear and addiction work around a figure who validates his authority by associating with divinity, but also presents himself as a doctor, although he does not have the right to practice freely.
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Messianic Cult and Magical Thinking
Snoop: Argesanu validates his authority by association with divinity. Why does this type of speech work?
Silvia Ciubotaru (Guță): The technique of validating a position of power by associating with divine figures has worked for thousands of years, because it is based on a terrifying truth: mortality. People need other people and beliefs to connect them to others, soothe their fear of death, and help them find meaning in life. And this “master” promises exactly that.
– He introduces himself as a parapsychologist, Reiki master, priest “by grace”, charm breaker. How would you characterize this speech?
– The speech is built on several basic principles, which place it in the category of messianic worship. “I am in direct contact with divinity”, “I have supernatural powers” or “I can save you” are some of the ideas that can produce fascination and seduction, but also intimidation.
– Who is more vulnerable to such speech?
– Early and/or prolonged exposure to rigid religious upbringing, abuse, disease, social exclusion or marginalization can create the predisposition for magical thinking and the unconscious search for authority and attachment figures able to protect and help.
In moments of physical and/or mental vulnerability, such people may give up their autonomy and prefer to make decisions in accordance with a set of rules and principles promoted by the person invested with the role of savior, mentor, master, guru. For them, it works as a shortcut to success, healing or salvation.
– Someone commented online that they fall asleep and wake up listening to Argesanu. What happens to the mind when it is overexposed to such content?
– At the level of the psyche, a kind of addiction is created, and the perception of reality is deeply influenced by the elements present in that type of discourse.
- Thinking becomes rigid, logic breaks down and makes more and more room for magical or supernatural explanations.
- Contact with reality becomes increasingly precarious, in favor of a vision that offers more hope, peace or pleasure.
- The psyche gradually regresses to mechanisms designed to ensure uncritical submission to an authority figure invested with supernatural powers, to whom the person surrenders all of his power.
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