| Religious Cults | Therapy Cults |
| Communal living common | Communal Living rare |
| Members may leave or not join society's workforce | Members usually stay in society's workforce |
| Average age at the point of recruitment is in the 20's | Average age at the point of recruitment is in the mid 30's |
| Registered as religious groups | Registered as 'non profit making' groups |
| Appear to offer association with a group interested in making the world a better place via political, spiritual or other means | Appear to offer association with a group giving courses in some kind of self improvement or self help technique or therapy |
The above list of cult category characteristics
is a generalisation and we understand that there
may be occassional exceptions to some of the points.