Editing Federation of Damanhur (section)

== Controversy over allegations of cult-like practices ==
Since May 2009, a website called Damanhur Inside Out has hosted anonymous testimonials from people claiming to be ex-members of the Damanhur community, and articles relating to legal controversy around the Foundation and its founder.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://damanhurinsideout.wordpress.com/|title=Damanhur Inside Out}}</ref> In the 2007 assessment of Patrizia Santovecchi, the President of the [[National Psychological Abuses Observatory]] (Osservatorio Nazionale Abusi Psicologici, O.N.A.P.), Damanhur shares characteristics typical of psychologically abusive cults. These characteristics include barriers to leaving freely, [[Siege mentality|siege syndrome]], in which outsiders are portrayed as enemies constituted by negative energies; suppression of criticism, imposition of obedience, estrangement from family members, depersonalization, and submission to the will of the guru.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infotdgeova.it/leggi/camera.php|title=InfoTdGeova.it :: Analisi critica di un culto :: Leggi e sentenze|work=infotdgeova.it|access-date=25 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304074012/http://www.infotdgeova.it/leggi/camera.php|archive-date=4 March 2013}}</ref>
A 2018 analysis of interviews with ex-members echoed these themes, showing that their process of disillusionment with and departure from the community usually took several years and could be "torturous".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/1675619/5/Cardano%20Pannofino%20Taking%20leave%20%281%29.pdf|title=Taking leave of Damanhur. Deconversion from a magico-esoteric community}}</ref>

Damanhur have publicly responded to criticism by describing themselves as an "ethical cult".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.damanhurblog.com/spirituality/who-is-scared-of-cults/ |title=Who is scared of cults? |date=6 September 2022 }}</ref> Academics have noted that Damanhur has undergone changes since the death of the founder in 2013, and become more outward-facing.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mByeEAAAQBAJ&dq=damanhur+turin&pg=PR5 | title=Damanhur: An Esoteric Community Open to the World | isbn=978-3-031-10137-3 | last1=Palmisano | first1=Stefania | last2=Pannofino | first2=Nicola | date=26 November 2022 | publisher=Springer }}</ref> Websites have become an important means by which the Foundation is "advertising and legitimizing" itself as an 'Exemplary Utopia'.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journal.equinoxpub.com/IJSNR/article/view/12125 |doi=10.1558/ijsnr.v5i1.27 |title=Damanhur, an Exemplary Utopia |date=2019 |last1=Palmisano |first1=Stefania |last2=Pannofino |first2=Nicola Luciano |journal=International Journal for the Study of New Religions |volume=5 |pages=27–50 |s2cid=144769975 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>