Again, Teal Swan claims she is not a cult leader but we think she doth protest too much. According to psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton (as reported by The Guardian), who wrote a paper called "Cult Formation" in the early 1980s, cults share three common features. First and foremost, and possibly the most obvious, you need a captivating leader like Teal Swan.

Teal Swan has hundreds of videos on her YouTube channel. She has written six books. If you want to see her live, you need only attend one of her events during which she sits alone on a stage, speaking directly to the audience. It's clear that she is more than a figurehead; she is the organization. It could not go on without her.

Secondly, "a process [of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as] coercive persuasion or thought reform [commonly called 'brainwashing']." Remember the six books and the hundreds of YouTube videos? That's how Teal Swan spreads her messages. Videos have titles like Resistance Is Not Always a Bad Thing or How to Talk to and Understand an Extreme Liar.

Creating YouTube videos is really no different than the 12-part video series created by Heaven's Gate, which featured the teachings of their leader Marshall Applewhite.

Finally, the group members will be exploited in some way, either sexually (like the Manson family) or perhaps economically. Teal Swan's YouTube videos may be free, but her books, live events, and online courses are not. If you're interested in Teal's How to Thrive in a Crisis course, you need only fork over $399 to thrive in the kind of crisis created by, say, not being able to pay your mortgage because you spent nearly $400 learning how to thrive in a crisis.