Dr. Deikman (d. 2013) was a professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.

"[3] Deikman revised and republished the book in 2003 under the title Them and Us: Cult Thinking and the Terrorist Threat (Bay Tree Publications of Berkeley), with an introduction by Doris Lessing.

Patrick wrote: "Although we live in a democracy, cult behavior manifests itself in our unwillingness to question the judgment of our leaders, our tendency to devalue outsiders and to avoid dissent.

We can overcome cult behavior, he says, by recognizing that we have dependency needs that are inappropriate for mature people, by increasing anti-authoritarian education, and by encouraging personal autonomy and the free exchange of ideas.

"[7] Genevieve Stuttaford wrote in Publishers Weekly: "Although Deikman sometimes stretches the analogy of cult behavior too far, his provocative book uncovers a psychopathology of everyday life in a discerning analysis.