Meissner discusses the interplay between structural aspects of the organization of religious movements and the intrapsychic processes generated by what he terms the paranoid process. By noting various religious typologies, he distinguishes cults from other kinds of religious organizations. He then describes the analogy between the cult social organization and the paranoid process in individuals. The paranoid process dissociates and externalizes pathogenic introjects by projection. Participating in cult phenomena enhances the individual's distorted sense of self-esteem at the expense of independence and autonomy.