Disengagement from extremism is a recursive process, not a linear one.

Evidence

Our data analysis resulted in a complex and developmentally-informed thematic process that reflects the participants’ lived experience of disengagement and deradicalization. As the analysis will show, this experience is not a discrete linear process with clear phases, but rather, an experience characterized by recursive and bi-directional dynamic movement and even at times stagnation. — Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi, Identity Reconfiguration and the Core…, 320

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s core question about whether disengagement is experienced as liberation or abandonment — this framing suggests the process itself resists simple narratives, which the reader can test against first-person accounts of the ‘negative antihero’ identity dissolving. — connects to: A single core need drives both entry into and exit from extremism. — Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi, Identity Reconfiguration and the Core…, 10; Accepting relationships with out-group members model new identity structures for exiting extremists. — Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi, Identity Reconfiguration and the Core…, 475; Attempting to quit extremism can itself escalate a person into a worse group — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 366 (+1 more)

Related

• Leaving an extremist group can be physical, psychological, or both (similarity 0.90)
• A single core need drives both entry into and exit from extremism. (similarity 0.88)
• Stopping extremism and abandoning its beliefs are distinct forms of exit (similarity 0.86)
• Attempting to quit extremism can itself escalate a person into a worse group (similarity 0.85)
• Accepting relationships with out-group members model new identity structures for exiting extremists. (similarity 0.84)
• Many extremists proactively seek out reasons and philosophy to abandon radicalism. (similarity 0.83)
• A former extremist relapsed identity growth to distancing himself from exit-program support (similarity 0.83)
• Interventions by individual people helped most sampled extremists exit or deradicalize. (similarity 0.82)
• Effective exit relationships shift former extremists toward inclusive we-frameworks (similarity 0.81)
• Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi — Identity Reconfiguration and the Core Needs Framework Exit Narratives among Former Far-Right Extremists (similarity 0.81)
• Physical separation from a group precedes rather than follows ideological change (similarity 0.81)
• Some identity needs reduce rather than increase violent extremism (similarity 0.80)
• Interviewed deradicalized extremists differ systematically from those who refuse or never exit. (similarity 0.80)
• Deradicalized individuals can be interviewed about their own exit process. (similarity 0.79)
• Political events can re-trigger radical feelings years after an extremist exit. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Leaving an extremist group can be physical, psychological, or both #expands (0.85) — Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi, Identity Reconfiguration and the Core…, 336
• Attempting to quit extremism can itself escalate a person into a worse group #complicates (0.80) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 366