From Wikipedia.com under "Brainwashing" I cite the following (redmphasis in red, mine):
Brainwashing by cults
In the 1960s some young people suddenly adopted faiths, beliefs, and behavior that were very different from their previous lifestyles and at variance with their upbringing, after coming into contact with new religious movements. The converts sometimes neglected or even broke contact with their families. All of these changes appeared very strange and upsetting for their family members. To explain these phenomena, the theory was postulated that these young people had been brainwashed by these new religious movements, pejoratively called cults. One of the most prominent advocates of this theory was the controversial Margaret Singer who was discredited, when her psychological theory of 'mind control' was declared "not scientific" by the American Psychological Association [1] (http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org/Singer/Evaluation/index2.html) .
Psychologists, sociologists, most ex-members of purported cults, and most anti-cult activists now concede that the term brainwashing does not properly apply to the recruitment and retention techniques used by the so-called cults. Some anti-cult activists, like Steven Hassan started using the term mind control as a more modern alternative.
It has been alleged that these cults would recruit new members by isolating them from their family and friends (inviting them to an end of term camp after university for example), arranging a sleep deprivation program (3 a.m. prayer meetings) and exposing them to loud and repetitive chanting. Another alleged technique of religious brainwashing involved love bombing rather than torture. If those charges can be proven true, then there would be grounds for maintaining that some cult groups use part of the complex of techniques that forms brainwashing.
It should be noted that some religious groups, especially those of Hindu and Buddhist origin, openly state that they seek to improve the natural human mind by spiritual exercises. Intense spiritual exercises have an effect on the mind, for example by leading to an altered state of consciousness. These groups do not, however, proclaim that they use coercive techniques to acquire or retain converts. Whether they do so or not is a matter for objective determination in individual cases.
