Lecturer
Qualifications
Research interests
Biography
Dr. John Hunter is a South African researcher and lecturer, based in Johannesburg. His interest in large group awareness trainings (LGATs) – and their impact on mood and psychosis – is grounded in his personal experience of bipolar disorder and his participation in an LGAT in 2010. In 2017, he completed a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, proposing a neurobiological explanation for the relationship between LGAT conditions and results. Specifically, Dr. Hunter put forward the dopaminergic-defense hypothesis, offering insights into both: (i) the “transformational” experiences associated with LGAT participation; and (ii) the common claims of psychological harm and problematic behaviour associated with participation. In 2022, Dr. Hunter published an article explaining the dopaminergic defense in the Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (Hunter, 2022), in July 2023 he presented this work at the annual International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and in June 2024 acted as an expert witness in a United States federal court regarding the use of LGATs in the Troubled Teen Industry. Dr. Hunter’s first book, Manufacturing Mania: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Religious Experience, is complete and is now available and will be published in Chinese in 2026 by Locus Publishers.
Lecturer
Qualifications
Research interests
Biography
Dr. John Hunter is a South African researcher and lecturer, based in Johannesburg. His interest in large group awareness trainings (LGATs) – and their impact on mood and psychosis – is grounded in his personal experience of bipolar disorder and his participation in an LGAT in 2010. In 2017, he completed a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, proposing a neurobiological explanation for the relationship between LGAT conditions and results. Specifically, Dr. Hunter put forward the dopaminergic-defense hypothesis, offering insights into both: (i) the “transformational” experiences associated with LGAT participation; and (ii) the common claims of psychological harm and problematic behaviour associated with participation. In 2022, Dr. Hunter published an article explaining the dopaminergic defense in the Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (Hunter, 2022), in July 2023 he presented this work at the annual International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and in June 2024 acted as an expert witness in a United States federal court regarding the use of LGATs in the Troubled Teen Industry. Dr. Hunter’s first book, Manufacturing Mania: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Religious Experience, is complete and is now available and will be published in Chinese in 2026 by Locus Publishers.
An educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education
Formed by the strategic evolution of The IIE's Varsity College, IIE MSA, Vega and
the School of Hospitality and Service Management, uniting under the Emeris name.
Emeris is an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd which is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private higher education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997 (reg. no. 2007/HE07/002). Company registration number: 1987/004754/07. View certificate here.
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