Love bombing

Love bombing is an attempt to influence a person by lavish demonstrations of attention and affection. It can be used in different ways and can be used for either a positive or negative purpose. Members of the Unification Church of the United States (who reportedly coined the expression) use or have used it to convey a genuine expression of friendship, fellowship, interest, or concern.Critics of cults use the phrase with the implication that the "love" is feigned and that the practice is psychological manipulation in order to create a feeling of unity within the group against a society perceived as hostile. In 2011 clinical psychologist Oliver James advocated love bombing in his book Love Bombing: Reset Your Child's Emotional Thermostat, as a means for parents to rectify emotional problems in their children.

The expression "love bombing" was coined by members of the Unification Church of the United States in the 1970s and was also used by members of the Family International. In 1978 Sun Myung Moon, the founder and then leader of the Unification Church, said:

Psychology professor Margaret Singer popularized the concept. In her 1996 book, Cults in Our Midst, she writes:

In the 1995 book Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse, anthropology professor Geri-Ann Galanti writes:

In the 2010s British author and psychologist Oliver James recommended love bombing as a technique for parents to help their troubled children. He described it as, “dedicating one-on-one time spoiling and lavishing your child with love, and, within reason, pandering to their every wish.” A reporter for The Daily Express tried the technique with her son and reported:

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