Are you saying that if someone is reasonably prosperous and an upstanding member of the community, and appears to be reasonably happy, that there isn't any damage being done to them by being in a cult?  I don't see how the two are really related.

Secondly, speaking personally, I know there were times in the cult when I got very used to it all, and sort of learned to cope and live with it.  It was harder, because I was in the ashram, and so I had no control over most of my life, but I still learned to function and do reasonably well in that environement, such that people would probably say I seemed happy.  But I was still in a destructive cult.

Plus I think it partly depends on the individual, how they can deal with and sublimate, rationalize and ignore, the contradictions inherent in being a premie.

Here's one, main destructive mindset of Rawat, that people would be better off not having, as explained on the wonderful new, informational website:

The three quotes opposite all underline frequent themes of Prem Rawat's over the years: that one's mind is an enemy which has to be tamed or transcended; that one would experience great suffering, and even disintegration, if one ceased practising the 'Knowledge'; and that the world is an illusion, and only God exists.

The majority of those who have been taught meditation by Prem Rawat, no longer follow him or practise his 'Knowledge'. Those who have rejected Rawat's teaching report that using their minds, has been rewarding, not bothersome, and that giving up the Rawat ethos has been a release from a constricting mindset.

They also note that they have not 'rotted' or disintegrated, as Prem Rawat promised they would. Retrospectively, many now believe this to be a cult technique of 'phobia conditioning'.

Finally, very few ex-premies regard the world as illusory or non-existent, and tend to look back on the days when they thought this way as escapist and dysfunctional.