Broken people.

All I can think about is this tidbit from a website that's been on the interwubs for decades...

Cults are full of the weak, weird and emotionally unstable. Not true. Many cult members are very intelligent, attractive and skilled. The reality is that all sorts of people are involved in cults. One of the few common denominators is that they were often recruited at a low point in their life — more about that later.

• https://cultwatch.com/howcultswork.html