the only way out is to enlist in a cult
AA/NA works all right but there’s no fucking question it’s a cult, he and Green’ve apparently got themselves to the point where the only way out of the addictive tailspin is to enlist in a fucking cult and let them try and brainwash your ass
Context
The newcomer's stock objection stated with Lenz's sneer: the Program works, sure, but it's a cult, and the terrible admission folded inside the sneer is that the addictive tailspin has left him no other exit — brainwashing is the only remaining option for a brain that got itself into this. The resistance and the surrender are the same sentence; he concedes the thing works even as he refuses to respect it.