Many things are cult like (and I have never figured out the difference in cult versus religion) - the military (in the u.s. -west point and the other service academies, the marines, etc - submit to authority, can't quit, shaming group activities, indoctrination of belief systems, physical mistreatment of members etc), football teams (the things they do to keep young men whacking the snot out of themselves and others, shaming if quitting or getting injured, elevating coaches to god-like status etc) and others (those two areas just come to immediate mind for me).
Some therapy movements are more clearly borrowing from the cult - like psychology than others I believe - but it certainly has some elements just like many groups people join - perhaps humans are attracted to such in varying degrees.
I think it is interesting to think about whether I fully agree or not.
I think of western medicine/mds/psychiarists as more dangerous even than psychotherapy/therapists - not unuseful at times - but certainly its non-benign nature is something for a client to bear in mind before submitting to or dallying or dabbling in it - regardless of how one labels it. And it sells itself, in my opinion, as a lot more benign and risk free than it is.