FWIW, I do think that swinging towards a religion is just as possible as moving away from one. I think that when it's going for something as serious as the Catholic faith it's probably seen differently as when someone embraces an alternative "kooky" therapy or faith, but the underlying reasons may well be the same. Like RCR says, they expect that when they fully "accept" this new (new to them, that is) faith or doctrine or whatever, that all problems will miraculously be solved.
My MLCer went in the kooky direction for the first few years of this, btw. But he also turned away from his more traditional faith, which is more "normal", according to Conway, et. al.