Dear Qwerty,
I enjoyed your response.
I don’t think the classical pitfalls of learning Kabbalah apply here. Chabad ignores practical Kabbalah which was the downfall of Sabbtai Tzvi and others. They are not studying the intense devotions that risk ones mental state. It isn’t really much different than other groups hashkafos besides for that it is grounded more in The Rebbe’s persona than the community at large.