Spiritual Responsibility
Avoiding Abuses and Pitfalls Along the Spiritual Path Copyright © 1995, All Rights Reserved by Steven Hassan and Lama Surya Das

Son of Heaven’s Gate
by Noah Robischon January 7, 1998 Ever since the Heaven’s Gate suicides, The Netly News has been tracking all sorts of freakish cults, most of which don’t even have web sites, let alone anything especially interesting to say. Then along came Chen Tao, a Taiwanese group in Garland, Texas. Observers fear that members of the [...]

12 Rules Of The Community Leading Con-Man
By Peter Forde 1. What you’ve got is mine, and what I’ve got is mine too. (This is forcedly rule one because the world expects to see this, and is why they stay away in droves). 2. I own you too, and you don’t own yourself, since you have vowed yourself into being my obedient [...]

What Messages are Behind Today’s Cults?
Cults are coming. Are they crazy or bearing critical messages? By Philip Zimbardo, PhD How do we make sense of the mass suicide of 21 female and 18 male members of the Heaven’s Gate extra-terrestrial ‘cult’ on March 23? Typical explanations of all such strange, unexpected behavior involve a ‘rush to the dispositional,’ locating the [...]

Mental Health Bill of Rights Project
A Joint Initiative of Mental Health Professional Organizations Principles for the Provision of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Services: A Bill of Rights Our commitment is to provide quality mental health and substance abuse services to all individuals without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, or disabilities. Right to [...]

Letter from Steve Hassan to John J. Dilulio Jr., of the Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives at the White House
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. 716 Beacon Street, #590443, Newton, MA 02459 Phone: (617) 396-4638 Fax: (617) 628-8153 hassan@freedomofmind.com freedomofmind.com February 23, 2001 John J. DiIulio Jr. Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives The White House Washington, DC 20502 Dear Mr DiIulio, I am deeply interested in the faith-based initiative that your office is [...]

Common Psychological Problems of Victims of Cult Mind Control
Counseling for Ex-Members 1. Extreme identity confusion 2. Dissociative states – “floating” (getting triggered back into cult mode) 3. Panic and anxiety attacks 4. Depression 5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.) 6. Psychosomatic symptoms (headaches, backaches, asthma, skin problems) 7. Problems with decision-making- dependency 8. Retarded psychological development- loss of psychological power 9. Guilt 10. Fear [...]

Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.)
1. Vigilance and scanning 2. Elevated startle response 3. Blunted affect or psychic numbing 4. Aggressive, controlling behavior 5. Interruption of memory and concentration 6. Depression 7. Generalized anxiety 8. Episodes of rage 9. Substance abuse 10. Intrusive recall 11. Dissociative “flashback”experiences 12. Insomnia 13. Suicidal ideation 14. Survivor guilt Taken from: How to Survive [...]

Millennial Fears in the Year 1000: Apocalypse Forever
By PETER STEINFELS New York Times July 17th 1999 When Patricia Bernstein, a Houston writer long fascinated by the Middle Ages, began research for an article about the year 1000, she was under an impression shared by many educated Americans. The turn of the last millennium, she believed, was a time of apocalyptic panic, fevered [...]

I Was Trapped in a Therapy Cult
Mademoiselle By Brittany Morgan as told to Laura Billings I saw Mary and Margaret for the last time at a fast-food place on the outskirts of town. They told me that meeting at their office as we usually did would put them and everyone I loved in jeopardy, and in the state I was in, [...]

Credentialing: It May Not Be the Cat’s Meow
Steve K. Dubrow Eichel, Ph.D., ABPP Copyright © 2002 Published on the Freedom of Mind web site with author’s permission The cat is out of the bag. After many months, I’ve finally been pushed to finish this article on questionable credentialing in hypnosis and “psychotherapy.” A reporter from a major magazine wrote to “Dr. Zoe [...]

About Kerry Noble
Born in 1952 in Abilene, Texas, Kerry Noble grew up in a positive, optimistic, idealistic world, always following after knowledge, understanding and purpose. His world was Christian-based (stressing the Golden Rule and love for God) and was community-minded and family-oriented. “I began participating in community service at the age of 6, in the first grade, [...]

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, [...]

An Independent Research Project
by Ilona C. Cuddy to Farah Maniei, Ed.D. Professional Seminar Leader in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Mental Health Counseling at Cambridge College Cambridge, Massachusetts This is dedicated to the many people who have become lost in trying to find themselves. Their painful stories have pierced my heart. I [...]

Understanding false charges by destructive groups, by Steve Hassan

For the record, I believe in freedom of religion. I am Jewish and an active member of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, Massachusetts since 1998. Healthy religious involvement encourages people to question. It encourages people read whatever they want to read. It encourages people to seek out other’s [...]

The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power
by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad Frog, Ltd., Berkeley, California; 1993 The following quotes are taken from Part One of the Guru Papers and are deemed by ex-members to be strikingly accurate in describing the dynamics of a cult guru. “If an authority not only expects to be obeyed without question, but either punishes or [...]

State of Israel, The Ministry of Welfare and Social Services, An Examination of the Phenomenon of Cults in Israel

Here is a link to an article by Steve Hassan talking about some of the false charges leveled against him by groups that are accused of exerting destructive influence on their members. These groups, sometimes working through seemingly unconnected individuals, try to poison people’s thinking toward those who object to their techniques. Read Steve’s thoughts by reading Understanding false charges by destructive groups

David Christopher Lane, Ph.D. , Professor of Philosophy, Mt. San Antonio College and Lecturer in Religious Studies, CSULB

Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D researches new and alternative religions, combining perspectives from sociology with religious studies

Robert Jay Lifton, author of 20 books, including Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Destroying the World to Save it, The Nazi Doctors, Home from the War, and Death in Life to name just a few of the most important volumes.

Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D. Stanford Emeritus Professor, Former president of the American Psychological Association 2002