Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Clinicians

ENDORSEMENTS

“During this time of cultural instability and growing distrust of institutions, increasing numbers of people are coming under the influence of coercively controlling malignant narcissistic individuals and cultic groups, all too frequently at enormous emotional and financial cost. Dr. Steven Hassan’s excellent 9-module course, Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Concerned Public and Professionals, provides critical information for physicians, psychotherapists, attorneys, family members, and the loved ones of those individuals who have been or are in such relationships. Comprehensive and thorough, here is where you will receive critical information about how to recognize these relationships, what to do, how to help, and most importantly how to recover.  Often missed and not recognized by professionals, and a common reason why treatment fails or remains incomplete, this fills a huge gap in the training of professionals and the kind of assistance needed for those who are affected.” – Jeffrey D. Rediger, MD, MDiv, Harvard Medical School, Author of CURED

“Steven Hassan’s training for those interested in supporting people in recovery from cults or coercively controlling relationships is a must for any helping professional who wants to be a gentle, trustworthy off ramp for those who have had the most vulnerable parts of their good nature exploited and betrayed by those who do not wish them well. With the experience of his own cult recovery and four decades of activism under his belt, Dr. Hassan is the perfect guide through this delicate territory, delivering the material with empathy, compassion, and a fierce care for those who have been taught to blindly comply and bury their own fiery self-protective instincts. This comprehensive program includes not only the psychoeducation helping professionals must learn in order to understand the particular traumas endured by those in recovery from undue influence and mind control; it also offers a holistic path towards creating safety and supporting nervous system regulation, helping these individuals take back control of their own minds and make clear, autonomous decisions, reality checking and deprogramming the indoctrinated beliefs and behaviors, dealing with the dissociation and identity disturbances commonly experienced by victims of brainwashing, paving a path to rebuild trust in relationships after trust was abused and destroyed, and rebuilding life skills that may have been forgotten or never developed during the lost years and brain fog under the influence of coercive control. If we are to have the privilege of being the first person someone coming out of cultic groups or controlling personal relationships dares to trust, we must do our part to be worthy of that trust, holding the healing hearts of those who have been hurt with the utmost dignity, respect, and compassion, honoring, celebrating, mirroring, and fostering the resilience of the human spirit. When we make the mistake of trying to fix people we might judge as weak or broken, we may harm them in the name of helping. But when we can hold sacred space and trust the courage, strength, and inner divinity in those who have been betrayed in the most excruciating ways by people at the extremes of narcissism and sociopathy, we remind those we seek to serve of their wholeness in ways that can truly heal. Bravo, Dr. Hassan, for tackling a sensitive subject with mastery and heart. Highly recommended.” -Lissa Rankin, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine and teacher of Internal Family Systems 

“As a medical doctor with decades of experience, I wish to say that I very much enjoyed the content and I think it is incredibly well done. The course is highly comprehensive, and I do believe that anyone who takes all the modules will come out with a very good understanding of this topic. If everyone took this course and absorbed the messages, the world would be a much safer and more loving place for all.”  –Richard Parker, MD