Due to time constraints and the large number of requests we receive to evaluate situations, we cannot answer these questions for you via email or phone. However, anyone can assess a relationship, group, or other situation using the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control to identify the control tactics and the Influence Continuum Model to assess where they fall from non-harmful to highly harmful. You can download those models from our website. Want to learn how to use these models? Take a course. 

Do you want to learn more about a specific individual or group? Using the BITE Model and Influence Continuum Model is better to help you determine where they fall from not harmful to very harmful. You can gather information by searching our website and the internet, including forums on places like Facebook and Reddit. We recommend that you help protect yourself online using a pseudonym, an email address without identifying information, and a VPN. Consult with a technology professional for more advice on protecting yourself online. Need more help to answer your question? Schedule a Consultation with Dr. Steven Hassan.

The BITE Model of mind control outlines many vital elements that need to be controlled: Behavior, Information, Thoughts, and Emotions.  If these four components can be controlled, an individual’s identity can be systematically manipulated and changed.  Destructive mind control takes the “locus of control” away from an individual.  The person is systematically deceived about the beliefs and practices of the person (or group) and manipulated throughout the recruitment process, unable to make informed choices and exert independent judgment. The person’s identity is profoundly influenced through social influence techniques, and a “new identity” is programmed to depend on the leader or group ideology. The person can’t think for themselves but believes otherwise. The cult system reinforces an “illusion of control.”

No.  Although we typically use the term to refer to unethical and abusive social influence, many techniques, such as prayer, meditation, singing, chanting, and dancing, can be used ethically to promote positive spiritual and personal growth.  Positive influence keeps the locus of control within the individual, while unethical or undue influence undermines their ability to think and act independently.

For example, prayer can be used ethically, or it can be used destructively as a tool of manipulation and coercion.  Praying with a person aloud and asking “God’s blessing to help direct and guide him” (in an “open-ended” way) is just fine.  Praying with a person and asking God to “keep this person from making the mistake of leaving the group’s workshop and returning to Satan’s world” is unethical.

Meditation techniques can be used to build awareness and self-control, or they can be used as a way of “thought-stopping,” undermining independent thinking and reality-testing. For example, if a person has doubts and questions about a leader’s behavior and meditates to eliminate “negativity,” it might stop them from taking necessary action.

There are thousands of different “mind control” techniques which can be used for positive benefit. These techniques include prayer, meditation, chants, singing songs, visualizations, affirmations, positive self-talk, breathing techniques, hypnosis, “speaking in tongues,” ecstatic dancing, and music.

A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control.  It uses deception to recruit new members and does not tell them what the group is, what it actually believes, and what will be expected of them if they become members.  It also uses mind control techniques to keep people dependent, obedient, and loyal.  The BITE Model is our way of understanding the phenomenon.  Dr. Robert Jay Lifton has his Eight Criteria for Thought Reform.  Dr. Margaret Singer has her Six Conditions for understanding destructive cults, which typically seek to “clone” recruits in the image of the cult leader rather than respect and encourage their individuality, creativity, and self-will.

Benign cult groups are any group of people who have a set of beliefs and rituals that are non-mainstream.  As long as people can freely choose to join with full disclosure of the group’s doctrine and practices and can choose to disaffiliate without fear or harassment, then it is not a destructive cult.

There are destructive groups that are anti-social.  They teach hate and encourage criminal activity.  A case-by-case evaluation must determine if a group uses elements of the BITE Model to recruit and control people.

For more information, visit our Influence Continuum page.

Being in control of your own mind includes being in touch with your feelings, having the ability to question and think analytically, having the freedom to act independently, and being able to look at issues from multiple perspectives.  Use the BITE Model to evaluate your situation.

If you have been involved with a person or group for a long time, can you have time to take a vacation, visit friends or family, or just be alone?  Are you irrationally afraid to evaluate for yourself any critical information, including speaking with ex-members?  Do you have access to “negative” information?  If you are reading this on our website, you should be able to find out what former members and critics have to say about a specific group.  Then, you can evaluate the information for yourself and make your own independent decisions.

No, there are wide variations among different organizations.  For example, Aum Shinrikyo and ISIS/Daesh have committed horrific acts of violence and terror against the public.  This is extreme when compared with large group “training” programs, which use hypnotic techniques to get you to believe the leader is the “Messiah” and which teaches the membership to recruit all of their families and friends.

Individual experiences also vary within the organization based on how the individual conforms to the group’s norms.  For example, a lesbian teen in a homophobic church will be subject to a different degree of undue influence than a straight man who is married with children in the same church.

No. In addition to religious cults, there are psychotherapy cults, political cults, commercial cults, terrorist organizations, and trafficking rings. There are also personality cults, mainly if one person controls another (or a small group of people, such as in a family).

Some groups combine all or some of these elements, especially when the group is large and has a variety of “fronts” or other entities.

Yes.  It is helpful to think of them as destructive cults (with political and/ or religious orientations) which advocate the use of violence.  Any pyramid-structured authoritarian group that uses deception and mind control to recruit and indoctrinate its followers is a destructive cult.

Members of terrorist organizations are programmed to think in simplistic black-and-white, us-versus-them terms.  They depersonalize and demonize their enemies.

We must understand how cults function to help neutralize this grave threat to the world.

We encourage people who feel they are experiencing these issues to consult with their primary care physician and mental health specialists. After your healthcare team has completed their assessments, you can contact us to inquire how we can help. Dr. Hassan does not do testing.