Freedom of Mind

Surviving our Catastrophes: Celebrating the Resilience and Renewal of Survivors with Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.  

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I recently had the pleasure of interviewing the acclaimed psychiatrist and my mentor, Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., about his new book, Surviving Our Catastrophes: Resilience and Renewal from Hiroshima to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Lifton is a pioneer in the field of psychohistory, especially his studies on the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence. Renowned cult experts and scholars use his theory of thought reform and cult behavior worldwide. As the title of his book suggests, he believes that those of us who have experienced the trauma of mind control have a crucial role to play in the coming years. We have overcome our past and found resiliency and can be role models to help teach others.

Surviving our Catastrophes: Celebrating the Resilience and Renewal of Survivors with Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.   Read More

Chinese Netizen’s protests and Freedom of Mind as a Human Right with Researcher Matt Bywater  

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This week, we focus on two crucial overlapping and timely subjects: Freedom of Mind as an essential new human right and using my BITE Model of Authoritarian Control by Chinese netizens during the November 2022 protests in China against the zero covid lockdown policy.  

Matt Bywater first learned the phrase and idea of Freedom of Mind during his research into authoritarian cults, which began with my books Combating Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind. He decided to work towards identifying a pathway for freedom of mind to enter into the international human rights architecture. Shortly thereafter, he came across the first Declaration of Freedom of Mind in history, issued by the World Mental Health Coalition, founded by forensic psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee. Dr. Lee edited the best-selling book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, with 37 experts weighing in on Trump. When I put together a panel at the 37th Annual Conference of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health in Lyon, France, presented his research on Freedom of Mind and why he believes the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is insufficient to protect the mind. He has also presented at the 2023 International Cultic Studies Association conference. He is currently looking for a human rights scholar and academic institution to supervise his research into freedom of mind as part of a doctoral program.

Chinese Netizen’s protests and Freedom of Mind as a Human Right with Researcher Matt Bywater   Read More

Training Therapists To Work In Post-Cult Counseling With Dr. Gillie Jenkinson

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Leaving a cult or another situation of undue influence is a truly heroic feat. Unfortunately, however, the experience of being in a cult can leave former members with many long-term effects, including radical personality change, psychological and relationship problems, and difficulties in their daily lives. It takes time and often the experience of a therapist trained in cult recovery to get beyond the mentality that authoritarian cults indoctrinate into their members. 

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The Allure of Conspiracy Theories and How to Dispel Them with Dr. Michael Shermer 

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Conspiracy theorists are often thought of as people on the fringes of society, believing ridiculous stories and wearing tinfoil hats while living in their parent’s basement. However, conspiracy theorists have become mainstream, and the damage they do is monumental. I spoke with Dr. Michael Shermer about this and his new book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational. Dr. Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the podcast The Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years, he has been a monthly columnist for Scientific American. 

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Helping to counsel people in the UK with Cult Issues with Christian Szurko

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Cults are often thought about as organizations with charismatic leaders who pull people in, strip them of all their worldly goods and autonomy, and implement mind control. However, many of these abusive methods can also be associated with domestic abuse, gangs and organized crime, and political extremism. Additionally, they can be seen in relational power abuse dynamics such as employee abuse, abuse by tutors, mentors, and coaches, and misconduct within various professions. Christian Szurko talks with us about these issues and how recognizing the pervasiveness of these methods informed and broadened his approach to abuses of relational power. 

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 Freedom of Mind: Evaluating Undue Influence in Legal & Mental Health Settings

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Earlier this month, I attended the 37th Annual Conference of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health (IALMH) in Lyon, France. The IALMH is founded on the belief that issues arising from the interaction of law and mental health can best be addressed through multi-disciplinary and cross-national approaches, drawing on law, the health professions, the social sciences, and the humanities.   

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“New Age” Cults With Joseph Szimhart–Artist & Cult Information Specialist

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The internet provides an ideal breeding ground for groups with concerning beliefs and practices to recruit unsuspecting people who are confused, frustrated and wishing to find a way to have hope for the future. Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton wrote about the profound psychological effects that the invention and use of nuclear bombs had on human consciousness. He described an important unconscious motivator, what he called “symbolic immortality.” All modes of leaving a legacy could now be imagined to be wiped out if two superpowers decided to launch all their nukes at each other. Except for one thing: the mode of transcendence. In other words, if humans can believe in other realities, heaven, aliens, spiritual immortality through devotion to a guru or cult leader, people could believe life had meaning. Current circumstances of a global pandemic, economic crisis and incredible levels of corruption at the highest levels of power–in the United States within The Cult of Trump, but throughout the world, where authoritarians seek to use the digital tools to recruit, destabilize enemies, and control their people by using BITE (Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotion) control.

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Undue Influence, Judge Barrett and the People of Praise Covenantal Community

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In an AP article written about Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court and her involvement with the People of Praise, Vice President Mike Pence was quoted from a television interview as saying, “The intolerance expressed during her last confirmation about her Catholic faith I really think was a disservice to the process and a disappointment to millions of Americans.”

In this blog, I assert that the issue is really not about religion, or about Catholicism, or religious freedom, but rather a legal issue: undue influence. This is the subject of my doctoral research which is focused on offering a scientifically validated instrument to help ascertain if undue influence has been exerted.

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