All posts tagged: Freedom of Mind

John Huddle and his book Locked In

Child Protection, Shunning, and Parental Alienation: A Discussion About the Word of Faith Fellowship With Former Member John Huddle

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and, now more than ever, we need to protect children.  Too many are still being hurt: physically, mentally and emotionally, as seen by recent national child abuse statistics. For those raised in cults, they are at a higher risk for physical, medical, sexual, emotional, and psychological harm. I wrote

Steven Hassan, April 10, 2020

COVID-19 Pandemic is NOT Proof of the End Times as Proclaimed by Doomsday Cult Leaders

This year, 2020, has unfortunately been full of triggering events for many former members of Doomsday cults. There have been earthquakes in Croatia, Russia, and Texas to name just a few. Locusts have swarmed parts of East Africa damaging crops and livelihoods. The coronavirus pandemic is being described by some as a global pestilence. All

Steven Hassan, March 26, 2020

Living Your Best Life After Leaving a High-Control Group, Family or Relationship

Are you living up to your full potential for a successful life? Have you noticed there are negative influences limiting you? Many former members of high-control groups often experience negative issues, but do not realize they are not at fault and that their issues are fixable. People who were born into or raised in a

Steven Hassan, February 29, 2020

The Definitive Guide to Helping People in the Cult of Trump

Under the right circumstances, even sane, rational, well-adjusted people can be deceived and persuaded to believe the most outrageous ideas and leader. President Trump uses the same deceptive psychological techniques that cult leaders do (cult leader’s playbook) that influence his devoted followers’ behavior, information, thoughts, and emotions. Some people are also unwilling to entertain the

Steven Hassan, February 21, 2020

Ex-Jehovah’s Witness Mark O’Donnell on Latest Developments & How to Help and Heal

This month, there have been quite a few developments in the Jehovah’s Witness community including a recent documentary, a newspread in People magazine, major legal developments, and more. I invited Mark O’Donnell, former Jehovah’s Witness turned writer, researcher, and activist, to discuss these events in detail. (You can read his story here.) Here are some

Steven Hassan, February 16, 2020

Impeachment and the Do’s and Don’ts of Talking to Trump Supporters

These past two weeks, the historic impeachment of President Donald Trump reached the Senate, where Trump was tried (whoever heard of a fair trial with no witnesses?) and acquitted by a split partisan Senate. Republican Senators did not want to pursue the truth and call Bolton or Parnas because they feared the public would learn

Steven Hassan, February 6, 2020

Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. Discusses Trump and His New Book, Losing Reality

I am excited to blog about and share my latest interview with my first mentor, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, about his new book, Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry. In this unique and timely volume, Dr. Lifton proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political

Steven Hassan, January 16, 2020