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Terror, Love & Brainwashing: A Discussion with Alexandra Stein About Extremist Political Cults

2019-02-28T12:54:32-04:00February 28th, 2019|Blog|

This week, I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Stein, a cult survivor and renowned expert on cults and totalitarianism. Alexandra Stein, Ph.D. is a writer and educator specializing in the social psychology of ideological extremism and other dangerous social relationships. She is an academic, having taught at the University of Minnesota, Birkbeck, and the University of London, now teaching at the Mary Ward Center. Dr. Stein is a Ph.D. sociologist and expert on social psychology. She teaches as an academic but gives talks, as well as, writes books.  Her memoir Inside Out: A Memoir of Entering and Breaking Out of a Minneapolis [...]

Leaving A White Nationalist Cult of Hate: Helping and Serving Others with Love

2019-02-14T12:10:10-04:00February 14th, 2019|Blog|

Arno Michaelis This is the blog I did a while back about my friend Arno Michaelis. This new video interview at the bottom of this blog with Arno Michaelis is eye-opening, to say the least. It is certainly very educational. Learn about this courageous person. I believe it will inspire you and give you hope. People can and do leave hate groups, neo-Nazism, and White supremacy groups and go on to become wonderful citizens. He describes what it was like to be so full of hate: "The bottom line is that living like that, where you hate every other human being on earth and you're terrified [...]

Traumatic Narcissism: From Muktananda and Gurumayi to Donald Trump

2019-05-23T23:22:14-04:00December 27th, 2018|Blog|

Daniel Shaw and Siddha Yoga This week's blog features an interview with a licensed clinical social worker, Daniel Shaw.  Dan is a private practice psychotherapist in New York City and in Rockland County, New York. Dan was deeply involved for many years and even a staff member at Siddha Yoga before he woke up and walked away. As part of his healing journey and restarting his life, he decided to become a mental health professional. Like many former members, he was involved in helping others to wake up and realize that the guru was not enlightened but, in fact, a [...]

Scripted Violence, Conspiracy Theories and Concerns

2018-12-16T19:01:27-04:00December 6th, 2018|Blog|

It has been several weeks since Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue in his hateful, rage-filled attack against Jews. This week, I had the opportunity to interview Chip Berlet, an investigative journalist, research analyst and scholar of right-wing movements. I had been wanting to interview him so he could explain the concept of scripted violence. This seems to be exactly what took place with Bowers. He had been influenced to hate and fear Jewish people to the point that he acted out and committed a terrorist act. I also wanted to ask Chip about the Protocols of [...]

Ideas for Combating Hate Speech and Violence

2018-12-13T20:41:31-04:00October 29th, 2018|Blog|

The massacre of 11 innocent Jews in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last Sabbath by a hateful, disturbed man is a wake-up call for everyone who loves freedom. I attended my own synagogue that morning and experienced a wonderful Bar Mitzvah where the dvar, taught by the thirteen-year-old, was about intelligent disobedience and how Abraham had failed his test by God when agreeing to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Instead of Abraham using his critical thinking skills and following his heart and his conscience, he was prepared to offer his son as a sacrifice because God [...]

Freedom of Mind: Index of Blogs

2018-12-16T20:52:05-04:00July 19th, 2018|Blog|

June 19, 2018 I try to blog every week with updates about my work, research, current events, high control groups, coercive control, media and other topics.  I have written pieces on U.S. politics, world news, child abuse, human trafficking, terrorism, undue influence, multi-level marketing, and healing and recovery.  Whether you are new to Freedom of Mind or have been a long-time supporter or even former client, I think you will benefit from this resourceful list of previous articles. If you like one of these blogs, please share it on your social media. If you have suggestions for future blogs, [...]

Freedom of Mind Resource Center: Mid-Year Update 2018

2018-12-16T20:13:06-04:00July 12th, 2018|Blog, Current Events, News and Updates|

Steven Hassan speaking at 2018 ICSA conference July 12, 2018, 2018 ICSA Annual Conference Last week, I was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and gave a talk on the Freedom of Mind Approach to helping people raised in cults and dysfunctional families at the 2018 annual ICSA conference. The theme of the conference was "The global challenge of young people born, raised or recruited into extremist groups, abusive religious organizations, or coercive/exploitative relationships."  Next year, July 2019,  there will be another conference. They alternate locations, having one in the U.S. and the next in another country. This coming international conference will be [...]

The Moonies and TM Attempt to Reinvent Themselves

2019-02-13T13:43:44-04:00February 8th, 2018|Blog|

*blog updated March 2, 2018* Both Have Missions to Recruit True Believers to Take Over the World Having exited the Moonies in 1976, following an intervention performed at the request of my family, I have been so grateful to regain my life. I refer to the group as "the Moonies," because when I was a member, the term was initially coined and Sun Myung Moon loved the term. We even wore tee-shirts and had mugs made with "I Heart the Moonies." When Moon was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the Federal government and filing false income taxes, resulting in [...]

Former leader of white supremacy group and docuseries exposing hate needs to be aired!

2018-12-16T19:57:06-04:00August 14th, 2017|Blog|

Meet my friend, Arno Michaelis. He founded a hate band and was responsible for recruiting people into the cult of white supremacists. Like me, he has left that, and dedicated himself to educating people and helping people exit terrorist hate groups. Check out this Youtube video: Arno Michaelis · My Life After Hate: From There to Here After you watch this, here he is being interviewed on The View. In the second part of the View, Sikh Pardeep Kaleka and Arno talk about their work together. Pardeep's father, the President of a Sikh Temple in Minnesota was [...]

Kim Jong Un and North Korea: Can we learn from Jim Jones and David Koresh?

2019-02-13T10:46:24-04:00July 6th, 2017|Blog, Current Events|

The cult leader of North Korea seems to be threatening Donald Trump and the United States. This week, Trump spoke to an audience in Poland stating he was considering, "some pretty severe things," when it comes to the threat of North Korea. This is something that concerns me deeply. As I have written before, I believe that drastic military action against North Korea would surely have disastrous repercussions. North Korea is no ordinary nation. It is a country that is controlled by a narcissistic dictator–the same way a cult is controlled by its leader. Kim Jong-un is known to [...]