294: Dr. Steven Hassan | "It’s Your Mind, Only You Should Control It"
Preacher Boys Podcast
Eric Skwarczynski
4.6 • 701 Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2024
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today on the show, Eric Skwarczynski is joined by Dr. Steven Hassan.
Dr. Hassan is a licensed mental health professional, a recognized expert on cults and undue influence, and possesses professional experience both in the US and abroad.
His work encompasses various areas, including consultation, coaching, public speaking, media appearances, activism, writing, research, teaching, intervention, and recovery services, as well as expert consulting and testimony to aid individuals and families dealing with issues related to undue influence.
Dr. Hassan’s expertise extends to the realm of undue influence in a wide array of contexts, including destructive one-on-one relationships, family dynamics, parental alienation, small cult-like groups, religious cults, therapy and self-improvement groups, professional abuse, institutional abuse, corporate settings, multi-level marketing, political groups, human trafficking, hate and violent extremism, and other challenging situations. He actively advocates for the recognition of terrorist groups as destructive cults and addresses their importance.
Over the course of his 40-year career, Dr. Hassan has assisted numerous individuals and families in their recovery from undue influence. He is highly sought after as one of the foremost authorities on the subject of undue influence by both controlling groups and individuals. Steve possesses a unique perspective, having experienced life as a former cult member who was successfully deprogrammed in 1976, and as a clinical professional who has dedicated his life to aiding others in similar situations.
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Resources Mentioned:
– Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks: https://amzn.to/4adt2nS
– Combating Cult Mind Control: https://amzn.to/43HpeIP
– Å History of God: https://amzn.to/43H5e9b
– Propaganda: https://amzn.to/3vyMdt0
– Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: https://amzn.to/3PJBv9Q
– Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us: https://amzn.to/49grwzV
– The Cult of Trump: https://amzn.to/49grwzV
– American Kompromat: https://amzn.to/4ayPRCe
– Think Again: https://amzn.to/4adsLRS
— Freedom of Mind: https://amzn.to/3TYIhv2
– Recovery After Mormonism Workshop: https://courses.freedomofmind.com/courses/recovery-after-mormonism-workshop
– Influence Continuum Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan/id1603773245
– Substack: https://stevenhassan.substack.com/
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If you or someone you know has experienced abuse, visit courage365.org/need-help
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CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:
To connect with a community that shares the Preacher Boys Podcast's mission to expose abuse in the IFB, join the OFFICIAL Preacher Boys Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1403898676438188/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Trigger warning. This podcast contains descriptions of various abusive situations. Listener discretion is advised. |
| 0:09.2 | You are listening to the Preacher Boys podcast, a podcast shedding light on decades of mental, physical, and sexual abuse within the independent fundamental Baptist movement. |
| 0:20.4 | The testimony shared on this podcast are told from the personal experience and perspective of the survivors. |
| 0:26.8 | Not all legal outcomes are known or final. |
| 0:29.8 | Any suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. |
| 0:34.4 | Now, here is your host, Eric Squarsinski. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Preacher |
| 0:39.8 | voice podcast. I am beyond excited for today's episode because when I started the Preacher |
| 0:45.7 | voice podcast in 2020, I started thinking about experts and commentators and authors that I wanted |
| 0:52.7 | to be able to talk to at some point through the |
| 0:55.7 | course of the show. And near the top of the list, if not at the top of the list, was today's |
| 1:01.6 | guest, Dr. Stephen Hassan. Dr. Hassan is a leading cult expert who wrote the incredible book |
| 1:08.2 | Combating Cult Mind Control, he wrote Freedom of Mind, and he wrote the recent book, combating cult mind control, he wrote freedom of mind, and he wrote |
| 1:12.5 | the recent book, The Cult of Trump. And he's the one who developed the popular bite model to |
| 1:17.5 | determine whether a group is using authoritarian control. And he's just a brilliant expert in |
| 1:24.9 | the world of cults and high control groups. And so he's the perfect guest |
| 1:29.4 | for this podcast. So on today's show, we talk a little bit about his background. We talk a little bit |
| 1:34.9 | about some of his biggest influences. We talk about how things have changed since the mid-80s when |
| 1:39.8 | he wrote combating cult mind control to today with the advent of the internet and all the different |
| 1:46.8 | ways that cults have really changed and the way we consume information itself has changed. |
| 1:52.0 | And so I enjoyed this conversation. |
| 1:54.1 | I really hope you enjoy it as well. |
| 1:56.0 | I think it's packed with a lot of great information, a ton of fantastic book recommendations, |
... |
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