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Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

The Gaslight Report: Understanding Narcissism, Addiction, and Neuroscience with Frank R. George, PhD

Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.7843 Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2026

⏱️ 66 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. Frank R. George is an internationally recognized authority in psychology, neuroscience, narcissism, and addiction. Through his Substack newsletter, The Gaslight Report, he demystifies pathological narcissism, explores its underlying causes, and offers practical strategies that readers can apply in their own lives. Over many years, his research has spanned neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and genetics as they relate to the field of addictions. He currently ranks among the top 1% of Google Scholars worldwide, with nearly 200 publications and over 30 patents. Additionally, he has received almost 4,000 citations for his work in the scientific literature. Dr. George explained that there is a growing amount of scientific evidence showing an overlap between symptoms of addiction and traits of narcissism, even to the extent that functional MRI reveals distinct neural activation patterns in individuals with that personality type. Similarly, withdrawal patterns appear when the person does not receive their preferred types of attention. “What do you see when a narcissist is not getting all that supply? They go through what’s called narcissistic rage, narcissistic collapse, and it just overlaps with withdrawal,” he said. This is a really important interview shedding light on Trump and other malignant narcissist cult leaders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Hassan with another episode of my podcast, cults, culture, and coercion.

0:10.9

And I have a distinguished guest with me. I've been looking forward to this interview for a long time.

0:17.3

Dr. Frank R. George is a PhD in psychology from the University of Colorado.

0:22.6

He's an internationally established expert in psychology, neuroscience, narcissism, and addictions.

0:30.6

He was a senior fellow and chief of behavioral and biomedical, biochemical genetics at the National Institutes of Health for six years.

0:41.9

Dr. George, man, of you definitely rock it, currently ranks within the top 1% of Google Scholars

0:49.8

worldwide with nearly 200 publications, over 30 patents worldwide.

0:55.8

Wow.

0:57.0

Your work's been cited nearly 4,000 times in scientific literature.

1:02.3

And for us, newbie scholars, that's like, whoa, that's really impressive.

1:09.1

And 10 years ago, noting that pathological narcissism looked very much like a form of addiction,

1:15.8

you morphed your background into a focus on pathological narcissism,

1:21.0

where you've worked ever since.

1:23.4

So you were the head of the Colorado chapter of the duty to warn,

1:27.1

a group composed of tens of

1:28.7

thousands of mental health professionals, including my friend Bandy X. Lee, who edited the

1:35.2

dangerous case of Donald Trump, whose mission has been to warn about Donald Trump being unfit

1:42.5

for office.

1:50.5

You've appeared on 16 minutes, 2020, Rolling Stone, a million other places, your legal expert witness, and you have a substack called The Gaslight Report by Frank George.

1:56.7

I'm on substack too, so we should do a substack live sometime, George.

2:01.6

But welcome.

2:03.3

And please thank you for your work first and foremost.

...

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