freedomofmind.com

[educatedindian]

Good news!

I've been in touch with Steven Hassan, an anti-cult activist and expert on mind control within cults. He's an ex-Moonie who now heads the Freedom of Mind Reseource Center.

He's adding a Shamanism section to his website which will use NAFPS as the main resource. This should get our views to a much wider audience.
http://www.freedomofmind.com

A profile of Hassan.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/h12.html

There's a quote from one of his books that I think can help us understand why twinkies are the way they are.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/books/releasingbonds.html
"Few people understand that cult indoctrination superimposes a new cult identity that suppresses and controls the individual's authentic identity. Relatives and friends think they are having a conversation with the person they have always known when, in fact, they are probably addressing the cult identity. In most traditional exit-counseling and deprogramming cases, the cult identity is submerged but left intact. The pre-cult identity assumes control, but the cult identity is not fully absorbed and integrated into the new post-cult self. Specialized knowledge and training are required to effectively promote healing."

[Barnaby_McEwan]

That is good news; I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

I'm thinking though that many 'shamanic teachers', though they quite possibly teach this rubbish because they need a steady supply of saps to wield power over, don't fit very well into the usual cult-leader mould (with several obvious exceptions eg Harley Regan).

Perhaps that's just how it looks from my UK perspective. What do other people think?

[Sparks]

Recently, this was posted in the "Member Introductions" section:

I’d like to share one of the sources I have relied upon, a site called Freedom of Mind by Steven Hassan. He explains the BITE method/model for identifying cults. I’ll attach it in case this is ever helpful to anyone else.

Amazingly, even after 17 years, all three links in the first post here still work, so I quoted it over there.

Here is more about the BITE method/model mentioned in the quote above:

Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control

Dissertation published January 2021: “The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law” https://www.proquest.com/docview/2476570146/

Many people think of mind control as an ambiguous, mystical process that cannot be defined in concrete terms.  In reality, mind control refers to a specific set of methods and techniques, such as hypnosis or thought-stopping, that influence how a person thinks, feels, and acts.

Based on research and theory by Robert Jay Lifton, Margaret Singer, Edgar Schein, Louis Jolyon West, and others who studied brainwashing in Maoist China as well as cognitive dissonance theory by Leon Festinger, Steven Hassan developed the BITE Model to describe the specific methods that cults use to recruit and maintain control over people.  “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control.

[Sparks]

Here is more about the BITE method/model mentioned in the quote above:

Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control

There is a link in there: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2476570146/

There the 158-page dissertation can be read and downloaded. 1.3 MB. (Title of download: out.pdf.)

[Sparks]

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FOMInc [Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc.]

See also: https://www.facebook.com/CCMC30 [Combating Cult Mind Control: 30th Anniversary Edition]

There is also this hashtag: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/stevenhassan

Steven Hassan's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/CultExpert

I found this 3-part article by Steven Hassan et al. quite meaningful and interesting:

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/responding-to-authoritarian-cults-and-extreme-exploitations-a-new-framework-to-evaluate-undue-influence
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/a-new-framework-exploring-efficacy
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/putting-the-new-framework-into-practice