8.6 /10 1 Votes
Language English Subject Cults, Mind control Media type Print (Hardcover) Originally published 1988 Genre Non-fiction Country United States of America | 4.3/5 Goodreads Series Freedom of Mind Press Publication date 1988 Pages 256 pp Followed by Releasing the Bonds | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher Inner Traditions – Bear & Company Similar Cult books, Non-fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The b i t e model of cult mind control from steven hassan s book combatting cult mind control
Combatting Cult Mind Control is a non-fiction work by Steven Hassan described as a "Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults." The author discusses theories of mind control and cults based on the research of Margaret Singer and Robert Lifton as well as the cognitive dissonance theory of Leon Festinger. Park Street Press, a New age and alternative beliefs publisher, first published the book in 1988. In 2015, Hassan's own Freedom of Mind Press issued a revised 25th anniversary edition, Combating Cult Mind Control, featuring Hassan's new analysis of how coercive groups use social media to gain undue influence and updates on organizations that he alleges practice mind control.
Contents
- The b i t e model of cult mind control from steven hassan s book combatting cult mind control
- Positive Viewpoints
- Critical Viewpoints
- References
Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is a former member of the Unification Church.
Positive Viewpoints
The book has been reviewed in the American Journal of Psychiatry, and in the The Lancet.
The book was well received by other authors on the subject, such as Dr. Margaret Singer, Rabbi James A. Rudin and conservative Rabbi and theologian Harold S. Kushner. Singer writes:
"...A major contribution...For the first time, a skilled and ethical exit counselor has spelled out the details of the complicated yet understandable process of helping free a human being from the bondage of mental manipulation.....Steve Hassan has written a 'how to do something about it' book."
The book, according to the author's website, has been re-published in seven different languages.
Critical Viewpoints
John B. Brown II of the "Pagan Unity Campaign" criticized a policy stated in the book (page 114) which says that although Hassan had '"decided not to participate in forcible interventions, believing it was imperative to find another approach"', "Forcible intervention can be kept as a last resort if all other attempts fail." Brown states that this indicates that Hassan advocates resorting to a forcible intervention if all other attempts fail.
According to Douglas Cowan, in this book Hassan utilizes a language opposing "freedom" and "captivity", based on the conceptual framework of brainwashing and thought control, and the alleged abuses of civil liberties and human rights. He writes that these are the precipitating motivation for secular anticultists such as Hassan.
Irving Hexham, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, writes that Hassan's description of destructive cults (page 37), as "a group which violates the rights of its members and damages them through the abusive techniques of unethical mind control" is not helpful as he fails to describe how to decide if a group is a cult or not, what are "abusive techniques" and what is "mind control".
As the title explicitly indicates, Combatting Cult Mind Control falls squarely within the category of books whose authors adopt anti-cult movement theories and rhetoric concerning new religious movements, including the theory that participants in such movements are "victims" of "mind control." This theory is not universally accepted by scholars of religion. Other theories concerning new religious movements attribute free will and informed choice to the participants, and challenge the mind control model put forward by the author here.