Combating Cult Mind Control

The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults

By: Steven Hassan

Narrated by: Daniel Greenberg

Dr. Stephen Hassan, a world-renowned cult expert with firsthand experience of escaping the Unification Church Cult in the 1970s (often referred to as The Moonies), offers his critical insights in the landmark book “Combatting Cult Mind Control. The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults.” This essential guide explores the methods by which groups and individuals can manipulate people's minds and behaviors in a subtle and covert manner. Hassan combines his personal narrative with extensive psychological research to provide strategies for protection, intervention, and healing for those affected by destructive cults.

In this volume you will find:

● Stories of people who fell under the sway of cults and other forms of undue influence but who were able to break free

● New information on the many sophisticated ways social media are now used for mind control

● Updates on the many types of organizations that use mind control

● Information on the neuroscience behind mind control

Hassan lays out a clear, research-based path for understanding and countering manipulative influences. The book introduces the Freedom of Mind approach, Hassan's own method developed from psychological principles aimed at helping people reclaim their autonomy from manipulative influences.

Using scholarly evidence and straightforward discussion, "Combating Mind Control" provides an informative guide for recognizing, understanding, and resisting undue influence, emphasizing the power of informed, critical thinking, and personal autonomy.

©1988 Steven Hassan (P)2018 Steven Hassan

Compelling and coherent

Although long, this is a must-read/listen for everyone trying to understand why good people could end up in terrible situations, conspiracies and crazy organizations...
It is clear that this is a refined and re-revisited edition along many years, as it seems very easy to digest, despite its massive amount of information.

Very Insightful

It helped solidify my knowledge that my JW ex-husband has two different identities. I will use this book to keep my children educated.

My guide to healing and protection from coercive control

As a former cult member from age 12-28. Me and my younger sister were under coercive control of my mother and our cult leader who she was having an affair with for 25 years. To this day his original family has no idea we and the cult existed. At least not to the degree that it did. We experienced psychic abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, non contact sexual abuse, mystical manipulation, and severe coercive control. Primarily because we believed the cult leader had full psychic abilities. On a god level we believed he knew our every thoughts, past and future, including other lives. Also, that he had the ability to control our lives, good or bad. He claimed to have the power to control the weather. I had no autonomy in my own mind for 16 years. I’m now 10 years in of breaking free on a fundamental level. It was one and a half years after cutting my Mom and this man out of mine and my daughters life when I had a full blown existential crisis experiencing paralysis for several hours. I had no idea who I was or what I believed.

That being said I just listened to and bought the book. This book has already help, healed, guided, explained, and given so much hope. I can’t wait to listen to it again. I know I’ll reach deeper layers of new understanding of what I have experienced. And so much more than that is why I am the way I am today. Because I just can’t seem to stay away from coercive control situations. At least the time frames have gotten shorter. That Steve’s book provides defense against coercive control I finally feel hope that I can make different choices in the future. I feel extra susceptible because of my early indoctrination into a cult at age 12.

Thank so deeply Steve Hassan for writing this book and sharing your story. It’s a wealth of knowledge in a world where cults seem to be everywhere I look. Especially in America

~Melissa Suzanne Banford

Dr. Hassan speaks truth!

As a Jehovah's witness who is in the process of waking up from my indoctrination, I must say that this book is a powerful resource to help in taking the veil off of what I have been indoctrinated to believe for so many years! Dr. Hassan tells the truth about cults in this book. I am thankful that I dared to read it, and recommend that everyone read it!

Great tool for evaluating

This is an incredible tool for evaluating situations and even helping people in abusive situations.

Amazing book

Everyone should read this book. It will help you in life, and help your friends and family if you have concerns about what they may be getting into.

A great book filled of testimonials and advice

It's a bit long and there are moments in several chapters which are mildly repetitive. It doesn't go into explicit details of any one cult, and delves deepest into the Moonies as this was the one Steven Hassan escaped, but it is well worth the read.

It provides a clear and academic framework to determine whether or not a group is a "destructive cult," the effects of participating in them, advice for how to escape the cult for members and their families, and testimonials of past members and attempts to rescue the victims of these groups.

There is no mysticism in Steven's words and while it focuses extensively on "mind control," it is not in a magical way at all and is grounded in legitimate psychology.

It is definitely essential reading for those interested in this subject, my harshest criticism is that it can be a bit dry at times.

Amazing Book for Both Survivors, and Their Family

As a cult survivor, I have found so much in this book to be incredibly helpful. I have only listened to the book once, and plan to listen to it again in a few days, as it recommends. However, it has already helped me unearth and recognize so many behaviors I have suffered through in the previous years. More so, it mentions a group that I used to be involved with and didn't realize it was also a cult until Steven Hassan mentioned it by name and started describing part of my early twenties. I cannot stress enough how important, and useful this book is. It is worth it.

Excellent

Excellent primer for anyone wanting to understand coercive control and how cults work. Thank you.

Fantastic and well presented.

This is a great book, especially if you have a weird fascination with cults like me!