Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

The Trump University grift followed the same playbook as many predatory organizations, like Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) organizations. Victims are hooked through legitimate sounding offers, like a weekend sales course for $1,500. However, once the victims attend the weekend sales course, they are pressured into buying more courses for more money to achieve goals too good to be true. It’s a classic...

In this era of political polarization, the landscape in the United States is marked by the rise of Donald Trump as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election. This despite Trump facing numerous legal challenges–including over his involvement in the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol. However, Trump and his supporters are but the most visible elemen...

Neşe Devenot is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Institute for Research in Sensing (IRiS) at the University of Cincinnati and the Medicine, Society & Culture Research Fellow at Psymposia. I decided to use the title of her profoundly important journal article for this podcast. Psychedelics are all the rage. When I gave a talk at the American Psychiatric Association, there were many, many talks about...

Natural medicine might seem distant from the far-right fringes of society until you dig a little deeper and find the wealth of ‘wellness products’ being sold alongside political conspiracies. There is a constant quest for increasing well-being and less ‘toxic’ lifestyles. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories drain resources and instill fears, including political plots, controls, and cabals. It happens i...

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the founder of iCivics, said, "The practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned by each new generation." It is the continuing mission of the iCivics organization and its current Chief Executive Officer, Louise Dubé, to ensure that future generations of Americans receive meaningful, high-quality, non-partisa...

Laura E. Anderson, PhD, was raised in a Christian family and experienced first hand what religious trauma is all about. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a Ph. D. in Mind Body Medicine from Saybrook University. She specializes in complex trauma, with a particular focus on domestic violence, sexualized violence, and religious trauma. Her new book is When Religion Hurts You: Heali...

Legally released from an unenforceable NDA, the former 2016 campaign staffer discusses the cult-building tactics, Russian interference, and the who’s who of bad actors behind the scenes of the Trump campaign. Joining the campaign when then-candidate Trump was polling last in the GOP field, Alva is one of the very few former campaign staffers who worked under Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, Dave...

In this New Year, we offer an episode on healthy, ethical influence. What is Integrative Psychology? What is “organization of mind?” If a person is interested in embodied mind practices, which include concentration meditation training, it takes very specialized training and practice to navigate this terrain effectively. Nigel Denning is a Counselling Psychologist and managing director of Integrati...

Ever wonder about basic training in the military? What about how the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control applies to military personnel? With so many veterans who have returned to society, many do not seem to have been given the necessary psychological support to integrate and thrive. There is large amounts of active trauma as well as a high suicide rate. In 2022, Daniella Mestyanek Young acclaimed...

Sochil Martin is a Mexican-American woman who was born and raised in a religious high control group called La Luz del Mundo (LDM), which claims to have over 5 million members in 58 countries worldwide. This group was established in 1926 and features a power structure like New Apostolic Reformation megachurches. It has been very involved in politics. LDM has been a part of Sochil’s family for four...

Navigating a deeply divided, polarized world filled with vulnerable souls to the siren calls of conspiracy theories, I find it essential to shine a light on the shadows where undue influence thrives. In this discussion with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, we discuss the subtle and often sinister ways authoritarianism intertwines with the psychological mechanisms of control. We connect the dots from my e...

Monica C. Parker has authored a remarkable book which was such a positive in the current concerning times. It is titled, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live Learn and Lead. Our conversation delved into how this powerful emotion could revolutionize learning, relationships, work, and societal interactions in today’s world, increasingly fragmented by polar...

Human trafficking is defined in international law as the use of fraud, force, or coercion to enslave people. It is a scourge that operates not just through physical coercion but through the devastating use of mind control, a method of psychological enslavement. Rebecca Bender is a courageous survivor and advocate who works tirelessly to empower survivors, train law enforcement, do expert witness w...

Did you know that Koch Corporation is the second largest private business in the United States? That Fred Koch, father of David Koch, helped to found the John Birch Society? That Koch is one of the largest corporate lobbying entities in America. That their belief is libertarianism is a destructive ideology that undermines government functioning? That they have been promoting climate science denial...

In his latest book, Seeing Through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth About Marijuana, Peter Grinspoon, M.D. has written an excellent, comprehensive, and authoritative book. Grinspoon is a primary care doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has been a medical cannabis specialist for over twenty-five years. Dr. Grinspoo...

Philip Goldberg has been studying the world’s spiritual traditions for more than 50 years as a practitioner, teacher, and author. An ordained Interfaith Minister, spiritual counselor, and public speaker, he has presented at major venues throughout the U.S. and has been featured in numerous publications. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 books,and his latest offering is Spiritual Practice...

Do you worry about your teenager's safety and fear they could fall into the deceptive webs of manipulative, cult-like groups? Are you a desperate parent seeking intervention services for your struggling teen? If so, you can't afford to miss this interview with Melanie, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a survivor of the infamous Troubled Teen Industry —a largely unregulated web of residential...

Growing up in the Assemblies of God, the second-largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States with approximately three million members, Paul Jensen witnessed firsthand the controversial culture and beliefs that define this religious movement. Founded in 1914 and initially considered a fringe group by mainstream Protestant denominations, the Assemblies of God gradually gained acceptance. Ho...

In a world marked by political extremes, high-control groups, and the Influence Continuum, the story of Rich Logis stands out as both compelling and enlightening. Formerly a true believer pundit for the MAGA movement, Rich’s transformation offers a deep dive into the mechanics of belief, mind control, the allure of belonging, and the power of self-reflection and transformation. Rich Logis was a po...

Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGATs) bill themselves as transformational multi-day workshops. You often feel pressured to attend, perhaps by your corporation or a family member or friend, and you are deliberately not told what will happen there. These workshops often utilize eight to twelve-hour marathon sessions to wear down a person's identity. According to research by South African Dr. John...

Esther Friedman is an expressive therapist and former five-year member of the Odyssey Study Group (OSG), a secretive cult utilizing the Gurdjieff ideology. Her excellent book is The Gentle Souls Revolution: A Secret Cult, an Open Rebellion, and Lessons in Protecting and Honoring Your Gentle Soul. This memoir and guide offer valuable insights and guidance for survivors of narcissistic abuse. It ser...

One of the hottest topics in modern psychology is utilizing psychedelics to aid psychotherapy. Research is being conducted on the potentially beneficial use of substances like psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and MDMA in a controlled environment. In recent years, it’s gotten attention for its efficacy in treating treatment-resistant depression and PTSD, addiction, and end-of-life anxiety. Related to this is...

Ramadan was freed from prison on March 15th 2023, after 51 years of incarceration by  the parole board and finally Governor Baker who commuted his life sentence. A Vietnam vet Shabazz suffered PTSD and drug addiction upon his return from service and got involved in armed robbery that  resulted in the deaths of two innocent people. He was initially sentenced to death. Ramadan Shabazz is a rare succ...

With Scientologist celebrity Danny Masterson being sentenced to 30 years in jail for brutal rapes recently, I want people to hear from a woman who was forced to grow up in this notorious cult., Katherine Spallino, the author of a new book, The Bad Cadet: Growing Up in the Church of Scientology’s Sea Organization, has had quite a life journey. Katherine grew up on a secluded ranch within the cadet...

I speak with the acclaimed psychiatrist and my mentor, Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., about his new book, Surviving Our Catastrophes: Resilience and Renewal from Hiroshima to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Lifton’s research on thought reform and the psychology of totalism, specifically his study on “brainwashing” in China, has been widely regarded as groundbreaking. His book Thought Reform and the Psychology of...