The Gaslight Effect Podcast

018 - Cults, Mind Control, and How it Can Happen to You


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On this episode Dr. Robin Stern interviews her friend and colleague Dr. Steven Hassan.

Dr. Hassan is a leading expert on cults and has dedicated his life to preventative education and helping people recover from their own experiences.

Dr. Hassan is the author of four books: Combating Cult Mind Control; Releasing The Bonds; Freedom Of Mind; and his most recent book, The Cult Of Trump.

Dr. Hassan describes in great detail how he became part of a cult in college, the techniques that were used on him (and ultimately by him) to exert mind control, and the steps he took to get out.

Dr. Hassan describes mind control as a three step process:

  • Unfreezing the person's identity
  • Indoctrination
  • Refreezing the person's new identity

Robin and Steven discuss the influence of cell phones on the masses and the flood of information from sometimes radical sources.

Dr. Stern and Dr. Hassan also explain that human beings are emotionally driven, rationalize a lot, and are incredibly adaptive to people in their environment as well as to leaders that they think are legitimate.

Dr. Hassan identifies the signs to look for if you think someone you know may be in a cult, and the importance of showing love toward that person to help them break free. As Dr. Hassan says, "Love is stronger than mind control."

To see the full transcript of this episode and to listen to other episodes, head over to robinstern.com, and pelase be sure to leave a rating and review wherever you listen to this podcast!

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The Gaslight Effect PodcastBy Robin Stern

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