Steven Hassan, PhD Profile picture
World-renowned expert on cults. The creator of the BITE Model and the Influence Continuum. I specialize in healing & the Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA).
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Jun 11, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
I am so frustrated and disappointed in mainstream media. I wish they would educate themselves and their people about social psychology and teach people things that are true and that will actually minimize violence instead amplifying it. Are they really ignorant about fundamentals Of how our minds work? When you tell someone, Don’t think of a white horse,” what happens next? When you amplify extremists threatening violence, without a frame that explains and contains it, you are making the problem worse. The only way to combat 4th and 5th generation warfare
Jan 21, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Believe in “The Law of Attraction?” Well, I don’t. It is magical thinking and can prove to be very dangerous. If it worked, one would win the lottery every time. Or one would have the perfect job. Relationship. Of course, having achievable goals are essential. I believe in the Power of visualization to help motivate and direct us with insight and creative manifestations. Yes, there are many mysteries. I have experienced fully formed poems coming out without any conscious intentional planning. I believe in the power of the mind: to control pain and
Nov 27, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
Chinese online netcitizens are applying my BITE Model of Authoritarian Control to the Chinese Communist Party! Matthew Bywater sent this to me. He lived in China and presented with me at IALMH.org Congress in Lyon, France this past summer. He is working on having “Freedom of Mind” a human right!
Nov 14, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
'We are not a cult!' GOP senator insists that Donald Trump is not the 'leader' of the Republican Party - Alternet.org alternet.org/2022/11/we-are… Any politician that not only is a 2020 election denier but has espoused the crazy ideology of QAnon that equates Dems as Satanic and hasn’t renounced these, said Trump lost and is a liar, or actually was involved in #Jan6th violent coup attempt IS in The Cult of Trump!
Nov 10, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
I have been encouraged to share stories of malignant narcissist cult leaders who refused to stop when confronted by law, authorities etc. Moon was convicted and went to comfortable jail for 13 months. The Organization spun his conviction of conspiracy to being persecuted as an Asian religious leader. Moonies spent over $30 million on PR campaign that included telling all media that referring to group as “Moonies” was like the n word for black people. I could go on and on with cult leaders who think they are Jesus, or an Apostle or Prophet who believe
Nov 10, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Social media and political polarization in America | 60 Minutes via @YouTube I love @tristanharris and his work. Watch this interview! Watch the Social Dilemma doc. Also, I did a talk at MIT for TEDx a few years ago at and I titled it: Is Technology Controlling Our Minds? Please check it out. Then check out
Nov 8, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
When I submitted my manuscript to my editor at Simon & Schuster, she advised me to take Putin out of the #1 puppetmaster slot in chapter 7 after Bill Barr (yes former AG of Trump) stated the Mueller report said there was no Russian meddling. I refused. And btw, same Barr who Testified he told Trump there was no stolen election- that no evidence existed. Same one who didn’t want to be involved in violent coup attempt on Jan 6th. Same Barr who had been on Opus Dei Board of Directors in DC mission. Also I did 2-part blog and interview with Craig Unger
Nov 2, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
When Heavens Gate members followed instructions to their death, former 15 year member appeared in the media saying it wasn’t a cult and that “who can tell they didn’t go to Heaven.” He was ready to follow them and take his life. Fortunately he agreed to let me help counsel Him. He told me he had left 5 years earlier. I asked him why he left? Dick told me he had made a promise to himself that when he joined that if they started talking about killing themselves like Peoples Temple did (Nov. 18th 1978) he would leave. Which he did but until
Oct 29, 2022 13 tweets 4 min read
Autocracy Inc. Is a criminal network. I agreed with everything but the huge missing piece is my area of expertise: authoritarian cults that use brainwashing and mind control through the media, especially social media. Educating everyone about the Influence Continuum / BITE Model Is essential. Applying and expanding anti-trafficking law to codify brainwashing into legal systems around the world is important step. Leigh misses how cult leaders use religion and spirituality to program people with anti-democratic ideologies- using fear and hate to motivate
Sep 24, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
I was honored to be in this essential documentary featuring former big supporters of Trump who wish to express their disillusionment with Trump. IMPO, we should do more to amplifying voices of morality and sanity! #igotout of the Moon cult. Let’s please create a Wide off-ramp to the millions still under mind control. Destigmatize being human and making an error to trust an untrustworthy leader and group! Believe me. When the bubble burst, it was like warm sunlight coming into a dark room. I cried and cried and then I realized that
Sep 5, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
I watched an advanced copy of @yarivmozer ‘s excellent, well researched and executed documentary on the architect of mass murder of Jews-Eichmann. Audiotapes of him boasting about how many he had killed stands in stark contrast to the public person who was correctly found guilty Anyone American who aligns with Hitler and Nazis and attempts Holocaust denial will have trouble denying the truth. Eichmann was a racist and a cold blooded ideologically committed Nazi. So why did he completely wimp out on “the cause” by claiming he was “just following orders?”
Sep 4, 2022 9 tweets 3 min read
When I was deceptively recruited into the Moon cult in 1974, I was indoctrinated to believe democracy was Satanic and that God wanted a theocracy run by Sun Myung Moon. Moon told us to fast for 3 days on the Capitol steps for Nixon during Watergate. Fortunately, I snapped out of it. You see, before my brainwashing I disliked Nixon intensely. But I was programmed to obey blindly, lest I be possessed by demons because “Satan was the God of this world.” I was a Jew from Queens (grew up 1.3 miles from Trump, in fact) and did not believe in
Sep 2, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
The Cult of Cult Apologists: Massimo Introvigne Part 1 scientologymoneyproject.com/2022/08/13/the… Ever heard of The Scientology Money Project? It was created by journalist ex- Scientologist Jeffrey Augustine in an effort to “follow the money” and educate the public about the criminal activity and improper granting of tax exemption to that authoritarian cult. This is a very
Jul 30, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Abe murder spotlights Unification Church controversy in Japan japantoday.com/category/natio… My 1988 book published in Japanese. Updated book in English and made Combating only one “t.” amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9E%E3%8…
Jul 25, 2022 11 tweets 3 min read
The Cult of Trump, as I wrote in my 2019 book, is comprised of many different authoritarian cults. Most are political, ideological cults that lie to gain power. New Apostolic Reformation- look them up- these are not following Jesus’-teachings, or The Bible Nor do they respect human rights for all. #FreedomofMind includes freedom to get educated, get medical treatment, to NOT believe in any religion, the right to LEAVE any group if you don’t believe in it anymore. @RepRaskin is a tireless defender of democracy and I continue to
Jul 18, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Watanabe, a representative of the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, holds a "holy book" of the predecessor of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification during a press conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on July 12, 2022. (Mainichi/Shota Harumashi) Spiritual Sales was the largest consumer fraud scam - which was perpetrated by the Moon cult. At this meeting in Japan and former member hid her identity behind a screen and described being raised in the cult. She had horrible experiences in mass weddings. She was matched and
Jul 10, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
My sources in Japan tell me the Moon cult is going to have a press conference regarding the assassin. I warn the media that my former cult has a documented history of fraud and illegal activities and to be careful not to believe anything they say without verification. Also, the media needs to understand that after Sun Myung Moon’s death in 2012, a schism took place. The main group follows Hak Ja Han- his wife, while Sean and Justin Moon, her sons try to steal billions. I heard Sean Moon was in Nara the week earlier, so there is possibility, the assassin
Jul 8, 2022 16 tweets 5 min read
I relied on @kathsstewart’s accurate research and trustworthiness as I researched The Cult of Trump. @FredClarkson introduced me to her important work. To fix what has been metastasizing over the past 46 years since my deprogramming from Moon cult requires strategy and resources. But I believe we can reclaim our power and human rights from malignant narcissists who believe they are above the law. Correctly diagnosing the disease is the beginning and critically important first step. It can and will lead to saving our planet. What we need is
Mar 31, 2022 11 tweets 3 min read
I knew Ginni Thomas. Ginni Thomas was in a cult (the large group awareness training cult, Lifespring). Here she is in 1989 speaking at an event I hosted for former members. Until today, almost NO one has seen this video. As you'll probably notice, Ginni seems likable (and she was)! After she left Lifespring, she got heavily involved in the movement to HELP former cult members exit cults. She also organized a cult awareness briefing for congressional staffers in the late eighties.
Mar 21, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Really important interview with Sarah, Nippy and Sarma- Wharton School graduate, celebrity Vegan restauranteur victimized by a con artist who mind controlled her. Doc “Bad Vegan” unfortunately doesn’t explain hypnosis and mind control! Listen to this! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-l… Interestingly, the NXIVM cult was near Sarma’s restaurant and so they loved eating there. I watched Bad Vegan and talked with Sarma after it’s release and I told her he must have been covertly hypnotizing her. She then told me that law enforcement found screenshots of NLP
Feb 26, 2022 10 tweets 2 min read
The USSR was an authoritarian cult and Putin himself was indoctrinated! Remember, he was a KGB recruiter/ officer. I was invited to Moscow in 1992/3 to teach about cult mind control to psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors. Western cults were flooding into Russia. 1/10 The experience was life-changing for me and everyone I met. BTW, my grandmother on my father’s side was a Jew from Moscow. I felt a warmth being there, despite the hardship all around me, surrounded by huge portraits of Communist leaders. As I explained the BITE model of 2/10