Steven Hassan
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| Steven Hassan | |
|---|---|
 Steven Alan Hassan
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| Born | 1956 United States |
| Occupation | anti-cult activist Director, Center for Freedom of Mind |
Steven Alan Hassan is an anti-cult activist and director of the Center for Freedom of Mind. He served as an expert witness to the 1977-1978 congressional inquiry that produced the United States Congressional Report on the Unification Church, and has appeared on 60 Minutes, Nightline, Dateline, Larry King Live, and The O'Reilly Factor.
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[edit] Education
Hassan holds a master's degree in psychology from Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts and is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as a nationally certified counselor (NCC).
[edit] Background
Hassan, who is Jewish by birth, was himself recruited into the Unification Church in the 1970s, at the age of 19, while studying at Queens College, and spent over two years recruiting and indoctrinating new members, as well as fundraising, campaigning, and personally meeting with Sun Myung Moon. [1] Hassan says in Combatting Cult Mind Control that he "ultimately rose to the rank of Assistant Director of the Unification Church at National Headquarters."
After his leg was broken in a van accident, his parents contacted former members of the Unification Church who engaged in a deprogramming session with Hassan, and convinced him to leave the organization.
Following the Jonestown tragedy in 1979, Hassan founded a non-profit organization called "Ex-Moon Inc.," whose membership consisted of over 400, of the perhaps 90,000, former members of the Unification Church.
Around 1980, Hassan began investigating many methods of persuasion, mind control and indoctrination. At this time he attended a seminar with Richard Bandler and John Grinder (the co-founders of Neuro-Linguistic Programming) on hypnosis. Later Steven Hassan moved to Santa Cruz, California to start an apprenticeship with transformational grammarian, John Grinder (p.32, Hassan, 1990).
His first book, Combatting Cult Mind Control (1990), compared his cult experiences with Robert Jay Lifton's description of brainwashing methods from Korea. The sociologist Eileen Barker, who has studied the Unification Church, has commented on the book[2]. She expressed several concerns but nevertheless recommended the book.
[edit] Methodology
For details see: BITE model
In his first book, Hassan describes cult mind control using the criteria from Robert Lifton which he relates in detail to his experiences with the Unification Church:
- milieu control (controlled relations with the outer world)
- mystic manipulation (the group has a higher purpose than the rest)
- confession (confess past and present sins)
- self-sanctification through purity (pushing the individual towards an unattainable perfection)
- aura of sacred science (beliefs of the group are sacrosanct and perfect)
- loaded language (new meanings to words, encouraging black-and-white thinking)
- doctrine over person (the group is more important than the individual)
- dispensed existence (insiders are saved, outsiders are doomed)
Ten years later, in Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, he developed his own mind-control model, "BITE", which stands for Behavior, Information, Thoughts, and Emotions. Hassan contends that cults recruit members through a three-step process which he refers to as "unfreezing," "changing," and "refreezing," respectively. This involves the use of an extensive array of various techniques, including systematic deception, behavior modification, withholding of information, and emotionally intense persuasion techniques (such as the creation of phobias), which he collectively terms mind control. He calls such groups "destructive cults," a term that he defines by the methods used to recruit and retain members, and the effect that such methods have on members, rather than by the theological/sociological/moral views the group espouses. He is opposed to the so-called non-consensual deprogramming of cult members, and supports instead counseling them in order that they withdraw voluntarily from the organization. He writes:
My mind control model outlines many key elements that need to be controlled: Behavior, Information, Thoughts and Emotions (BITE). If these four components can be controlled, then an individual's identity can be systematically manipulated and changed. Destructive mind control takes the 'locus of control' away from an individual. The person is systematically deceived about the beliefs and practices of the person (or group) and manipulated throughout the recruitment process — unable to make informed choices and exert independent judgment. The person's identity is profoundly influenced through a set of social influence techniques and a "new identity" is created — programmed to be dependent on the leader or group ideology. The person can't think for him or herself, but believes otherwise. [3]
[edit] Books
- Combatting Cult Mind Control, 1990. ISBN 0-89281-311-3.
- Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, 2000. ISBN 0-9670688-0-0.
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Deprogramming
Hassan says that he took part in a number of forcible deprogrammings in the late 1970s—including one in which a Unification Church member was kept tied in his home for two days[4]—and has spoken out against them since 1980.[5][6] He claims that he has not participated in any deprogrammings since then, even though page 114 of Combatting, he states that depogrammings can be kept as last resort if all other attempts fail. He is one of the major proponents of exit counseling as a form of intervention therapy, and he refers to his method as "strategic intervention therapy."
Hassan says he spent one year assisting with deprogrammings before turning to less controversial methods. (See exit counseling.) Lawyer Andy Bacus of the Unification Church, against whom Hassan spoke to Congress as an expert witness, told the Illinois Senate Committee on Education on December 7, 1993 that:
Steve Hassan ... is an ex-member of the Unification Church who was involuntarily deprogrammed. He has spent the last 15 years deprogramming other persons. Mr. Hassan has been most active recently in providing "exit counseling" to members of the Boston Church of Christ. Like other "exit counselors", Hassan relies on the mind control theories of Margaret Singer to justify his actions. [1]
John B. Brown of the "Pagan Unity Campaign" has criticized that page 114 of Hassan's book, Combating Cult Mind Control reads, "Forcible intervention can be kept as a last resort if all other attempts fail," indicating that Hassan might resort to a forcible intervention if all other attempts fail. [7]
[edit] Website
Hassan's website Freedom of Mind is often referenced by other websites as an authoritative and impartial main source on cults and cult identification. Reader discussion take place in an associated Yahoo! group, called freedomofmind. In its discussion of Hassan, The Religious Movements Homepage Project notes that Hassan's “entrepreneurial tendencies are baldly evident on his home page.”[8] Hassan also became involved in a dispute with fellow anti-cult activist Rick Ross when Ross posted a disclaimer on his page after receiving what he claimed were “serious complaints” regarding Hassan’s fees for his services.[9] Hassan responded that the charges were “inappropriate and completely inaccurate,” claiming that Ross has misstated his actual fee schedule.[10]
On his website he distinguishes between destructive cults and benign cults. Destructive cults, according to Hassan, have a "pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control." and "uses deception in recruiting new members." In contrast, benign cults are according to Hassan, "any group of people who have a set of beliefs and rituals that are non-mainstream." The website further states that "as long as people are freely able to choose to join with full disclosure of the group's doctrine and practices and can choose to disaffiliate without fear or harassment, then it doesn't fall under the behavioral/ psychological destructive cult category."[11]
Many of the groups Hassan labels cults in his site are not included in the more respected [citation needed] Handbook of Cults and Sects in America. [12] There is in any event considerable disagreement about what precisely constitutes a cult. The term New Religious Movement is preferred by many academics. [13]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Excerpt from Hassan's biography on his website
- ^ Church Times (UK) 23rd November, 1990 p. 13]
- ^ Resources page on Freedom of Mind website
- ^ Affidavit of Joanne Roselle
- ^ Mind Warrior. New Therapist 24, March/April 2003.
- ^ Refuting the Disinformation Attacks Put Forth by Destructive Cults and their Agents
- ^ Jehovah's Witnesses and the Anticult Movement: Human Rights Issues, John B. BROWN, presented at CESNUR 2006 International Conference
- ^ Religious Movements Homepage Project. Cult Group Controversies: The Anti-Cult Movement.
- ^ Rick Ross Responds to his Critics/Steven Hassan.
- ^ Steve Hassan. Response to Rick Ross’s Personal Attack on me.
- ^ From the FAQ of Steven Hassan's website available online (retrieved August 2006)
"2. What is the difference between a destructive cult and a benign cult?
A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception in recruiting new members (e.g. people are NOT told up front what the group is, what the group actually believes and what will be expected of them if they become members). It also uses mind control techniques to keep people dependent and obedient. [..]
Benign cult groups are any group of people who have a set of beliefs and rituals that are non-mainstream. As long as people are freely able to choose to join with full disclosure of the group's doctrine and practices and can choose to disaffiliate without fear or harassment, then it doesn't fall under the behavioral/ psychological destructive cult category." - ^ University of Virginia NRM page - Handbook of Cults and Sects in America
- ^ New Religious Movements - University of Virginia site
[edit] External links
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center, Steve Hassan's website
- Steven Hassan: The Strategic Interaction Approach
- Hassan's reply to accusations of deprogramming
- endorsements of Hassan
- Profile of Steven Hassan, International Cultic Studies Association
- How "Exit Counseling" Mirrors Cult Recruiting
- Media
- Geraldo Rivera, 1991 program, Steven Hassan appeared on program with Heber Jentzsch
