Why Do People Join Cults? | Steven Hassan

Steven Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor who has been educating the public about mind control, brainwashing, and destructive cults since 1976. He’s the author of Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults and the founder of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center. ✍️ Full show notes and worksheet for this episode: What We Discuss with Steven Hassan: 🧠 What to do if you suspect you’ve been targeted for recruitment by a cult. 🧠 How to tell if your friends and family are being affected by a cult. 🧠 What you should and shouldn’t say to someone you’re trying to rescue from a cult. 🧠 How phobia indoctrination keeps a cult’s potential defectors tethered to its undue influence by fear (and how Steven helps people break this indoctrination). 🧠 Why Steven is optimistic that we’ve reached a turning point at which the bulk of humanity is wakin