Combatting Cult Mind Control
Book Cover
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| Author | Steven Hassan |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Freedom of Mind Press |
| Subject | Cults, Mind control |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Park Street Press |
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Publication date
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1988 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 18382426 |
| 306/.1 19 | |
| LC Class | BP603 .H375 1988 |
| Followed by | Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, 2000 |
Combatting Cult Mind Control is a non-fiction work by Steven Hassan described as a "Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults." The author discusses theories of mind control and cults based on the research of Margaret Singer and Robert Lifton as well as the cognitive dissonance theory of Leon Festinger. Park Street Press, a New age and alternative beliefs publisher, first published the book in 1988. In 2015, Hassan's own Freedom of Mind Press issued a revised 25th anniversary edition, Combating Cult Mind Control, featuring Hassan's new analysis of how coercive groups use social media to gain undue influence and updates on organizations that he alleges practice mind control.
Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is a former member of the Unification Church.
The book has been reviewed in the American Journal of Psychiatry, and in the The Lancet.
The book was well received by other authors on the subject, such as Dr. Margaret Singer, Rabbi James A. Rudin and conservative Rabbi and theologian Harold S. Kushner. Singer writes:
"...A major contribution...For the first time, a skilled and ethical exit counselor has spelled out the details of the complicated yet understandable process of helping free a human being from the bondage of mental manipulation.....Steve Hassan has written a 'how to do something about it' book."
The book, according to the author's website, has been re-published in seven different languages.
John B. Brown II of the "Pagan Unity Campaign" criticized a policy stated in the book (page 114) which says that although Hassan had '"decided not to participate in forcible interventions, believing it was imperative to find another approach"', "Forcible intervention can be kept as a last resort if all other attempts fail." Brown states that this indicates that Hassan advocates resorting to a forcible intervention if all other attempts fail.
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