Steven Hassan

{{Short description|American mental health professional, writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = Steven Hassan
| image       = Steven Hassan 2023.jpg
| caption     = Hassan in 2023
| pseudonym   = 
| birth_date  = {{birth year and age|1954}}
| birth_place = Flushing, Queens, New York, USA
| death_date  = 
| death_place = 
| occupation  = [[Mental health counselor]], writer, lecturer
| nationality = American
| period      = 
| genre       = [[Non-fiction]]
| subject     = [[Psychotherapy]], [[Brainwashing|mind control]], [[cults]]
| movement    = 
| spouse      = Misia Landau
| website     = {{URL|freedomofmind.com}}
| imagesize   = 220px
| influences  = 
| influenced  = 
| alma_mater  = [[Queens College, City University of New York]]<br />[[Cambridge College]]<br />[[Fielding Graduate University]]
| education   = [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]], [[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Master of Education|MEd]], [[LMHC]]<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Montell |first=Amanda |date=June 11, 2021 |title=Is The Royal Family A Cult? This Expert Thinks So |work=[[Bustle (magazine)|Bustle]] |url=https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/royal-family-meghan-markle-prince-harry-cult-opinion |access-date=August 23, 2021}}</ref><ref name="PsyTodayAbout">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/steven-a-hassan-phd |title=Steven A Hassan PhD: About |work=[[Psychology Today]] |access-date=January 6, 2022}}</ref>
}}

'''Steven Alan Hassan''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|h|ɑ:|s|I|n|}}; born 1954) is an American writer and mental health counselor who specializes in the area of [[cults]] and [[new religious movement]]s. He worked as a [[deprogrammer]] in the late 1970s, but since then has advocated a non-coercive form of [[exit counseling]].

Hassan has written several books on the subject of [[Brainwashing|mind control]] and is sometimes described in the media as an expert on mind control and cults. Some researchers in the sociology of religion, however, are critical of his application of mind-control theory to new religious movements.<ref name="gallagher">{{cite book |last1=Gallagher |first1=Eugene V. |editor1-last=Gallagher |editor1-first=Eugene V. |editor2-last=Ashcroft |editor2-first=W. Michael |title=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=36–37 |chapter=Leadership in New Religious Movements |oclc=70668683}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bromley |first1=David G. |editor1-last=Gallagher |editor1-first=Eugene V. |editor2-last=Ashcroft |editor2-first=W. Michael |title=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=56 |chapter=Affiliation and Disaffiliation Careers in New Religious Movements |oclc=70668683}}</ref><ref name="shupe2006">{{cite book |last1=Shupe |first1=Anson |last2=Darnell |first2=Susan |title=Agents of Discord: Deprogramming, Pseudo-science, and the American Anti-cult Movement |date=2006 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |ol=3430653M |isbn=0765803232}}</ref>{{Rp|43}}

Hassan is a former member of the [[Unification Church]], and founded Ex-Moon Inc. in 1979. In 1999 he founded the Freedom of Mind Resource Center.

==Involvement with the Unification Church==
Hassan was raised in a [[Jews|Jewish]] family in [[Queens, New York]].<ref name="freedomofmind" />

At age 19, while pursuing a poetry degree at [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queens College]], Hassan was recruited into the [[Unification Church]],<ref name="slate" /> and spent 27 months as a member.<ref name="sam">{{cite web |url=https://www.apologeticsindex.org/489-cult-expert-steve-hassan |title=Steven Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC, NCC, Cult Expert |date=March 8, 2019 |work=Apologetics Index |access-date=August 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812170858/https://www.apologeticsindex.org/489-cult-expert-steve-hassan |archive-date=August 12, 2021}}</ref><ref name="hypnosis" /> He was involved in recruiting, fundraising, and political campaigning for the Church. According to Rudin, Hassan was "a former Unification-Church high official who was a national leader of [[Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles|CARP]]". {{r|rudin|page=37}} Hassan reported living in communal housing and sleeping less than four hours a night.<ref name="bmag" /> In an interview, he said that he believed [[Richard Nixon]] was an [[archangel]] and that, during the [[Watergate]] scandal, he and other members of the Church engaged in prayer and [[fasting]] to "prove their loyalty to the president".<ref name="slate">{{cite news |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/06/steven-hassan-former-moonie-trumpism-cult-theory.html |title=The Man Who Wants to Free Trump Supporters From "Mind Control" |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=June 1, 2021 |access-date=August 23, 2021 |last=Allen |first=Rachel}}</ref> He also reported surrendering his bank account to the Unification Church, and quitting college and his job to work for the church.<ref name="slate" /> Hassan said that "he was ready to kill or die for" [[Sun Myung Moon]].<ref name="bmag" />

In 1976, after working for two full days without sleep, Hassan fell asleep while driving, resulting in a serious automobile accident that required medical care. Hassan's parents hired "[[deprogramming|deprogrammers]]" who seized him from his sister's home and took him to an apartment. After five days of isolation and intensive deprogramming, Hassan became convinced that he had been "brainwashed" by the church. Feeling shame at his gullibility and guilt for his recruitment of others, he decided to "dedicate his life to studying cults and developing strategies to help their members escape."<ref name="bmag" />{{r|rudin|pages=37-38}}

Hassan returned to his Jewish faith after leaving the Unification Church.<ref name="freedomofmind">{{Cite web |url=https://freedomofmind.com/the-truth-about-steven-hassan/ |title=The Truth About Steven Hassan |work=Freedom of Mind Resource Center |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708040704/https://freedomofmind.com/the-truth-about-steven-hassan/ |archive-date=July 8, 2020}}</ref>

==Background==
===Institutions===
In 1979, Hassan founded a non-profit organization called Ex-Moon Inc. The organization consisted of over four hundred former members of the Unification Church. The organization is now defunct.<ref name="sam"/> In 1999, he founded the Freedom of Mind Resource Center.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjj85y/how-cult-leaders-use-youtube-to-recruit-new-members |title=How Cults Use YouTube for Recruitment |first=Mack |last=Lamoureux |date=August 11, 2017 |work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]}}</ref> The center is registered as a domestic {{not a typo|profit}} corporation in the Commonwealth of [[Massachusetts]], and Hassan is president and treasurer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Business Entity Summary for Freedom of Mind Resource Center |work=corp.sec.state.ma.us |publisher=Office of the [[Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts]] |access-date=December 6, 2023 |url= https://corp.sec.state.ma.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?sysvalue=XfsAs7QojZL7_jMMuLyu9CM2tGbrCSxd9lHwjn.rxyY-}}</ref> Hassan posts dossiers on the site about organizations he has investigated or received complaints about.<ref name="bmag">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2007/09/01/the-other-side-of-enlightenment/ |title=The Other Side of Enlightenment |last=Elton |first= Catherine |date=September 1, 2007 |work=[[Boston (magazine)|Boston]] |access-date=August 23, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823154137/https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2007/09/01/the-other-side-of-enlightenment/ |archive-date=August 23, 2021}}</ref>

===Deprogramming and exit counseling===
Hassan took part in a number of "[[deprogramming]]s" in the late 1970s, but has been critical of them since 1980 and has instead advocated exit counseling.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hassan |first=Steven Alan |title=Refuting the Disinformation Attacks Put Forth by Destructive Cults and their Agents |url=http://www.freedomofmind.com/stevehassan/refuting/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212132017/http://www.freedomofmind.com/stevehassan/refuting/ |archive-date=December 12, 2006 |access-date=September 5, 2022 |work=Freedom of Mind Resource Center}}</ref> Deprogramming was a controversial form of coercive intervention in which a number of self-styled "deprogrammers" were hired (usually by families or parents) to separate someone from a religious or other movement; after being abducted and/or confined, the individual was subjected to a sustained verbal attack, which might continue for days or weeks, on the group to which they were connected.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laycock |first=Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEiwxUad97IC |title=Religious Liberty |volume=2: ''The Free Exercise Clause'' |date=2011 |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8028-6522-9 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=746}}</ref> Hassan claims that he never abducted, restrained, threatened or disrespected anyone in any deprogrammings in which he participated, although this is contradicted by affidavits from victims, and also by Hassan's own written description of a deprogramming he conducted.{{r|shupe2006|p=150-51}} However, according to Shupe and Darnell, Hassan represents "a maturation of the anti-cult movement toward professionalisation and away from coercive vigilantism".{{r|shupe2006|p=152}} Hassan's preferred approach, exit counseling, is also a form of family-initiated intervention, but distinguishes itself by allowing the subject to leave at any time and by adopting a non-violent, persuasive approach.{{r|langone|pages=166, 171–4}} In ''[[Combatting Cult Mind Control]]'' (1988), Hassan stated that although "the non-coercive approach will not work in every case, it has proved to be the option most families prefer. Forcible intervention can be kept as a last resort if all other attempts fail."<ref>{{cite book |last=Hassan |first=Steven |date=1988 |title=Combatting Cult Mind Control |publisher=Park Street Press |isbn=0-89281-243-5 |page=114}}</ref>

===Education and writing===
In 1985, Hassan completed a Master’s degree in [[counseling psychology]] at [[Cambridge College]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridgecollege.edu/alumni-friends/stories/steven-hassan|title=Steven Hassan|access-date=August 12, 2021}}</ref> Hassan studied [[hypnosis]] and is a member of the [[American Society of Clinical Hypnosis]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Member Referral Search |work=ASCH.net |publisher=[[American Society of Clinical Hypnosis]] |access-date=February 5, 2016 |url= http://www.asch.net/Public/MemberReferralSearch.aspx}}</ref> and the International Society of Hypnosis.<ref name="hypnosis">{{Cite web |title=The International Society of Hypnosis |work=WN.com |publisher=[[World News Network]] |access-date=February 5, 2016 |url=http://wn.com/the_international_society_of_hypnosis}}</ref> In ''Combatting Cult Mind Control'' he described his own recruitment as the result of the unethical use of powerful psychological influence techniques by members of the Church.<ref>{{cite book |title=Combatting Cult Mind Control |first=Steven |last=Hassan |date=1998 |publisher=Park Street Press |chapter=Ch. 1 |isbn=0-89281-243-5}}{{primary source inline|date=September 2023}}</ref>

Hassan studied the "thought reform" theories of [[Robert Jay Lifton]], and concluded that the Moon organization used all eight characteristics of thought reform described by Lifton. He also studied the work of [[Richard Bandler]] and [[John Grinder]] (founders of [[neuro-linguistic programming]]), [[Milton H. Erickson]], [[Virginia Satir]], and [[Gregory Bateson]], and wrote that their work was the basis for his own theories on mind control, counseling, and intervention.<ref>{{cite book |title=Combatting Cult Mind Control |first=Steven |last=Hassan |date=1998 |publisher=Park Street Press |chapter=Ch. 2 |isbn=0-89281-243-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves |chapter=Ch. 2 |first=Steven |last=Hassan |publisher=FOM Press |date=2000 |isbn=9780967068800}}</ref>

Hassan spent several years developing and promoting a model to evaluate what he calls "cult" and "cult-like" groups. In his third book, ''Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs'' (2012), Hassan presents Lifton's and [[Margaret Singer]]'s models of evaluation alongside his own model represented by the acronym "BITE": control of Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotion.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hassan |first1=S. A. |last2=Shah |first2=M. J. |title=The anatomy of undue influence used by terrorist cults and traffickers to induce helplessness and trauma, so creating false identities |work=Ethics, Medicine and Public Health |date=January 1, 2019 |volume=8 |pages=97–107 |doi=10.1016/j.jemep.2019.03.002 |doi-access=}}</ref>

In 2019, Hassan published ''The Cult of Trump'': ''A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control''. The book represents a broadening of his focus from [[new religious movement]]s into political culture.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fisher |first=Marc |title=Review: The Republican Party is in thrall to Trump. Does that make him a cult leader? |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-republican-party-is-in-thrall-to-trump-does-that-make-him-a-cult-leader/2019/10/03/63855136-d592-11e9-9343-40db57cf6abd_story.html |access-date=March 11, 2021 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The author compares Trump's behaviour to that of [[Jim Jones]], [[L. Ron Hubbard]], and Sun Myung Moon, and expresses the hope that the book will lessen political division.<ref name="globe" />

Hassan received his doctorate from [[Fielding Graduate University]]<ref name="PsyTodayAbout" /> and published a dissertation in January 2021. His dissertation was titled "The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law". Hassan describes his model as an effort to measure degrees of exploitative control or [[undue influence]] and as an attempt to evaluate behavior, information, thought and emotional controls.<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|2476570146}} |last=Hassan |first=Steven Alan |date=2020 |title=The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law}}</ref>

===In the media===
Hassan is often described in the media as a "cult" and "mind control" expert.<ref name="salon">{{cite news |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/03/25/qanon-and-the-trump-cult-expert-steven-hassan-on-whether-they-can-be-saved/ |title=QAnon and the Trump cult: Expert Steven Hassan on whether they can be saved |work=[[Salon.com]] |date=March 25, 2021 |last=Devenga |first=Chauncey}}</ref><ref name="globe">{{cite news |last=Pennington |first=Juliet |title=Author and cult expert talks Fiji, diving, and future grand plans |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/17/lifestyle/author-cult-expert-talks-fiji-diving-future-grand-plans/ |access-date=August 22, 2021 |date=December 17, 2020}}</ref><ref name="slate" /> After the 2013 [[Boston Marathon bombing]], he was interviewed by reporters to explain his view of the bombers' state of mind and how he believed mind control was involved.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.necn.com/04/25/13/Radicalism-and-mind-control/landing_features.html?blockID=838993&feedID=8498 |first1=Steven |last1=Hassan |first2=Kit |last2=Hoover |first3=Joel |last3=McHale |title=Radicalism and mind control |date=February 28, 2014 |orig-date=originally aired January 26, 2014 |work=[[New England Cable News]] |access-date=December 6, 2023}} Interview. If video does not auto-load, quickly click "Reload" in top-left of video area before the page auto-loads a new video.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/23/officials-suspect-claims-they-were-self-radicalized-on-internet/ |title=Officials: Suspect claims they were self-radicalized on Internet |first1=Steven |last1=Hassan |first2=Erin |last2=Burnett |publisher=[[CNN]] |work=Erin Burnett OutFront |date=April 23, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210325065616/https://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/23/officials-suspect-claims-they-were-self-radicalized-on-internet/ |archive-date=March 25, 2021 |url-status=dead}} Interview. Video no longer available, but some relevant text remains.</ref>

==Criticism==
Social scientists [[Anson D. Shupe]] and [[David G. Bromley]] wrote in 2007 that Hassan's work lacks academic rigor and is used to fuel hysteria. They argued that the word 'cult' itself has become loaded and derogatory, capable of being applied to any new religious movement in a prejudicial way. They criticize [[Anti-cult movement|anti-cultists]] for promoting a [[moral panic]], from which they benefit financially. Shupe and Bromley are skeptical of the use of hazy concepts like brainwashing and mind control, and of the notion of [[Intervention (counseling)|intervention]] as a form of therapy. According to Bromley:<blockquote>You get people who are caught up in trying to change themselves, become a new person or build a new world and they lose touch with who they are. It isn't to say some groups don’t take advantage of that process. But I don't think it's necessarily the case that they need someone like Hassan to come in with predetermined answers to their life problems.<ref name="bmag" /></blockquote>

Religious Studies Professor [[Eugene V. Gallagher]] argued in 2006 that theorists like Hassan take well-founded suspicion of some manipulative religious leaders and generalize it into a mind control ideology applicable to all "cult" leaders and "cult" members:<blockquote>Their explicit and implicit generalizations tend to foster, whether they intend it or not, a generalized suspicion of all leaders who stand outside of an implied "mainstream". Such generalized suspicion is a major analytical principle for anti-cult activists like Hassan and Singer. When raised to its highest level of generality, well founded criticism of a few leaders is extended to all leaders, with a corresponding loss of specificity, accuracy, and persuasiveness. Such overgeneralisation ignores the abundant diversity of leadership forms in new religions on the assumption that all "cults" must be the same.{{r|gallagher|p=37}}</blockquote>

In the book ''[[Misunderstanding Cults]]'' (2001, edited by [[Benjamin Zablocki]] and [[Thomas Robbins (sociologist)|Thomas Robbins]]), forensic psychologist [[Dick Anthony]] called brainwashing a pseudoscientific concept that has been disconfirmed by scientific research. He argues that "the term brainwashing has such sensationalist connotations that its use prejudices any scientific discussion of patterns of commitment in religious movements."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anthony |first=Dick |author-link=Dick Anthony |editor-last1=Zablocki |editor-first1=Benjamin |editor-link1=Benjamin Zablocki |editor-last2=Robbins |editor-first2=Thomas |editor-link2=Thomas Robbins (sociologist) |title=Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-8020-8188-9 |pages=21, 217}}</ref>

[[Michael Langone]], an advocate for exit counseling, questioned Hassan's [[Humanism|humanistic]] counseling approach in 1995. According to Langone, Hassan's "Strategic Intervention Therapy" operates on the assumption that, deep down, all members of "mind control groups" want to get out of the group. In the context of family intervention, the "counselor knows best what the cultist really wants" approach contains the risk of the counselor "manipulating the cultist from point A ("I'll talk to you because my family requested it") to point B ("I want to leave the cult") while mistakenly believing that he is helping the cultist "grow"." For Langone, the fact that the counselor's assistance has in no way been sought by the subject casts further doubt on the ethical propriety of such manipulation.{{r|langone|page=175}}

Although exit counseling models like Hassan's emphasise the voluntary nature of the procedure, Shupe questioned in 2011 how willing the NRM member can be when: (i) they are not actually the client of the counselor (who has been hired by others), and (ii) they are not aware that the counselor's primary, preconceived purpose is to convince them to abandon their faith.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shupe |first=Anson |author-link=Anson D. Shupe |editor1-last=Lewis |editor1-first=James R. |editor1-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |title=Violence and new religious movements |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=401 |chapter=Deprogramming Violence: The Logic, Perpetration, and Outcomes of Coercive Intervention |isbn=9780199735631 |date=2011}}</ref>

== Books ==
*''[[Combatting Cult Mind Control]]'', 1988. {{ISBN|0-89281-243-5}}&nbsp;— reissued 1990 ({{ISBN| 978-0-89281-311-7}}) and 2015 (''Combating&nbsp;...'', {{ISBN|978-0967068824}}).
*''Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves'', 2000. {{ISBN|0-9670688-0-0}}.
*''Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs'', 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-9670688-1-7}}.
*''The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control'', October 2019. {{ISBN|9781982127336}}.

==See also==
*[[Anti-cult movement]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="langone">{{Cite book |last=Langone |first=Michael D. |title=Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |year=1995 |isbn=9780393313215 |ol=26296576M |location=New York |pages=166, 171–175}}</ref>

<ref name="rudin">{{Cite book |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-0-8006-0637-4 |last1=Rudin |first1=A. James |author1-link=A. James Rudin |last2=Rudin |first2=Marcia R. |title=Prison or Paradise?: The new religious cults |access-date=December 3, 2023 |date=1980 |url= http://archive.org/details/prisonorparadise00rudi |url-access=registration}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
* [http://freedomofmind.com Official website]

{{Opposition to NRMs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassan, Steven}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American psychology writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American social scientists]]
[[Category:American psychotherapists]]
[[Category:American social sciences writers]]
[[Category:Brainwashing theory proponents]]
[[Category:Critics of Falun Gong]]
[[Category:Critics of the Unification Church]]
[[Category:Critics of Scientology]]
[[Category:Deprogrammers]]
[[Category:Exit counselors]]
[[Category:Mind control theorists]]
[[Category:Researchers of new religious movements and cults]]
[[Category:Cambridge College alumni]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Former Unificationists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:1954 births]]