Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves (2000) is Steven Hassan

Steven Hassan

Steven Alan Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor and an exit counselor. Hassan was an early advocate of exit counseling, and is the author of two books on the subject of "cults", and what he describes as their use of mind control, thought reform, and the psychology of influence in order...

's second work. It discusses Hassan's theories on mind control

Mind control

Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...

 and cult

Cult

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

s.

Hassan wrote:

• cult indoctrination superimposes a new cult identity that suppresses and controls the individual's authentic identity

According to Arthur A. Dole

Arthur A. Dole

Arthur A. Dole is a professor of psychology and education, at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, Division of Psychology and Education...

, Hassan's Strategic Interaction Approach " ... stresses love, respect, freedom of choice, customized planned action fitted to the individual with the family as key participants, psychotherapy, and applied social psychology. http://www.apologeticsindex.org/books/releasingbonds.htm

Reviews

Philip Zimbardo

Philip Zimbardo

Philip George Zimbardo is an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is president of the Heroic Imagination Project...

, former president of the American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association

The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...

 writes:

"Steven Hassan's approach is one that I value more than that of any other researcher or clinical practitioner. Hassan is a model of clear exposition, his original ideas are brilliantly presented in a captivating style. I am confident that readers of his new book will share my enthusiasm for what this author tells us about how to deal with the growing menace of cults." Philip Zimbardo

Philip Zimbardo

Philip George Zimbardo is an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is president of the Heroic Imagination Project...

, Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

Anton Hein, publisher of the Apologetics Index, writes:

In what may well turn out to be the definitive handbook on cult intervention, Hassan presents his Strategic Interaction Approach (SIA) - a non-coercive, highly effective counseling system refined over the twelve years since he wrote the best-seller, Combatting Cult Mind Control

Combatting Cult Mind Control

Combatting Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults is a non-fiction work by Steven Hassan. The author describes theories of mind control and cults based on the research of Margaret Singer and Robert Lifton as well as the cognitive...

. This tried-and-true approach has none of the drawbacks of involuntary deprogramming or voluntary exit-counseling.

External links

• Freedom of Mind website, Steven Hassan
  Steven Hassan
  Steven Alan Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor and an exit counselor. Hassan was an early advocate of exit counseling, and is the author of two books on the subject of "cults", and what he describes as their use of mind control, thought reform, and the psychology of influence in order...