Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

Steven Hassan, PhD, is one of the leading experts on cults and undue influence in the world. A former member of the right-wing Moonie cult, Hassan was deprogrammed 45 years ago and has dedicated his life to helping people out of cults and destructive situations. Dr. Hassan is a licensed mental health professional and has written four books, including The Cult of Trump and the seminal book Combating Cult Mind Control. On this podcast, Steve will explain HOW mind-control works, and how to protect yourself from its grips. He will also address ethical influence as the podcast will address the entire Influence Continuum. He’ll interview the biggest names in this field.

Episodes

UNRECONCILED: A SOLO PLAY That Empowers Survivors of Catholic Church Childhood Sexual Abuse With Jay Sefton, LMHC

October 13, 2025 • 54 mins
One of the most powerful tools in healing from childhood sexual abuse is for a survivor to have the opportunity to share their story and truly be heard. Many survivors of early trauma at the hands of Catholic Church Priests went unheard or unbelieved for decades. Several Pennsylvania Grand Jury investigations and media discussions surrounding the findings were one of the first opportunities for many local survivors to recognize the...
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The Girl with the Duck Tattoo with Restaurateur Sarma Melngailis

October 6, 2025 • 66 mins
In her book, Sarma tells her story of how a successful businesswoman, co-founder and owner of the acclaimed NYC restaurant Pure Food and Wine and the brand One Lucky Duck, could fall for a con artist using a fictitious name, a covert backstory, and fantastical promises. Humans are social beings, and it’s that social aspect that manipulative and abusive characters can learn to exploit for their self-interest. With an increase in onl...
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Irene’s Entropy: Coffee as Courage and Ritual as Repair

September 29, 2025 • 63 mins
In this episode of Cults, Culture & Coercion, I had the pleasure of speaking with Irene of Irene’s Entropy. Irene is a mechanical engineer turned musician, storyteller, pilot, and entrepreneur. Raised in a strict Mormon household where she underwent the experience of a recruitment mission, she left in her early 20s. She began documenting the honest rebuild of her identity as Irene’s Entropy.Her work blends songs, narrative, and a r...
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Compassion Over Conversion: Continuing Science-based Research for Queer and Trans Health with Matthew D. Skinta PhD ABPP

September 22, 2025 • 59 mins
Compassion, empathy, and science have all been under rapid-fire attack during the second Trump Administration. This is especially true towards Queer and Transgender communities, though other minority communities within the United States are also being targeted. Dr. Matthew D. Skinta, PhD, ABPP, is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Affiliated Faculty of Women and Gender Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He helped us...
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Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR with John Andrew Collins

September 15, 2025 • 62 mins
Radicalization, and the Minnesota Murder Cases John Collins grew up inside William Branham’s “Message” world, left it, then spent years mapping how the theology and network morphed into today’s authoritarian ecosystems. I welcomed him back to The Influence Continuum to speak about the murders and share his knowledge surrounding the twisted networks of doctrine and influence that may have influenced them. Collins’ most recent book i...
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The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump with Dr. Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div.

September 8, 2025 • 63 mins
The attack on experts and science itself is part of the mind control strategy to control citizens. Before Trump came to power, the media would regularly call on me and top experts like Dr. Lee to shed light on issues concerning mental health and public health. This authoritarian control of information forces citizens concerned with the public good to do what we can to message. I have interviewed Dr. Lee previously, but as the world...
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Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler with Anne Nelson

September 1, 2025 • 65 mins
Anne began our discussion by dispelling the myth that everyone in Nazi Germany simply went along with Hitler’s plans. She examined these resisters in her book Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. When I read the book, it didn’t become clear to me how vitally important it was that there was a vast resistance movement. One I had never heard about. She hopes that the past mi...
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The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion with Dr. Rebecca Lemov

August 25, 2025 • 56 mins
History provides a developmental framework for understanding the evolution of ideas, allowing us to trace their origins and track societal impact. Dr. Rebecca Lemov is a Professor of History of Science at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Her timely 2025 book, The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion, offers valuable insights into how ...
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"We Will Dance Again: Documenting the Nova Music Festival Terror Attack by Hamas Terrorists." with Yariv Mozer

August 18, 2025 • 49 mins
Watching the Emmy award-winning documentary We Will Dance Again was really really difficult. This 2024 documentary captures Hamas terrorists brutally attacking the Nova music festival attendees on October 7th, 2023, and shows the horrifying events that followed, including hostages taking. Documenting a Terrorist Attack by Hamas from Multiple Perspectives is not an easy task. “I think that this is a terror attack that you can see fo...
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Strategic Cultural Communications: Competent Messaging to Latino Communities With Evelyn Pérez-Verdia

August 11, 2025 • 65 mins
Words matter, and how words or phrases are used may present completely different meanings to diverse cultural demographics depending on topics like history and associated symbolic language. That’s why having a leading bilingual female strategist such as Evelyn Pérez-Verdia on the side of truth in messaging is vital to organizations seeking to break down barriers with Latino communities. She is the Founder and Chief of Strategy for ...
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Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity With Sander van der Linden Ph.D.

August 4, 2025 • 62 mins
“Misinformation spreads like a virus,” explained Sander van der Linden, Ph.D., a Professor of Social Psychology in Society and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. He asked the question, “Is there a way to inoculate or immunize people?” His award-winning book Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity explores this topic u...
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Ending Corporate Harm: Undue Influence Within Corporate Product Health and Safety with Dr. Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH

July 28, 2025 • 64 mins
Did you know that environmental factors, rather than hereditary factors, are taking the lead in driving illness and early mortality? That shift is primarily due to the harm caused by corporations and their products, says Dr. Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Services at the University of California, San Francisco, and Director of the Program on Reproductive Health a...
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How the International Church of Christ (ICOC) Preys on Hispanic Communities with Tania Díaz

July 21, 2025 • 82 mins
There has been a huge increase in Christian “Bible” Cults over the past 40 plus years- especially ones that do “Shepherding or Dicipling” in an authoritarian structure. The public doesnt understand how millions of people are deceptively recruited and indoctrinated into these groups and why they are called “cults.” One such cult network started in Massachusetts in 1979 as “the Boston Church of Christ” and are not to be confused with...
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Without the Guru: How I Took My Life Back After Thirty Years with Mike Finch

July 14, 2025 • 56 mins
Mike Finch has a Doctorate in Math and Theoretical Physics. He is also a Fellow of the International Society for Philosophers. Like many people I know, he was on a meditation journey and ended up with an Indian guru, then called “Guru Maharaji,” then just “Maharaji,” and later only by his given name: Prem Rawat. Mike was able to leave Rawat in 2000. Since then, Mike’s interests have included the exploration of why he surrendered t...
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The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes with Filmmaker Yariv Mozer

July 7, 2025 • 62 mins
Hannah Arendt’s 1963 book, “The Banality of Evil,” is actually wrong. It portrayed the lie Eichmann told when he was on trial. He said that he was “just following orders.” Arendt got conned. Eichmann was a true believer in Hitler’s final solution and a committed Anti-Semite. On this episode of Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum, I spoke with accomplished Israeli filmmaker Yariv Mozer about his award-winning series The Devi...
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Deconstructing Christian Nationalist Upbringing, Alt-Right Doctrine, and Abusive Religious Parenting With Monte Mader

June 30, 2025 • 61 mins
Monte Mader grew up in a Christian Nationalist family where indoctrination and abuse were ever-present. I became a fan of her powerful voice as she eviscerated the lies of Christian Dominionism, Christian Nationalism, and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) using her knowledge of scripture and Christian ideologies. She has over a million followers on Instagram as a “former alt-right Christian nationalist,” sharing her artistic tale...
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Social, Forensic, and Media Psychology: Law and Reform in Current Practices Surrounding Influence With Brian L. Cutler, Ph.D.

June 23, 2025 • 63 mins
The law is out of date on topics regarding how the mind works and how much social influence can sway people to do and believe things that are not common sense. Dr. Cutler has done cutting edge work in forensics and law enforcement analysis. He serves at Fielding Graduate University as both a Professor and Program Director. Social Psychology is one of the pillars of the Mental Health profession. In our current world, so many people ...
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Rapid Advancements in VR and AI: Understanding Opportunities and Necessary Boundaries With David Christopher Lane, PhD

June 16, 2025 • 64 mins
“Our brain is a like a VR headset. That’s what it is. It renders incoming data streams to interpret different worlds,” David explained. He proposed that we already live in a symbolic universe, such as the trash can on a desktop being merely a symbol of an action taken on a computer. “VR is a much better model to explain what our brains do,” he continued. David Christopher Lane, PhD and I discussed his experiences with the worlds of...
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In the Shadow of Enlightenment: A Girl’s Journey Through the Osho Rajneesh Cult with Sarito Carroll

June 9, 2025 • 61 mins
The highly watched Netflix 2018 documentary Wild Wild Country for people “in the know” was terribly biased. There were no former members. No cult experts. The two people featured were still “true believers in the cult leader, Rajneesh–who was rebranded after his expulsion from the United States as Osho. This cult took over the small town of Antelope, Oregon through deceit and the commune was the relocation from Pune India, where th...
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The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains With Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L

June 2, 2025 • 58 mins
The future of Public Health depends on protection against unrestrained corporate power. A sicker humanity means increased pain and suffering at large. In the past, we have identified numerous exposures that have made us sick, many of which are addictive, and created shield laws to protect the corporations that peddle them. We also know it’s our most toxic addictions that are killing the planet and its people currently, whether due ...
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