Living Cult Free: The Podcast

In this episode of Everyday Cults. Everyday People, we explore what Gerette identified in her book as the fourth stage of cultic involvement: Snapping—as in snapping out of it.
This is the period of dawning recognition; it’s the acknowledgement that you have been indoctrinated. It demands a huge shift in consciousness. For many, it is also an awakening of conscience when you see how you or your loved ones have been harmed by the group. It may also be a realization that you have been complicit with something that is in direct contradiction to your deepest personal values or even morality itself.
We discuss complicity, accountability, and then ask the one question cult survivors hate to be asked.
Tune in for frank talk about everyday cults and how they can endanger everyday people like you and me.
Views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of Gerette Buglion arising from her personal 18-year cultic involvement and from her subsequent work in cult recovery and education. We are deeply grateful to Moon Panda for the use of their song "Slow Drive." Yes, Everyday Cults. Everyday People is a kind of slow cruise around the cult world, taking in the varied landscapes. Let us know what you liked and where you'd like to head for Season Two. And tune in next week for our wrap up of Season One. We will discuss the fifth stage of cultic involvement: Waking Up Again and Again.

Rebecca’s story transcends individual experience to illuminate universal themes of resilience, identity, and healing. It underscores the power of community, self-discovery, and the ongoing process of healing from psychological and emotional wounds inflicted by cults and similar restrictive groups while celebrating the courage and strength required to break free and reclaim one’s authentic self. Listen as Rebecca describes accepting and flourishing in her queer and polyamorous identity, and how grounding herself in those communities has allowed her to thrive.

TW: Due to these episodes containing stories that involve cults and other types of coercive control that may be disturbing to some, listener discretion is advised.

Find Rebecca on Instagram @mightybrecca
You can find Living Cult Free on social media, especially on Instagram, at living_cult_free Our website is livingcultfree.com where the mission is to support the creative expression of survivor stories and empower advocacy through education.

At the website above, you can:

• Contact us to share your story
• Meet who runs and collaborates with Living Cult Free
• Make a donation to help further Living Cult Free’s mission

Thank you for your support!

©2024 Living Cult Free

Intro & outro by Gerette Buglion; Original Music by Esther Friedman

Editing and production by Vanessa Hennessey

Huge thanks to Living Cult Free’s intern, Nikki Kattamuri, the Living Cult Free Board of Directors, and Erica A. Slauson for help with transcriptions.

Music and sound by:

Ashot Danielyan, PianoAmor, Sergii Pavkin, SoundGalleryBy. All music found on Pixabay and used under Pixabay Content License. Sound effects: Public domain.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of Living Cult Free. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The Living Cult Free name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

Can understanding the nature of influence support people in cult recovery? Dr. Steve Hassan, former cult member, author, educator, and world authority on cults will be our honored guest throughout this season .

His published works include: The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control, Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults, Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs. Today we are going to discuss his dissertation published January 2021: “The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law.”

Our focus today is the BITE model, which refers to Behavior-Information-Thought-Emotion control. Dr. Hassan developed BITE as a model for evaluating degrees undue influence.

Gerette references the book Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini.
Steven Hassan, PhD is a mental health professional and expert in undue influence tactics used by authoritarian leaders and destructive cults. His foundational online course is “Understand Cults: The Basics.” He is the Founding Director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center, which provides training, consulting and support to individuals who are struggling to leave or recover from a cult and to families and organizations that are concerned about cult behaviors. He also is the founder of Freedom From Undue Influence, a not-for-profit entity with the purpose of conducting and publishing the research on undue influence that is needed to update legal and social policies. He developed the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control to identify control tactics and the Influence Continuum Model to discern ethical from unethical influence. He developed the Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA), as an effective and legal intervention alternative for families to help cult members. Dr. Hassan believes that access to the truth, freedom of thought, and freedom from undue influence are basic human rights. A complex systems approach, based in science and supported by the rule of law, is necessary to protect these rights. He is a member of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is an experienced educator having served as an instructor for the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop, as an elective teacher and a presenter for the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and in other educational and training capacities for other higher education, professional, law enforcement, governmental, non-governmental and advocacy group audiences. Dr. Hassan began helping people affected by undue influence after he was deprogrammed from the Moon cult in 1976 at age 22. His 45 plus years of experience give him a unique perspective on the damaging effects of undue influence and exploitation by destructive cults. He is a frequently requested speaker and media interviewee. Dr. Hassan holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College and a Doctorate in Organizational Development and Change from Fielding Graduate University School of Leadership Studies. Visit freedomofmind.com to access information and services.
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Elad shares how he grew up a secular Jew with Israeli parents and went on a spiritual journey, seeking meaning and community. This led him to a Hasidic community where he found “beauty, truth and beautifully true people.” Over time, though, he realized that ongoing acceptance within this religious family required a “total sublimation of my selfhood.” He describes the painful journey into a spiritual home, through disillusionment and, finally, walking away from the beliefs, people and places that had been his home to return to his authentic self. Note: 2 years have passed since this interview with Elad was first recorded. Naturally, Elad's views and writings have evolved since then. This episode begins with Elad reading from his piece, "I Sold My Soul," published on his Substack newsletter.

Find Elad on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/EladNehorai/ and

On Substack https://eladnehorai.substack.com/

Trigger Warning: Explicit mentions of sex and death threats. In addition, due to these episodes containing stories that involve cults and other types of coercive control that may be disturbing to some, listener discretion is advised.

You can find Living Cult Free on social media, especially on Instagram, at living_cult_free Our website is livingcultfree.com where the mission is to support the creative expression of survivor stories and empower advocacy through education.

At the website above, you can:

• Contact us to share your story
• Meet who runs and collaborates with Living Cult Free
• Make a donation to help further Living Cult Free’s mission

Thank you for your support!

©2024 Living Cult Free

Intro & outro by Jon Snow; Original Music by Esther Friedman

Editing and production by Vanessa Hennessey

Huge thanks to Living Cult Free’s intern, Nikki Kattamuri, the Living Cult Free Board of Directors, and Erica A. Slauson for help with transcriptions.

Music and sound by:

Ashot Danielyan, Jerome Chauvel, Fae Spencer, UNIVERSFIELD, Sergei Chetvertnykh, Piano Amor, ArctSound, and Sergii Pavkin

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of Living Cult Free. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. Please keep in mind that each episode is recorded long before it is shared live and the views and perspective of the storyteller may have changed. The Living Cult Free name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

Today we explore strategies you can use to get out of a cult or help a loved one get out. To setup the framework for our discussion, we look at numbers and definitions. The numbers are huge. Up to 10,000 cults still exist today in the United States. That number is growing. “Millions of people have been affected by undue influence. Many of us have had religions chosen for us or we’ve joined self-help or spiritual groups that became harmful or destructive. We have suffered from coercive control and mind manipulations while bending to narcissists. We’ve given our power of decision making over to an organization and their leadership.”

And language matters. The way we talk about cultic abuse influences how our good intentions are received. Someone who might shy away from what Gerette calls the C-word (cult), could respond better to “Controlling Group,” or “High Demand Group,” or “Spiritual Abuse.”

We discuss Dr. Hassan’s “reality testing,” and Gerette’s escape after 18 years from the Center for Transformational Learning and the strategies that worked for her. We also talk about strategies we can employ when helping others who might be embroiled in a controlling group.

If you have been in ANY culty high-control group or religion, you are invited to connect with us through livingcultfree.com.

To Learn more about Writing to Reckon, visit www.gerettebuglion.com/writingtoreckon.

Learn more about the signs of thought control and other aspects of Dr. Hassan's work by visiting www.freedomofmind.com.