Steven Hassan

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Steven Hassan : biography

1954 –

His wife Aureet Bar-Yam died in 1991 after falling through ice while trying to save their dog.

Education

  • M.Ed., Counselling Psychology, Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985 (See http://www.cambridgecollege.edu/ when this document is replaced and removed.) –>
  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1992
  • Certified as a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) by the National Board for Certified Counselors, 2003

Public impact

He consulted as an expert on the Unification Church during the 1977-1978 Congressional investigation of Korean-American relations.

He has appeared on 60 Minutes, Nightline, Dateline, Larry King Live, The O’Reilly Factor, many CNN and CBS shows, and various documentaries. Since 1976, he has acquired over thirty years of experience with counseling both current and former members of groups he describes as cults.

In his first book, Combatting Cult Mind Control, he describes his experiences as a member the Unification Church, and describes the exit counseling methods that he developed based on those experiences, and based on his subsequent studies of psychological influence techniques. In his second book Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, which was published twelve years after Combatting Cult Mind Control, he describes the evolution of his exit counseling procedures into a more advanced procedure that he calls the "Strategic Interaction Approach." In Steven’s third and most recent book, Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs, he presents further refinement of the "Strategic Interaction Approach" and includes a larger bibliography.

In 2009, Steven was invited to the Amber Alert Conference by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to explain why victims like Jaycee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart denied being who they were, and failed to use opportunities to ask for help. Law Enforcement officials such as police, FBI, Attorney General staff from many states, as well as other victims of kidnapping attended the conference

After the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings, Steven was brought in by the media to explain the bombers’ mind state and how mind control was involved. Wall Street Journal Live Interview NECN Interview CNN Erin Burnett OutFront Interview CNN Erin Burnett OutFront Followup Interview WGBH Interview FOX 25 Morning Interview WBUR Interview

Criticism

In a research paper presented at the 2000 Society for the Scientific Study of Religion conference, Anson Shupe, professor of Sociology at Indiana/Purdue University, and Susan E. Darnell, manager of a credit union, state Hassan had participated two involuntary deprogrammings in 1976 and 1977., by Anson Shupe, Susan E. Darnell, presented at the 2000 SSSR meeting in Houston, Texas, October 21. One involving Arthur Roselle who claims that Hassan kidnapped, hit, and forcibly detained him. Hassan acknowledges that he "was involved with the Roselle deprogramming attempt in 1976. But…was never involved in violence of any kind."

Hassan states that he spent one year assisting with deprogrammings before turning to less controversial methods (see exit counseling). Hassan has spoken out against involuntary deprogramming since 1980,Mind Warrior. New Therapist 24, March/April 2003. stating, "I did not and do not like the deprogramming method and stopped doing them in 1977!” However, in Combatting Cult Mind Control, he stated that "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."Combatting Cult Mind Control, Steven Hassan, 1998, ISBN 0-89281-243-5, p. 114 Concerned that ministers in Japan [were] encouraged to perform forcible deprogramming because of [his] first book," Hassan wrote a to Reverend Seishi Kojima stating, "I oppose aggressive, illegal methods."

Other critics question Hassan’s credentials, ethics, and motive. He has claimed to be a cult expert but goes unrecognized as an expert in the court of law. "In March of 1996, in the case of Kendall v. Kendall, the United States District Court for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts declined to quality Hassan as an expert witness." http://phtherapies.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/dr-cathleen-mann-reviews-steven-hassans-latest-self-published-book/

Hassan was criticized for his extremely high fees and later took them off his website, leading others to question his motive in his work. Dr. Cathleen Mann, a court-recognized expert in the area of cults, reviewed Hassan’s book, "Freedom of Mind" and reviewed, "In terms of research with cult members, current or past, there are many ethical issues." and "The criticism of Hassan’s methodology, his marketing strategy, his unusually high fees, and the fact that he claims relationships and associations with other experts is very much overdue." http://phtherapies.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/dr-cathleen-mann-reviews-steven-hassans-latest-self-published-book/