Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Clinicians

Important Notice

Dear Clinicians,

Please click only here to enroll in Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Clinicians.

*Do not use the Enroll buttons located on this page.

We are pleased to announce that CE-Go is Freedom of Mind Resource Center’s new CE Co-Sponsor and CE Course platform, where there are CE approvals for psychologists, social workers, licensed mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists.

If you previously enrolled in Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Clinicians, need CE credits, have not received a CE credit certificate, and your version of the course no longer has access to the CE credit feature, email [email protected] with this in the subject line: Please move my enrollment over to CE-GO.

Thank you for bearing with us while we update our web pages to better reflect these changes!

Warm regards,

Steven Hassan, PhD

Are you a clinician seeking to enhance your clinical care and provide more effective support to individuals impacted by harmful influence?

Join me, Dr. Steven Hassan, in a specialized course designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools necessary to offer comprehensive care to those affected by undue influence.

Imagine encountering a client who has experienced the devastating effects of harmful influence, such as manipulation, coercion, or mind control.

You want to provide them with the best possible care, but navigating the complexities of their experiences can be challenging without the right expertise.

That's where I come in.

As a renowned expert on cults, mind control, and the impact of harmful influence, I've spent decades helping individuals break free from the grip of manipulation. Now, I'm here to share my expertise with you, fellow clinicians, so that together we can provide more effective clinical care.

Steven Hassan, PhD

Introducing Understanding Cults:

A Foundational Course For Clinicians

This comprehensive program will equip you with the specialized knowledge and skills necessary to offer transformative care to individuals affected by undue influence.

Throughout this course, we will delve into the intricacies of harmful influence, exploring the psychological, emotional, and relational impacts it can have on individuals. You will gain a deep understanding of the methods used by manipulative groups, the dynamics of thought reform, and the long-term consequences experienced by survivors.

Drawing upon my expertise and real-life case studies, I will guide you through evidence-based interventions and therapeutic approaches that have proven effective in helping survivors of harmful influence. From trauma-informed care to rebuilding personal identity and supporting loved ones, you will gain practical tools and strategies to enhance your clinical practice.

By completing this course, you will earn 9 American Psychological Association Continuing Education Credits , further enriching your professional portfolio while expanding your capacity to provide specialized care. You will join a network of clinicians dedicated to empowering survivors, sharing best practices, and collaborating for the well-being of those impacted by undue influence.

Now is the time to take your clinical care to the next level and make a lasting difference in the lives of individuals affected by harmful influence. Enroll in Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course for Clinicians today and join me, Dr. Steven Hassan, in this transformative journey of knowledge, growth, and impactful clinical care.

Here's what Clinicians are saying about Understanding Cults:

A Foundational Course For Clinicians

“Dr. Hassan's online course was personally and professionally life-changing for me, and revealed a major blind spot in my clinical training. The course fundamentally changed what I often see and diagnose. I already knew that traditional psychiatry, medicine, and spirituality are by-and-large not trauma-informed, but I had never considered the degree to which narcissistic and authoritarian individuals and groups are in fact the source for much of the trauma that patients experience. Not helping patients recognize this and boundary against such relationships is akin to treating symptoms but not causes. This oversight is causing many patients to languish for years in insufficient treatment. It is of utmost importance that clinicians undergo this kind of training so that this is no longer the case. ”

Jeffrey D. Rediger, MD, MDiv Medical Director, McLean Southeast Adult Psychiatry and Community Affairs McLean Hospital / Mass General Brigham

“As a medical doctor with decades of experience, I wish to say that I very much enjoyed the content and I think it is incredibly well done. The course is highly comprehensive, and I do believe that anyone who takes all the modules will come out with a very good understanding of this topic. If everyone took this course and absorbed the messages, the world would be a much safer and more loving place for all.”

Richard Parker, MD

Course Curriculum

1. How To Navigate This Online Course & Important Notes
1. Overview and Slide Notes
2. Introduction {3:45}
3. Bio-Psycho-Social Framework and What Are Psyops? {13:57}
4. Judith Herman's Victims of Violence Trauma Seminar {1:41:04}
5. The Influence Continuum {10:42}
6. Symptoms of Undue Influence {23:32}
7. How Would You Know If You Were Under Mind Control? {20:46}
8. Module 1 Practice Quiz
1. Overview and Slide Notes
2. Introduction {0:23}
3. Vulnerability: Myths and Facts {20:34}
4. 21st Century Vulnerabilities and Digital Technologies {16:01}
5. Recruitment Strategies and Personality Types {18:49}
6. Media Cults Use {3:17}
7. Module 2 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. Introduction {1:15}
3. Cult Structure {4:59}
4. Types of Cults {26:20}
5. Cult Leaders, More Cult Types And Case Studies {19:08}
6. Module 3 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. The Influence Continuum In Depth {16:20}
3. Brainwashing vs Mind Control {4:33}
4. Hypnosis Ethical vs Unethical Uses {14:49}
5. Module 4 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. Introduction the Different Names for Mind Control {3:08}
3. Historical Models Festinger, Lifton, and Singer {13:27}
4. The BITE Model In Depth {20:49}
5. Module 5 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. Introduction {0:39}
3. Cult Psychology (16:03}
4. Module 6 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. Introduction {0:16}
3. Dissociative Disorders {2:14}
4. Issues for Those Born or Raised In a Cult {16:09}
5. Colonialization and Mind Control {1:32}
6. Issues for Those Recruited into a Cult {5:59}
7. The Three-Stage Model of Gaining Control and the Dual Identity Model {19:53}
8. Module 7 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. Introduction {0:26}
3. A Specialized Approach {2:08}
4. Scheflin’s Social Influence Model and Other Major Influences {9:36}
5. Therapeutic Considerations for Survivors of Authoritarian Organizations {12:31}
6. Important Clinical Qualities {7:28}
7. Common Symptoms {26:32}
8. Module 8 Practice Quiz
1. Overview & Slide Notes
2. Introduction {0:47}
3. Therapeutic Tools, Strategies, and Techniques {19:28}
4. Identifying and Undoing Triggers {9:51}
5. Cautions — Group Therapy and Therapeutic Intervention {13:18}
6. Healing Goals, Reclaiming Spirituality, and Coping with PTSD {11:58}
7. Family and Friends as Frontline Help {2:58}
8. The Strategic Interactive Approach {14:48}
9. The Authentic Self and Expressive Therapies {7:28}
10. Additional Resources and Some Final Thoughts {8:28}
11. Module 9 Practice Quiz
1. Course Wrap Up
2. Help us spread the word!
3. Empower Others, Earn Together: Join Our Affiliate Program!
4. How to Get Your Freedom of Mind® Certificate of Completion and Share Your Achievement
5. Enhance Your CV and Signature Line

About This Course

9.5 hours of video content
Freedom of Mind Certificate of Completion
9 Continuing Education Credits

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Module 1 : Bio-Psycho Social Framework
- Participants will assess the components of healthy social influence.
- Participants will identify the elements of unhealthy social influence.
- Participants will analyze The Influence Continuum.
- Participants will apply the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. ⁣
- Participants will identify examples of symptoms of Undue Influence.⁣
- Participants will identify symptoms of Undue Influence to a DSM 5 diagnosis.
- Participants will apply differential diagnostic skills to symptoms of Undue Influence and its corresponding DSM 5 diagnosis.
Module 2 : Vulnerability & Recruitment
- Participants will list situational vulnerabilities that facilitate cult involvement.
- Participants will describe individual vulnerabilities for and susceptibilities to cult involvement.
- Participants will explain macro trends of the 21st Century that contribute to cult involvement.
- Participants analyze cult recruitment strategies.
- Participants will understand how cult recruiters classify individuals into 4 types of people and develop tailored recruitment tactics for each.
- Participants will explain the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE).
Module 3 : Examining Destructive Cults
- Participants will critique any group or relationship.
- Participants will describe as well as diagram the structure of a cult.
- Participants will list and categorize types of cults.
- Participants will identify and describe traits, characteristics, and behavior of cult leaders.
Module 4 : Influence and Control
- Participants will apply The Influence Continuum.
- Participants will compare and contrast Due Influence and Undue Influence.
- Participants will critique Brainwashing and Mind Control.
- Participants will identify the processes of Undue Influence.
Module 5 : Mind Control
- Participants will identify several synonyms for Mind Control.
- Participants will apply Leon Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory to Mind Control.
- Participants will apply the 8 criteria of Robert J. Lifton’s Thought Reform Model.
- Participants will describe Margaret Singer’s 6 Conditions for Thought Reform.
- Participants will analyze Steve Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control.
Module 6: Cult Psychology
- Participants will analyze the psychology of cults.
- Participants will analyze how cults control individuals’ subjective experience.
- Participants will explain how cults employ selective recruitment.
Module 7 : Identity Change
- Participants will explain identity changes that cult members experience.
- Participants will describe Kurt Lewin’s 3-stage model of gaining control of the mind.
- Participants will identify the Dual Identity Model of cult members’ personality.
Module 8 : How to Help Through Psychoeducation and Empowering People to Become Their Authentic Self
- Participants will list elements of Scheflin’s Model of Social Influence.
- Participants will list key figures in social psychology and social influence.
- Participants will list contributors to client-centered psychotherapy.
- Participants will identify clinical considerations (including cautions) as well as qualities of effective clinicians.
- Participants will describe symptoms of cult involvement.
- Participants will identify goals of healing.
Module 9 : Part 2 of How to Help Through Psychoeducation and Empowering People to Become Their Authentic Self
- Participants will identify clinical tools and techniques for intervention.
- Participants will explain Steven Hassan’s Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA) approach to helping someone.

More Kudos For Understanding Cults

Modern Necessity for Medicine

Melanie Trowbridge

As a licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist in Washington State with an undergraduate in Health Psychology, I was interested in learning more about how my patients (and all of us) may be experiencing undue influence, predominantly through internet technologies and certain news sources...I regularly come across individuals who are at higher risk for mind control due to histories of trauma, instability in their lives, and other reasons. This course taught me how to take the first steps in helping individuals become aware of their own power in avoiding undue influence, and how to recognize it as such. ...My hope is to take the lessons from this course and continue to build on how this content can be used in all forms of medicine to guide and/or refer to appropriate clinicians as needed. I am very thankful for the fact and research-based strategies and techniques taught in the course.

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Very informative and insightful

Ariela Sarai

This course provides a clear and helpful framework for clinicians wanting to understand and work with clients who have experienced undue influence. I highly and wholeheartedly recommend it!

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Wonderful course!

Susanna Guarino

This was engaging, informative, and so helpful for my clinical work. Looking forward to whatever courses Steve puts out in the future.

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Excellent!

Alonso Fernandez Diez

Excellent course. Highly recommended. Dr. Hassan really knows what he is talking about.

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Excellent foundation course!

Denise Capurso

Excellent foundation course. I loved that it was self paced and included so many resources!

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