Have you ever read the review of Steven Hassan's books on Cult news.com? (page 2)

Oubliette

Enzo: is he a recognized Court expert these days?

Courts review and/or adjudicate legal issues, not psychological ones.

Steven Hassan has appropriate credentials for the body of work for which he is known:

M.Ed., Counselling Psychology , Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985
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

Steven Alan Hassan ... is a licensed mental health counselor who has written extensively on the subject of cults. He is the author of three books on the subject of destructive cults, and what he describes as their use of mind control, thought reform, and the psychology of influence in order to recruit and retain members.

Who, on the other hand, is Dr. Cathleen Mann and why does she seem more interested in discrediting Steven Hassan than helping cult members?

Richard_I

I went to the site but can't find reviews on his stuff, though this long article seems kind of interesting. Anyway, there is lots of criticism against Steve Hassan, Wikipedia even has a section on it, though this isn't necessarily unique in these kinds of fields.

Londo111

Enzo,

What is your background? Are you even familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses? Do you know of the thousands of deaths that have occurred because of adherents being deceived or coerced into not taking blood transfusions? Do you know this includes children? Do you understand that former members face shunning from all their friends and families? Do you understand the pain, the heartache, the broken relationships, the resulting suicides? These are but a few of the many serious issues that this forum contends with.

Your main issue doesn’t seem JW related, but only to give ad hominem arguments against the efforts of one cult researcher and his books. The posts seem biased and the spelling detracts from the claim of being well-researched. Of course, it is in the vested interest of high control groups to refute any popular research and researchers that expose their authoritarian models.

As many cults, especially the Watchtower, have a huge legal department, both paid and an army of volunteers, it is no surprise that they can slip and slide through the court system and continue to commit human rights violations.

smiddy

Amen to that , Londo111.

smiddy

Enzo

Good morning to everybody..

to Londo 111: I was expecting that you would be take the defence of Steve Hassan, and attacking me,.on my spelling ..

that's the the strategies and a behaviour ex-cult members use to avoid hard criticism.. Attacking without facts based on psychological, and Scientific research..

that's the same behaviour, I experienced with John Cedars.. He banned and blocked me to making comments on JW survey , because of my

hard criticism.. based on facts ...

But its his website, and he has the right to do this, but this demonstrates that ex-cult members are practising what they are preaching: Information control...and such a hypocritical behaviour is a big problem to take in consideration...

As for the the testimonials about reading Steve's book, and that his theories helped a lot of you.. good for you..and thanks for sharing..

However, if you have a look around you, you can find similar testimonials for Scientology, and all kind of bogus therapies..

All of these have true believers who will offer testimonials that the approach saved their lives and they believed in it...

Thus , I would reccomend to read other books on this issue, so you can be open for other opinions too.. And not only believe those who need a

PR agent those days,( Cedars is a fine example in promoting Steve theories with his videos on You Tube) because it could be also a marketing strategy ...

One of the most important Lesson I have learned in my trainig, is that experience is open to interpretation, and if we read a narrative it is easy to make

it fit our experiences, but that doesn't make it valid..

Thank you all for sharing your opinions..

Greetings Enzo..

jwfacts

What books do you recommend for assistance in identifying cults, and assitance in leaving?

Enzo

nice to meet you, JW facts,

I hope everything is good with you..

there are a lot of good books about Cults. If you go to Cult news.com, then you can see above a link to books.. Click there and you will find a lot of books..

I can reccomend you this site, because you can have a lot of different views that can help you in your search , and in helping others in leaving destructive cults... a personally reccommend this site because it is supervised by balanced and recognised Cult experts, that have also direct experience living with high control groups as well, and have effective results...But It's your choice to look if you like to read these books..

Thank you for your interest ..

Enzo

Oubliette: thank you for your remarks on the credentials of Steven Hassan..

But can you prove that Steve hassan passed a witnesses expert examination? This a a requirement to work in a legal system, and if you passed this examination you are a recognized on evidence based Court expert... Did he ever did such an examination? So far as I remember he failed..

And arent the credentials you mention of steven Hassan coming from Free mind.Com? And from his blog and Website?

Thank you, and have a nice day..

greetings Enzo,

Oubliette

Enzo: And arent the credentials you mention of steven Hassan coming from Free mind . Com? And from his blog and Website?

No, they are not. But so what if they are?

You did not answer my previous question.

Londo111

Enzo: am I attacking you or simply disagreeing with you? If I am indeed attacking you, are you by the same token attacking Steven Hassan?

You have not addressed any of the questions in my last post. Everyone here has been effected by the Jehovah’s Witness/Watchtower group in some way, shape, or form. You are posting in the “Beliefs, Doctrines, and Practices” section, yet your posts are unrelated. It seems your sole focus for joining has been to pimp a website...and rather than saying, “I found X, Y, Z helpful in coping”, the main promotional thrust has been to discredit others.

Have you ever read the review of Steven Hassan's books on Cult news.com?

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