OTWO:
I said close to 2000 psychology books. Not 2,000+ but 2,000- still close.
Obviously you have a pretty good grasp of psychology without reading so many books.
I like your point about "mis-guided energy". That puts it in the proper context and steers clear of ambiguous ideas about some authentic self.
Our self is always authentic. I prefer the word "disoriented" self. Garbage in - Garbage out.
There is a dimension of the Five Factor Model of personality called "openness".
The standard bell curve applies to the distribution of this trait.
People high in openness to experience are always challenging the status quo and authority. They tend to be more creative and less rigid. They also tend to be liberal vs conservative.
Life crisis' can push a person into re-examining their orientation. Those who are low on openness don't do a good job at challenging the options set before them. They are especially vulnerable to religious conversion. Once they make up their mind it is very hard for them to change it. These are people that don't want to be bothered with the challenge of constant re-evaluation.
A lot of people leave JW's and continue to believe in God and the Bible and all the fantastic false promises that are the fabric of all religions. These mainstream religions are made up of people that are willing to risk their life in warfare even killing fellow believers in other countries.
Openness to experience is highly heritable. This suggests that perhaps some peoples "authentic selves" are really gullible and resistant to change. Others "authentic selves" live their lives challenging everything.
Hassan does seem to have toned down his techniques. While we can't say for a certainty that love never fails we can be sure that if love doesn't work then nothing will. Telling people how much they are loved gets them to believing lies. Telling them how much they are loved can get them to believing in the more conventional lies of their non-JW relatives.