It is highly unlikely he just neglected to renew his license - professionals wouldn't neglect something this important and they get constant reminders several months in advance when it's time to renew and he would have received immediate notice that it lapsed. I think something more must be going on here. It would be extremely irrsponsible if he were just being careless and now practici
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

While I do think he might believe this on some level,that he is serving some king of grandiose mission, I think he also uses religion to serve his own ego. Just my own observation and opinion. Not really very different from many cult leaders.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

rrmoderator Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It appears that Steve Hassan has changed and > embellished his cult story over the years. > > For example, Steve says that he was especially > high ranking leader in the Unification Church. > This seems doubtful. > > My understanding is that Bill and Lorna Goldberg > have never don
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

zeuszor Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Then it's a lie? No, I know the Goldbergs and they actually do corroborate that they were around then and supportive of him. They were not part of his intervention, though, and he does seem to be playing it up and embellishing it all of a sudden.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Malene Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I didn't expect this thread, but would like to put > in my two cent. My experiences with Steve are a > long, long time ago, and I don't spend any time > thinking about it - but back then I was worried > about what damage this person could do to others, > he has significant access to ex membe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I agree, Rick. The following is my opinion. Based on what I know about Steve Hassan and this includes my first-hand experience and observations, his aggressive self promotion and unsubstantiated claims, as well as the excessive fees he charges (which he does not disclose on his website) for work that has sometimes failed to get the person out of the cult or even gotten to the stage of an interven
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGloriaGMs Pignotti, can I ask who is/was the Scientologist referred to in your last post? Steve Hassan or the person he brought in to discredit your forum. I'm finding all this very helpful and appreciate yours and Dr Mann's insider input to this thread. It was an ex-Scientologist -- Dennis Erlich.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteCathleen Mann, PhDI just wanted to clarify something here. The freedom of mind listserv that I owned and moderated for 9 years did not benefit from one lick of work from Steve Hassan. I did all the work. Hassan liked to take credit for the listserv, calling it "his" list, but he never did anything but post upcoming media appearances. When real issues were present, he would ofte
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It occurred to me that what Brian/Zeuszor has been engaging in here is a positive form of the ad hominem argument. In relating to us his positive experiences with Steve Hassan where he showed warmth and kindness towards him, he is essentially implying that since Steve allegedly exhibited such behaviors, that the criticism of him is invalid. In actuality, human beings are complex creatures. No
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Anticultand for the general public, who are not aware of what has gone on behind the scenes, the only way to clarify the positions is in public. So if Steven Hassan responded to the critical review of his book by a professional, point by point, then at least the public would have some information to review. For example: - are “Cults are on the rise” statistically? - was there an
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoterrmoderatorMonicaPignotti: Some years ago after receiving serious complaints from families and individuals about Steve Hassan's behavior and fees I approached him first for a response before taking any further action. He never responded. Subsequently a disclaimer was then posted at the Ross Institute Web site regarding Steve Hassan, which explained that his fees were reportedly
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteCathleen Mann, PhDIf Brian has not read Steve's book, how can he comment on it? This seems like a diversionary tactic to me. Unfortunately, I've read the book carefully three times. Before I defend or criticize something, I think it's important to read it first. Otherwise, I'm just commenting on my experience with the person, which is rather arbitrary unless I spend a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Once again, Yasmin, you make an erroneous assumption. I left that group you refer to over 35 years ago and have completely repudiated its belief system. Just in case you have the idea that I remain indoctrinated after over 35 years, earlier on after leaving, I was quite uncritical of the mental health profession and highly supportive of it because I naively had no idea about its problems. If I ha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here are some more details of what is wrong with the "Snapping" study: By the way, some people seem to have acquired the notion that this study was peer reviewed. It was not. The way to tell whether something is peer reviewed in the sense the term is used by professionals, is to see if it was published in a reputable peer reviewed journal. Sometimes academic books are peer review
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, Maple, it looks like you have bought into the party line of self-proclaimed "cult experts" who make their living doing so-called post-cult therapy, hook, line and sinker. You really have it down pat, it would seem, using all the usual lingo and adding a strange anecdote about a "tapping therapist" attempting to equate those who disagree with you with those who do bogus t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

You keep changing your argument, Yasmin. I'm getting dizzy from all your twists and turns and veering off the point of this critique, so this will be my last response to you. No one said that therapeutic relationship was not important. The claim you began with was that the therapeutic relationship was the MOST important factor, more important than the theory/intervention being done, which is
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyasminDr Pignotti, You appear to be hinting that my use of the word"rapport" indicates I am an NLP practioner? Nope. You might note also my previous link to a study which suggests that eye movements don't seem to indicate what NLP practioners believe they do. It seems unlikely that an NLP practioner would do that. To quote Freud; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar :)
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyasminHi all, Corboy; interesting link, thank you. Dr Pignotti; to start the ball rolling on therapeutic relationships studies.. "Research summary on the therapeutic relationship and psychotherapy outcomes" Lambert, Micheal et al, (2001) (Yes, I'm lazy and did not cite it properly, but that should be enough for you to find it) From the abstract; "Decades of resear
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yasmin: "New Age" is not necessarily a religion. Mr. Hassan is indeed Jewish. He belongs to a nontraditional Jewish synagogue that practices Kaballah and that is not new age, but people of various religions and even agnostics can have new age belief systems and practice new age therapies such as NLP. There are even atheists who practice NLP. It has nothing to do with religion. As
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyasminDr Pignotti, Re your other point ; there are certainly many approaches in counseling that work well. ( And ironically, often the theoretical underpinning of the various theories contradict each other.) At least one study ( I'll ty to find it if you are interested) suggested that the type of therepeutic approach used mattered much less that the rapport between the counselor and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Re Maple not being sure whether Hassan uses NLP today, the point is that the descriptions of techniques he describes in his current book make it obvious to anyone who is familiar with NLP, that he is using their techniques, but not citing them and not calling it NLP. This does lead readers unfamiliar with NLP to not be sure whether he uses NLP, as Maple states and that is precisely the reason wh
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteMapleI've been thinking about this review. She is an academic who is involved in academic research. Hassan is a practitioner who has formulated an approach based on his practice and case studies. It's apples and oranges. She criticizes him for not being an expert witness. That doesn't hold water with me and what I know of the field. Generally, you want an academic, P
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quoteyasmin Re your comment about anecdotes; yes and no. Of course in a book such as this , it is likely that Mr Hassan is going to report positive rather than negative testemonies. Unless he has a 100% success rate, then he has obviously left out some relevant but less successful cases. At the same time though, if a fact is reported accurately, then it remains a fact, regardless of who is rep
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyasminThis is an interesting review.It does not seem particularly fair though. Several of her points don't make a lot of sense. Printing a bibliography on the internet is not the same as "plagarism" . While I am also sceptical of the cult/pre cult personality theory, it does not seem to have been an idea unique to Mr Hassan. And asking for scientific proof of this theory is
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotezeuszorThese are people who have helped me tremendously, who are my personal friends, and for whom I have infinite respect. End of story. I notice that you still haven't answered the question posed to you. Yes or no? Do you currently work for Steve Hassan? Or do you choose not to answer that question.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyasminMr Ross, Out of interest what were the ethical concerns regarding Steve Hassan? I am aware of the fact that at one point his fee schedule was not posted, but did not know that there were ethical concerns regarding his practice? Would be grateful for more info on this. By the way, Zeuszor, congrats on the degree, and I agree with you , ( for what its worth) that sociology/research at l
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"