Living Cult Free: The Podcast
Welcome to "Living Cult Free: The Podcast," where survivors of high-control groups share their raw, unfiltered stories. No narrators, no sensationalism—just pure, unadulterated survivor accounts. Listen to the voices often eclipsed by cult leaders and hear the truth, one story at a time.
This podcast was originally called: Everyday Cults, Everyday People and produced by C. Jane Taylor and Gerette Buglion. To hear Gerette riff about the stages of cultic involvement as described in her memoir, An Everyday Cult, listen to Season One, Episodes 1-6.
To check out helpful conversations with Dr. Steve Hassan about the Influence Continuum and the BITE model, head over to Season Two, Episodes 7 - 12.
Living Cult Free: The Podcast
S2: EMOTION CONTROL - Emotional Backfire
The subject of today’s podcast is Emotion Control. Like it or not, as human beings, we creatures tend to respond emotionally. Comfort, praise, recognition, and a sense of belonging are among our top stimuli. Our yearning for these is manna from heaven to cult leaders. They prey upon exactly this type of vulnerability. They lure us in under the veil of comfort and specialness and then set up an “us” versus “them” dichotomy. While under cultic influence, Dr. Hassan was told that the Moonies were his true family, all others were false – even evil. Vaxxers versus Anti-vaxxers is a similar kind of fault line.
Today we discuss the ways cult leaders disrupt the normal right brain/left brain integration necessary to make rational decisions. By sidestepping reason, cult leaders foment fear and self-doubt. We also explore phobia Indoctrination, the Christian persecution complex, and FreedomofMind.Org’s itemized list of methods cult leaders use to control their followers.
If you have been in ANY culty high-control group or religion, we invite you to reach out to us through livingcultfree.com.
Learn more about the signs of thought control and other aspects of Dr. Hassan's work by visiting freedomofmind.com.