For nearly 50 years, I've worked with survivors of cults, trafficking, and other high-control situations and served as an expert witness in undue influence cases. I'm a member of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Harvard Medical School and developed the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control™. My books include the New York Times Best Selling Book, The Cult of Trump, and Combating Cult Mind Control.
Traffickers like Epstein and the network around him don't rely on locks and chains. They use the same psychological tools authoritarian cult leaders use — isolation, dependency, phobia indoctrination, identity erosion — which is why survivors stay, return, and struggle to be believed. It's also why U.S. law, which still largely treats coercion as physical, so often fails them.
Ask me anything about how predators condition victims, why survivors don't "just leave," what the law gets wrong about brainwashing, and what recovery actually looks like. Survivors, clinicians, attorneys, and journalists all welcome.
Connect with me and learn more about my work!
Substack: https://stevenhassan.substack.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drstevenhassan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultexpert
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/FreedomOfMind
Cults, Culture & Coercion Podcast: https://freedomofmind.com/resource-links/podcast/
My website: https://freedomofmind.com
