"Ways to evaluate a group's control over personal freedom"
[From Chapter Four of Combatting Cult Mind Control
(Park Street Press, 1990) by Steven Hassan]
"Destructive mind control can be understood in terms of four basic components, which form the acronym BITE: I. Behavior Control II. Information Control III. Thought Control IV. Emotional Control. These four components are guidelines. Not all groups do every aspect or do them extremely. What matters most is the overall impact on a person's free will and ability to make real choices. A person's uniqueness, talents, skills, creativity, and free will should be encouraged, not suppressed. Destructive mind control seeks to "make people over" in the image of the cult leader. This process has been described as "cloning". This "cult identity"is the result of a systematic process to dissociate a person from his or her previous identity including important beliefs and values as well as significant relationships. The result is the creation of a dual identity, what I refer to "John-John" and "John cult-member".
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