Terror Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems with Alexandra Stein PhD

“I do feel we have an obligation to speak up,” Alexandra Stein, PhD said on this episode of Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum, “and it’s tough for people to resist these systems when there is total silence, and that’s what these systems kind of rely on.” Alexandra exited a ten year stint in a left wing political cult when she was 36 years old. Alexandra is a writer and educator specializing in the social psychology of ideological extremism and other dangerous social relationships. Her latest book, Terror, Love, and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems, was released as a second edition in 2021. She is also the author of Inside Out: A Memoir of Entering and Breaking Out of a Minneapolis Political Cult. She presented her statement for the Congressional Record for the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol titled Political Cults and the Use of Cultic Tactics in the Recruitment and Mobilization of Participants in the January 6 Attack on the Capitol. Based in the UK, Stein is one of a growing number of ex cult members who have become academics who wish to share their expertise with others. A Fascinating conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices