IndoctriNation

IndoctriNation

Welcome to IndoctriNation: A weekly podcast covering cults, manipulators, and protecting yourself from systems of control.

  1. BONUS PREVIEW: A Model Cult Exposed

    11 h fa

    BONUS PREVIEW: A Model Cult Exposed

    This is just a preview of our Patreon exclusive Bonus Episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a member at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination  In this Patreon bonus episode, Rachel Bernstein reflects on cult survivor and former supermodel Hoyt Richards and provides background on the high-control group at the center of HBO's 'Bring Me The Beauties: A Model Cult.' The group was led by Frederick von Mierers, a self-styled Manhattan socialite claiming authority from alien beings. He recruited through Studio 54, high-society circles, seminars, and media. Members endured public "slamming" sessions, strict behavioral control, financial exploitation, and apocalyptic preparation at a North Carolina compound. Richards joined in the late 1970s, spent nearly two decades inside, and became one of the group's primary financial backers. His exit in 1999 contributed to the group's collapse. He has since spoken publicly through the BBC and the HBO docuseries and has worked with Rachel on cases. Hoyt Richards will return for a future episode. Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    6 min
  2. Justice After Coercive Control with Carol Merchasin

    2 gg fa

    Justice After Coercive Control with Carol Merchasin

    Carol Merchasin returns, and this time, Rachel and Carol go deep on what it actually looks like when survivors of coercive control, spiritual abuse, and high-control groups consider taking legal action. Carol shares how her career shifted from corporate employment investigations to building a litigation practice focused on religious misconduct and cultic settings, and what landmark cases reveal about how the law interprets coercion, consent, and systems of control. What happens when a survivor wants justice, but the legal system wasn't built for them? Carol walks through the real barriers: statutes of limitations, evidence demands, credibility challenges, and the emotional toll of depositions and mediation, especially for those carrying religious trauma or the psychological weight of cult recovery. She also explains how the right litigation team can become part of the healing process, why journals and social media posts matter more than most people realize, and what truly trauma-informed support looks like when therapy and legal advocacy work together. Plus: Carol shares her role as ICSA board president and highlights the upcoming ICSA conference in San Diego on July 1 — a vital gathering for researchers, clinicians, and advocates working at the intersection of faith deconstruction, coercive control, and survivor justice. Carol’s Links ICSA Conference: https://internationalculticstudies.org/ Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 27m
  3. Reality in Ruins: How Conspiracy Theory Became an Evangelical Crisis with Jared Stacy, PhD

    17 giu

    Reality in Ruins: How Conspiracy Theory Became an Evangelical Crisis with Jared Stacy, PhD

    In this episode, Rachel Bernstein, LMFT, MSEd, sits down with Jared Stacy, PhD, who is a theologian and ethicist. He is the author of "Reality in Ruins: How Conspiracy Theory Became an Evangelical Crisis." They sit down for a deeply personal and clinically resonant conversation about radicalization, religious trauma, coercive belonging, and the courage it takes to say "I don't know." Jared grew up inside fundamentalist evangelical Christianity, attended Liberty University, and was a pastor before a years-long crisis of faith led him to Scotland — and eventually back home. His book draws on that journey to examine how conspiratorial thinking takes root in high-control religious communities, and why belonging and certainty can be prioritized — fueling everything from QAnon to Christian nationalism to the weaponization of forgiveness in abusive church settings. If you've ever watched someone you love disappear into a belief system you don't recognize, this conversation is for you.  Jared Stacy’s Links Website: https://jaredstacy.com/about/ Book: https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Ruins-Conspiracy-American-Evangelical/dp/0063453754 Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 10m
  4. BONUS PREVIEW: Victim Blaming: Challenging the Myths

    12 giu

    BONUS PREVIEW: Victim Blaming: Challenging the Myths

    This is just a preview of our Patreon exclusive Bonus Episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a member at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination  In this Patreon bonus episode, host Rachel Bernstein, LMFT, examines how victim blaming functions across abusive relationships, sexual violence, cults, and high-control religious environments — and why it remains one of the most pervasive obstacles to survivor recovery. Rachel discusses why those who cause harm often present as calm and credible while survivors, navigating the effects of trauma, are met with skepticism. She explores the role of guilt in maintaining emotional captivity, and how coercive control can be obscured through isolation, financial manipulation, reality distortion, dependency, and the gradual erosion of identity. The conversation offers language, context, and validation for survivors working to understand their experiences, as well as insight for those supporting them. Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    4 min
  5. The Culting of America with Daniella Mestyanek Young

    10 giu

    The Culting of America with Daniella Mestyanek Young

    In this episode, Daniella Mestyanek Young returns to IndoctriNation to discuss how cults exploit group dynamics. Born three generations into the Children of God, then a U.S. Army intelligence officer, Daniella has spent her career studying coercive control from the inside out. In her new book The Culting of America, she lays out a 10-part model of cult tactics — the same playbook used in religious cults, high-control workplaces, the military, single-family cults, and even fandoms. Rachel Bernstein and Daniella Mestyanek Young unpack why social proof makes us doubt our own eyes, why every cult seems to promise some version of "space travel," and what really separates brainwashing children from brainwashing adults. They also get into the warning signs every parent, employee, and former believer should know — and the small, daily reframes that loosen a coercive grip. Daniella’s Links Book: https://knittingcultlady.com/products/the-culting-of-america?variant=45519679160451 Website: https://knittingcultlady.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellamyoung_/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@knittingcultladycaptain Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 13m
  6. Reclaiming Myself After Mormonism with Lindsey Sanders

    3 giu

    Reclaiming Myself After Mormonism with Lindsey Sanders

    In this episode, Rachel Bernstein sits down with Lindsey Sanders to talk about her memoir, The Sacred Song of a Heretic, and what it means to reclaim "sacredness" outside of a high-control religion. Lindsey was raised in a multigenerational Mormon family, where she was taught to value obedience, certainty, traditional gender roles, a limited range of acceptable emotions, and avoidance of outside sources of information. As a teenager, a relationship with another girl set off a chain of guilt, parental discipline, and repentance that pushed her to "double down" on her faith. Then, in 2019–2020, her brothers' decision to leave the church prompted Lindsey to research Mormon history for herself. Within six months, she walked away.  Rachel and Lindsey dive into the long process of deprogramming — therapy, finding the online ex-Mormon community, a C-PTSD diagnosis framed through the lens of religious and spiritual abuse, and Lindsey's perspective on Mormon Church policies toward LGBTQ and trans members. This is a conversation about indoctrination, identity, leaving a high-control religion, and what healing can look like when you start trusting your own voice again. Lindsey’s Links Book: https://a.co/d/00nrrG6s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehealingexmo/ Substack: https://thehealingexmo.substack.com/ Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 21m
  7. BONUS PREVIEW: Inside the Cult of Two

    29 mag

    BONUS PREVIEW: Inside the Cult of Two

    This is just a preview of our Patreon exclusive Bonus Episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a member at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination  In this Patreon bonus episode, host Rachel Bernstein unpacks the idea of "cults of two" — one-on-one relationships that can carry the same coercive control, manipulation, and reality-distortion found in larger high-control groups. How does a single person create cult-like power without a group? Rachel breaks down the tactics manipulators use to isolate, discredit, and slowly reshape a victim's sense of reality — and why leaving these relationships can feel impossible, even like betrayal. If you've ever wondered how narcissistic abuse, trauma bonding, and gaslighting take hold in a relationship, this episode offers language and clarity for what's really happening beneath the surface. Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    7 min
  8. I Belong to Me with Tia Levings

    27 mag

    I Belong to Me with Tia Levings

    In this episode, host Rachel Bernstein welcomes back author Tia Levings to discuss her new book, 'I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma.' Tia opens up about surviving church-sanctioned domestic abuse and the long, deliberately paced process of rebuilding selfhood after leaving Christian patriarchy. She and Rachel explore how reclaiming body awareness, personal boundaries, and the simple practice of "I statements" can counter indoctrination. The conversation moves through the disorientation and shock that follow leaving a high-control environment or cult, the heightened vulnerability to further exploitation, and the grief of being exiled from former communities. Tia and Rachel discuss how reframing language can reduce shame, and why relearning consent and the freedom to say "no" is central to recovery. They also examine "story wounds," the mistranslations used to uphold patriarchal systems, the lasting harms of religious patriarchy, and a nuanced understanding of forgiveness — one framed not as obligation, but as a release that becomes possible only after tending to the injury and refusing self-betrayal. This episode of IndoctriNation explores religious trauma, coercive control, spiritual abuse, fundamentalism recovery, and the path to reclaiming autonomy and identity after a high-control group. Tia’s Links Book: https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/belong-to-me-9781250374271/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tialevingswriter/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/TiaLevings Connect with us on social media:  ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/indoctrination⁠⁠ Support IndoctriNation on Patreon for exclusive bonus episodes and more:  https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination⁠ Prefer to support the IndoctriNation show with a one-time donation? Use this link: https://www.paypal.biz/indoctriNATION Watch full video episodes of IndoctriNation here: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNAi0T2hzH9dM029dkTfj635PzuXl67jS⁠⁠ Restart and Restore: A Journal for Survivors of Manipulation:  https://a.co/d/1ssz4Rm Restart and Restore: Companion Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSCLTZN4 Download a Free Chapter from Restart and Restore: https://education.rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restart-and-restore-campaign Journal App:  https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/restore-journal-app.html Download Rachel’s Video Lectures and Webinars here: https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/videos.html IndoctriNation is edited by The Podcast Consultant: ⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com/about Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

    1h 24m
Elenco completo (476)

Presentatori e ospiti

Descrizione

Welcome to IndoctriNation: A weekly podcast covering cults, manipulators, and protecting yourself from systems of control.

Informazioni

  • Creatore
    IndoctriNation
  • Anni di attività
    2018 - 2026
  • Puntate
    476
  • Classificazione
    Contenuti espliciti
  • Copyright
    © IndoctriNation
  • Sito web del podcast
    IndoctriNation

Potrebbero piacerti anche…