Episode Details

Luna Corbden is the author of "Recovering Agency - Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control." In this multi-part Mormon Stories Podcast series, Lindsey employs the tools of social psychology to identify ways in which the Mormon church uses various coercive techniques often associated with high demand religions (also referred to as cults). Throughout the series we will be asking, "In what ways does the Mormon church behave in ways similar to other high demand religions (or cults), and what can it do to become less cult-like?"

The primary goal of this series is to help people raised within the Mormon Church unpack and separate their own identity from church doctrine and policies. In their book. Luna explores 31 different mind control techniques used by high demand religions generally, and by the Mormon church specifically.

In Part 3, we will cover the 3rd set of methods (of the 31 in total): Mystical Manipulation, Milieu Control, Loading the Language, Totalist Reframing, Thought-Terminating Cliches, and Time Control.

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Luna Corbden (who also writes as Luna Lindsey) was born into the LDS Church and left the faith in 2001, at age 26. They now live in Washington state and write about topics of interest to them, including psychology, mind control, culture, and autism. They also write science fiction and fantasy novels, and write short stories for speculative fiction publications like the Journal of Unlikely Entomology, Crossed Genres, and the Recognize Fascism anthology. When they're not busy traveling to improbable worlds, they're thinking hard about this improbable world.

Luna's book can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Agency-Lifting-Mormon-Control/dp/1489595937

Show Notes:

• Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control by Luna Lindsey Corbden
• "Ideas on Singularity and Post-Human Intelligence," by Luna Lindsey Corbden
• "The Psychology of Religion with Dr. James Nagel," Mormon Stories
• "What the Mormon Church Can Learn from Cults to Do/Be Better," Steven Hassan on Mormon Stories
• "How to Help a Loved One Who Believes in QAnon," Steven Hassan on Mormon Stories
• Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults by Steven Hassan
• Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A study of "brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton
• A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance by Leon Festinger
• Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over by Janja Lalich
• Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias
• Captive Hearts, Captive Minds: Freedom and Recovery from Cults and Other