Educational tool only. All groups exist on a spectrum of control. Individual experiences vary. Based on publicly available reports, ex-member accounts, court records, and expert analyses — not medical or legal advice.
6 posts on CLCI Hub. See all posts.
When does a political-religious movement become a cult? The BITE Model applies to Boko Haram, the New Apostolic Reformation, and Hizb ut-Tahrir — but treating them only as 'terror groups' or 'political movements' obscures the coercive-control mechanics.
The CLCI maxes out at 40. That ceiling forces qualitatively different harms — financial extraction, mass-casualty violence, systematic child abuse — into the same numeric band. Here is how to read the 31–40 entries without confusing the score with the lived consequence.
Robert Jay Lifton's 1961 Eight Criteria of Thought Reform and Steven Hassan's 1988 BITE Model describe the same phenomenon at different resolutions. This guide explains where they overlap, where they diverge, and why CLCI Hub uses BITE as its scoring scaffold while surfacing Lifton's criteria as a secondary annotation.
Religious trauma is a recognised pattern of psychological harm that can follow exit from any high-control religious or spiritual group. This compassionate guide explains what it is, what recovery looks like, and where to find qualified support.
Online wellness culture has produced genuine value — and genuine harm. This evidence-based guide identifies 10 behavioural patterns that distinguish legitimate educators from influencers who may be exploiting their audiences.
Steven Hassan's BITE Model is one of the most widely used tools for identifying high-control groups. This guide explains each of its four dimensions — Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control — and shows how it applies across religious, political, and wellness contexts.