Steve Eichel

Steve K. D. Eichel (born Steve Dubrow-Eichel; 1954) is a psychologist known primarily for his work on destructive cults, coercive persuasion, mind control, brainwashing, and deprogramming. He is a former president of the Greater Philadelphia Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the 2006–07 president of the American Academy of Counseling Psychology, the national membership academy comprising American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) Board-certified counseling psychologists.^[2] In 2012 he was installed as the President of the Board of the International Cultic Studies Association.

Eichel graduated with his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Pennsylvania.^[2] He has performed research with fellow psychologist Linda Dubrow in the area of procrastination. Dubrow and Eichel studied cult characteristics of the group Al-Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Eichel was an expert witness in the 2003 case of Lee Boyd Malvo, where he testified that Malvo suffered from a form of dissociative disorder caused by coercive persuasion. He has worked to expose fraudulent practices of credentialing organizations, by obtaining numerous certifications for his pet cat, Zoe, including the National Guild of Hypnotists, the American Board of Hypnotherapy and the International Medical & Dental Hypnotherapy Association. Eichel has practiced clinical psychology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Newark, Delaware. He has lectured on the subject of cults, brainwashing, and terrorism.