How can you brainwash people

Meanwhile, the American public was still wrapped up in fantasies of hypnotic brainwashing, in part due to the research of pop psychologists like Joost Meerloo and William Sargant. Unlike Lifton and the other researchers hired by the military, these two men portrayed themselves as public intellectuals and drew parallels between brainwashing and tactics used by both American marketers and Communist propagandists.

The basic assumption of behaviorism was that the human mind is a blank slate at birth, and is shaped through social conditioning throughout life. Where Russia had Pavlov, the U.

Skinner , who suggested psychology could help predict and control behavior. With this fear of a mind-control weapon still haunting the American psyche, CIA director Allen Dulles authorized a series of psychological experiments using hallucinogens like LSD and biological manipulation like sleep deprivation to see if brainwashing were possible. The research could then, theoretically, be used in both defensive and offensive programs against the Soviet Union.

When the Watergate scandal broke, fear of discovery led the CIA to destroy most of the evidence of the program. Limit contact with the gaslighter. Here are some resources to help handle a crisis and a potentially abusive relationship: Contact the Banner Helpline at or schedule an appointment with one of our licensed professionals at Banner Behavioral Health.

Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at Parenting Behavioral Health. November 11, November 06, November 03, November 02, October 27, October 26, Inspire Me.

Better Me. And when your mind is under threat, you keep returning to the safety and love of your leader. All humans have false beliefs and a tendency toward magical thinking.

But cult members depend on the cult for direction when their brains are disoriented. Identity disturbance. If you feel like a new you— a better you —ask yourself why.

Cults alternate reward and punishment to stress people out and disrupt their identities. From there, cults can inflict a new identity on a member, one that depends on submission and self-surrender. Have you just moved to a new town? Started college? Did you just break up with a boyfriend or have a falling out with a friend? Cults prey on people in these social transitions.

You want to feel better fast. Cults offer the promise of quieting your internal demons. The cult expert Margaret Thaler Singer thought that cults thrived during times of political and social unrest.

Former cult members report that spirituality is one of the main factors influencing conversion. Cults can fill the void. Ask yourself if those emotional needs are being manipulated. Identify an opposing message, or a neutral message. Compare different sources of information. Reach out to your support network. Remember that you are an autonomous individual with the personal freedom to choose your affiliations.

Tagged With: brainwashing cults depression loneliness manipulation mind control narcissism social isolation support system. Explore the latest mental wellness tips and discussions, delivered straight to your inbox. Email Address. Raquel on October 30, at am. Hi, the best list of indicators I have found so far I propose a rewriting of the 1st though 1.

Wistar Murray on November 3, at pm. Thanks, Raquel! Reorganization might indeed be the better word to describe this phenomenon. Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Find A Counselor. Popular This Month. Victims of brainwashing often develop executive and cognitive disorders because the associated skills have been de-patterned to make them less likely to disobey or question orders. In general, victims have been programmed to not value or trust themselves, but to instead grant highest trust and access to the abuser.

The solution is to get the victim to trust and value himself again, and then replace the harmful programming through therapy. Not Helpful 11 Helpful You no longer have opinions, thoughts, desires, or behaviors that are contrary to the leader. Then you can recognize mind control or brainwashing. When the desires of the leader are paramount, there is a problem. You are entitled to your own thoughts and beliefs.

Once those are countermanded by an "authority" figure, you know you are no longer thinking for yourself. Not Helpful 9 Helpful To be in control and to have power over others. Most of the time it is to make up what they lack within themselves, which is positive self-esteem.

Not Helpful 19 Helpful My husband was brainwashed after a work accident and was terminated. He then started a new job where he was brainwashed in an extreme religion and flat earth society in a matter of 2 months.

What can I do? First, try getting him to recall good times, before any of these incidents, when he was in control. Let him know that you miss those days and the person he was then. You could remind him of how good it was for him to be in charge, and praise the decisions that he made back then. Point out that when you want to make a joint decision now, you feel like you have to call his religious leader, and you would like it if he could make some decisions on his own. Not Helpful 3 Helpful What do I do if I believe my husband is brainwashing me?

It's hard to get rid of it now. Talk to someone about the specifics of your situation. An outside source may be able to give you some clarity. Not Helpful 6 Helpful What do I do if I believe my wife is brainwashing me and it is getting harder to break the abuse? You must believe in yourself. Learn to be assertive and ask for what you want.

Not Helpful 24 Helpful Brainwashing takes weeks, months or even years. One 2 hour movie will not do anything. However, you can become desensitized to violence, which makes you more aggressive. Not Helpful 4 Helpful Recognize that the authority you and your pastor come under is God's word, the Bible. Know your Bible and its basic teachings and principles. Also, when you read it, pay attention to what it actually says not necessarily what you've been told by your pastor ; take into account its immediate context and the context of the whole Bible.

Not Helpful 48 Helpful Our son is getting married in two weeks and we have a feeling that he is being brainwashed. What can we do? You can have a calm and honest conversation with him, but in the end, your son is an adult and has to be allowed to make his own decisions, even if you do not agree with them.

Not Helpful 16 Helpful Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. It is possible to recover from the effects of brainwashing without the assistance of someone else. Studies in by psychiatrist Robert J.

Lifton and psychologist Edgar Schein showed that few of the POWs exposed to Chinese brainwashing techniques actually were turned to Communism, and of those few that were, they renounced those beliefs after leaving captivity.

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