The threat of brainwashing is real. Because it’s such a handy social weapon that people use against any group that they’re not happy with, it defines them as being outside the pale of civil society.
People who are likely to get exposed to this kind of behavior are people who have gone through severe psychological problems like depression, death of a loved one, trauma, mental illness, or even if they’re away from home.
In the late 1950s, an American psychologist named Robert Jay Lifton conducted a study about former prisoners of the Korean War and Chinese war camps. He came to the conclusion that the process these prisoners have undergone is a multistep, one that began with attacks on the prisoner’s sense of self and ended with a change in beliefs.
- Assault on identity: they try to attack their sense of self and take advantage of their instability to the point that they become exhausted, confused, and disoriented.
- Guilt: They constantly tell them how bad they are while creating an overwhelming sense of guilt in their targets. Prisoners are constantly criticized for any kind of sins they did, regardless of how big or small the acts might be. The prisoners begin to feel a general sense of shame, that everything they did is wrong.
- Self-betrayal: the agents start to force the prisoners to denounce their families, friends, and everyone who believes in the wrong belief system they hold. The pressure might be through using physical harm or through mental attacks. The prisoners start developing some loyalty towards the new identity development.
- Breaking point: With their identity in crisis, prisoners start experiencing deep shame and a sense of betrayal leading them to undergo a nervous breakdown. At this point, they may have lost their grip on reality feeling completely lost and alone. That’s when agents offer them to convert to another belief system that will save them from misery.
- Leniency: the agent offers some little generosity or reprieve from the maltreatment. In that kind of breakdown, the favor seems huge and the prisoner may experience a sense of appreciation and gratitude
- Channeling and releasing of guilt: making prisoners believe that there is an external cause of their wrongness and that they can escape it by escaping the wrong belief system.
- Final confession and rebirth: Differentiating the agony of the old with the serenity of the new, the prisoners pick the new identity. He rejects his old belief system and pledges allegiance to the new one that is going to improve his life.
In order to prevent these things from happening and counter brainwashing and radicalization;
- Never cut your kids out of family or social contact
- Be aware of people who try to isolate you or someone you know from the outside world
- Look out for those who try to make being part of the group “who are already brainwashed” more attractive than the outside world
- Be preventive
- Report immediately any suspected behavior even if he is your husband
- Self-knowledge and education
- Don’t be a victim of blind confidence
Reference: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/brainwashing1.htm
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