- Religious cults often brainwash their members using techniques such as strict milieu control, which is absolute control over the cult's surroundings, effectively isolating members from society at large. Cults also place overemphasis on confession and "purity," carefully loaded language, use of euphemism and discussion of the cult's ideology as a "sacred science," or a single and absolute truth. These techniques are effective because religious cults prey on those who are desperate for truth or some sort of support system. The cult offers these things, weakening the penitent and ripening him for brainwashing. When successful, these techniques result in cult members who are extremely susceptible to the power of suggestion, leading them into things that range from servitude to recruiting others to mass suicide.
- Invented by Jose Delgado in the late 1950s, the Stimoceiver was a small electronic device implanted in a subject's brain. An outside individual held the controller and transmitted electronic signals to the device, creating physical sensations and altered mental states. When Stimoceivers were implanted in animals such as cattle and cats, Delgado reported the ability to actually control their physical movements. In humans, Delgado was able to stimulate the sensations of pleasure, fright, deep concentration and "floating." In addition, stimulation of a certain region caused both adolescent male and adult female subjects to express a desire to marry their interviewer.
- During the 1950s and the 1960s, the Central Intelligence Agency launched Project MK-ULTRA, a series of psychogenic experiments. The goal was twofold: To create a soldier who would kill brutally, unfeelingly and plentifully, and to protect soldiers from possible Communist brainwashing techniques. Many of Project MK-ULTRA's experiments involved dosing not only soldiers, but CIA employees, prisoners and the mentally ill with LSD, which they hoped would disrupt a subject's consciousness to the extent that information would be easy to extract. The experiments were ended in 1973 on the grounds that LSD was too unpredictable for use in political intrigue. Since the files were destroyed after MK-ULTRA was scrapped, few know the exact results of the LSD tests.
- In addition to drugs, Project MK-ULTRA also experimented with mind control via hypnosis and sleep induction. These experiments were conducted on both soldiers and civilians, with the ultimate goal being to tuck deliverable messages into a spy's unconscious brain for easy retrieval by a person with the right code phrase to unlock it. During World War II, Dr. G.H. Estabrooks was able to hypnotically "split" a Marine's personality in two. "Jones A" was dishonorably discharged and became an honest card-carrying Communist that was unaware of "Jones B," the loyal American who brought information about the Communists' activities directly back to the Army.
Religious Cults
The Stimoceiver
LSD
Hypnosis
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