Hear the term brainwashing and you might think of government agents ‘turning’ unwilling spies against their own countries, or cult leaders using mind control to manipulate their followers.

You might even go so far as to think of the term brainwashing in relation to propaganda spread during the First and Second World Wars, in order to influence vast amounts of people.

But what exactly is brainwashing and should we confine it to the past?

What is brainwashing?

The term brainwashing was first coined in the 1950’s during the Korean War. It was used to explain how totalitarian regimes were able to completely indoctrinate American soldiers through a process of torture and propaganda.

Brainwashing is the theory that a person’s core beliefs, ideas, affiliations and values can be replaced, so much so that they have no autonomy over themselves and cannot think critically or independently.

Who is likely to be brainwashed?

In the book and film ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, a successful senator is captured by Korean soldiers during the war and brainwashed into becoming a sleeper agent for them, with the intent of assassinating the presidential candidate.

The film shows that even an intelligent and powerful man can be brainwashed, but in truth, the opposite is more likely.

It is generally people that are vulnerable in some way and are, therefore, susceptible to a different way of thinking that are more likely to become brainwashed.

This could include people that have:

  • Lost their loved one through divorce or death.
  • Been made redundant or sacked from their job.
  • Been forced to live on the streets (especially young people).
  • Are suffering from an illness they cannot accept.

How can you be brainwashed?

The person who is trying to brainwash you will want to know everything about you in order to manipulate your beliefs. They will want to find out what your strengths are, your weaknesses, who you trust, who is important to you and who you listen to for advice.

They will then start the process of brainwashing you which typically take five steps:

  1. Isolation
  2. Attacks on self-esteem
  3. Us vs. Them
  4. Blind obedience
  5. Testing

Isolation:

The first step towards brainwashing begins with isolation because having friends and family around you is dangerous to them. The last thing a brainwasher wants is for someone with a different opinion to theirs questioning what you are now being asked to believe. The isolation could start in the form of not allowing access to family or friends or constantly checking where someone is and who they are with.

Attacks on self-esteem:

A person who wants to brainwash another can only do so if their victim is in a vulnerable state and has low self-confidence. A broken person is much easier to rebuild with the brainwasher’s beliefs.

The brainwasher, therefore, needs to break down the victim’s self-esteem. This could be through sleep deprivation, verbal or physical abuse, embarrassment or intimidation. A brainwasher will start to control everything about the victim’s life, from food, the time they sleep to even using the bathroom.

Us vs. Them:

In order to break a person down and reshape them in a different image, an alternative way of living must be introduced that is far more attractive than their present one. This is usually achieved by the victim only mixing with other people who have been brainwashed and will, therefore, praise the new regime. Or it could be that everyone wears a kind of uniform, have a set diet or other rigid rules that encourage a group dynamic.

There is evidence to suggest that humans are, by nature, tribal and want to be part of a group, the brainwasher needs to convince their victim that they lead the elite group that everyone wants to be in. A victim might also be given a new name, as in the case of kidnapped Patty Hearst, later called Tania by her captors, who eventually, after being brainwashed, sided with her kidnappers.

Blind obedience:

The end goal for a brainwasher is blind obedience, where the victim follows orders without question. This is usually achieved by positively rewarding the person when they please the brainwasher and negative punishing them when they do not.

Chanting a phrase over and over again is also a good way of controlling a person. Not only is repeating the same phrase over and over is a way of calming the brain, but studies have shown that the ‘analytical’ and the ‘repetitive’ parts of the brain are not interchangeable. This means we can only do one or the other, so how better to stop those doubting thoughts by chanting.

Testing:

A brainwasher can never think that his or her work is done, as there are always scenarios where the victim could start to regain their own autonomy and start thinking for themselves again. Testing their victims not only shows that they are still brainwashed, it allows the brainwashers to see just how much control they still have over their victims. Tests could include committing a criminal act, such as robbing a store or burglarizing a home.

Brainwashing is not just the stuff of fiction or the past, it is real and present in many forms of today’s society.

There are things you can do to stop yourself from being brainwashed:

  • Don’t believe all that you read
  • Don’t believe the hype
  • Don’t buy into fear or scare tactics
  • Watch for someone’s agenda
  • Look out for subliminal messages
  • Follow your own path
  • Do your own research
  • Listen to your own intuition
  • Don’t follow the crowd
  • Don’t be afraid to be different.

If you suspect someone you know has been brainwashed, get them away from their brainwasher, put them in touch with a professional and support them through the process.

Someone who has been brainwashed can recover, as research and past studies have shown that brainwashing is a temporary condition at best and leaves no lasting damage on a person’s psyche.

References:

  1. http://www.wikihow.com
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manchurian_Candidate

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This Post Has 28 Comments

  1. Frederick1337

    I keep track of a lot of this type of stuff on the internet. I came to this article thinking it was going to be another young communist league usa propaganda based on some “illuminati” conspiracy theory variation ( these ideas about “illuminati” are widespread through the controlled dissident groups which obviously proves intelligence agency activity ). Interestingly enough I found this very insightful and very close to the clarity of mind that someone might find in a senior analyst. Perhaps a further analysis based on O.S.S. study would be helpful to the readers as well. The term “brainwashing” was actually coined by the O.S.S. propaganda expert Edward Hunter in a book he aptly named “brainwashing; the story of men who defied it”, which can be easily found on archive.org. In this text he breaks down the term brainwashing into an interesting term he describes as more aptly named “mind attack”, later called “psychological warfare” and “active measures”. He describes in his book exactly what you are talking about in this article and goes slightly more into the conditioning techniques that might be utilized on youth. Our current study is on the “propaganda backend oppositional support mechanism”, that is maintained through the “over stimulation of the hyper compwtitive model of conditioning being utilized by the compulsory schooling system”. And before you ask, no, I am not in support of any radical group or any crazy conspiracy theories like “info wars” or any other such nonsense.

    1. Jake

      You are a non sentient humanoid
      The illuminati is real, it is printed on your one dollar bill and the star of remphan is super imposed spelling the words mason. Cope. Cope. Cope. Cope. Cope. You are a bot with no intelligence. Always using these words like “conspiracy theory” yeah any one using words like this is eather cia or brainwashed.

  2. Kimberly lampkin

    I don’t hang around anybody don’t bother anything or anyone or even depend on anybody but Jesus christ don’t depend on human for any or even worship them started hearing voices on 2015 being tortured to the point rushed to the behavior health center was released still heard them in the behavior health center i have always suffered been suffering since middle school days have never seen not one happy day in my life i been considering commiting suicide strongly cause i no longer feel god helping smothered with some Kimberly daniels woman i don’t know she calls herself a prophet and a state representative she thinks she helping she has made things worse by causing pressure that i never suffered from i feel like this is my last days on earth of living

  3. Mike

    I find manipulation very unethical. To me it doesn’t matter even manipulator has a good intent (these are often social psychologist and social workers) I find them equally disturbing. If you are in some kind of similar situation where you are in touch with social services; homeless/unemployed after jail, even crooked 12 steps. Get the fuck out of that situation and try to stand up on your own feet as quick as possible. Do not drag yourself in these institutions, or surely your will soon to be a victim. I understand that addictions is hard and being in touch with people might be the only way to stay sober and clean. If so don’t let your guard down.

    Article has mentioned about getting help. You can also help yourself and to get results more quickly. Of course authority/police intervention might be needed for more severe or life threatening cases where violence and physical abuse might be in place already. Do not suffer a second longer. Get the fuck out any bad relationships/situations and claim back your life and happiness you are entitled.

    Quick helpful tips.

    Awareness – Be alert and be aware of everything what happening around you. Be aware with your relatives since you spend most of the time with them. Observe their behavior and all actions that they are directing towards you. You will learn a lot.

    Learn to say NO – There is nothing to be afraid of, practice saying no in every area of your life. You don’t have to come aggressive to your friends suddenly, but be aware and say no to every single thing that you don’t want to do.

    Books – Go on amazon and buy 1-2 highest rated books on manipulation. You’ll be amazed with the knowledge it will provide you.

    Don’t be a victim – Practice self confidence, don’t come out to people as weak person, go exercise, get bigger, get stronger and faster. Be assertive and always speak your opinion, don’t allow other people silence. Tell them to shut the fuck up and let you speak if you have to. Don’t let people pick on you. Always have your own opinion on everything.

    1. Logan

      I agree Mike. I had been trapped in 12 step institutions the past 4 years. I recently liberated myself and it feels amazing. I won.

  4. L.

    I saw two documentaries(one on the Krishna Killers and the other on Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps) and former members of both groups said they were not allowed to watch movies or tv, listen to the radio or read magazines. A lady from Aggressive Christianity also said they were sleep deprived so they couldn’t think for themselves.

    1. Jake

      >movies or tv, listen to the radio or read magazines

      All of those things are brainwashing hello???
      You people are non sentient humanoids.

  5. L.

    This is why I no longer adhere to certain conspiracy theories about the entire film industry being steeped in witchcraft. Of course some movies and shows are not okay to watch for obvious reasons(inappropriate and or too violent or gory). But nothing in me believes me everything and everyone has evil intentions and is out to corrupt everyone. There are wholesome family shows from the 50’s, classic family movies and tv shows that are perfectly fine to watch. They even have people thinking that gospel music has ill effects. That’s a little too much brainwashing and fear-mongering for my taste. Sounds like ‘truthers’ may be in on the mind control techniques.

    1. Jake

      You are a blind
      Anyone using the phrase conspriacy theory is already too brainwashed to even be bothering with. My comments will be deleted by mason feds cause i exposed to much on the clear net lmao

  6. Bianca

    Wow I came to this post by searching for “how Christians are brainwashed” – and EVERYTHING you wrote makes perfect sense. They have a mass brainwashed mentality that they fear anyone or anything who doesn’t believe the same way they do (despite their own “bible” telling them not to do so) and then they promptly ignore everything the bible says they SHOULD do (example, Christians can’t eat pork or shrimp according to Leviticus 11 in THEIR OWN bible, but they can eat crickets or grasshoppers). Likewise, their original belief system (slavery companion guide) says that slavery is a natural condition (Ephesians 6:5)

    And yet, their own “Christian” celebrations are stolen from Pagan traditions. For example, celebrating the Winter Solstice was translated by “Christians” to be the celebration of the birth of a fictional character they name Christ in December, to help popularize their brainwashing system – even though their fictional deity was born in July.

    Likewise, if their belief system was based around a historical couple named “Adam and Eve” who bore two sons. Apparently they all lived happily until Eve ate and apple and Cain murdered Abel. Now….. let’s think carefully about this type of brainwashing. Cain was banished from the garden of Eden and he went to a town. He met a women in that town and got married and proceeded to have a bunch of kids.

    Um…. where did the people in the TOWN come from? Who married Cain to the imaginary woman? And if there were people already in the town with families and having children, doesn’t that entire belief system itself depict the very notion of blind faith brainwashing despite reasonable LOGIC?

    So many brainwashed fools brought up in blind “faith” are so quick to judge those who actually have the brains to think for themselves.

  7. Jason Seiler

    IQ is not a factor if drugs are used by the brainwasher. The works of Joost Meerloo really get into that in some places. With drugs, any emotional state can be induced in seconds.

    Cocaine can induce blind terror and fear.
    Amphetamine can induce mania.
    Morphine can induce relaxation.
    Ecstasy induces sexual arousal and attraction.
    Electromagnetism can interrupt memory and consolidation.

    Anyone who has access to that crap can make anyone feel what they want and your IQ at that point is out the window. NO ONE is safe.

  8. Dustin Purdie

    I am being tortured by my ex and her friend via emf and all kinds of bullshit to the point I believe I lost a job that I absolutely love. The torment has been ongoing now for over four years. I’ve been misdiagnosed as having severe and persistent mental illness depressive2e. Which is not true. I’ve been utterly isolated from everybody and kept up for days on end. I surmised along time ago that this was gonna be fatal and I am afraid it’s coming to that. When she quits talking, my breathing stops and I can feel my brain shutting down. In short I am being murdered. There’s nothing suicidal or homicidal in me. Please advise.

  9. Siobhan Merrill

    Disagree with the claim it won’t have lasting damage. “Some” people may recover under the right circumstances

  10. Marino Baccarini

    Hello, whilst writing the post did you realize that you were writing about the way the vast majority of children are educated from their parents and environment?

    Apart from committing crimes [not talking of child soldiers] millions of children are brought up using, consciously or not, the same techniques you explained.

  11. Wasim Arshad

    One of my friend is also brainwashed by a Guru. He is not listening to any one even his Dad. Pls. help me

  12. Caliyah

    Ok i’m thinking that i may be brain washed right because i got into a lot of trouble with my parents so thats how it started in middle school days i’ve actually got into trouble with the teachers with friend know think that its actually a fake all of the time right because real friends will not tell you to do anything bad.

  13. Monika Fry

    I’m being brainwashed for 8 years my life is comeing to an end I called the police on my neighbor and he’s been brainwashing me.Ive moved 4 times.he tells me everything I’ve done my whole life.im being torched. I’ve told people but they think I’m hearing voices with I’m not.If they’re is anyone out there who’s going thru this please contact me

    1. Robin Rogers

      Omg. I think my bf has been brainwashed. No, I know it. These people are sick and powerful. He still barely trusts me more. If I get him away what happens then? He is homeless…. what shd I do? I’m scared that they’ll follow us. Rehab? But he doesn’t believe me or that he is involved in something VERY BAD. Right he just loves me enough. This is really really bad. I think law enforcement cd be involved. And I am being harassed so unbelievably bad. I’m scared. My life has been threatened. Any help at all?

    2. Jayson

      I feel your pain nobody believes me but I can tell the difference when someone else s doing my thinking your not alone in this world

  14. Kitten

    Covid.

    1. Judy finch

      Yes!

  15. Ra

    The mainstream media is doing the brainwashing.

  16. Wendy

    I second the Covid and mainstream media. “This is some news and this is what you should think”. I personally prefer accuracy over sensationalism or someone else’s opinions. What the media does is give you enough information to make you feel like you’re making an informed decision but in fact you have been led there by the nose. That to me, is an obvious form of brainwashing. Look out for sob stories and emotive language. Remember, scholarly language lacks emotion and opinion.

    As for Covid. What is really going on here isn’t going to be revealed for some time but I think we all know the world governments are keeping things secret that don’t need to be secret.

  17. Amber

    Need Advice Please…
    My boyfriend recently left me for someone else, who happens to be a psychotherapist. He’s not allowed to talk to me whatsoever, he blocks me on everything. If he needed up in anyway, he loses driving privileges (he drives her car). He’s supposedly there to get sober, but he’s still using. She told me I’m basically a bad person because I don’t want sobriety for him, or for him to do anything better with his life. But like I said, he’s still using (and she knows it), he’s not even in a rehab or drug program where he would get real help. He hasn’t bettered himself in any way so far. I know this because once in a while he messages me-but i have to use an app with a new number. He claims he’s learning self-discipline-where he can’t just do whatever he wants like normal. And he’s learning to not be jealous, and to be faithful- which is funny because he was cheating on me with her and then left me for her. He recently lost his mother and was really going through it. I know she’s taking advantage of that. It’s so irritating that she basically dangles car keys & money in his face, as long as he doesn’t mess up. She really wants a baby, and he doesn’t. She claims that he’s bettering himself but I honestly really believe that she’s brainwashing him. He told me they haven’t been around others yet.
    I have known him for 17 years and he’s never been so messed up to me like this. Please, any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

  18. Cassandra

    Yes, the governments involved with UN, WHO and WEF have indeed brainwashed the masses, the covid vaccines are right out of Project MK Ultra, they do indeed contain surreptitious nanotechnology, the vaccines were not developed in a year, they’ve been manufacturing them years in advance of releasing the engineered bioweapon Covid-19. Seems like a conspiracy theory? No, part of Agenda 21, Agenda 30, the Great Reset and all the other sick and twisted satanic goals of the UN – Eugenics and depopulation with anything else as evil and contrived as you can imagine. UN founded by the Rockefellers, headquartered in Hells Kitchen, NYC (Babylon), satanic beast statue recently placed there for these end times, happens to be 666 miles from the Georgia guidestones. I’ve been trying to wake people up for over a year. They are utterly brainwashed – society, education system etc. has been preconditioning the populace for decades (as noted by another commentator here). Propaganda and censorship and almost total media control lies with allied vested interests of the UN. The evil genius extends to abusing the indoctrinated trust of vaccines and medical professionals to administer extermination shots. The 5G infrastructure that has been installed globally is utterly nefarious (deemed essential work during Covid lockdowns but not for telecommunications as all towers I see are in areas that had perfect mobile and mobile internet). The most evil plan ever? Yes, such a demonic plot that many have to dismiss it even when an abundance of easily verifiable evidence exists to back up everything, absolutely everything I’ve posted here. I landed here trying to find a way to reverse the mass formation psychosis / brainwash / spell that so many are under and that is going to lead us all into serious trouble. The Lord’s word prophesised these events, and His return will see the entities responsible for this cast back into the Abyss from whence they came.

  19. gotcha

    We should start make a difference between simple framing and real brainwashing.

  20. Savas

    This is an excellent brainwash “warning” article indeed. I kind of noticed that some “organized religions” meet all these criteria 🙂 Not to say that religion is generally brainwash, but in a way it is, and not necessarily all of it is negative, of course

  21. DrFauiTheGreat

    Simple test: If you took the vaxxxxC then you are completely brainwashed.

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