Could You Become Brainwashed?
Experts are still debating whether brainwashing is real or just figment of our imagination. By Jean Lawrence
Reviewed By Michael Smith If you follow the trial of Lee Boyd Malvo, the younger of the alleged Beltway snipers, you will hear of a sociable young man "brainwashed" into hiding in a specially outfitted car trunk and murdering people. In the Elizabeth Smart case, a typical suburban youngster was so "brainwashed" by her captor, the story goes, that she had chances to escape and didn't. Patty Hearst went from carefree socialite to bank robber. Is brainwashing real? Could it happen to you? "In the behavioral sciences, brainwashing is an extremely -- repeat extremely -- controversial subject," Ron Enroth, PhD, a professor of sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., and author of nine books on cults, tells WebMD. "It is impossible to prove scientifically that someone was 'forced' by someone else to do something. I am in the minority of scholars on this, but I believe something is going on in these cases. The person's capacity to make decisions has been impaired." The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does cite "thought reform" as a contributing factor to the type of dissociate disorder applied to cult members. Thought reform, or the more scientifically accepted "coercive persuasion," is defined as the systematic application of psychological and social influence techniques in an organized way, within a managed environment -- with the end result of making someone do something that is not in his or her best interests. Brainwashing Need Not End in MurderThe term brainwashing goes back to the 1950s days of drip-drip-drip torture and thought control by which the Chinese were said to turn Korean War POW's into communists. An extreme form was found in the movie The Manchurian Candidate, in which an individual was "washed" so clean that he could be "reprogrammed" to respond to a code word. Now, methods of persuasion are arraigned on a continuum, going from education to advertising to propaganda, to indoctrination, to coercive persuasion, or brainwashing. We are all subject to some form of persuasion everyday. When does it become brainwashing? "Patty Hearst, Elizabeth Smart, these are just the tip of the iceberg," Joseph Flaherty, MD, head of the department of psychiatry of the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, tells WebMD, citing other manifestations of brainwashing, such as:
Could You Be Brainwashed? "You don't have to be kidnapped to possibly be brainwashed," Flaherty says. Although he concedes there are no good studies on this, he lists some things that could make you vulnerable to brainwashing, including:
Lee Malvo was cut off from his mother and was traveling around with an older individual with his own agenda. Cult members usually are taken from their familiar haunts. "The first thing that happens is that the individual is isolated," Flaherty says. "The captor gets rid of family and friends." The domestic abuser may move the family away from sympathetic family members or pick fights with friends who might help the victim. "I know of one case, Enroth says, "in which cult members were so influenced by the cult leader that they prayed everyday to be given cancer if they ever thought of leaving the cult." Usually time elapses in which some positive reinforcement is given and nothing bad happens. This gives hope. "In the case of the domestic abuser," Flaherty says, "he usually apologizes and says it won't happen again." The brainwasher also exerts his or her power to enforce trivial rules, such as report every penny you spend or you can't use the bathroom in daylight hours. In extreme cases, food, sleep, and bathroom privileges are removed. Violent threats are interspersed with occasional indulgences. Overall, the perpetrator is showing omnipotence. At the same time, the brainwashing subject is undermined and degraded. Soon after, the subject's own ideas are so doubted, the brainwasher's ideas are substituted. "The hallmarks are fear, guilt, and intimidation," concludes Enroth. "This results in a parent calling me and saying this is no longer my daughter or no longer my son. This is a totally different person." Can Brainwashed Victims Recover? Even when a person gets turned around, over time, the situation can be reversed, Flaherty assures. After the person is "released" and placed in a different environment, he or she may face:
"The important thing is to seek help from someone experienced with brainwashing," Flaherty says. There is more to it than stealing someone back and screaming in their face until they change their mind back. "I believe in cognitive therapy," he says. "Be realistic, see where you are now, see what you are looking at."
Not everyone can be brainwashed. "Some people," Enroth says, "question everything." That is the guy or gal who, when asked to help murder some people, will see that it's a bad idea and completely unjustifiable, no matter what anyone says. Star Lawrence is a medical journalist based in the Phoenix area. Published Dec. 15, 2003. SOURCES: Ron Enroth, PhD, professor, sociology, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, Calif. Joseph Flaherty, MD, head, department of psychiatry, University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago. ©1996-2005 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. |
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