Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (1961)

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24-5-23 Origins of Brainwashing - Notes From The Past > .

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism:  is a non-fiction book by psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton on the psychology of mind control. Lifton is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

Lifton's research for the book began in 1953 with a series of interviews with American servicemen who had been held captive during the Korean War. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans, Lifton also interviewed 15 Chinese who had fled their homeland after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. From these interviews, which in some cases occurred regularly for over a year, Lifton identified the tactics used by Chinese communists to cause drastic shifts in one's opinions and personality and "brainwash" American soldiers into making demonstrably false assertions.

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  "Eight Criteria for Thought Reform"

1. Milieu Control. 
2. Mystical Manipulation. 
3. Demand for Purity. 
4. Confession. 
5. Sacred Science. 
6. Loading the Language. (thought-terminating clichés)
7. Doctrine over person. 
8. Dispensing of existence. 

The book was first published in 1961 by Norton in New York. The 1989 reprint edition was published by University of North Carolina Press.