Brainwashing
Brainwashing, thought reform, and mind control are all coercive techniques used to make the someone lose their freedom of choice to an external entity.
Is brainwashing exclusive to cults?
Some would argue that everyone is brainwashed; whether by sectarian society, or by a religious high-control group, or by their own self-imposed worldview.
There is an element of truth in this, especially when the word brainwashing is over-used and is thrown about generously whenever someone doesn’t agree with someone else’s point of view. One person may bring up their children to be tolerant of liberal western ideas, another may bring up their child to follow the God’s standards of right and wrong as set out in the Bible, both parties might argue that they are simply seeking to use their right as parents to gently influence their children in line with the values they cherish.
However, when someone crosses a line from “providing a good influence” to “removing someone else’s identity and ability to think for themselves”, that’s when it becomes unsafe for the victim, and unethical. This can happen in a wide variety of arenas, not just cults, for example school classrooms, universities, political movements, and within family groups. That said, some kind of mind-control is needed for a cult to function, so while coercive control is not exclusive to cults, it is an integral part of every cult by definition.
Brainwashing vs Thought Reform vs Mind Control Compared
While these 3 terms are often used interchangeably and sometimes incorrectly to describe any kind of persuasion that someone regards as unethically coercive, they do actually have slightly different meanings as follows:
- Brainwashing (Coercive Persuasion): Often involves intense, physical, and highly coerced isolation to force a change in beliefs, commonly used on prisoners of war. It is often a “sudden” or brutal breakdown of a person’s previous personality, frequently utilizing fear and deprivation. This term is commonly used by by the press or by opponents of a cult or religion, as a means of vilifying a group’s ability to stop it’s members being indoctrinated by secular society around them – of the 3 terms this one tends to provide the most graphic and negative image, which is why it is often used in this context.
- Thought reform: Typically refers to a more systematic, long-term, and educational process (re-education) aimed at transforming an individual’s way of thinking. Pioneered by Maoist China, it is often seen as a comprehensive “re-education” or ideological reshaping that can span months or years.
- Mind control (Coercive Influence): A broader, often more subtle term describing a range of psychological tactics used to destroy a person’s identity and replace it with a new one (common in cults). It focuses on exploiting emotional bonds (love bombing), social pressure, and manipulation of information to induce obedience.
Time-period
Brainwashing often involves immediate and severe physical pressure, while Thought Reform is more about persistent, long-term systematic reprogramming.
Purpose
Thought reform often aims for ideological alignment (political), while mind control is often used for interpersonal or group control (cults, abusive relationships).
Reversibility
Mind control is sometimes considered easier to break than deep-seated brainwashing, as “jogging” the memory or reintroducing independent thought can break its grip.
Methods used
Brainwashing often uses severe, direct coercion (torture, hunger), while Mind Control is generally more focused on subtle, psychological manipulation over time. All 3 processes involve ‘melting’ someone’s current state of mind and personality, then ‘re-freezing’ into a new mindset.
Despite differences, all three rely on:
- Isolation from previous life and social support.
- Uncertainty regarding the agenda.
- Controlled environment (milieu control).
- Destruction of identity to make the person vulnerable.
How to help someone who has been brainwashed
An outsider will tend to view the change in the brainwashing victim as a red flag indicative of unethical levels of control from someone else, and a warning sign that the individual is no-longer acting in their best interests, but in the best interests of the cult they have joined, which may be benign (or seem benign on the surface), but could also be dangerous.
However, it is important to understand that to the victim, these coercive mind control techniques can feel like liberation, they may feel they have achieved a new and desirable identity, or have discovered their true identify for the first time.
Therefore, it is important that an outside person trying to help gains a deep understanding of both the person being controlled, and also the group controlling them. This is explained in detail within the deprogramming section of our cult church article.
