Thought reform is accomplished through the use of psychological and environmental control processes that do not depend on physical coercion.
Today's thought reform programs are sophisticated, subtle, and insidious, creating a psychological bond that in many ways is far more powerful than gun-at-the-head methods of influence.
The effects generally lose their potency
when the control processes
are lifted or neutralized in some way.
That is why most Korean War POWs gave up the content of their prison camp indoctrination programs when they came home, and why many cultists leave their groups
- if they spend a substantial amount of time away from the group
- or if they have an opportunity to discuss their doubts with an intimate.
Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D
Vol. 11 No. 6 1994.
