…I believe this will go a long way to understanding what the Cedu prgrm was all about.
Brainwashing and behavior modification: components, history and CEDU(Hypnotherapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, etc.)
In researching the history of behavior modification and CEDU various connections can be made as to their origins.
Brainwashing (also known as thought reform or as re-education) consists of any effort aimed at instilling certain attitudes and beliefs in a person — beliefs sometimes unwelcome or in conflict with the person's prior beliefs and knowledge,[1] in order to affect that individual's value system and subsequent thought-patterns and behaviors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrainwashingThis is a basic definition of brainwashing. But as to its methods and effectiveness it lacks in describing, as much has yet to be agreed upon and accepted as fact. Regardless, there is still a lot of information that documents its history.
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The Birth of Conversion:
Brainwashing in Christian Revivalism in 1735.Conversion is a "nice" word for brainwashing...and any study of brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind accepts new programming.
Charles J. Finney was another Christian revivalist who used the same techniques four years later in mass religious conversions in New York. The techniques are still being used today by Christian revivalists, cults, human-potential trainings, some business rallies, and the United States Armed services...to name just a few.
The way to achieve conversion are many and varied, but the usual first step in religious or political brainwashing is to work on the emotions of an individual or group until they reach an abnormal level of anger, fear, exitement, or nervous tension.
The progressive result of this mental condition is to impair judgement and increase suggestibility. The more this condition can be maintained or intensified, the more it compounds. Once catharsis, or the first brain phase, is reached, the complete mental takeover becomes easier. Existing mental programming can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and behavior.
I want to point out that hypnosis and conversion tactics are two distinctly different things--and that conversion techniques are far more powerful. However, the two are often mixed...with powerful results.
--Dick Stuphen World Congress of Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas,--
An indisputably common thread noted in the application of brainwashing tactics is inducing highly emotional states in the subject. History will more often describe high anxiety and fear, but more recent evidence shows that any state of high emotion is equated with greater suggestibility. There is concrete evidence for why this is so.
The combination of electrical activity of the brain is commonly called a Brainwave pattern, because of its cyclic, 'wave-like' nature. Our mind regulates its activities by means of electric waves which are registered in the brain, emiting tiny electrochemical impulses of varied frequencies, which can be registered by an electroencephalogram. These brainwaves are known as:
Brainwave FrequencyBeta 14 - 40 cps. Fully Awake and Alert Generally associated with left-brain thinking activity - conscious mind.
Alpha 8 - 13 cps. Relaxed, Daydreaming Generally associated with right-brain thinking activity - subconscious mind- a key state for "relaxation".
Theta 4 - 7 cps. Deeply Relaxed, Dreaming Generally associated with right-brain thinking activity - deeper subconscious to superconscious Access to insights, bursts of creative ideas - a key state for "reality creation" through vivid imagery.
Delta 0.5 - 3.5 cps. Dreamless. Generally associated with no thinking- unconscious / superconscious. Access to non-physical states of existence - a key state for healing, "regeneration" and "rejuvenation".
In general, we are accostumed to using the beta brain rythm. When we diminish the brain rythm to alpha, we put ourselves in the ideal condition to learn new information, keep fact, data, perform elaborate tasks, learn languages, analyse complex situations. Meditation, relaxation exercises, and activities that enable the sense of calm, also enable this alpha state. According to neuroscientists, analysing electroencephalograms of people submmited to tests in order to research the effect of
decreasing the brain rythm, the attentive relaxation or the deep relaxation, produce signficant increases in the levels of beta-endorphin, noroepinephrine and dopamine, linked to feelings of enlarged mental clarity and formation of rememberances, and that this effect lasts for hours and even days. When you go into an altered state, you transfer into right brain, which results in the internal release of the body's own opiates: enkephalins and Beta-endorphins, chemically almost identical to opium. It is an ideal state for synthetic thought and creativity, the proper functions of the right hemisphere. As it is easy for the hemisphere to create images, to visualise, to make associations, to deal with drawings, diagrams and emotions, as well as the use of good-humour and pleasure, learning is better absorbed if these elements are added to the study methods.
The lower your brainwave cps, the more is your awareness turned toward your subjective experience, toward your inner world and the more effectively are you able to use the power of your mind to create changes in your body. With each lower state you become more fully aligned with the source of power within you, with your unconscious, or if you prefer, with that part of you that is greater than you (your body).
Generally in Beta state, your attention is focused outward. In alpha it begins to turn inward, and in theta and delta it goes further and further inward. The deeper you go, the more effectively are you able to enter your subconscious.
You can imagine that at the borderline between Beta and Alpha States is a doorway to your subconscious mind, and the doorway consists of what is hypnosis referred to as your "critical faculty".
Your left brain activity means that you are in full beta consiousness, which is associated with analysis, filtering and processing information, and critical thinking. The alpha wave right brained activity is associated with emotion, creativity, and unconscious thought. Everyone goes in and out of beta and alpha consiousness many times a day based on our conditions, surroundings and activities, and which state you are in can make a great deal of difference as to how suggestable we are.
Dick Stuphen says
once one is in an alpha state (right brain) they are at least 25 times as suggestable than in full beta consiousness. This claim can be backed in numerous ways such as that right brained activity and connection with the unconscious is the focus of meditation, yoga trance states, hypnosis and hypnotherapy. This is why it is important to appeal to the subjects right brained activities when trying to persuade them.
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are connected with brainwashing and CEDU, specifically the combination of hypnotherapy and Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, or REBT. First it is necessary to describe the roots of behavior modification in the creation of REBT.
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Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy was created by Dr. Albert Ellis, whose understanding of human behavior is indisputable to hypnotherapists whose main concern is changing peoples belief systems. It’s [REBTs’] only weakness is that it deals with intellect rather than with emotions.
REBT used in conjunction with trance states is very effective.”
-Miracles on Demand, The radical short-term hypnotherapy of Gil Boyne. Charles Tebbets.-
In the mid 1950’s Dr. Albert Ellis, a clinical psychologist trained in psychoanalysis, became disillusioned with the slow progress if his clients. He observed that they tended to get better when they changed their ways of thinking about themselves, their problems and the world. Ellis reasoned that therapy would progress faster if the focus was directly on the clients beliefs, and thus Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy was born. Here are the fundamentals of REBT:
It boils down to one basic concept: when an emotion (for example, fear) follows an event (for example, encountering turbulent air in an airplane), the event itself isn’t the full cause of the emotional reaction.
“What?” you say.
Well, let’s stop here and consider the way it seems to happen:
Event> Emotion> Behavior
Actually, here’s the way it does happen:
Event>Belief>Emotion>BehaviorThat is, a belief comes between the event and the emotion. For example, when you first experience turbulence in an airplane, you might say to yourself, “Oh, no! Now we’re going to crash!” And so you feel afraid, and you develop the symptoms of an anxiety disorder.
But consider what would happen if your immediate thought was, “Wow! This is fun!” You would feel a completely different emotion than fear, wouldn’t you? Well, that’s the idea behind cognitive psychology. If you change the thinking, you change the emotional outcome—and when you change the emotional outcome, your outward behavior will change as well.
Albert Ellis used a variety of techniques to be used in changing the clients belief system including cognative techniques such as:
Rational analysis- Analysis of specific episodes to teach the client how to uncover and dispute irrational beliefs identified first in session and then a homework plan would be developed.
Catastrophe scale- This was used to determine the level of ‘awfulizing’ the client experiences.
Reframing- A strategy to get bad events into perspective by re-evaluating them as ‘disappointing’ or ‘concerning’ rather than ‘awful’ or ‘unbearable’.
…Imagery Techniques:
Worst Case Imagery-
…and Behavioral Techniques:
Exposure- Enter the client in behavior they would normally avoid.
Shame attacking- The client enters into behavior they feel results in disapproval.
Stepping out of Character- i.e. a perfectionist would deliberately perform sub- standard actions.
Much more detail on REBT can be found here
http://www.rational.org.nz/prof/docs/Intro-REBT.pdfAround the time REBT was developed hypnotherapy was gaining popularity and the practices were combined. (note these therapies were offspring of Humanistic Psychology and its ‘client centered approach to therapy’.). Perhaps the most prominent figure in hypnotherapy is Milton Erickson.
Milton Erickson was renouned for his unconventional approach to psychotherapy and hypnosis resulting in a very unique and effective style of performing hypnotherapy. His style of hypnotism was called ‘conversational hypnosis’. Unlike the general stereotypical understanding of hypnosis where direct suggestions are given (i.e. you are getting sleeeepy), Ericksonian hypnotherapy uses more of what it is called indirect suggestions. Indirect suggestions are much harder to resist because they are often not even recognized as suggestions by the conscious mind, since they usually disguise themselves as stories or metaphors. An example of an indirect suggestion is "… and perhaps your eyes will grow tried as you listen to this story, and you will want to close them, because people can, you know, experience a pleasant, deepening sense of comfort as they allow their eyes to close, and they relax deeply." This would all be said in such a way as to mark out key words and phrases (indicated here in italics) by subtle shifts in the tone of voice. The person's unconscious awareness thus responds to these "embedded commands."
Think about the following scenario: A child of say four or five years of age is carefully carrying a full glass of milk to the dinner table. The amateur parent of the child warns in a stern voice, "don't drop that!" The child looks up at the parent, stumbles a bit, drop the glass, and spills milk everywhere. The now angry parent yells, "I told you not to drop that! You're so clumsy. You'll never learn!"
As unintentional as it may be, this scenario is an example of hypnosis, complete with induction, suggestion, and post hypnotic suggestion. The powerful authoritative voice (the parent), having created and utilized through indirect suggestion ("don't drop that!), an altered state (trance), has issued a direct post-hypnotic suggestion ("You're so clumsy. You'll never learn"). "Post-hypnotic" because, if the child accepts the suggestion (and children often do), he or she will always see him/herself as clumsy. This post-hypnotic suggestion by the parent may well adhere to the directive in the future, sabotaging the child's success.
Ericksonian hypnosis and hypnotherapy has become a school of thought studied broadly. More here…
http://ericksonian.com/milton-erickson.htmlAs well
Erickson was a keystone figure in the development of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).NLP was co-created by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder in the 1970s through observation and imitation of gestalt therapist Fritz Perls[3], family systems therapist Virginia Satir[4] and psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson. Bandler and Grinder studied Erickson and his methods of communicating and sought to break down the effective processes resulting in the development of NLP.
What is Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)?Breaking down the word itself, helps to explain what it is. “Neuro” comes from the Greek word neuron—the nervous system—“the mind” through which our experience is processed. “Linguistic” comes from the Latin word lingua—or language. It indicates that neural processes are represented, coded and ordered to create meaning. “Programming” indicates how components of a system are organized to create patterns of activity and/or behavior.
So, NLP is a practical application of how people think and act. It works with how people store information in the mind, how communication takes place within and how to make changes in it all, if desired, to create new feelings and experiences. It can be described as “software for the brain” and can be used to successfully facilitate change.
Currently NLP is becoming extremely popular and a variety of training courses are offered internationally. Much of the science behind it is patented and protected. Just one example of a program offering training in this area and psychotherapy can be viewed here.
http://www.wellness-institute.org/Certification.htmThey offer:
The Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy model combines:
Humanistic psychology (Gestalt, TA)
Developmental psychology (inner child)
Behavior modification (classical and NLP)
Hypnotherapy (traditional & Ericksonian)
A Heart-Centered holistic approach into a brief, deeply healing new psychotherapy.
NLP was a “child” of the Human Potential Movement as explained in this article by a current proponent interested in revitalizing it with new knowledge of the use of NLP.
http://self-actualizing.org/articles/NL ... of_HPM.pdfThe early roots of the Human Potential Movement consisted of a large variety of new approaches to psychotherapy holding the theory that experiencing any or all therapies would inevitably lead to “self-actualization”. But the
real focus of the HPM was to encourage success, as being successful was reasoned to be the key to self actualization. Seminars such as
Lifespring (influential in the development of CEDU) were sold to companies as training for employees. In these seminars the beliefs of the employees were challenged in order to promote more success driven behavior. An example of what they preach would be, “What’s really getting in the way of your success? It’s your beliefs! Stop telling yourself you can’t do it! Stop telling yourself you’re not confident enough to work that better position in your company! Stop telling yourself you’re not the type of person who can be a millionaire! You want to be able to help other people and the best way to do that is to help yourself!”
Just one example of the type of “self-help” the HPM has developed can be seen in this “prescription for success” The Millionaire Secret.
http://www.mind-trek.com/milliona/tl13f.htm (note that it describes ‘psychological reversal’ in a manner that suggests there is a psychological problem with the learner, hence achieving its goal of relating the information.)
At this point some may question why it would be such a bad thing to put such emphasis on “positive thinking” in order to achieve, as the Human Potential Movement focuses on. I think it is best described by Albert Ellis, creator of REBT, in his description of “psychological reversal”.
The Negatives of Positive ThinkingEllis (personal communication, 1986) commented:
“Reversals are also dangerous. If you tell yourself I will always do badly and therefore am no good and you reverse that to I will always do well and therefore I am OK, the second statement is just as false as the first. If you go through my books, A New Guide to Rational Living and A Guide to Personal Happiness, you will see several techniques of giving up negative ideas without going to the extremes of positive thinking, which are also deceptive and dangerous.”
--
The worst possible misuse of positive thinking is to make it a tool of brainwashing. In destructive cults, the leaders may use a watered down version of positive thinking. For example, if followers try to point out problems in the group, the leaders might tell them that their words are "negative" and that they must "think positive." Don't question, don't think rational. Similar brainwashing goes on in many areas of mainstream life. Companies may withhold information or try to convince their employees to ignore glaring contradictions. Brainwashing may go on in families, where family secrets are covered up. Advertising is another good example of covert brainwashing: if everybody else likes this product, you should too. Ads may convince you that something is wrong with you that the product will fix.
It is vital that people understand the whole philosophy of positive thinking. Enforced happiness is a form of repression. Society would take on Orwellian overtones if everyone had to measure up to a standard of optimism no matter how bad things got.
The following is taken from a paper written by a practitioner of Humanistic psychology and deals with the topic of psychological reversals and the progression of psychological problems into mental illness. (As a former Cedu student I find our expected behavior to have a glaring emphasis on just how to exacerbate psychological problems.):
Journal ofHumanistic Psychology, Vol. 30 No. 1, Winter 1990 107.131 © 1990 Sage Publications, Inc.
FURTHER THOUGHTS ON
PREVENTING MENTAL ILLNESS
KARL ERICSON
“The reason psychological problems may lead to as severe a condition as mental illness is because of the
self-feeding nature of mental illness, in which psychological problems lead to other problems and feed the problems they originated from either directly or indirectly (Ericson, 1986).
In order to understand how psychological forces alone might be able to cause mental illness, it is helpful to consider the similarity of mental illness to a viral infection. In a viral infection, viruses multiply at an exponential rate, but the immune system develops defenses at an exponential rate as well and so can overcome the infection. If the viruses have too much of a head start or if the immune system is not functioning properly, one can develop a serious disease. In a viral infection the host’s cells end up producing the virus. Similarly, in mental illness the mind starts generating problems that feed it. Mental disorders often start when a person is faced with too many problems that overcome the defenses and escalate into disease in a fashion similar to viral infections. There are many psychological analogies that can be drawn to an unhealthy environment that increases the likelihood of a disease progressing. An important analogy to consider is that it is possible that a person becomes prone to negative self-motivation, such as self-criticism for failure, if others motivate him or her with negative motivations such as threats and criticism.
Realistic thinking usually leads to a better reality. Becoming more realistic in one’s thinking leads one to deal more effectively both with external problems and the internal stresses they lead to and so leads to a better reality for oneself. Even if a false belief allows one to feel better in the short term, it is likely to hurt one in the long term.
Our moods are often influenced by thoughts, desires, and beliefs that we are unaware of and can become aware of through self diagnosis. We subconsciously may exaggerate threats and fears that, if we were aware of consciously, we would keep in perspective. This may be because our subconscious thought processes are not as critical and as logical as our conscious ones, and although consciously we may wish to be accurate in our perceptions, subconsciously our desire to believe certain beliefs may be stronger than our desire to he accurate in our perceptions.
The mind in response to these motivating forces creates additional forces toward motivation. For example, if one has the motivation to achieve something, the mind might tell itself, "It will be terrible if I don’t achieve my objective," thus creating a perceived threat and generating the motivation to remove that threat by working hard at achieving, which was the original motivation. This example of motivating oneself generates pessimism, because it says that things will be terrible if one does not achieve. Thus generating motivations of this type is a force toward negative thinking.
The defensive mechanisms of the mind are by nature self-destructive. All defenses are costly and thus potentially self-destructive, especially if they divert effort from other productive activities. In mental illness the damage created by inappropriate defenses can be greater than any actual threat.
An example of a self-destructive defense mechanism would be defending one’s self-concept by believing that those who disagree with oneself are hostile, rather than benefiting from their judgment. If this belief has not become too ingrained, a friendly environment should be able to shake it. Defensive mechanisms can be a force toward cognitive errors. For example, magnifying a threat to oneself to motivate oneself to deal with it is a way in which one distorts one’s picture of reality for defensive purposes.
The most effective motivation to tie positive thinking to is the one that is leading one to generate the negative thought in the first place. For example: If the threat of failure is leading oneself to feel fear in order to motivate oneself to take defensive action, the most effective motivation to tie to not being afraid would be the motivation to overcome that threat. This could be done by telling oneself, "My best chance of overcoming the threat of failure that I face is to perform well, and I’ll perform better if I am not anxious." I shall call the motivations used in this way "therapeutic motivations."
Negative emotions are useful and good up to the point that they motivate us to take action to defend ourselves against threats. But the negative effects they have can be worse than the threats they were meant to defend against and can actually make it harder for oneself to deal with those threats and to achieve one’s objectives.
Self-concept is a barrier to immoral behavior. A basic way in which the mind gets around this barrier is by thinking worse of others than is true. Then it believes the immoral actions it is doing to others are right. Self-diagnostic questions such as, "Do I want to think so and so is wrong? and Would it hurt my self-concept if I believed that so and so was right and I was wrong?" can help one become aware of such immoral self-deception.
When I was mentally ill I used to hear hostile voices. "Hear" is really an incorrect term, but it is the common way to describe the experience among the mentally ill. "Sense" voices would be a better way to describe it. What I think happened is that my mind was in high gear because it was trying to defend itself. The side effect of being in high gear was that I started to sense random, disorganized thoughts or "mind noise," which my mind then turned into hostile voices because my emotionally paranoid frame of mind made it seem reasonable that there were voices. It seemed that the voices must belong to those responsible for the threat that I faced and thus must be hostile, and that it was imperative for me to understand what they said.
a fundamental cause of anxiety is the fear people have that if they are not anxious they will not be motivated to deal with their problems. Beck and Emery never mention that people unconsciously use anxiety to motivate themselves.
Defense mechanisms even exist in which one attacks one’s self-concept in order to protect it. I have criticized myself for failing, in effect telling myself, "I am not you, you are a failure. I am very critical of you and therefore am not responsible for your failure." I am not the only who has used this defense mechanism. I remember watching a pole-vaulter failing to vault over a bar.
Every time he failed he cursed himself and put himself down. I think he was trying to protect his self-concept, because by cursing himself he was in a sense saying to himself, "I am not you; it’s your fault that I can’t vault over the bar, not mine." In addition, he may have been trying to motivate himself to perform better through self-criticism. I have caught myself
criticizing myself for not living up to my standards to motivate myself to live up to them. An equally bizarre defense that I have found myself using often is dealing with the anxiety that something bad will happen by convincing myself that it will. Once I am convinced that it will happen, I do not have to be anxious about it happening anymore, because there is nothing I can do about it. This defense has the unhappy side effects of creating pessimism and sapping my will to try and prevent the bad thing from happening.
A misconception I had that led to a self-defeating defense mechanism is that in order to be liked, one has to be superior, act as if one is omniscient, and be domineering. These misconceptions led to behavior that caused people to develop contempt for me. My defense against people’s contempt for me was contempt for them. and so a vicious cycle was created. The belief that I had to be superior led to the slightest failure traumatizing my self-concept. I think I developed the misconception that I had to be superior, because when I was a child I thought I was being rejected for being weak. It may be that desire for high self-concept also fed my believing myself superior.
Generating anxiety is a way of motivating oneself to deal with a threat. Generating anxiety about one’s abilities is a way to make oneself more careful, but it generates insecurity. This insecurity can be felt by others and leads them to doubt a person’s abilities. Thus such a defense in an employment situation can be very harmful. From a social point of view people want to avoid insecure people, because being around insecure people makes them feel insecure.
A danger of defending against a misconception with another misconception is that once one’s attention is diverted to the second misconception, one becomes unaware of the first, so it is less likely that one will ever correct the original misconception unless one uses self-help.
Low Self-Concept
1. Believe self inferior to others.
2. Believe self worthless.
3. Believe self bad.
4. Self-hate.
5. Blame self for one’s failures.
6. Believe one is alone in facing problems such as depression and rejection, and that one is alone in having the weaknesses that one has, that one is defective and inferior because of them.
7. Believe one deserves to suffer if one doesn’t achieve or work harder.
8. Believe that if others disapprove of oneself, one is no good.
9. Believe one deserves to fail if one fails, one deserves to suffer if one suffers, and one deserves to lose if one loses. Believe "I suffer therefore I’m bad" or "I fail therefore I’m bad."
It might be of use to the practitioner interested in cognitive behavior or RET to be aware of the usual
15 styles of distorted thinking: 1.Filtering: This is a process where a person takes the negative detail and magnifies it while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. For example, "1 could have enjoyed the convert except that it started late."
2.Polarized Thinking: Things are black or white; good or bad. You're either perfect or a failure, there is no middle ground. For instance, stating that you are either with me, for me, or against me.
5.Catastrophizing: You expect a disaster to happen. You notice or anticipate a problem and are always concerned with the "what ifs." For instance, what if tragedy strikes again; or. what if it happens to me. For example: "We haven't seen each other for two hours, what if the relationship is falling apart."
6.Personalization: When you think that everything people do or say, is necessarily related to you or that they react to you. You constantly compare yourself to others and always evaluate yourself to find out how you fare. For instance: "Quite a few people here seem smarter than I am."
11.Emotional Reasoning: Believing that what you feel must be true automatically. If you feel stupid or boring, then you must be stupid or boring. For instance: stating "I feel depressed, life must be depressing."
14.Being Right: You are continuously proving that your opinions and actions are correct. Being wrong is unthinkable and you will go to any lengths to demonstrate that you are right. For instance: "I don't care what you think, I am going to do it again exactly the same again because I know I am right."
How do we
recognize distorted thinking? There are basically two sings to alert us to a presence of distorted thinking:
1. The presence of painful emotions, such as feeling nervous, angry, depressed, annoyed at oneself, and re-experiencing those feelings over and over again.
2.The constant ongoing conflicts with people about whom you care. Becoming aware of how the person justifies one's conflicts.
Albert Ellis stated in his book 'Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy', that "all hypnosis is the result of the self talk." Ellis, as well as other writers, such as Artaoz, stated in his works on hypnosis and sex therapy, that
"neurotic suffering is caused by an irrational or negative type of self hypnosis." Maladaptive emotions and self-defeating behavior stem from uncritical acceptance of one's negative self talk."--
http://www.primechoice.com/philosophy/s ... icle2.htmlAt this point it is a good idea to re-visit some of the ideas behind hypnosis.
Essentially the most important elements in successfully inducing hypnosis and trance states are 1) Engaging the subject in Right-brained ‘alpha’ activities to allow for more direct communication with the unconscious mind, and 2) To bypass the ‘critical factor’ of the left-brained ‘beta consiousness’ that analyzes and filters information and suggestions. There are a number of techniques used to facilitate the successful induction of these two categories.
Conversational hypnosis, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, has a laundry list of tactics used to accomplish the task of increasing the subjects suggestability and shift belief systems. Generally this would consist of appealing to a persons creativity and emotions. Erickson, pioneer of conversational hypnosis, gave indirect
suggestions to clients through story telling, speaking metaphorically, formulating improper sentences (to confuse the conscious mind while the portion of the sentence carrying the message bypassed scrutiny), and focusing on words with multiple meanings (i.e. right meaning right or yes.). Without going too deeply into them here is a list of some persuasion tactics used.
How Emotional Triggers Can Boost the Impact of Your HypnosisEmotional Triggers are a very powerful part of what you will be doing as a hypnotist. They are an unconscious response that is triggered within the body to develop a physical or emotional behavior. As a hypnotist you will want to be able to imbed these triggers in your subjects so you will have the ability to produce behaviors in them.
Post hypnotic triggers are emotional triggers that can be set by a hypnotist within another individual to create a specific reaction. Many times these triggers are created by environments and sometimes they are created unintentionally by other people. No matter how they come about they are there and they can be created by you.
Emotional triggers that are created by our environments naturally occur on a daily basis. This can be something as simple as hearing a song that brings back specific memories of a time in your life. Any time you hear that particular song you are instantly taken back to a certain memory or set of memories. When this happens you are reliving the memory as you think of the events and feelings it brings to mind.
How to Use Post Hypnotic Suggestions in HypnosisPost hypnotic suggestions are the next tool in line for you to add to your set of skills in Conversational Hypnosis. These are very powerful suggestions that will give you the ability to place a suggestion of a behavior or action that will take place whether you are present or not. Post hypnotic suggestions are used to get things done when they need to be done without the hypnotist’s presence. .
What post hypnotic suggestions can do for you and your subject is to access a behavior when it is demanded. This happens as you use a trance to suggest a behavior that will take place when a specific trigger goes off in the person’s mind. This tool is successful and powerful in the nature that it works in the same ways in which your unconscious mind works. The natural way the mind remembers to do a thing, a thought occurs, a trigger, and then the action that goes along with it is performed.
A great example of this is when a person stops using an addictive substance, such as alcohol or cigarettes. Often they will find that their willpower is in check until they are reunited with situations in which the addictive substance was involved in.
Now that you have selected a behavior and a trigger to set off that behavior in the future you are ready to continue on with condition number three. Condition number three is to bypass the consciousness. If you do not do bypass the consciousness then the probability that the conscious mind will interfere with the action taking place is much greater.
Bypassing consciousness is going to create the urge to do the behavior. It will make the suggestion of the action a compulsive one, much like the compulsion to smoke the cigarette even though logic says ‘you’ve made it this far, don’t smoke that cigarette’. This bypassing of the consciousness will ultimately compel the person to do the action regardless of the resistance they may display initially.
This is the nature of the unconscious mind, it really relates back to the access state principal as well. As you make the suggestion in trance when the time is right for the action to take place the person will partially slip back into the trance that it was suggested in. This is important because you must really pay attention to the trigger you are setting for this whole process to work correctly.
So your trigger essentially must be one that will set off the state of trance that was involved when the trigger was set, otherwise the trigger will not successfully trigger the correct suggestion.
Reframing in HypnosisIt is important to know that frames are very powerful and will be a valuable tool as you practice your Conversational Hypnosis.
A frame is the standard of reference that people use to measure the meanings of all the things around them. It is also important to keep in mind that frames are different for everyone and that there are different ways in which to present and look at each different frame.
The power of frames in hypnosis is great because you are learning to change, preset and extinguish frames based on the language you use, both physically and verbally.
Reframing in hypnosis is going to be another powerful aspect of the idea of frames. This will be another important way for you to change and overpower the frames of others to impact a positive outcome with in your hypnosis practice.
There are different ways in which you can control and manipulate frames. There are essentially four options you have, to maintain your frame, preframe, reframe and deframe. Of the four framing options maintaining your frame and preframing are the most important and powerful in Conversational Hypnosis.
Sensory Descriptions & Stories – The Key to Improving Your Hypnosis. One of these techniques is to include sensory rich descriptions and stories to your inductions. Now you have already been introduced to this in the art of asking deep meaningful questions that compel you’re subject to dive further and further into the experience you are asking about.
This is similar in the way that you are asking a question to get the person thinking about a certain thing, when you do this you are actually getting them to recreate that experience within them. The same happens when you use sensory rich descriptions and stories. At some level you are requesting that they access a similar state and really get into it to access those experiences.
….. This just to give an impression of the tactics.
And
looking into Brainwashing will reveal a host of other tactics as well.How Revivalist Preachers Work
If you'd like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there are probably several in your city. Go to the church or tent early and sit in the rear, about three-quarters of the way back. Most likely repetitive music will be played while the people come in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally ranging from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the beat of the human heart), is very hypnotic and can generate an eyes-open altered state of consciousness in a very high percentage of people. And, once you are in an alpha state, you are at least 25 times as suggestible as you would be in full beta consciousness. The music is probably the same for every service, or incorporates the same beat, and many of the people will go into an altered state almost immediately upon entering the sanctuary. Subconsciously, they recall their state of mind from previous services and respond according to the post-hypnotic programming.
Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many will exhibit external signs of trance--body relaxation and slightly dilated eyes. Often, they begin swaying back and forth with their hands in the air while sitting in their chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will probably come out. He usually speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."
The "Voice Roll" Technique
A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers, several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to entrench a point firmly in the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The words will usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats per minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect.
The Build-up Process: Inducing Altered States
Now the assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process. He induces an altered state of consciousness and/or begins to generate the excitement and the expectations of the audience. Next, a group of young women in "sweet and pure" chiffon dresses might come out to sing a song. Gospel songs are great for building excitement and involvement. In the middle of the song, one of the girls might be "smitten by the spirit" and fall down or react as if possessed by the Holy Spirit. This very effectively increases the intensity in the room. At this point, hypnosis and conversion tactics are being mixed. And the result is the audience's attention span is now totally focused upon the communication while the environment becomes more exciting or tense.
Assured Continuation: Fleecing the Flock
Right about this time, when an eyes-open mass-induced alpha mental state has been achieved, they will usually pass the collection plate or basket. In the background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice roll from the assistant preacher might exhort, "Give to God...Give to God...Give to God...." And the audience does give.
Bonding by Fear and Suggestion
Next, the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out. He induces fear and increases the tension by talking about "the devil," "going to hell," or the forthcoming Armegeddon.
In the last such rally I attended, the preacher talked about the blood that would soon be running out of every faucet in the land. He was also obsessed with a "bloody axe of God," which everyone had seen hanging above the pulpit the previous week. I have no doubt that everyone saw it--the power of suggestion given to hundreds of people in hypnosis assures that at least 10 to 25 percent would see whatever he suggested they see.
Testimony: Creating Community Spirit
In most revivalist gatherings, "testifying" or "witnessing" usually follows the fear-based sermon. People from the audience come up on stage and relate their stories. "I was crippled and now I can walk!" "I had arthritis and now it's gone!" It is a psychological manipulation that works. After listening to numerous case histories of miraculous healings, the average guy in the audience with a minor problem is sure he can be healed. The room is charged with fear, guilt, intense excitement, and expectations.
Miracles
Now those who want to be healed are frequently lined up around the edge of the room, or they are told to come down to the front. The preacher might touch them on the head firmly and scream, "Be healed!" This releases the psychic energy and, for many, catharsis results. Catharsis is a purging of repressed emotions. Individuals might cry, fall down or even go into spasms. And if catharsis is effected, they stand a chance of being healed. In catharsis (one of the three brain phases mentioned earlier), the brain-slate is temporarily wiped clean and the new suggestion is accepted.
For some, the healing may be permanent. For many, it will last four days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a hypnotic suggestion given to a somnambulistic subject will usually last. Even if the healing doesn't last, if they come back every week, the power of suggestion may continually override the problem...or sometimes, sadly, it can mask a physical problem which could prove to be very detrimental to the individual in the long run.
Six Conversion Techniques
Cults and human-potential organizations are always looking for new converts. To attain them, they must also create a brain-phase. And they often need to do it within a short space of time--a weekend, or maybe even a day. The following are the six primary techniques used to generate the conversion.
Isolation Intimidation, Deprivation and IndoctrinationThe meeting or training takes place in an area where participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be any place: a private home, a remote or rural setting, or even a hotel ballroom where the participants are allowed only limited bathroom usage. In human-potential trainings, the controllers will give a lengthy talk about the
importance of "keeping agreements" in life. The participants are told that if they don't keep agreements, their life will never work. It's a good idea to keep agreements, but the controllers are subverting a positive human value for selfish purposes. The participants vow to themselves and their trainer that they will keep their agreements. Anyone who does not will be intimidated into agreement or forced to leave. The next step is to agree to complete training, thus assuring a high percentage of conversions for the organizations.
They will usually have to agree not to take drugs, smoke, and sometimes not to eat...or they are given such short meal breaks that it creates tension. The real reason for the agreements is to alter internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and hopefully causes at least a slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in turn increases the conversion potential.
The "Sell It By Zealot" TechniqueBefore the gathering is complete, the agreements will be used to ensure that the new converts go out and find new participants. They are intimidated into agreeing to do so before they leave. Since the importance of keeping agreements is so high on their priority list, the converts will twist the arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk them into attending a free introductory session offered at a future date by the organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact, the inside term for merchandising the largest and most successful human-potential training is, "sell it by zealot!"
At least a million people are graduates and a good percentage have been left with a mental activation button that assures their future loyalty and assistance if the guru figure or organization calls. Think about the potential political implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots programmed to campaign for their guru.
Be wary of an organization of this type that offers follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might be weekly meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular basis which the organization will attempt to talk you into taking--or any regularly scheduled event used to maintain control. As the early Christian revivalists found, long-term control is dependent upon a good follow-up system.
Wearing Down ResistanceAlright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that indicates conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is maintained that causes physical and mental fatigue. This is primarily accomplished by long hours in which the participants are given no opportunity for relaxation or reflection.
Increasing Tension
The third tip-off: techniques used to increase the tension in the room or environment.
Introducing Uncertainty About IdentityNumber four: Uncertainty. I could spend hours relating various techniques to
increase tension and generate uncertainty. Basically, the
participants are concerned about being "put on the spot" or encountered by the trainers, guilt feelings are played upon, participants are tempted to verbally relate their innermost secrets to the other participants or forced to take part in activities that emphasize removing their masks. One of the most successful human-potential seminars forces the participants to stand on a stage in front of the entire audience while being verbally attacked by the trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted a few years ago, showed that the number one most-fearful situation an individual could encounter is to speak to an audience. It ranked above window washing outside the 85th floor of an office building.
So you can imagine the fear and tension this situation generates within the participants.
Many faint, but most cope with the stress by mentally going away. They literally
go into an alpha state, which automatically makes them many times as suggestible as they normally are. And another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is successfully effected.JargonThe fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used is the introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only to the "insiders" who participate. Vicious language is also frequently used, purposely, to make participants uncomfortable.
Lack of Humor: No Release, No ResistanceThe final tip-off is that there is no humor in the communications...at least until the participants are converted. Then, merry-making and humor are highly desirable as symbols of the new joy the participants have supposedly "found."
Cults: A Captive Course in Stockholm SyndromeCult gatherings or human-potential trainings are an ideal environment to observe first-hand what is technically called the "Stockholm Syndrome." This is a situation in which those who are intimidated, controlled, or made to suffer, begin to love, admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their controllers or captors.
But let me inject a word of warning here: If you think you can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are probably wrong. A perfect example is the case of a woman who went to Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian Voodoo. In her report, she related how the music eventually induced uncontrollable bodily movement and an altered state of consciousness. Although she understood the process and thought herself above it, when she began to feel herself become vulnerable to the music, she attempted to fight it and turned away. Anger or resistance almost always assures conversion. A few moments later she was possessed by the music and began dancing in a trance around the Voodoo meeting house. A brain phase had been induced by the music and excitement, and she awoke feeling reborn.
The US Marines as a Brainwashing CultBefore I go on, let's go back to the six tip-offs to conversion. I want to mention the United States Government and military boot camp. The Marine Corps talks about breaking men down before "rebuilding" them as new men--as marines! Well, that is exactly what they do, the same way a cult breaks its people down and rebuilds them as happy flower sellers on your local street corner. Every one of the six conversion techniques are used in boot camp. Considering the needs of the military, I'm not making a judgement as to whether that is good or bad. IT IS A fact that the men are effectively brainwashed. Those who won't submit must be discharged or spend much of their time in the brig.
Steps in the Decognition ProcessOnce the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed services, and similar groups cannot have cynicism among their members. Members must respond to commands and do as they are told, otherwise they are dangerous to the organizational control. This is normally accomplished as a three-step ˜ Decognition Process.
Alertness reductionStep One is alertness reduction: The controllers cause the nervous system to malfunction, making it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality. This can be accomplished in several ways. poor diet is one; watch out for Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the nervous system off. More subtle is the "spiritual diet" used by many cults. They eat only vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish or meat, an individual becomes mentally "spacey." Inadequate sleep is another primary way to reduce alertness, especially when combined with long hours of work or intense physical activity. Also, being bombarded with intense and unique experiences achieves the same result.
Programmed ConfusionStep Two is programmed confusion: You are mentally assaulted while your alertness is being reduced as in Step One. This is accomplished with a deluge of new information, lectures, discussion groups, encounters or one-to-one processing, which usually amounts to the controller bombarding the individual with questions. During this phase of decognition, reality and illusion often merge and perverted logic is likely to be accepted.
Thought StoppingStep Three is thought stopping: Techniques are used to cause the mind to go "flat." These are altered-state-of-consciousness techniques that initially induce calmness by giving the mind something simple to deal with and focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a feeling of elation and eventually hallucination. The result is the reduction of thought and eventually, if used long enough, the cessation of all thought and withdrawal from everyone and everything except that which the controllers direct. The takeover is then complete. It is important to be aware that when members or participants are instructed to use "thought-stopping" techniques, they are told that they will benefit by so doing: they will become "better soldiers" or "find enlightenment." (marching, meditation, chanting)
Shock and ConfusionThe Hare Krishnas, operating in every airport, use what I call shock and confusion techniques to distract the left brain and communicate directly with the right brain. While waiting for a plane, I once watched one operate for over an hour. He had a technique of almost jumping in front of someone. Initially, his voice was loud then dropped as he made his pitch to take a book and contribute money to the cause. Usually, when people are shocked, they immediately withdraw. In this case they were shocked by the strange appearance, sudden materialization and loud voice of the Hare Krishna devotee. In other words, the people went into an alpha state for security because they didn't want to confront the reality before them.
In alpha, they were highly suggestible so they responded to the suggestion of taking the book; the moment they took the book, they felt guilty and responded to the second suggestion: give money. We are all conditioned that if someone gives us something, we have to give them something in return--in that case, it was money. While watching this hustler, I was close enough to notice that many of the people he stopped exhibited an outward sign of alpha--their eyes were actually dilated.
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http://www.serendipity.li/sutphen/brainwsh.htmlCONVERSION TECHNIQUES
• Breaking sessions: that pressure a person until they crack.
• Changing values: to change what is right and wrong.
• Confession: to leave behind the undesirable past.
• Entrancement: open the mind and limit rational reflection.
• Engagement: that draws a person in.
• Exhaustion: so they are less able to resist persuasion.
• Guilt: about the past that they can leave behind.
• Higher purpose: associate desirability with a higher purpose.
• Identity destruction: to make space for the new identity.
• Information control: that blocks out dissuading thoughts.
• Incremental conversion: shifting the person one step at a time.
• Isolation: separating people from dissuasive messages.
• Love Bomb: to hook in the lonely and vulnerable.
• Persistence: never giving up, wearing you down.
• Special language: that offers the allure of power and new meaning.
• Thought-stopping: block out distracting or dissuading thoughts.
(So not to overload this thread I’ll leave out Robert Lifton, but if you haven’t reviewed his thought reform theories yet it would be critical knowledge at this point.)
http://changingminds.org/techniques/con ... reform.htmhttp://changingminds.org/techniques/con ... ashing.htmSo, to put it plainly, I think the above information might serve as the tip of the iceberg into understanding what exactly brainwashing and behavior modification is all about. At this point I’m going to make an assumption as to the viability or effectiveness, I’m just acknowledging that this is the information that surrounds these topics.
What I will say though, is that even if brainwashing is not real (effective), there is no doubt in my mind that the
CEDU program was developed specifically to serve those exact purposes.CEDU PROPHEETS and TOOLSPropheet
A 24 hour workshop. Named after Khalil Ghbiran's "The Prophet". Passages from the prophet are read at one point in each propheet. During the Wasserman years, there were 7 propheets and two workshops. The propheets employed sleep-deprivation, humiliation, occasional exposure to large variations in temperature, guided imagery, loud and repetitive music, regression therapy, bizarre ritual, and forced emoting. This normally resulted in a feeling of euphoria and exhaustion after the experience. Certain propheets actually caused students to temporarily lose their voice. Propheets contained exercises which used metaphor to convey their message. Each propheet, with the exception of the last one, also consisted of disclosures and a lengthy rap (see below) where everyone in the room was spoken to. The students are "allowed" what appears on the surface to be a one hour nap the next day. However, staff walk amongst the kids as they try to fall asleep on the floor, and when they notice that the last one has fallen asleep, they wake up the students and tell them that the hour nap is over. After you complete a propheet, you are sworn to secrecy. However, you are allowed to speak to students who have already been through the experience. The list of propheets are The Truth, The Childrens, The Brothers Keeper, The Dreams, The I Want to Live, The Values and The Imagine. The two, multi-day workshops, are the I & Me and the Summit. They employ similar techniques, but the structure is very different, and the intensity is stepped up significantly. The last workshop, the Summit, was based on the Large Group Awareness Training seminar Lifespring. Wasserman purchased the rights to use the workshop at his own school, in addition to adding his own exercises.
The Pendulum
A tool in the truth propheet. The passage from The Prophet that is focused on in the truth is "To the extent that you feel your sorrow, you will feel your joy." This is depicted in the truth propheet by a pendulum, which swings from one side, which is sorrow, to the other, which is joy. Whatever Gibran's intent, CEDU ideology translated this as meaning that, in order to feel any happiness, the student must be made as miserable as possible first.
[edit] Your Chrome Ball
A tool in the truth. Your chrome ball was supposed to represent you at birth; pure and unsullied. Students are told that throughout their life, their ball has been dirtied and tarnished by things such as bad experiences, people treating you poorly, and you doing things you felt ashamed of. (Which leads into disclosures in the disclosure circles. See below.)
[edit] Disclosure Circles
An exercise in the truth propheet. Students are divided up into two groups, one each run by a staff. They sit around in a circle, and everybody goes around and confesses to things that they have done in the past that they feel bad about, in addition to copping out to any dirt. As the night progresses, students are pressured to come up with more and more dirt, even if the student says they don't have any more. This often leads to fabricated confessions.
[edit] Your Truth
A tool/concept from the truth propheet. "Your truth" meant what you were, essentially. Part of the CEDU ideology was to oversimplify identity by assigning your persona basic labels. Some examples of assigned truths would be "honest" or "beautiful".
[edit] Your Lie
This is the other side of the "your truth" label, and was assigned to you in the rap section of the truth propheet. After your indictment, which normally consisted of how you deny your truth every day, you are assigned what is "your lie", which was normally a blunt and brutal accusation of your negative behavior. Some examples of this are "Liar", "Victim", "Cripple", "Slut" and "Faggot".
Your Little Girl/Boy
A tool/concept from the children's propheet. This propheet was geared towards getting the students in touch with their "inner child." One way of doing this was to give more tangibility to the concept. As such, students are required to come up with a name for their little boy or girl. This name was supposed to be a pet name your parents had for you when you were young. This tool also falls into the category of "identity labels" that the CEDU propheets employed.
[edit] Dyads
A propheet/workshop exercise where two students face each other in chairs, and engage each other, while being coached by the staff. Normally involves a lot of screaming, repetitive chanting/shouting (Such as "Mommy made me ____ . Daddy made me ______.") and regression. Dyads are used primarily in the children's propheet, the Summit workshop, and during trust counseling.
Turning your back
An exercise from the brother's keeper. Students are paired up and take turns turning their back on each other.
[edit] Pushing away
An exercise from the brother's keeper. Students are paired up and take turns shoving each other. The exercise was supposed to signify how you push people away every day.
Your Nightmare
One of the exercises in the dreams propheet. The concept was that your nightmare was how you were before you came to RMA... i.e. your image. Students are given a black crayon and a piece of paper, and are required to draw a picture of themselves as this nightmare. After everyone is finished, they all mill around and look at each others' drawings. Then they are required to sit in front of their own nightmare for an extended amount of time and ruminate over it. They are then talked to about it in the propheet rap.
[edit] Your Dream
This is the identity label from the dreams propheet. Prior to being bestowed with this label, there is an exercise where students are required to cry about when their dream died. You are then supposed to come up with what your dream was. It was then written on a golden paper star.
http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=CEDU_lingo I’m not about to list each and everyone of the many and unusual (to say the least) “agreements” or go into lengthy detail about all the propheets and raps. But anyone who reviews the Cedu lingo list should be able to make various connections between it and the information presented in this paper.
So what was the intention of the program? In my opinion the main purpose for the “Tools” were for the purpose were for implanting a belief system into the unconscious mind that literally sought to override the critical left-brained ‘beta’ state of consiousness hence (in theory) leaving students in a
maintained state of suggestability. As well I believe the tools were a way that enabled them to
re-frame the entire reality of the students in a rigid black and white system of judgement that (if functiong properly) would serve to set in motion a self-feeding mental dysfunction such as described previously:
“Defense mechanisms even exist in which one
attacks one’s self-concept in order to protect it. I have criticized myself for failing, in effect
telling myself, "I am not you, you are a failure. I am very critical of you and therefore am not responsible for your failure." I am not the only who has used this defense mechanism. I remember watching a pole-vaulter failing to vault over a bar.
Every time he failed he cursed himself and put himself down. I think he was trying to protect his self-concept, because by cursing himself he was in a sense
saying to himself, "I am not you; it’s your fault that I can’t 