Conversion, Religion and Brainwashing

Following his experience of the treatment of acute war neuroses during the Second World War, WWS observed parallels between this, the ideas of Pavlov and religious conversion, particularly Wesley's mass-conversion techniques. During his visit to Duke University, 1947-1948, he studied methods of religious revival and the psychiatric aspects of conversion in the American context. Later he also observed similar, comparisons between Freudian analysis, possession, faith healing, mass hysteria, political techniques of brainwashing, the stress conditions suffered by hostages, and the illegal eliciting of criminal confessions. He wrote widely on these and related subjects and acted as a consultant in a number of high-profile cases, such as those of Patty Hearst and Vladimir Kachenko.

c.1940s-1980s

61 files

A digitised copy is held by Wellcome Collection as part of The Mental Health Archives digitisation project.