Mind Control

2003

Delusions of alien control, or passivity experiences, are symptoms associated with schizophrenia in which patients misattribute self-generated actions to an external source. In this study hypnosis was used to induce a similar misattribution of self-generated movement in normal, healthy individuals. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) was employed to investigate the neural correlates of active movements correctly attributed to the self, compared with identical active movements misattributed to an external source.

2003

Aristotle's model of comprehension involves the description of a phenomenon and identification of its efficient causes (triggers), material cause (substrate), formal cause (models of structure), and final cause (function). This causal analysis provides a framework for understanding hypnosis and the hypnotic state. States are constellations of parameters within specified ranges; they name, but do not explain, a phenomenon. Concerns about reification of states arematters of semantics and pragmatics, not ontology.

Over the years, hypnosis has been a central feature in describing the process of behavior and attitude change that occurs in high demand groups (HDGs, or “cults”). Cult specialist and mental health counselor Steven Hassan (1989, 2000, 2014) has talked and written extensively on this process. In August 2000, Dr. Arthur Dole chaired a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) entitled “Can hypnosis explain“cult conversion? Evidence from science and practice” that included a number of experts in the field (Dole, et. al., 2000). On the other hand, in a provocative article entitled “Psychological Manipulation, Hypnosis, and Suggestion,” Spanish psychologist Jose Fernández Aguado (2015) questioned the ability of hypnosis to induce people to engage in behaviors in ways they would not otherwise execute “out of” hypnosis.

Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, 2017

Background: Delusion of control, including thought insertion, occurs in 20% of patients with schizophrenia. However little is known of its psychopathology, and studies involving patients are scarce. Aims: To explore the subjective experience of patients with delusion of control and to propose a psychopathological explanation based on empirical evidence. Methods: Qualitative exploratory study of 7 patients (6 with schizophrenia and 1 with schizophreniform disorder). A phenomenologically-oriented semi-structured interview was used. Results: Delusion of control is not an isolated and pure symptom; it is always immersed in the context of a persecutory delusion and other psychiatric symptoms. The patient experiences partial control, i.e. the control is never complete. In all cases, it is possible to trace the history of the narrative formation of delusion of control from its origins in persecutory delusions and other concomitant symptoms. Conclusions: The delusion of control is a narrative resulting from the joint presence of a persecutory delusion and other psychiatric symptoms. For the patient, the delusion of control is the narrative of the elaborate expression of the meaning of the anomalous experience. Delusion of control is a narrative variety of persecutory delusion.

2007

The International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation

Over the years, hypnosis has been a central feature in descriptions of the process of behavior and attitude change that occurs in high-demand groups (HDGs, or cults). Cult specialist and mental-health counselor Steven Hassan (1989, 2000, 2014) has talked and written extensively about this process. In August 2000, Dr. Arthur Dole chaired a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) entitled Can Hypnosis Explain Cult Conversion? Evidence From Science and Practice, which included a number of experts in the field (Dole et. al., 2000). In contrast to the premise suggested by these references, Spanish psychologist Jose Fernández Aguado (2015), in a provocative article entitled “Psychological Manipulation, Hypnosis, and Suggestion,” questioned the ability of hypnosis to induce people to engage in behaviors in ways they would not otherwise execute “out of” hypnosis.

Consciousness and Cognition, 2005

Patients with delusions of control are abnormally aware of the sensory consequences of their actions and have difficulty with on-line corrections of movement. As a result they do not feel in control of their movements. At the same time they are strongly aware of the action being intentional. This leads them to believe that their actions are being controlled by an external agent. In contrast, the normal mark of the self in action is that we have very little experience of it. Most of the time we are not aware of the sensory consequences of our actions or of the various subtle corrections that we make during the course of goal-directed actions. We know that we are agents and that we are successfully causing the world to change. But as actors we move through the world like shadows glimpsed only occasional from the corner of an eye.

Medical Hypotheses, 2017

2003

DELUSIONS of alien control are symptoms associated with schizophrenia in which people misattribute self-generated actions to an external source (Schneider, 1959). The actions in question can be mundane, such as picking up a cup or combing one's hair. Auditory hallucinations are common in schizophrenia, and normally consist of hearing speech or voices (Johnstone, 1991). Both delusions of alien control and auditory hallucinations are included as 'first rank'features in schizophrenia (Schneider, 1959).

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