Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing

Rating:
Summary: One of the Ten Most Important Books In This Century.
Review: A friend of mine told me about this book in the early 1970s. He was working for a retired doctor of physics who had gone into politics, and informed me that the doctor thought of this book as being of extraordinary significance. One of my methods for finding useful knowledge is to investigate the recommendations of those whom I suspect are intellectually or spiritually more developed than myself. Now I've added Sargant's book to my list of the most astonishing and useful books of all time. For decades it was also a much sought after rare book, usually unobtainable, so in case that happens again you might consider buying it now. This is one of the few books which can clearly explain the step by step physiological process taking place in the mind as someone acquires a new belief system. Most of the authors in this field succumb to the temptation to politicize the subject, so with the exception of the Ivan Pavlov's or Conway/Siegelman studies, they tend to be vastly inferior to Sargant's. Often the subject was denounced as totally Communistic or as the science of brainwashing, because the science was prostituted to Marxist regimes in Russia, China, North Korea, and elsewhere, but the brain is indeed an organ which will accept a conditioning process as naturally as our muscles. Yes, it's possible to casually say everyone is brainwashed, but the term is far more limited and politically biased than a really good understanding of conditioned reflexes reveals. I gave this book five stars, even though Sargant felt it necessary to be politically correct about his own mainstream Christian beliefs, drawing a distinction between those and the beliefs of others. To me that indicated he felt there was some social risk in being too truthful, but the fact is, no matter how Christianity gets into the brain - or any other belief system, it's still a process of conditioned reflexes. Personally I accept a certain amount of Christian cultural values, as it's part of the heritage my European people acquired and reshaped for their own needs, but I would resist anyone's efforts to aggressively condition me into any sect. The word brainwashing, therefore, isn't really the appropriate one when explaining what most mainstream Christians do. On the other hand, if a cult leader uses a book like this, which some do for subjecting followers to unusual stresses intended to convert them, the result is spiritually inferior to even the most naive Christian sect, as it's not a natural product of ethnic development. I make the distinction here, as Sargant apparently didn't want to risk religious or political controversy, that forced conditioning is ignorant and deserves the negative connotation of Brainwashing. Embarking on a more gentle and gradual evolution within your native culture's myths is generally safer and more emotionally beneficial. People of European descent who have abandoned the cultural protection of Western tradition, often fall prey to Eastern traditions which employ rude and dangerous brainwashing techniques. The irony is that such victims become unqualified to correctly assess the value of an alien belief system. They become mere contributors to what is rude and barbaric in the society they betrayed. Had they remained in the Western tradition their people created, and assimilated the ideas of outsiders naturally - using the brake of an inherited wisdom - they would not have become cult victims. Our culture is constantly changing, and a grasp of this subject will help seekers to retain their personal dignity. Sargant's charming lack of candor is the only part of this book that's gone out of date.

Rating:
Summary: Battle for the mind
Review: A rare instance of a book on the topic of mind control that is neither sensational or paranoid. Scholarly, yet readable, this is a valuable book that everyone should read.

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Summary: Lists in my top 3 lifetime books: a must for self-knowledge
Review: For anyone who has questioned 'what is me' and 'what has been put into my brain', this book (first published in 1959) is the par-excellence guide to religio/political indoctrination.Read it and challenge your faith, your political views, your very self. But, after the challenge emerge from the test as a more fuller 'you'. A more aware self. If 'to know thyself' is the most important aspect of life, then this book is the most important guidebook I have ever read.It can get technical. It can get disruptive in terms of belief. However, belief is what we take into ourselves, freely - not what is pumped into us by others. In my view,The Bible, The Life of Edgar Cayce and 'The Battle for the Mind' are the most important books I have ever read. I am glad to see this book back in print, happy for all the people who can now access, again, this superb revelation of the mind, it's processes and it's infinite ability to overcome the challenges of living and believing.

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Summary: This book changed my life too!
Review: Like another reviewer here, this is a book that I will never forget. I must've been about 16 years old when I read it while I was flying from Florida to Wisconsin. I have never enjoyed a layover so much before. Sargant bases his physiology on I.P. Pavlov's "Conditioned Reflexes," in other words, Pavlov's famous dogs. This is the first book I read that made me question religion. But it is not written, as the moron from Sydney put it, to do so. Most of the book has nothing to do with religion, and certainly has nothing to do with the cold war.

Much of the book's information comes from World War I and II (a departure from Pavlov, who died in the 1930s), as well as other later conflicts, but in a lesser degree. This has nothing to do with the Cold War, or that period in time when it occurred. Instead this book is an amazing look at human nature from a scientific perspective (the only perspective that actually gets humanity somewhere), the author states, upfront, that he has great respect for people's personal beliefs and that this book can not answer to the truth or falsehood of them. Sargant also NEVER states that he is an atheist, in fact, I think that with all his concessions to religion at the beginning, even thought the book had almost nothing to say on the subject, that he probably was a faithful man who didn't want to step on toes.

All in all, this book is really powerful. You may never look at the world around you in the same way again. In fact, I'm sure you won't, if you actually understand the book, unlike some of the people who've reviewed it.

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Summary: Fascinating book about the mind's reaction to severe stress
Review: Robert Graves scholars claim that Graves "Englished" (that is, rewrote) this book for Sargant, which might help explain how such a complex subject ended up getting explained so clearly. Graves's involvement might also explain how Sargant was able to draw evidence from such an incredible range of history to explain his basic thesis. The result is an excellent book for psychologists and also for historians. What do these things have in common - Methodist sermons, ancient Greek mysteries, Jesuit training, battlefield fatigue in WWI and WWII, Voodoo ceremonies, rock and roll dancing, and the flood that almost killed Pavlov's dogs? They all show that under severe and/or prolonged stress, the mind can change radically, profoundly, and with lasting results. In all cases, Sargant concluded, it's a manifestation of a "normal" psychological process by the brain of accommodation to circumstances, which under severely abnormal circumstances can result in very surprising and strange accommodations indeed. When the mind is in such a "wiped" state, it can be reconstructed in many ways. Brainwashers, Sargant shows, use the state to get people to do things they normally wouldn't consider. A compassionate psychologist, however, can use this state to genuinely help a person recover from the trauma. Or, as in many religious conversions and "mystical" experiences as far back as ancient times, prolonged stress can actually be used therapeutically. Sargant clearly speaks from a great range of professional experience. He's not speculating.

If you've read Graves poetry, much influenced in the early stages by horrific personal experiences on World War I battlefields, this collaboration has something poignant about it. According to Sargant, Graves convinced him to write the book and it's easy to understand Graves's enthusiasm for what Sargant had to say. The result is an important (and also very readable) book.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book about the mind's reaction to severe stress
Review: Robert Graves scholars claim that Graves "Englished" (that is, rewrote) this book for Sargant, which might help explain how such a complex subject ended up getting explained so clearly. Graves's involvement might also explain how Sargant was able to draw evidence from such an incredible range of history to explain his basic thesis. The result is an excellent book for psychologists and also for historians. What do these things have in common - Methodist sermons, ancient Greek mysteries, Jesuit training, battlefield fatigue in WWI and WWII, Voodoo ceremonies, rock and roll dancing, and the flood that almost killed Pavlov's dogs? They all show that under severe and/or prolonged stress, the mind can change radically, profoundly, and with lasting results. In all cases, Sargant concluded, it's a manifestation of a "normal" psychological process by the brain of accommodation to circumstances, which under severely abnormal circumstances can result in very surprising and strange accommodations indeed. When the mind is in such a "wiped" state, it can be reconstructed in many ways. Brainwashers, Sargant shows, use the state to get people to do things they normally wouldn't consider. A compassionate psychologist, however, can use this state to genuinely help a person recover from the trauma. Or, as in many religious conversions and "mystical" experiences as far back as ancient times, prolonged stress can actually be used therapeutically. Sargant clearly speaks from a great range of professional experience. He's not speculating.

If you've read Graves poetry, much influenced in the early stages by horrific personal experiences on World War I battlefields, this collaboration has something poignant about it. According to Sargant, Graves convinced him to write the book and it's easy to understand Graves's enthusiasm for what Sargant had to say. The result is an important (and also very readable) book.

Rating:
Summary: Battle for the mind
Review: This book belongs on every bookshelf. Though, at times a little too technical for the lay readers, but the stuff inside are important for us to understand how people's belief patterns and behavior throughout life are susceptible to change by techniques employed by many professionals and establishments. This is a book that will be read and read over again.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best!
Review: This is one of very few books that I have read twice, and like several previous reviewers it would be very high on my list of essential reads. The first time I read it was soon after it was published. I was in my late teens, and it was a friend's recommendation. It made little immediate impact on me, but as time when by its resonance gave me insights into life changing incidences that I saw in others and myself (religious conversion, career changes, etc.).

The book is a clear exposition of those mechanisms for growth adaptations (or changes) within all our personalities, how these changes occur naturally, and how they can be artificially induced. He also discusses techniques that can inhibit the natural mechanisms for change.

I read it again 10 years ago to regain some insight into several intelligent and capable friends that, although hating their work, appeared to have had their ability for change inhibited by their use of soft drugs.

This book has a curiously positive unanimity amongst its reviewers, could we have been brainwashed :-)

I am pleased that it is back in print and feel almost honour bound to buy a copy (I borrowed it previously from our local lending library)

Rating:
Summary: Skip It!
Review: Wow. I was expecting at least some form of interesting analysis based on all the previous reviews. Sargant makes use of the science that was available to him at his time, which is obviously sorely outdated - (Although I was impressed that he understood the inherente flaws in psychoanalysis).
One example of how outdated the book is: "prefrontal leucotomy," the REMOVAL of the frontal lobes of the brain, is hailed by Sargant as a promising new practice. Again, Sargant can't be blamed for the time period in which he lived, but you don't have to waste your time reading this book.
I was thoroughly disappointed by the lack of thesis and the lack of any mildly persuasive arguments.
Skip this book!
I gave it one star because of the hilarious picture and caption on page 222. The picture shows two teenagers dancing at a concert with the caption: "Similar effects being produced in a nonreligious setting in Great Britain by the use of rhythmic drumming and dancing in the craze for "Rock and Roll."

Rating:
Summary: The Danger of Brainwashing.
Review: _Battle for the Mind_ presents a model for the physiological processes behind dramatic religious or political conversions and brainwashing based on the experiments of the Russian neuro-physiologist, I. P. Pavlov. Pavlov conducted experiments on dogs and found "equivalent" (in which the brain gives the same response to both strong and weak stimuli), "paradoxical" (in which the brain gives a response to weak stimuli but not to strong stimuli), and "ultra-paradoxical" (in which the brain gives a positive response to weak stimuli and a negative response to strong stimuli) behavior patterns present in the dogs under different conditions. From his experiments, he concluded that all dogs have a "breaking-point". Using these results, William Sargant (who worked with patients suffering from post-traumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms during the war) examines the phenomena of religious conversion and persuasion as well as brainwashing. Sargant conjectures that similiarly, all humans have a "breaking-point". The book includes discussion of war victims, religious and political conversions (especially emphasizing the techniques of Wesley in his mass conversions of people to Christianity), possession and rhythmic dance, brainwashing in ancient and modern times, as well as the eliciting of confessions. Much food for thought is presented as the author retells the stories of various individuals who have undergone drastic conversions or who have exhibited various forms of "paradoxical" behavior under the presence of sufficient stressors. The discussion of confession is particularly interesting, in that it reveals that often the interrogator becomes just as deluded as the confessor may be. In a world in which the masses are continuously bombarded by propaganda from all angles and the government, where cults are able to seize possession of individual minds and checking accounts, in which brainwashing takes place in totalitarian states, and in which the average person at any moment may be exposed to severe stressors, it is most important to study the human brain and the physiological processes behind conversions. The book is not reductionistic, the author allows the possibility of an external force or power to be the causal agent of any conversion. William Sargant's study will remain a classic for those of us who worry about the effects of political and religious propaganda and modern day stressors.