Be Different and Think for Yourself: On Psychoanalysis, the History of Brainwashing and Thought Control with Sigourney Award Winner Daniel Pick

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with Sigourney Award recipient Daniel Pick who is a Historian, Psychoanalyst, and Author of the thought-provoking book “Brainwashed: A New History of Thought Control”! His historical perspective combined with a psychoanalytic approach adds wonderful insights and helps us see connections between various issues and matters that are of extreme relevance and importance for today’s world.

Brainwashing is an often charged and loaded word, but it was interesting to see that the term itself has evolved out of post-war tensions and during the Cold War, although it had been previously given other names and had been referred to as possession or mesmerism.

Nonetheless, the practices have changed since the 1950s and 60s by including and appropriating insights from psychoanalysis followed by a variety of projects and experiments aimed at creating resistance and resilience on one hand as well as influencing and manipulating others by changing thought patterns and belief systems. This was done on both sides of the political spectrum, and it is assumed that the term itself brainwashing may have come from a Chinese literal translation of “cleansing the mind”.

Moreover, we talk about Freud and his opposition during the heydays of psychoanalysis, his revolutionary insights combined with a new therapeutic approach that has been altered and modified throughout the years and has led to different and diverse methods, theories, and approaches in the rich and fertile psychoanalytic field.

Finally, we look at the drive towards rigid dogmatic thinking while following and embracing charismatic leaders alongside the dangers of groupthink, peer pressure, and totalitarianism. We also discuss the unique psychological and historical underpinnings and undercurrents of Nazi Germany but also what experiments and research in the “psy” disciplines have shown us regarding obedience and authority. We finish off with the example of road rage and how previously sweet docile people can quickly and briefly turn into monsters of sorts.