Mind control (also known as brainwashing, coercive persuasion, mind abuse, thought control, or thought reform) refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated". The term has been applied to any tactic, psychological or otherwise, which can be seen as subverting an individual's sense of control over their own thinking, behavior, emotions or decision making. In Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacques Ellul sustains that the "principal aims of these psychological methods is to destroy a man's habitual patterns, space, hours, milieu, and so on."

Theories of brainwashing and of mind control were originally developed to explain how totalitarian regimes appeared to succeed in systematically indoctrinating prisoners of war through propaganda and torture techniques. These theories were later expanded and modified to explain a wider range of phenomena, especially conversions to new religious movements (NRMs).

Adjective

smashing (comparative more smashing, superlative most smashing)

1. Serving to smash (something).

   The boxer delivered a smashing blow to his opponent's head.

2. (British informal) Wonderful, very good or impressive. Thought to be corruption of Irish Is maith é sin. (meaning "that's good").

   We had a smashing time at the zoo.

smashing (plural smashings)

1. Gerund: The action of the verb to smash.

   Some Greek dance is traditionally accompanied by the smashing of crockery.

• Health: Mental Health: Psychological Abuse (23)
• Society: Religion and Spirituality: Opposing Views: Cults (31)

• Brainwashing - Article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• Brainwashing and Mind Control in Religious Cults and Elsewhere
  apologeticsindex.org
  Resources about brainwashing, ordered by types of sources.
• Mind Control or Brainwashing
  skepdic.com
  Article over the phenomenon, from the Skeptic's Dictionary (A collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions and how to think critically about them).
• Mind Control and Brainwashing of Children
  theforbiddenknowledge.com
  Describes the steps by which children can be brainwashed.