Some of the tactics that the Unification Church use to train members rolls up into the thought terminating cliché: that if someone is experiencing doubt, it is “evil spirit world invading.” These thought stopping techniques, also called a semantic stop-sign, are a mind control technique wherein loaded language is used to quell the cognitive dissonance that one experiences when encountering contradictory information or thoughts. It allows a person to remove the stress of the cognitive dissonance by avoiding all further consideration of a matter.
The concept was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton in his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, where he also referred to this technique as the as "The language of Non-thought.”
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?
- Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control
- Mike Rinder’s blog on “Word Clearing” in Scientology
- According to an article on Healthline.com
- The Psychology Group Fort Lauderdale
- And article by Medical News Today
- A 2020 narrative review of 29 studies of domestic violence.
- It's Not Always Depression
- Dan Shaw, LCSW, and his talk with the International Cultic Studies Association, shame is both a cult recruitment and indoctrination tool.
- Whitney Hawkins Goodman and Dr. Caroline Leaf discusses the relationship between toxic positivity and gaslighting.
