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Quote by Robert Jay Lifton

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Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'brainwashing' in China

The book delves into the psychological mechanisms that facilitate thought reform, analyzing the methods used in China to alter individuals' beliefs and behaviors. It provides an in-depth study of the psychological principles at play in totalistic systems. more

Author

Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton

Robert Jay Lifton is an American psychiatrist renowned for his research on psychological trauma, memory, and identity. His studies on concentration camp survivors after World War II led to the concept of psychological trauma and had a profound impact on psychotherapy and mental health. more

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“Why did we create a society that not only forces most people to work to live but also makes even the most privileged feel like they have to work desperately hard all the time? We created a mythology that regards the need to reach the top of the mountain because it’s there as a measure of human worth, but when we get there, there’s always another mountain, and another one after that. Most of us live our whole lives either struggling to stay on solid ground or climbing mountain after mountain.”

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“MYTHS ABOUT SUICIDE 1. Those who talk about suicide are not at risk of suicide. 2. All suicidal people are depressed or mentally ill. 3. Suicide occurs without warning. 4. Asking about suicide ‘plants’ the idea in someone’s head. 5. Suicidal people clearly want to die. 6. When someone becomes suicidal they will always remain suicidal. 7. Suicide is inherited. 8. Suicidal behaviour is motivated by attention-seeking. 9. Suicide is caused by a single factor. 10. Suicide cannot be prevented. 11. Only people of a particular social class die by suicide. 12. Improvement in emotional state means lessened suicide risk. 13. Thinking about suicide is rare. 14. People who attempt suicide by a low-lethality means are not serious about killing themselves.”

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“Beck [a psychiatrist who developed Cognitive behavioral therapy] noticed a common pattern of beliefs, which he called the "cognitive triad" of depression: "I'm no good," "My world is bleak," and "My future is hopeless." Many people experience one or two of these thoughts fleetingly, but depressed people tend to hold all three beliefs in a stable and enduring psychological structure.”

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“– but what exactly do we mean by happiness? Is happiness a short-term state (‘I’m happy when I’m playing tennis’) or a longer-term condition (‘I’m a happy person’)? The very thing that makes one person extremely happy (going to a football match, reading a book, being alone...) might indeed induce a state of extreme unhappiness in another. But happiness, however defined, is something generally considered a positive state worth cultivating.”

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“It was a psychoanalyst colleague, Dr. Stanley Coen, who suggested in the course of our working on a medical paper together that the role of the pain syndrome was not to express the hidden emotions but to prevent them from becoming conscious. This, he explained, is what is referred to as a defense. In other words, the pain of TMS (or the discomfort of a peptic ulcer, of colitis, of tension headache, or the terror of an asthmatic attack) is created in order to distract the attention of the sufferer from what is going on in the emotional sphere. It is intended to focus one's attention on the body instead of the mind. It is a response to the need to keep those terrible, antisocial, unkind, childish, angry, selfish feelings (the prisoners) from becoming conscious. It follows from this that far from being a physical disorder in the usual sense, TMS is really part of a psychological process. (page 56)”

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