The Rape of the Mind

The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing

By: Dr. Joost A.M. Meerloo

Narrated by: Chris Matthews

Since 1933, when a completely drugged and trial-conditioned human wreck confessed to having started the Reichstag fire in Berlin, Dr. Joost A. M. Meerloo has studied the methods by which systematic mental pressure brings people to abject submission, and by which totalitarians imprint their subjective "truth" onto their victims' minds. The first two-and-one-half years of WWII Dr. Meerloo spent under the pressure of Nazi-occupied Holland, witnessing firsthand the Nazi methods of mental torture on more than one occasion.

Then, after personal experiences with enforced interrogation, he escaped from a Nazi prison and certain death to England, where he was able, as Chief of the Psychological Department of the Netherlands Forces, to observe and study coercive methods officially.

After the war, he came to the United States. As more and more cases of thought control, brainwashing, and mental coercion were disclosed - Cardinal Mindszenty, Colonel Schwable, Robert Vogeler, and others - his interest grew. It was Dr. Meerloo who coined the word menticide, the killing of the spirit, for this peculiar crime.

It is Dr. Meerloo's position that through pressure on the weak points in men's makeup, totalitarian methods can turn anyone into a "traitor". And in The Rape of the Mind, he goes far beyond the direct military implications of mental torture to describing how our own culture unobtrusively shows symptoms of pressurizing people's minds. He presents a systematic analysis of the methods of brainwashing, mental torture, and coercion, and shows how totalitarian strategy, with its use of mass psychology, leads to systematized "rape of the mind".

He describes the new age of Cold War with its mental terror, verbocracy, and semantic fog, the use of fear as a tool of mass submission, and the problem of treason and loyalty, so loaded with dangerous confusion. The Rape of the Mind is written for the interested layman, not only for experts and scientists.

©2022 Joost Meerloo (P)2022 Joost Meerloo

Timeless gem on psychology that reads like a spy novel.

I've heard this book being referenced in others and was not disappointed. One of the best books on human nature I've ever read. I'll definitely look out for a hard copy for easy reference.

Mental eye-opener!!

I must listen to this several times; so much to try to understand and absorb. I enjoyed the listen tremendously.

Very educational

Very educational. I had hoped it would have been more of a practical guide though, sth like "here's how you recognize brainwashing and here's how you practice resisting it". Perhaps that was asking too much. Otherwise a really, really good book, and an absolutely necessary one in this day and age!

Atrocious narration can't kill this book

Chris Williamson is the absolute worst narrator I have heard in 30 years of listening to audio books. Despite the emotionally disconnected and childlike presentation; this is still one of the most important and interesting books ever written. Critical information in 2022.

Eye opening

Comfortable reader’s voice, useful information. Still relevant. everyone should read this book. Explains a lot.