Methods of Breaking a Person’s Will

There are a number of actions that can make a person acutely feel their helplessness and insignificance. A person deprived of clothing typically feels completely defenseless and vulnerable. If undressing the victim is combined with insults or beatings, their resistance may be completely broken. Without clothing, a person loses their psychological defenses. The victim can be forced to undress themselves or have their clothes roughly torn off. The psychophysiological effect of this procedure is intensified if it is carried out in the cold.

Verbal Abuse and Humiliation

Verbal insults affect sensitive people. It is necessary to mock and insult not only the person themselves but also their loved ones or things they consider “sacred.” Prolonged torture using any of the above methods will eventually break the victim’s will.

Extreme Humiliation and Sexual Violence

Humiliation can include forcing the victim’s head into a bucket of excrement, urinating on them, or other acts involving bodily waste. Rape causes severe psychological shock and rarely leaves anyone unaffected. When a woman is raped by several men at once, the impact is even stronger (unless she is a nymphomaniac). In some cases, as used by Pinochet’s regime, a woman would be tied to a special chair and then raped by a trained German Shepherd. Some victims committed suicide afterward. Anal rape or forced oral sex is especially humiliating. Various objects—bottles, sticks, etc.—can also be used for rape. Men who are raped often experience even greater psychological trauma, as is well known in prisons.

Forcing Self-Inflicted Pain

An effective method of suppressing the will is to create situations where the victim inflicts pain on themselves. This can occur in static situations (such as standing on tiptoes for a long time, unable to lower their heels because of spikes underneath) or when the subject is forced to run barefoot over broken glass.

Threats and Violence Against Relatives

Threats and violent actions against the victim’s relatives are also used to break their will.

Sleep Deprivation and Sensory Deprivation

The subject is seated on a stool and fixed in that position for 2–3 days, not allowed to sleep. As a result, they can no longer distinguish reality from dreams and will answer even the most insidious questions.

Sensory deprivation involves placing the subject in a soundproof, windowless room lined with soft material, similar to a psychiatric ward. A moderate white light from a fluorescent lamp burns continuously. After about three days, barely audible music begins to play from hidden speakers. At first, the subject thinks they are imagining it because it is so quiet. The music should be minor-key, wordless pieces, such as a funeral march or works by Bach, and should play without interruption (on a loop) for several days. At this point, the victim feels like they are starting to lose their mind. Later, the music alternates with quiet voices that accuse and insult the victim or simply repeat meaningless phrases. After a few more days, even the strongest person loses touch with reality and begins to hallucinate.

“Getting Hooked” on Drugs

This method involves using the body’s severe physiological reactions to the sudden withdrawal of a habitual drug. This state is called withdrawal and is immediately relieved by re-administering the drug. The duration and severity of withdrawal depend on the type of drug, length of use, dosage, and individual characteristics.

In addition to physical dependence, there is also psychological dependence, which makes the craving for the drug irresistible. The most agonizing withdrawal is from heroin, slightly less so from morphine and pantopon when injected into a vein, and even less when morphine is injected into a muscle or under the skin. Next are morphine-like synthetic substances such as omnopon and promedol. Withdrawal from opium, amphetamines, ecstasy, crack, hashish, and cocaine is noticeably easier.

Addiction to heroin and trimethylfentanyl can develop after just 3–4 injections, and to morphine after 10–12 injections with gradually increasing doses. Withdrawal usually begins 2–3 hours after using heroin, 5–6 hours after morphine, and 10–12 hours after opium. Drug addicts typically progress from lighter drugs to heavier ones.