Psychology
The Differences Between Indoctrination and Brainwashing
From a Therapist’s Perspective, Indoctrination vs. Brainwashing
I watch a lot of documentaries about people and their life stories. One would think I get enough of that at work, but people just fascinate me. In my hours of watching these documentaries, I’m not super focused on the horrible things that happened, but on how resilient and strong each individual is to get through those traumas.
It reinforces two of my beliefs in life: 1. People are way stronger than we give them credit for in this world and 2. We are here to help each other have the best life possible.
Having said that, one of the things I constantly see are psychological terms used inappropriately. The people using them inappropriately aren’t always the producers or hosts of the show, it’s common people many times. So, I understand they don’t have the background to know the differences.
As a professional, when you see those mistakes, you want to dive into the TV and explain the differences. At least, I do. For example, I often hear people interchanging the terms ‘psychopath’ and ‘sociopath’. Read my article “Eddie Haskell: TV’s Favorite Psychopath” if you want to know the difference. I also hear people still thinking split…
