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Electronic harassment

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Roxy the dog (talk | contribs) at 10:33, 14 March 2016 (Reverted to revision 709970766 by Edward321 (talk): Return to good. (TW)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 10:33, 14 March 2016 by Roxy the dog (talk | contribs) (Reverted to revision 709970766 by Edward321 (talk): Return to good. (TW))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about purported harassment and torture with exotic energy weapons. For the harming or harassing via information technology networks, see Cyberbullying.

Electronic harassment, or psychotronic torture, or electromagnetic torture is the delusional belief in harassment via electronic "mind control". Psychologists have identified evidence of auditory hallucinations, delusional disorders or other mental illnesses in online communities supporting those who claim to be targeted. Individuals suffering from auditory hallucinations, delusional disorders or other mental illness have claimed that government agents make use of electric fields, microwaves (such as the microwave auditory effect) and radar to transmit sounds and thoughts into their heads, referring to technology that they say can achieve this as "voice to skull" or "V2K" after an obsolete military designation.

There is also a conspiracy theory in respect of the purported use of electronic mind control systems to affect a victim's state of mind. No known technology is capable of producing the claimed result.

There are extensive online support networks and numerous websites maintained by people fearing mind control. Palm Springs psychiatrist Alan Drucker has identified evidence of delusional disorders on many of these websites and other psychologists are divided over whether such sites negatively reinforce mental troubles or act as a form of group cognitive therapy.

One of the better-known claimants, long-time British Usenet kook Mike Corley, was the subject of an opera, The Corley Conspiracy.

"Psychotronics"

Main article: Psychotronics (conspiracy theory)

In Russia, a group called "Victims of Psychotronic Experimentation" attempted to recover damages from the Federal Security Service during the mid-1990s for alleged infringement of their civil liberties including "beaming rays" at them, putting chemicals in the water, and using magnets to alter their minds. These fears may have been inspired by revelations of secret research into "psychotronic" psychological warfare techniques during the early 1990s, with Vladimir Lopatkin, a State Duma committee member in 1995, surmising "Something that was secret for so many years is the perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories."

In the US, there are people who hear voices in their heads and claim the government is using "psychotronic torture" against them, and who campaign to stop the use of alleged psychotronic and other mind control weapons. These campaigns have received some support from public figures, including former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and former Missouri State Representative Jim Guest. Yale psychiatry professor Ralph Hoffman notes that people often ascribe voices in their heads to external sources such as government harassment, God, and dead relatives, and it can be difficult to persuade them that their belief in an external influence is delusional. Other experts compare these stories to accounts of alien abductions.

See also

Notes

  1. Weinberger, Sharon (January 14, 2007). "Mind Games". Washington Post. p. 5. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  2. ^ Kershaw, Sarah (November 12, 2008). "Sharing Their Demons on the Web". New York Times.
  3. ^ Monroe, Angela (13 November 2012), Electronic Harassment: Voices in My Mind, archived from the original on 2015-12-02, retrieved 2016-03-10 {{citation}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2015-08-29 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Weinberger, Sharon (January 14, 2007). "Mind Games". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  5. Matthews, Owen (July 11, 1995). "Report: Soviets Used Top-Secret 'Psychotronic' Weapons". The Moscow Times. Retrieved March 5, 2014.

References and further reading

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