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| '''Psychotronics''' is a term coined in 1967 by ] for the study of ]. Rejdák used this term to avoid the negative ]s of parapsychology and to define it as ] subject, studying both the interaction between living organisms and their internal and external environment and energy processes in both these interactions.<ref name="Rejdák1976">Milan Nakonečný, Zdeněk Rejdák: Psychotronika. Časopis lékařů českých, 115, 1976, č. 1 ()</ref> | |||
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| Since Rejdák's original work, the word has been applied to various alleged forms of mind control weaponry and has also been considered as a possible source of medical therapy. | |||
| == Cold War to present == | |||
| Rejdák became president of the International Association for Psychotronic Research, organising dozens of parapsychology conferences. The first international psychotronics meeting was held in Prague in 1973.<ref name="praguepost">{{cite news|last=German|first=Erik|title=Is Czech Mind Control Equipment Science-Fiction or Science-Fact?|url=http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/32141-mind-machines.html|accessdate=16 December 2012|newspaper=The Prague Post|date=July 5, 2000}}</ref> This research sparked ] fears in the US that Eastern Block countries were successfully developing technology capable of ] and other psychotronic weaponry, with particular focus being placed on generators developed by Czech researcher, Robert Pavlita.<ref name="praguepost" /> Pavlita created devices which were "allegedly able to amass human mental energy and release it mechanically or electromagnetically".<ref name="praguepost" /> | |||
| The United States' ] took a particular interest in these devices. In a report from 1975 the DIA took the device seriously as a potential weapon, reporting that "when flies were placed in the gap of a circular generator, they died instantly" and that Pavlita's daughter had become dizzy when the device was pointed at her from a distance of "several yards".<ref name="praguepost" /> These fears diminished as it proved impossible to replicate Pavlita's machines and he died in 1991 without telling anyone how they worked.<ref name="praguepost" /> Nevertheless, the generators still spark interest in paranormal researchers comparable to the obsessions of ] hunters.<ref name="praguepost" /> | |||
| Psychotronics was named as one of the Information and Psychological concepts being studied by the Russian Federation during the 1990s.<ref name="autofilled2004">{{cite book|author=Leigh Armistead autofilled|title=Information Operations|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=kxFibw3NxBcC&pg=PA197|accessdate=30 April 2013|year=2004|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|isbn=978-1-59797-355-7|pages=197–}}</ref> | |||
| In 2012, Russian Defense Minister ] commented that his country's plans included development of "psychotronic weapons" and Prime Minister ] named "psychophysical weapon systems" as one of the new technologies that could be developed using what they describe as "new physics principles." ] Science Editor Alan Boyle dismissed these notions, saying, "there's nothing in the comments from Putin and Serdyukov to suggest that the Russians are anywhere close to having psychotronic weapons." <ref name=NBCnews>{{cite news|last=Boyle|first=Alan|title=Reality check on Russia's 'zombie ray gun' program|url=http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/04/06/11061093-reality-check-on-russias-zombie-ray-gun-program?lite|accessdate=30 April 2013|newspaper=NBC News|date=April 2012}}</ref> | |||
| ==Alleged use against civilians== | |||
| In studying auditory hallucinations, Yale psychiatry professor Ralph Hoffman reported 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. In 2007, the ] reported a growing number of US citizens who claim the government is using "psychotronic torture" against them and campaign to stop the use of alleged psychotronic and other "mind control" weapons.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001399.html |title=Mind Games |last=Weinberger|first=Sharon |date=January 14, 2007 |newspaper=Washington Post |accessdate=2010-08-01}}</ref> | |||
| In 2001, ] proposed before the 107th Congress to ban space based and psychotronic weapons. This bill was withdrawn do to an unfavorable Executive Comment from the U.S. Department of Defense.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001399.html |title=Mind Games |last=Weinberger|first=Sharon |date=January 14, 2007 |newspaper=Washington Post |accessdate=2010-08-01}}</ref> In 2008, the New York Times reported that Representative Jim Guest was also working to investigate psychotronics. “I’ve had enough calls, some from credible people — professors — being targeted by nonlethal weapons,” Representative Guest said, adding that nothing came of his request for an investigation. He added: “I believe there are people who have been targeted by this."<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news | title="Sharing Their Demons on the Web" | last = "Kershaw" | first="Sarah" | newspaper="The New York Times" | date = "November 12, 2008" | url = "http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/fashion/13psych.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" }} </ref> | |||
| Similar campaigns have occurred in Russia with a group called "Victims of Psychotronic Experimentation" attempting to recover damages from the ] 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 psychological warfare during the early 1990s, with Lopatkin, a ] committee member in 1995, surmising "Something that was secret for so many years is the perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories."<ref>{{cite news| title=Report: Soviets Used Top-Secret 'Psychotronic' Weapons | first=Owen|last=Matthews |work=The Moscow Times | date=July 11, 1995}}</ref> | |||
| ==Psychotronics in therapy== | |||
| Psychotronics was popularized in Canada by family physician Terry Burrows. According to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Burrows' version of psychotronics "is concerned with the energy exchange capacities of a mind-body-environment relationship; in other words explaining by technology something that, until recently, was the preserve of Eastern phiosophers - how the mind relates to the body in sickness and health"<ref name="CanMed">{{cite journal|last=Woods|first=David|title=Psychotronics: the new science once the preserve of ancient Eastern philosophy|journal=Can Med Assoc J.|year=1976|volume=114|issue=9|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1957128/|accessdate=27 December 2012|pages=844–847}}</ref> Suggestions that it was a psychic effect or related to mind control were explicitly rejected.<ref name="CanMed" /> Instead, some research was conducted into ] and whether the relationship between the human mind and body could be used in medical treatment of patients, including those suffering from ] illnessess.<ref name="CanMed" /> | |||
| Burrows joined with engineer Henry Evering, who had been experimenting with changing work-environments to improve the mental health of workers. Burrows and Evering created techniques of biofeedback which were further developed by Dr. Bob James. James described his biofeedback as "the relating of body changes to thinking".<ref name="CanMed" /> According to James, patients hook themselves up to a "galvanic skin response (GSR) biofeedback instrument", which alters the sounds it makes according to levels of stress. Thus they learn to control their own breathing and heart-rate. James then encouraged patients to externalise their own mental imagery, by drawing anything that came into their heads and discussing it. | |||
| ==Psychotronics in popular culture== | |||
| A low-budget film dealing with mind control, '']'', was released in 1980. This film itself inspired the creation of '']'' magazine which covered films traditionally ignored or ridiculed by mainstream critics, and the UK punk-band ]. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * , ], Spring 1998, pp. 84-92 | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
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