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Psychotronics is a term coined in 1967 by Zdeněk Rejdák for the study of parapsychology. Rejdák used this term to avoid the negative connotations of parapsychology and to define it as interdisciplinary subject, studying both the interaction between living organisms and their internal and external environment and energy processes in both these interactions.

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. This research sparked Cold War fears in the US that Eastern Block countries were successfully developing technology capable of mind control and other psychotronic weaponry, with particular focus being placed on generators developed by Czech researcher, Robert Pavlita. Pavlita created devices which were "allegedly able to amass human mental energy and release it mechanically or electromagnetically".

The United States' Defense Intelligence Agency 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". These fears diminished as it proved impossible to replicate Pavlita's machines and he died in 1991 without telling anyone how they worked. Nevertheless, the generators still spark interest in paranormal researchers comparable to the obsessions of UFO hunters.

Psychotronics was named as one of the Information and Psychological concepts being studied by the Russian Federation during the 1990s.

In 2012, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov commented that his country's plans included development of "psychotronic weapons" and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin named "psychophysical weapon systems" as one of the new technologies that could be developed using what they describe as "new physics principles." NBC News 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."

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 Washington Post 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.

In 2001, a proposal by Dennis Kucinich to ban "psychotronic weapons" was dropped after it was widely derided in the media. 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."

Similar campaigns have occurred in Russia with a group called "Victims of Psychotronic Experimentation" attempting to recover damages from the Federal Security Service 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 State Duma committee member in 1995, surmising "Something that was secret for so many years is the perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories."

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" Suggestions that it was a psychic effect or related to mind control were explicitly rejected. Instead, some research was conducted into biofeedback and whether the relationship between the human mind and body could be used in medical treatment of patients, including those suffering from psychosomatic illnessess.

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". 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, The Psychotronic Man, was released in 1980. This film itself inspired the creation of Psychotronic Video magazine which covered films traditionally ignored or ridiculed by mainstream critics, and the UK punk-band Revenge of the Psychotronic Man.

References

1. Milan Nakonečný, Zdeněk Rejdák: Psychotronika. Časopis lékařů českých, 115, 1976, č. 1 (online)
2. ^ German, Erik (July 5, 2000). "Is Czech Mind Control Equipment Science-Fiction or Science-Fact?". The Prague Post. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
3. Leigh Armistead autofilled (2004). Information Operations. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 197–. ISBN 978-1-59797-355-7. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
4. Boyle, Alan (April 2012). "Reality check on Russia's 'zombie ray gun' program". NBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
5. Weinberger, Sharon (January 14, 2007). "Mind Games". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
6. Weinberger, Sharon (January 14, 2007). "Mind Games". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
7. "Kershaw", "Sarah" ("November 12, 2008"). . "The New York Times". {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. Matthews, Owen (July 11, 1995). "Report: Soviets Used Top-Secret 'Psychotronic' Weapons". The Moscow Times.
9. ^ Woods, David (1976). "Psychotronics: the new science once the preserve of ancient Eastern philosophy". Can Med Assoc J. 114 (9): 844–847. Retrieved 27 December 2012.

External links

• The Mind Has No Firewall, Parameters, Spring 1998, pp. 84-92

• Parapsychology
• Mind–body problem
• Biofeedback