menticide

[ men-tuh-sahyd ]

noun

1. the systematic effort to undermine and destroy a person's values and beliefs, as by the use of prolonged interrogation, drugs, torture, etc., and to induce radically different ideas.

Word History and Origins

Origin of menticide¹

1950–55; < Latin ment- (stem of mēns ) mind + -i- + -cide

Example Sentences

“Menticide,” announced the Columbia University psychiatrist Joost Meerloo, was a crime against humanity analogous to — or even worse than — genocide.

From New York Times