menticide

Noun

menticide (countable and uncountable, plural menticides)

1. Brain-washing, conditioning people to abandon their beliefs.
   • In the last phases of brainwashing and menticide, the self-humiliating submission of the victims serves as an inner defensive device annihilating the prosecuting inquisitor in a magic way.1957, Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo, Mental Seduction and Menticide: The Psychology of Thought Control and Brainwashing, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC, page 87
2. Efforts to destroy the mind or the will of an individual or group of people.
   • In response, black groups accuse school personnel of practicing genocide and "menticide" (miseducation) for allowing black children to get away with conduct they would not condone in white children.1974, Herbert Foster, Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens: The Unrecognized Dilemma of Inner-city Schools, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger, →ISBN, page 6
   • I wanted then — and I want today — no laws against "mental kidnapping" or "mentacide" or any other socially unacceptable state of mind.1989, Fielding McGehee, Rebecca Moore, The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown: Remembering its People, Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, →ISBN, page 151