Personality traits of brainwashing targets can determine how effective the process is. People who have a weak sense of identity and tend to experience guilt, great self doubt and black-and-white thinking are more likely to be successfully brainwashed. Targets with a strong sense of identity and self-confidence are sometimes more resistant to brainwashing.
Faith in a higher power has been shown to help a target mentally detach from the process. Mental detachment is a POW-survival technique in which the target psychologically removes himself from his actual surroundings through visualization, repetition of a mantra and other meditative techniques. Military training now includes instruction on both mental detachment and brainwashing methods, because a target's knowledge of the process tends to make it less effective.
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