Final confession (Brainwashing)

In contrast to confessions made at the beginning of the thought-reform process, which were effectively gestures of defiance; and to subsequent occasions when the individual was prepared to confess anything and everything, to fabricate wild exaggerations, in order to be accepted; this final confession becomes self-accusation, when the individual is truly convinced of his guilt and of the accusations initially made against him. The re-evaluation of his past actions and structured nature of this final confession are convincing both to the individual and to the outside world.

A stage reached in thought reform, a system of organized, deliberate and total psychological training which effects individual change through two basic elements – confession (renouncing of past beliefs and attitudes) and re-education (remaking of the individual in the required image).