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From Psychic Warfare (Threat or Illusion) By Martin Ebon

A report by the AiResearch Manufacturing Company of Torrance, California, prepared for the Central Intelligence Agency observed,

 "Russian interest in hypnosis has led to many attempts at automating hypnosis," adding: "Typical techniques are tape-recordings, rotating discs in the visual field, and application of pulsating electrical current through the head."

The report listed as "the latest Soviet attempt in this area" a device with the acronymic name "Lida," which received a U.S. patent in 1973; it incorporates a pulsating light, heat, sound, very-high- frequency and electromagnetic radiation. While the inventors of the device claim that it induces "the desired biorhythm," the accompanying literature does not define the biorhythm rate. The AiResearch report suggested that an "alternative use" of the device may lie in "changing the subjective psychological state of the subjects." It compared "Lida" to biofeedback machines that promote feelings of wellbeing, openness, and transference to the therapist.

If an interrogator is substituted for the therapist, such a device could make a subject more amenable to questions or more malleable in other ways. Such a mood-machine has aspects of mind-control and mind-manipulation: admittedly, the image of a machine making a subject alternately defiant, submissive, taciturn or talkative looks like a piece of science fiction - still, any number of well-known drugs can be used to achieve these among other effects.