In 2006, Lifton appeared in a documentary on cults on the History Channel: "Decoding the Past", along with fellow psychiatrist Peter A. Olsson.

Lifton's 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China was a study of coercive techniques that he labelled thought reform or "brainwashing", though he preferred the former term. Othes have labelled it also as "mind control".

Lifton describes in detail eight methods which he says are used to change people's minds without their agreement:

Milieu Control -- The control of information and communication.
Mystical Manipulation -- The manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated.
Demand for Purity -- The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection.
Confession -- Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group.
Sacred Science -- The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.
Loading the Language -- The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.
Doctrine Over Person -- The member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.
Dispensing of Existence -- The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not.

Any group that exhibits at least six of the above is considered destructive.

The information above is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jay_Lifton