# 14. Overload ## 14.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 14.5.3. Ego-depletion This unpleasant manipulative technique can be applied to an individual victim or a small group of victims. Current psychological thinking states that we do not have an infinite font of willpower, and that in fact our willpower is a finite commodity which can be overstretched by events in our environment. This is referred to as ego-depletion and can have some unfortunate and destructive side effects for the victim. The causes of ego-depletion are all connected with the need and obligation of an individual to conform to a set of rules of behaviour or performance which are external to the victim. This can be something as simple as abiding by rules of business protocol, such as addressing customers properly or applying professional trading practices. It can also apply to being able to rapidly make large numbers of high quality decisions (like a futures trader), or being able to work in an antagonistic or dangerous environment where you are apparently ostracised or threatened (like a policeman), etc. The range of causes of ego-depletion is huge. Challenging jobs such as a stock market trader, a prison warder, a military combatant are just a few cases where a victim is at risk of ego-depletion. Normally we manage our "Ego-fuel" situation by regulating our intake of ego-depleting events, with rest, recreation, breaks, distractions, food, sleep etc. We need to do this because there is plenty of evidence to suggest that over-use of our willpower, i.e. ego-depletion, can lead to behavioural and psychological problems. These may be manifested as mild reductions in efficiency, exhaustion, right through to extreme psychological issues like so-called "burn-out", irrational and uncontrolled behaviour or even some form of criminality by a victim. These effects are believed to occur because a victim is suffering from a breakdown in their will to control their current behaviour. A manipulator in the right circumstances can use an understanding of this phenomenon to crush a victim under a weight of willpower taxing work or responsibilities and bring about the apparent "self-destruction" of a victim. It is often used as a way of forcing an employee to resign without compensation. ## 14.6. Avoidance and Counteraction ### 14.6.3. Ego-depletion It's not always a deliberate manipulation but the use of ego-depletion to change the behaviour of a victim is quite common. Professional trainers in the army or police use ego-depleting exercises to induce their trainees with fast or conditioned reactions in hostile conditions such as search and rescue, combat etc. Such training is obviously aimed at helping the trainee to survive or perform correctly in difficult conditions. Its use by trainers is carefully controlled so as not to overwhelm the subjects. However, employers and governments have been known to use ego-depletion to break down a victim or victim group by overwhelming them with a battery of urgent or impossible tasks, new and urgent responsibilities, and insoluble problems whilst creating a hostile atmosphere. Employers generally do this to remove someone they no longer want without paying any compensation for terminating them. Politicians do it to their colleagues or civil servants to force them to withdraw, diplomats of powerful countries do it to small, weak countries to make it impossible for them to conform. For instance, if you don't actually have nuclear weapons it's very hard for you to declare or dismantle them. Ego depletion relies on the victim's inability to recover. This can be managed somewhat by a victim. The primary means by which a potential victim can manage this (once it is recognised) is to channel ego-depleting demands away by refusing or sharing certain tasks and responsibilities with colleagues. Alternatively, the victim can break the cycle of ego over-usage by altering working times, or working from home, demanding shorter working days etc. This preventative behaviour may carry some career risks but none as radical as the risk of the complete mental breakdown of the victim. An individual victim can interfere with the agenda and timescale of the manipulator by absenting themselves (as an employee by being sick, on holiday or some other form of leave). At a political level, a victim can cause or take advantage of a distraction which reduces the manipulator's urgency (for a nation this might be called multi-lateral talks with a huge agenda in a logistically difficult place). Once the manipulator has lost control of the timing, the urgency is gone, work is rescheduled, and the victim has an opportunity to recover - to refuel- before continuing. These delaying tactics can be used almost without limit.