Citations:mindscrew

Noun: "something that destabilizes, confuses, or manipulates a person's mind"

 * 1999 — Eric Weisbard, "Generation Ex", Village Voice, 13 July 1999:
 * I hear it in the music of those over-21s at that world's "angry" forefront, the rap-rockers who grew up after Nirvana and Dr. Dre and have never faced the mindscrew of seeing the true sounds of their youth automatically ghettoized.
 * 2000 — Texas Short Stories 2, Browder Springs Books (2000), ISBN 9780965135962:
 * I have a feeling this latest news I was going to give him would be the ultimate mindscrew.
 * 2006 — Justina Robson, Living Next Door to the God of Love, Bantam Books (2006), ISBN 9780553587425, page 32:
 * "Because I have to or they'll make me go through that bloody praying and chanting boot camp everything-is-solved-with-love mindscrew again," I hissed at him.
 * 2009 — Jay A. Fernandez, "Abrams making a name for himself, but it's not Steven Spielberg just yet", The Hollywood Reporter, 12 May 2009:
 * It's in television that Abrams, arguably more than Spielberg, has nudged the medium forward, with "Felicity," then "Alias" and finally the mindscrew of "Lost."
 * 2011 — Christine Cody, In Blood We Trust, Ace Books (2011), ISBN 9781101544372, unnumbered page:
 * She'd probably realized that she was a candidate for a mindscrew now that she was privy to the vampires' plans.

Verb: "to destabilize, confuse, or manipulate a person's mind"

 * 1997 — Howard Swindle, Trespasses: Portraits of a Serial Rapist, Penguin (1997), ISBN 9780140249712:
 * About half the detectives thought his return to the old neighborhood was proof positive that he was out of control; still others believed he had ice water running through his veins, maybe even mindscrewing the cops by rubbing their noses in the fact they couldn't stop him even though they suspected who he was
 * 2007 — Nathalie Gray, Feral, Ellora's Cave (2007), ISBN 9781419907371, page 89:
 * "You know," he said between kisses, "my life used to be simple. None of this mindscrewing or wondering what the hell is going on.
 * 2011 — Christine Cody, In Blood We Trust, Ace Books (2011), ISBN 9781101544372, unnumbered page:
 * "But," she said, raising her voice, "it's not final, either. Once you start mindscrewing other monsters, it's not going to stop.