History Main / PsychologicalTormentZone

* In ''[[FourteenOhEight 1408]]'', the... ''whatever'' is messing with the lead throws an apparition of his deceased daughter and father at him. Though it says it can't kill him since it has to respect free will. It just [[DrivenToSuicide makes suicide the only sane option.]]

The place could be tainted with the DarkSide, beckoning [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] or causing [[YourMindMakesItReal too-real hallucinations]]. Or it might be a malicious GeniusLoci that [[EmotionEater feeds on anguish]]. Who or ''what'' ever is behind the emotional onslaught won't outright kill anyone... at least not at first. It usually [[DrivenToSuicide drives those it torments to suicide,]] uses {{Fright Deathtrap}}s, or directly pits you against lethal physical enemies. Sometimes however, it can be stopped the moment the victim says "ImNotAfraidOfYou!" and/or reaches an emotional epiphany.

** Ironically, bringing up his deceased daughter is what ultimately pushed his BerserkButton and caused him to [[spoiler: TakeAThirdOption by destroying the room.]]

* ''Angel'' has a few of these including the suburban prison Wolfram & Heart sends wayward employees to late in the show's run.

* Series/Angel has a few of these including the suburban prison Wolfram & Heart sends wayward employees to late in the show's run.

* Series/Buffy has Buffy willingly entering one in ''Helpless'' to save Joyce's life. While depowered.

* The Chamber of the Ordeal in TamoraPierce's ''Tortall'' books works this way. The idea is to weed out people who aren't tough and morally courageous enough to be knights by "hammering" their weak points. People sometimes die in the chamber, commit suicide when released or GoMadFromTheRevelation.

* The bad trip sequence of the ''Fallout 3'' add-on, ''Point Lookout,'' qualifies. The [[PlayerCharacter Lone Wanderer]] stumbles through the Sacred Bog, seeing hallucinations of people he's met, fake bobbleheads, and a skeleton labelled "Mom." This culminates with a bobblehead proclaiming "Dead mother, life in a post-nuclear Wasteland and not a friend in it. Yeah, you aren’t exactly blessed" before a hallucinated bomb explodes.

* In the ''Return of Harmony'' episodes from MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic, the [[JustForPun mane]] characters are lured into a MobileMaze in which the villain approaches them individually in the form of their respective cutie marks. He then exploits their deepest fears, insecurities, and flaws to the point they abandon the element they represent, and become shadows of their former selves.

* ''{{He-Man}} and the Masters of the Universe'' has The Valley of Echoes. Unlucky travelers can get lost in it forever following false sounds and voices that prey on their inner fears.

* Sector Grus in ''StrangeJourney'' is transformed into this by [[MasterOfIllusion Mother Maya]], which answers the eternal question - what happens when a master of MindRape designs one of these?

[[folder:Film]]

* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', this is how Matt deals with his father Maury. He traps him an empty replica of their house on the day Maury abandoned his wife and him.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The God Complex" is all about this trope.
** A few episodes earlier Amy falls into one inside the TARDIS in "The Doctor's Wife".

See also EpiphanicPrison, which can overlap. See also VisionQuest.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''The God Complex'' is all about this trope.

* This is the premise behind ''SilentHill2''.
** As evident in all the games [[spoiler:except maybe Shattered Memories]], Silent Hill in general seems to be fond of doing this to almost everyone who ends up trapped there. And it tends to draw...troubled people, creating twisted monsters out of the deepest corners of their psyches.

* The Foggy Swamp in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' shows those who visit it images of people who meant something to them, or who will be important in their future. This can be horribly upseting when the person you see just so happens to have died.
** The mystic hermit who lives in the center explains a positive way to look at it; the swamp shows people images of those they are connected too, proving that death cannot destroy those connections.

** This is actually based on real-life sacred labyrinths, which were intended to force anybody reaching the center or exit to have nothing to do for a time but reflect; a sort of prayer-as-navigation. Extending the time to navigate it to several days and adding sensory deprivation simply puts this on the extreme end of the scale, and nasty to anybody not already at peace with themselves.

* The Foggy Swamp in ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' shows those who visit it images of people who meant something to them, or who will be important in their future. This can be horribly upseting when the person you see just so happens to have died.

* In TheAvengers Mrs Peel is imprisoned in a house that is specifically designed to drive her insane as part of a revenge plot.