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To gaze upon Yugi's hair is to go mad.
A character is attacked by a villain in the most painful non-physical way possible. Their mind and soul are assaulted with painful, horrifying visions and memories, and broken until they're powerless and numb, but not dead, although afterwards they may wish they were. Nothing sexual occurs, but everything else is there to resemble a rape - violation, helplessness, and the poisoning of what could otherwise be a source of joy. The physical attacks won't go very far; all of the agony is inflicted mentally and emotionally, and it's chilling to see a villain be that cruel. The traumatized victim suffers all of the side-effects afterwards: isolation, depression, insomnia, paranoia, and may even get an Important Haircut when starting to recover. May include further sexual symbolism for good measure, such as severe and unfunny Clothing Damage and sinister Double Entendres.

Comes in two variations: one is a completely "mundane" but no less horrifying brand of torture that nonetheless breaks a characters mind. The other is the above done via Mind Probe, Psychic Powers, illusions, or seeing something Man Was Not Meant To Know. All too frequently the consequence of encountering an Eldritch Abomination. Even so much as looking at one of them might cause permanent damage to sanity.

The less said of the things that are created when this trope meets Rule Thirty Four, the better.

Can be a possible cause of Im Having Soul Pains.

Compare Fate Worse Than Death, Subtext, and Villainous BSOD. Contrast with the Care Bear Stare, which assaults the target with happy thoughts, like rainbows and stuff.

Not to be confused with More Than Mind Control (though Mind Rape can have some elements of this). Any character pulling this has little or no Mind Over Manners.

Also not to be confused with Mind Screw, despite the origin of the trope name in a quite (in)famous Mind Screw.  *

Examples of Psychic Assaults

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Examples of "Mundane" Torture

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