Mindscrew

Origin

mind + screw("to play with; to meddle")

Full definition of mindscrew

Noun

1. Something that destabilizes, confuses, or manipulates a person's mind.
• 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."

Synonyms

• brainfuck vulgar, headfuck vulgar, mindfuck vulgar

Verb

1. To destabilize, confuse, or manipulate a person's mind.
• 1997, Clinton 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