I Failed a poly about 2 years ago. After some self-therapy to reasure myself that I am an honest person and that something had to be wrong with the polygraph and not me, I started doing some research. I have been practicing countermeasures and reading all material provided in this and other web sites for about 1 1/2 years. I am very confident I can distinguish between control and relevant questions.

I now find myself facing another polygraph soon. Even with all the confidence of knowing I know how to be it, I am very afraid. Is there anything else I can do to try and calm myself for this test? I will post my reults wether good or bad once I know. I may wait some time after the test as it is obvious polygraphers routinely check this site.

Thanks for the years of training. Now I must go and put theory to action.

Taz

BT,

Thanks for the advice. I read that manual about 3 months into my research (and have reread it several times). I also have Doug William's manual. About the only thing I have'nt read in it's entirety is Dr. Lykken's book.

Thanks again for the encouragement. As Doomsday aproaches I find myself more and more relaxed.

Taz

TA223,

Congratulations. I apologize for not posting to this thread earlier. 

You had written:

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As you are now aware, for someone who has been practicing countermeasures for 1 1/2 years (or much less for that matter), the polygraph should not be considered doomsday. The whole thing is a complete joke once you know the trickery behind it. For those who know about countermeasures (both those with clean backgrounds and criminals), a polygraph "test" is an event that one can almost look forward to. The countermeasures allow you to manipulate the "test" so convincingly that an employer is likely to discount the weight of any problems uncovered by legitimate investigations.

Polygraph "tests" are easily beaten by anyone (not just pathological liars as polygraphers would have you believe), making them the best friend of criminals and other shady people. Furthermore, they falsely accuse large numbers of people. Those who support polygraph “testing” because they value national security are missing the boat because of these significant issues.

Thank You All,

I think it is my duty to post what countermeasures I used.
As I mentioned earlier I had 1 1/2 years of practice and research. The method I used was the one that I found I had mastered over time.
I soon learned that I could manipulate my heart rate and blood pressure by using mental countermeaures.  I would go and pratice at grocerie stores where they have those machines to measure your blood pressure. I quickly learned that I had more control over my systolic, diastolic pressure, and heartbeat by applying mental countermeasure rather than the pucker technique.  I could also make the numbers jump alot higher with mental counter measures than with the pucker technique at full tension.  

I know alot of people are probably asking "What do you mean by mental countermeasure?"  Well, In the "Lie Behind the.." Examples of Mental Countermeasures are, thinking about falling, thinking about something that scares you, or trying to solve complex math problems.  Truth is I'm really not scared of many things and I hate math. But then I remembered something, I have a deep and uncontrollable anxiety whenever I think about the after life.. ( I guess you can call this a phobia)  If I start tho think about the subject I get really scared and start gasping for air.  If I think about long enough (More than 3 min.), I begin to sweat and tremble uncontrollably.  I used this to my advantage and practiced till I could think about it and that's all I had to do.  I did not practice for any breathing countermeasures because since I was genuinely scared I was already gasping for air.  

This is the technique I used, and for the relevant questions I just thought about other things which are nice and pure ( my wife).  Like I said I found that this was the most powerfull and controllable countermeaure for me.  I'm not sure if this will work with everyone as not everyone has a phobia.

If anyone has any questions about my experience, just let me know.

Taz

PS   On Doug Williams manual it is advised that you use countermeasures on irrelevant questions.  I do not think this is a good idea on CQT format as this will raise suspicion that you may be using countermeaures.  I think the best thing to do Is to learn how to identify Control Questions.
Again, this is only one humble man's opinion...

Mortified,

I'm glad that I can at least give you a little more courage with my experience.  It was hard for me to beleive that countermeasures would work, since I could count with one hand how many people had posted their success stories here.

Till the last minute in the waiting room, I was nervous as hell.
I think it is only human nature to feel that way.  The thing that made me the most nervous was the fact that this would be the last time I would apply with a LE agency.  If I did not pass this test, I was going to throw the towel in.  [ Just as a side note, I have nothing in my backgound that would disqualify me from being in LE, I was never a trouble maker.  It was hard for my wife and people who know me to understand why I couldn't pass a "Lie detector Test".  I think that some of my friends maybe even changed their perspective about me, since in our culture we have blind faith in those tests]

I beleive that if you practice, you can beat this test as I have.  As far as Doug William's manual, In my opinion you have already learned all there is to know.  

Good Luck!

Taz

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If you had actually read the thread, you would have noticed that Taz chose to use countermeasures and did, indeed pass. This should come as no shock to anyone.

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On what basis do you make this assertion?