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Hello All,
I want to start by saying that I have a lot of respect for the members of this forum. Countless people have had their careers ruined by the polygraph. While my experience is not that extreme, I do want to share my experience and get some advice.
A little over a year ago, I was working for a government contractor, and took a "specific issue" polygraph as part of a clearance application. The specific issue in question was my admitting on my security form that I had smoked pot once (about 2 months before filling out the security form). I was told the polygraph was to clarify the circumstances of my drug use and to verify if there had been other drug use I was witholding. I gladly consented since I was telling the truth. That turned out to be a big mistake.
The circumstances of my drug use were that my father had just died of a serious, painful disease. I was 25 and distraught. Even though I had never done any drugs, I thought smoking pot would ease the pain a bit that night, and knew that a one-time small dose of pot was harmless, compared to crack/heroin/hallucinogens etc.. Like an honest idiot, I put all this down on the security form.
The day of the polygraph came, 6 months after my father died. I explained to the examiner that my father was very sick, and in pain. I was very distressed when he died, and thought smoking a little pot might help with the emotion. In a very confident and mindlessly arrogant tone, the examiner rehashed my father's situation and his being sick and helpless; the examiner made me feel a sadness I had not felt since the night my father died. It was too much for me to bear, and I broke down and cried like a baby in front of him. Very emotional.
About 20 minutes later, he hooked me up to the machine, and asked me all the questions. First the control questions: have I cheated on tests in school, have I ever betrayed a friend, and the number naming stuff. I actually answered "no" to the qestions about cheating and betrayal because I felt I hadn't done those things. Then the drug question: have I smoked pot more than 5 times?. The truthful answer is "no", which I is what I said, but apparently my "charts indicate deception". Needless to say, when that question came up, I knew it was "the one". Being a very tense, high-strung guy that I am, something must have spiked.
What followed was an endless, intimidating tirade of the examiner shouting at me telling me I'm lying and, in general, being very dispariging. I would retort that I was telling the truth. This went on for hours. When I realized it was pointless, I asked to leave as I was drained emotionally and physically, not to mention somewhat terrified by the whole experience. A few hours after that, they finally let me out after signing some form.
This was by far the most demeaning and humiliating experience of my adult life. After leaving from the polygraph, I almost got myself killed on the highway driving, just from not paying attention to the road because of my being traumatized. That night, I stayed in bed 10 whole hours but wasn't able to get a wink of sleep because I so upset of the experience. I had spilled my guts, and then been spat in the face.
A few weeks later, I called the security officer in DC in charge of my case and explained how I was badgered in the polygraph. She said that it's a very common feeling. Is that supposed to make the badgering acceptable and make make feel better?? I told her that I wasn't lying and they could give me any drug tests, search my house + car, talk to anyone I knew. She said: "The polygraph is the only solution for you people."
I didn't get the clearance, but I finally realized that my job sucked as a whole (notwithstanding the clearance issue) and left the company. I'm much happier in my current job (non government), but still feel very violated and angry at my experience with the polygraph.
What I've read since my experience on the various websites (antipolygraph, stopolygraph etc) was absolutely horrifying. On top of this being junk science, these "examiners" are nothing but government sanctioned thugs feeding their sick fetishes of belittling people, regardless of whether they're truthful.
After reading the Lie Behind the Lie Detector, I understand why my examiner was so bullheaded: to him it was purely about getting a confession out of me, so he could feel dominant over me. But I didn't give him what he wanted since I maintained throughout I was telling the truth. I'm glad I've realized this, because in his mind, I've beaten him. What a sick bastard SOB. In an ideal world, these guys deserve to spend a week in a room full of all of the false positives whose lives they've screwed.
I want to help to abolish this polygraph BS by writing the appropriate officials and want to get the notes or official results of my poly from the office that did it. How do I do that?? I have no idea which agency it was, my only contact is the clearance person at my old job.
Thank you all for reading. Writing about all this helps a lot in the emotional healing...
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Angry at polygraph experience (Read 9383 times)
