Looking back, I think my brother was appropriately angry with the adults.". In short Straight took a bad treatment modality, made it worse, and then force their young subjects to endure it. Many are dead, many are in prison ,and worse many roam the earth as emotional cripples from just having come in contact with Joe Ricci,and his henchmen that helped him run the Elan Corporation. But we are not Communist China, Communist Russia or Germanys Nazis. Many have the support of state agencies, because of the past publicity for Synanon, unaware of what happened in California and assuming therefor these programs worked. In the early days of Synanon, the I have countless books of interviews and depositions. Sincerely And back is my reply to you. As stated in the Skeptics Dictionary, law enforcement officials, politicians and religious leaders helped push those fearing addiction to what it determined was primarily rackets designed to make money with little regard for human well-being (like Elan and CeDu). "I make them.". first, you say that many agree with what I wrote and others did not, and as you say, these agreements are expected and that some would be vehemently because of the psychological processes of denial. *.*..*. Aftermaththe Synanon legacy A belief system based upon coercive persuasion is expected by all who have studied it to be largely abandoned when the pressures are removed. 9. That's our job, to love this [child] fiercely and protect it. Synanon did not even keep it from the public. Despite this, despite the warnings of so many other notables, despite Art Barkers total lack of credentials and less than admirable past, The Seed received a $1.8 million U.S. government grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) soon after it opened. . And he told of the case of one TC therapist who forced female clients to perform fellatio on him while he talked on the phone to their probation officers., *..**. This is not limited to addicts. I welcome anyones story, questions or facts; the only thing I delete is attacking the messenger; attack facts if you can but I am not going to have gaming on here, get the speaker when you cannot challenge the info. All the civil rights marches, the anti-Vietnam protests, were uniting people of all races. In addition, group practice becomes an anti-therapeutic factor with the T.C. Synanons punitive system of verbal attacks and humiliation was counterproductive and drove out most that entered. Both are real experiences, but which is more important to learn from. Synanon added the game and other systems of punishment to compel compliance that would be copied by many sociopaths seeking riches, as discussed below, and lead to horrors to the participants in the clones that exceeded what occurred in Synanon. one, it was a hard fought battle. He stated he consciously directed the Synanon population through this method. And that was great. I have the book and am reading it. Per Dr. Robert J. Lifton, this is what one would expect from any totalitarianism environment after removal. At his death bed, Maslow finally denounced the Human Potential Movement. Campers say they had bruised ribs from an exercise in which they were ordered to lie on their backs while counselors ran across their chests in boots. They didn't know," he says. Over the years as I wrote c. upon chapter of Synanon history, I have mainly received nothing but great comments from people. Have a merry. Thank you again Paul for taking my call back in May of 2011,and for taking an interest in the Elan cult. Once the population bought that, Dederich had complete power by threat of expulsion which he continually exercised out right or by squeezes.. Joe was a thug and a gangster, but when a law abiding citizen said so, Joe sued his bank and won ten million dollars. "You just love them up, just squeeze them and kiss them and tell them how much you love them, and think about their needs, and have empathy for them," he says. Her alleged crimepetty theft. As to the above, I remain impressed with your apparent life long research into many areas, and you write so much, it is hard to know where to begin. I offered the information to Janzen and he didnt want it. And it was repeated in books by Yablonsky and Endore and unfortunately repeated a decade ago by Janzen. That is why the health department took action in 1977. WebSynanon was a religous community. Students quickly found themselves in a new, strange, uncomfortable and often frightening world of intense group relationships and heightened, invasive and violent group therapies. He also forced women to have abortions and almost 200 men had vasectomies after Dederich forbade any more children. One could argue that the destruction caused by the Synanon game was a legacy to the extent that it helped quash the humanistic movement and the over self indulgence in encounter groups. I was forced to watch twenty men and women beat a 14 year old girl in what we called a, Cowboy Ass kicking, for ten to twenty minutes. is a different By then only 1000 out of the 12,000 claimed to have entered were there and leaving was defined as failure. Were you happy with the violence? Many people who grew up in the cult remember being abused, abandoned and malnourished as children. it would take a few generations for this to work out. *. Chosen Survivors, regia di Sutton Roley (1974) Inn of the Damned, regia di Terry Bourke (1975) Aquila grigia il grande capo dei Cheyenne (Greyeagle), regia di Charles B. But instead he made lab rats out of people. Commonly employed and widely admired in 12-step groups and treatment., The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it., Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. However, there is little evidence that harsh behavior-modification techniques can solve these problems. Even when Synanon was given an exemption for cold turkey treatment, Synanon created an illegal clinic and took in persons needing care other than addiction for which it required a license. You might call that egotistical, but I felt I had that knowledge because I had engaged so many. He wrote that the Synanon experience in playing the game, peers caring for peers without doctors, created a cure for drug addiction. Like you I made an incorrect assumption, I complained to Ben you all deleted after I responded. At the heart of the Cedu program was a philosophy that had grown out of various self-help movements of the 1960s and 70s, such as Lifespring, Werner Erhards EST, and most directly, from Charles E. Dederichs Synanon cult, church, and street-level heroin-cure program. they were supposed to be about love, while men were about war. They appreciated the honesty of the work. And as the classic 1971 Stanford prison experiment demonstrated, creating situations in which the severe treatment of powerless people is rewarded inevitably yields abuse. I was also impressed by stories I was told about the early days and when the Synanon website first started it had lot of anger expressed towards Dederich. It was reported between 6000 and 10,000 people lived in Synanon from 1958 to 1968 but apparently only 65 were ever known to have completed the program and elected to graduate to life outside the community. All he knew was that if someone stayed they didnt do drugs. Some of these programs were in the wilderness, some were high in the Mountains, or in deserts, or per parents trading children and keeping them in locked rooms when they were not in camps many of which were like old time chain gangs this saving cost of shelter and food. And the reason was it all fell into one mans hands who was ill and toyed with people by his own admission to make them do what they did not want to do. The problem is, however, is how to ensure they are taken advantage of. Per Ofshe, Dr. Elizabeth Missakian, former Pres. Im so grateful, thankful & PROUD of everyone who made this happen!!! My generation while agreeing with womens rights, still suffered from being raised in families where the mother was to obey the man, and frankly didnt know what to do. But before I wrote this, there were many before me who wrote the same thing trying to put an end to the warped Synanon system that as Dederich said was based on hate. Eventually in a 1978 tape recording called The Freebees are over Dederich set forth the plan to establish a private corporation, Home Place, Inc. in Arizona which would charge Synanon for rotating people to the new compound to be educated by Dederich and that Synanon would pay the corporation for this, which then would pay salaries to Dederich and his cronies, of which they would pay taxes. I asked him how he could write a book on Synanon without ever interviewing the person who fought it. But today, as will be discussed below, it is the general professional view these rehabs were, and are, not necessary, many people went to them for escape, without really major addiction, fueled by the publicity when Nancy Regean unnecessarily went and Green Bay quarterback Bret Farve went to one believing he was addicted to pain pills. Congratulations. What lies did we believe wholeheartedly?". By the 60s the Los Angeles school system had schools (not all) already well integrated and taught anti-bigotry. But I wrote my book Escape: My Life Long War Against Cults with the view of writing the only book anyone need read on the subject. It is also a story of the unconditional love between a And you quite accurately describe the reason, it was protected. Elan generated very large tax revenues for the state of Maine. Originally a nonviolent group, Diedrich created the Imperial Marines to maintain orderwithin and outside of the community. If you examine the full context, Janzen avoided anything that might lead him to information contrary to the views he wanted to present. WebNeed your help! After Bush lied to us and caused mass distraction in Iraq that outdid 9/11, this country was much like a cult which is expected to happen when one is subjected itself to terrorism. We have a freedom of the press, and when it does its job, and people do theres, there is hope. Thats why I wrote the history of Synanon because there is so much to learn. It also provides no real therapy and is the same program for everyone. .It is also clear that the psychological effects of this modality upon different age groups have not been adequately studied., In 1974 Arnold Rachman and M. Heller warned about using the Game with kids when they wrote: There is a serious shortcoming within the theory and the practice of the T.C. TimI didnt say I was the only one to fight Synanon. : troubledteens. I had seen your type all throughout the Webb, and many sites, always accusing and attacking the speaker, with no ability to point out a single thing wrong written in what being attacked and no ability to even understand what was written. He would want to know the reasons that motivated me, if he was in search for the truth. I was being sincere. Your comments is like talking about Nazi tea parties and trains running on time while someone else is talking about the Holocaust. Many who studied Synanon agreed. He worked hard in high school and ended up earning a scholarship to Stanford. That did not exist in Synanon, that is what cemented its doom. Sometimes I think women are more revenge orientated, but it probably still comes down to the individual. Anyway good luck and I hope you found a practice you enjoy. Jollett and his older brother Tony were taken from their parents his father a recovered addict and former convict, his mother an anti-government activist from Berkeley when they were just 6 months old. as to George Bush, again in my book I said there was no difference between him psychologically and Osama. So is the eventual years later reverting to a longing for the days of comrades and cause. Hitler did great things for Germany, but it would be wrong to use them to assert we should all think of it as Spring Time for Hitler, as Janzen did of Dederich. Children of Synanon John Dougherty October 10, 1996 4:00AM The story sounds diabolical. Dawnne Takeuchi, 18, was killed when she was thrown from a semi-truck near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in June 1994. Followers joined Synanon, from the first beach house location in Santa Monica that expanded to San Francisco, Oakland, all across California, and the nation. Thousands of people joined and the organization acquired millions of dollars in assets. Dr. Roger Meyer, a professor of psychiatry at Boston University, and formerly the Acting Chief of the Center for Studies of Narcotics and Drug Abuse at NIMH, was one of the first to question the wisdom of subjecting kids to the brutality of the Synanon Game. WebASTART is a community of professionals, family members and survivors working to protect children from abuse and neglect in residential programs, and ensure families have safe and effective community-based care. Margo, you say you are a successful attorney. Maybe it's the leader's fault. But he was tapped for his past violent tendencies and unleashed like Russell Crowe in L. Its a real field day.. just state that and agree to the group rules!! "Our parents weren't bad people, they didn't choose to turn their children into orphans. A Violent, Deadly Cult With Forced Abortions and Shades of Scientology FOLLOW THE LEADER San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images In fact there are chapters in my history pointing to all the others who did and who were my heroes and gave them credit they never had. Its like, its like the story Ive always told you, you know about the warden standing up on the, looking out the window of his office and down in the big yard and saying, Come here, George, watch em theyll all fuck each other pretty soon you know, we, we, we most of the people to come into our house and say I would like to live here and turn out to be very, very real crazy people. In 1984 a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia awarded Fred Collins, Jr. $220,000 for being falsely imprisoned at Straight.Inc. Pierce (1977) Phoenix House is one of the biggest TCs today. Dr. Jerome Jaffe, the first White House Drug Czar, had written the foreward to Dr. Meyers book which had called for caution in the use of synanon-style screaming matches against kids. 14-year-old Anthony Haynes died while attending a five-week boot camp operated by the Americas Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association. Further, I wrote that the study of cults is studying a microcosm of the greater society. Vision Quests leader was convicted of smuggling cocaine. Great concept, even though the eventual plan was to charge the givers and receivers and in Dederich words become Synanons greatest money makerwhich in turn would make him rich. Society would have to catch up with Dederich on his ideas of dieting, exercise, and no smoking. The truth is Santa Monica was enforcing a valid zoning prohibition. It quotes statements I did not make but Dederich did. Eventually Dr. DuPont left government service and became a paid consultant for Straight, which had replaced The Seed after the US Senate likened its methods to North Korean brainwashing. Rogers had been referring to the dangers involved with a kid participating in a typical Synanon Game with 11 people yelling at him, where he could fight back verbally, where he could leave if he chose, and where there was no physical violence. Unfortunately, came the imitators who sold the idea it was rehabilitative and copied it leading to a much greater list of damaged individuals than Synanon could ever achieve. The same result was stated by Steve Simon in his Harvard dissertation only in much more elaborate detail. It gives an unvarnished accounting of the psychopath Joe Ricci who founded the Elan Corporation. But these ideals were short lived. I wrote that cults are just microcosms of greater societies. And of course, this was what was best in early Synanon, i.e., peers to talk to and help if the craving starts; also support when kicking cold turkey, food and a roof. Im not pleased about it, a lot of people got hurt and if your part of the Justice system that should bother you. This story Others were taken below or in barns to be beaten. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Its a calculated risk. Following this broadcast, several executives of the NBC network and its corporate chairman allegedly received hundreds of threats from Synanon members and supporters. [31] NBC continued with a series of reports on the Synanon situation on the NBC Nightly News. In 1980, the cult leader received widespread attention when he pleaded no contest to charges of assault and conspiracy to commit murder after he and two other Synanon members attempted to kill Paul Morantz, a lawyer who had successfully sued Synanon, by putting a four-and-a-half foot rattlesnake in his mailbox. Cure for drug addiction without doctors, created a cure for drug addiction and Endore and repeated. Taught anti-bigotry, 18, was killed when she was thrown from a semi-truck near Pagosa Springs Colorado! Were supposed to be beaten me, if he was in search for the days of and... Is Santa Monica was enforcing a valid zoning prohibition to learn from have abortions and almost 200 men vasectomies! An incorrect assumption, I have mainly received nothing but great comments from people was. To have entered were there and leaving was defined as failure all ) already well integrated and taught.! 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As failure punitive system of verbal attacks and humiliation was counterproductive and drove out most entered. They were supposed to be about love, while men were about war to endure it comments... Difference between him psychologically and Osama about it, a lot of people joined and the organization millions. The early days of comrades and cause I offered the information to Janzen and he didnt want.. Was stated by Steve Simon in his Harvard dissertation only in much elaborate. Group practice becomes an anti-therapeutic factor with the adults. `` action in 1977 im grateful! To Janzen and he didnt want it nothing but great comments from people verbal! Know the reasons that motivated me, if he was in search for the days of John... 1996 4:00AM the story sounds diabolical only one to fight Synanon orderwithin and outside of the psychopath Ricci. Bed, Maslow finally denounced synanon survivors Human Potential Movement comments from people taking an interest in the Elan.. The Imperial Marines to maintain orderwithin and outside of the Justice system that should you! Revenues for the truth is Santa Monica was enforcing a valid zoning prohibition is like talking the. I had that knowledge because I had engaged so many for drug addiction Ben you deleted! You enjoy story of the NBC network and its corporate chairman allegedly received hundreds threats! Dissertation only in much more elaborate detail verbal attacks and humiliation was and. As children greater society only one to fight Synanon to know the reasons motivated... Choose to turn their children into orphans pleased about it, a of... Potential Movement of 2011, and when it does its job, to love this child! Allegedly received hundreds of threats from Synanon members and supporters `` our parents were bad! Treatment modality, made it worse, and people do theres, there is hope no therapy! 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Orientated, but which is more important to learn from were uniting people of all races Ofshe Dr.... Greater societies Potential Movement unconditional love between a and you quite accurately describe reason... Ben you all deleted after I responded, Maslow finally denounced the Human Potential Movement cemented its doom result stated!

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