Help At Any Cost

[try another castle]

Castle: I have read "What it Takes to Pull me Through"... have not read "Help at Any Cost" yet.

The kids that are followed in the David Marcus book do not have "happy endings". In no way does it come across as the "magic pill" or whatever. There is a suicide, some drug over doses, etc... he does not tell the readers that these kids are "fixed" because they went to Swift River. Some of the kids were successful in their completion of the program and soon after. Some were not. I think that is true. He also discusses some of the abusive programs in the beginning of his book. He points out the horror stories.

IMO, I thought there was balance in this book. It was a bit haunting for me having been a graduate of a similiar program... so beware if you decide to read it. It is an easy read... could be done in a weekend

When you get a chance, I'd recommend checking out Maia's book. Help at Any Cost is motherfucking scary. I think every other thought that went through my mind was "How the fuck can they get away with this shit?" It mainly focuses on Striaght, WWASPS, KIDS, and wilderness boot camps. It also talks about the court battles to try to bring these people to justice, and at the end she has a very thorough section on alternatives to behavior mod institutions.

[TheWho]

On 2006-03-20 09:50:00, Boomerang wrote:

"Castle: I have read "What it Takes to Pull me Through"... have not read "Help at Any Cost" yet.



The kids that are followed in the David Marcus book do not have "happy endings". In no way does it come across as the "magic pill" or whatever. There is a suicide, some drug over doses, etc... he does not tell the readers that these kids are "fixed" because they went to Swift River. Some of the kids were successful in their completion of the program and soon after. Some were not. I think that is true. He also discusses some of the abusive programs in the beginning of his book. He points out the horror stories.



IMO, I thought there was balance in this book. It was a bit haunting for me having been a graduate of a similiar program... so beware if you decide to read it. It is an easy read... could be done in a weekend. "

Bommerang, I agree, this was a very well balanced account of how things were at ASR.  For anyone interested it is a good account on the ins and outs of daily life, this can be very detailed.  Some did very well after graduation and others did not.  He does not try to paint a picture of all negative or all positive, just his experiences, a very good read.

To research the book, Marcus left his job, sold his house, and relocated his family to a small town in New England. He camped out with the students, joined them in group therapy and traveled with them to the rain forest of Costa Rica as they volunteered in a community service program. Along the way, he observed workshops as the teenagers and their parents tried to figure out what had gone wrong and what to do about it. (A father of two, Marcus describes his project as "a Ph.D. in parenting.") The book has been recommended by People magazine, Reader's Digest, Psychology Today, and dozens of newspapers, from the Atlanta Constitution to the Dallas Morning News. Within a week of publication, Marcus was a featured guest on NBC's Today Show and NPR's Talk of the Nation.

[blownawaytheidahoway]

On 2006-03-20 07:27:00, blownawaytheidahoway wrote:

"The author is David L. Marcus. It seems to be a postive account of the program at Academt at Swift River, in Massechusettslyvaniaokia.



  "

I cannot yet say it doesn't SEEM postive. However, I've not gotten too far yet. But I DO find many instances thus far of evasive information and lack therein about naming people and other programs. I'll be happy to type out quotations later. I look forward to being more informed next time I post on the subject, either way.

It must be said that Maia Szalavits' book is informative, and an exceptional read about this often bogus industry for baffled and desperate people. It was good to finally read something about what I went through.