Author Topic: synanon cedu and the seed  (Read 8265 times)

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Offline Ursus

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« Reply #30 on: November 30, 2007, 12:29:20 PM »
Just prior to Florida, Art came from Brooklyn, if I am not mistaken, and was heavily into the AA scene there...  Maybe he knew Father O'Brien?  That would be a trip.

As far as Synanon infiltrating the NYC area, I think Daytop (1963?) was the first spinoff.  This was originally the brainchild of Monsignor William O'Brien (from Brooklyn).  He allegedly got some inspiration from the Connecticut outpost of Synanon.  He and New York psychiatrist Dan Casriel recruited Deitch from Synanon to help get it off the ground a few years in.  See also this post for some insight, written by one of O'Brien's relatives:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?p=285188#285188  

As the Vietnam War progressed, there was a lot more heroin floating around and NYC got involved with the addiction treatment scene (Mayor Lindsay).  Both Odyssey House and Phoenix House sprung up at around the same time (1967), but I am guessing that maybe Odyssey was first.  Odyssey House began as a 1966 pilot program/research project at some local hospital, I think.  Phoenix was begun as a actual "house," i.e., 6 addicts living together to make it work.

See also this thread re. David Deitch.  He has links to Synanon (as an addict and as an administrator), Daytop (co-founder?), and Phoenix House (Chief Clinical Officer, in the 80s, I think).
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t=23440
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Offline GregFL

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« Reply #31 on: November 30, 2007, 01:53:11 PM »
well yes, we (Wes, ginger and I) long speculated that Art MAY have been involved with Daytop.  This is another one of the 'theories' I alluded to in an earlier post that we have held about just where the hell Art lurned himself those lock em up, break em down and yell at em modalities

Again, this is just another theory until someone comes forward and makes the hard connection. To this very moment in the history of the internet expose' of the program, the Seed/Straight et al connection to the synanon still remains speculation and an outright mystery. A mystery I might add, that I have been unable to solve.
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Offline Ursus

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« Reply #32 on: November 30, 2007, 01:53:55 PM »
DAYTOP HISTORY

On July 30, 1957, Father William B. O'Brien, a young parish priest from Tuckahoe, NY on duty at St. Patrick's Cathedral, was fatefully drawn into the seamy world of drug abuse and crime. The mother of a gang member frantically came to the priest for help when her son, along with seven others, was accused of the murder of a rival gang leader. Father O'Brien quickly realized that the common denominator in this, and most other street crime, was drugs. Deeper inquiry revealed an appalling scarcity of programs treating substance abuse with any measure of success.

In the 1950's, the public attitude was "once an addict, always an addict." Neither jail nor hospital stays seemed to make a bit of difference to an addicted person. Father O'Brien started researching other means of treating addiction. One of the places he looked at was Synanon. In 1958, Charles Dederich, himself a recovering alcoholic, started Synanon as a community of recovering people. This system was based on group encounters and addicts confronting each other, demanding self-revelation and responsibility.

Concurrent with Father O'Brien's search, a group of learned men from the Brooklyn Court system was on a similar quest. Dr. Alexander Bassin, Chief Researcher for the Kings County Supreme Court Probation Department, was perturbed by the disheartening results of turnstile sentences given to addicts. Dr. Bassin's strength of purpose spurred his boss, Joseph Shelly; criminologist Herbert A. Block; and Dr. Dan Casriel, a consulting psychiatrist with the Brooklyn Court, to a nationwide search for an effective response to the addicts who showed up in their courtrooms. They also saw possibilities in Synanon.

By a fortuitous turn of fate, Father O'Brien and Dr. Casriel chose the same day to visit the Synanon intake center in Westport, Connecticut. What they saw there convinced them that they were on the right track.

Dr. Bassin's team from the Brooklyn Court, based on their findings, applied for and were granted $390,00 from the National Institute of Mental Health on April 15, 1963. This grant led to the founding of Daytop Lodge at Butler Manor, Staten Island. This first rehabilitation facility was designed for 22 male probationers from the Brooklyn corrections system.

The basics of the treatment program were group therapy sessions, role modeling, job assignments and a hierarchy of peers. As residents progressed, they received more responsible duties, and earned more privileges. Those coming after them could see that others like themselves were gaining respect, and that life without drugs was possible. These basic elements have remained, as the therapeutic community evolved to meet the changing populations and needs of the clients.

The early days of Daytop Lodge were stormy with shifting leadership, which culminated in its absorption into Daytop Village, Inc. in October 1964 at Prince's Bay, Staten Island. The Staten Island community was adamantly against Daytop's presence in their neighborhood, and hundreds of residents picketed, and managed to block funding for the new agency for many months.

By now Daytop Village was a full-fledged therapeutic community, whose residents included men and women, arrestees as well as voluntary referrals. As Daytop's success in drug treatment became known, the need for treatment centers grew. Father O'Brien and his Board of Directors began to look at Sullivan County in the Catskill Mountains of New York State for more space. By moving treatment centers out of the city, they also would remove the residents from the temptations of the city. The first such residential facility was Daytop Swan Lake, which opened in June 1966.

In the next couple of years it became evident that there was a problem with more casual drug users, as well as hard-core addicts. In response, Daytop developed its first outpatient center. This facility (or outreach), located in Mount Vernon in Westchester County, New York, opened in 1968 and served residents of the community.

In the late 1960's conflict over the Vietnam war and drug use as rebellion surged throughout the youth population of the country. There was more and more need for rehabilitation programs. Daytop expanded with more residential facilities, and more outpatient centers throughout the New York Area.

As each center opened, there was initial community opposition, but as Daytop proved to be a good neighbor, this attitude changed. Still political resistance continued, sometimes opposing and delaying funding. In 1972 Daytop was completing negotiations for the building that is now Daytop World Headquarters, and funds weren't available for the down payment. Daytop turned to its Family Association, which is an organization of concerned family members of Daytop clients and graduates. Through an incredible effort, they raised the $100,000 needed for that down payment in less than thirty days!

Community support has come and gone and come again. The profile of our clients has changed over the years. The numbers of adolescents using drugs keeps going up, and their ages keep going down. Parents recognize that early treatment can save much pain and trouble later, and so these adolescents are getting help sooner. Employers recognize that trouble on the job may be a sign of substance abuse, and refer their employees to programs for help. Medical, educational and other services have been added to treatment programs to meet the needs of new populations. But Daytop has kept the basic tools that proved successful so many years ago and adapted them to today's changing population. And Father, now Monsignor, O'Brien, still passionately presides over this miracle of amazing change and growth flourishing at our treatment centers.
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Offline Ursus

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« Reply #33 on: November 30, 2007, 01:59:15 PM »
Quote
Dr. Bassin's team from the Brooklyn Court, based on their findings, applied for and were granted $390,00 from the National Institute of Mental Health on April 15, 1963. This grant led to the founding of Daytop Lodge at Butler Manor, Staten Island. This first rehabilitation facility was designed for 22 male probationers from the Brooklyn corrections system.

The basics of the treatment program were group therapy sessions, role modeling, job assignments and a hierarchy of peers. As residents progressed, they received more responsible duties, and earned more privileges. Those coming after them could see that others like themselves were gaining respect, and that life without drugs was possible. These basic elements have remained, as the therapeutic community evolved to meet the changing populations and needs of the clients.


Did Art perchance spend some time in the Brooklyn corrections system?
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Offline GregFL

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« Reply #34 on: November 30, 2007, 05:00:25 PM »
If he did it didn't show up on his list of 'accomlishments'.

I sure would like to put this piece of the puzzle together as  it has been a minor annoyance of mine for years.
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Offline GregFL

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« Reply #35 on: November 30, 2007, 05:00:44 PM »
If he did it didn't show up on his list of 'accomlishments'.

I sure would like to put this piece of the puzzle together as  it has been a minor annoyance of mine for years.
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Offline Che Gookin

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« Reply #36 on: November 30, 2007, 05:09:46 PM »
I can't imagine Art putting down he is a proud alumni of The Brooklyn Correctional System on his resume.
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Offline Ursus

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« Reply #37 on: November 30, 2007, 05:38:15 PM »
Those "probationers from the Brooklyn corrections system," which were used as the initial test cases at Daytop, would probably be folks in whose shoes Art probably walked at some point or another, whether or not he was in that particular set of 22 pairs.

From what I have read of what must pass for a CV in the addictions treatment field in those days, and from the strikingly different versions that I have encountered of Art Baker's, I find it extremely plausible that a stint in the Brooklyn lockups for copious alcohol consumption might well have occurred at some point.  He was a bit of a rabble rouser in those days, is my impression...
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Offline Che Gookin

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« Reply #38 on: November 30, 2007, 05:43:44 PM »
I have no doubts that doing time is nearly a prerequisite for being a D/A counselor back then. They still consider it a going concern at Benchmark where god knows how many of the staff have done time.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #39 on: November 30, 2007, 10:04:09 PM »
There are alot of great sites about straight and it's offshoots, but many fewer about CEDU. i wonder if that is becasue cedu was more damaging, in that people are more intimidated and stay confused about reality longer. There are still ceduites around, but you rarely see a pro striaghter.
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Offline GregFL

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« Reply #40 on: November 30, 2007, 11:30:25 PM »
Quote from: ""Guest""
There are alot of great sites about straight and it's offshoots, but many fewer about CEDU. i wonder if that is becasue cedu was more damaging, in that people are more intimidated and stay confused about reality longer. There are still ceduites around, but you rarely see a pro striaghter.


You are wrong.  Pro seed/straight people are in existence. there are people who think all sorts of kooky things were good for them,


As bad as cedu was, I dont think the modality was nearly as harsh as being locked in a hot warehouse under guard,in florida from 10 to 10, with the temperature hovering over 100 degrees and being denied basic food,sleep, bathroom privelidges and being subjected to the humiliation of the game..seed style.  

There is/was a pro straight website in existence that pre dated fornits.  Go look on the seed discussion forum and you will see pro seed posts from the past. You can also find them archived from the very beginning on the straight site.

The reason the pro seed/straight people don't post is that they either get shouted down on the straight forum, or get the debate kicked out of them on the seed forum.   Don't think they don't read these forums, however...they do.
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Offline Ursus

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« Reply #41 on: December 01, 2007, 12:03:16 AM »
I think to some degree it also depends on the person.  Some people are more vulnerable to being brainwashed, and the sheer physicality of conditions in some of these shitpits makes it easier to recognize them for what they are.  Sometimes the more subtler forms of subterfuge are harder to tease out, and hence recover from.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #42 on: December 01, 2007, 02:20:36 AM »
Quote from: ""Ursus""
I think to some degree it also depends on the person.  Some people are more vulnerable to being brainwashed, and the sheer physicality of conditions in some of these shitpits makes it easier to recognize them for what they are.  Sometimes the more subtler forms of subterfuge are harder to tease out, and hence recover from.


Cedu is pretty bad, you don't get as many survivors talking expilclicitly, i find, but mel wassmer forcing a black kid to wash his feet in group while calling hin nigger.....thats indicitive of level 10 mind fuckery, and there wasnt regular sleep either.

What makes cedu so pernicious is that the brainwashing is not specific to drugs, it's tailored to each specific person. Each person has done something "wrong" in their lives, or had something painful happen and that something is used as prima ficiie- the "sickness".
Long term, it's harder to beleive you were addicted to a drug you never tried, and was saved from it, than you were a self destructively irresponsible teen becasue you cut class. That's a less obvious absurdity, and therefore, more confusing.

Also, being in an entirely resedentaly enviorment, instead of in private homes...never attending an outside school, no mattter how far along in the program you were...Mark S wrote about this in his peice about his seed experience regarding why today's treatment models can be more damaging, which i agree with. Major braindamage----me. Suicide-----my beloved. Prison-------my darling boy.............shhh these truths are too dark to speak aloud.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #43 on: December 01, 2007, 09:01:39 AM »
did you go to cedu or rma?
you explain well.
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Offline Ursus

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« Reply #44 on: December 01, 2007, 11:09:37 AM »
Quote from: ""Guest""
What makes cedu so pernicious is that the brainwashing is not specific to drugs, it's tailored to each specific person. Each person has done something "wrong" in their lives, or had something painful happen and that something is used as prima ficiie- the "sickness".

Probably something along the lines of what Joe Gauld is really talking about when he brings up "unique potential," ha ha!!  It was a constant hell of guilt and self-hatred that never ended.

On another note, I've always wondered at CEDU's copious usage of Kahlil Gibran's material, i.e., where does it come from?  Gauld also makes ample reference to Gibran: his quotes are sprinkled throughout his books, the Hyde website, even their Biggest Job materials and website.  Sometime in the last year, I transcribed something that Gauld wrote onto the Hyde forum here and it contained a Gibran quote.  One of the more recent students objected; she just couldn't stand to hear Gibran misused any more...

After I left (many years ago), I remember I felt I should really read this material for my own good -- in my attempts to become a better person -- and actually obtained Gibran's The Prophet with the full intention of doing so.  I think I might have made it through two pages.  Couldn't stomach any more than that.  That copy disappeared during one move or another and I actually went to the trouble of getting yet another copy.  Same problem.  As recently as this past summer I was still attempting to flog myself into doing this.  What's the matter with me?
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