Author Topic: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week  (Read 14085 times)

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Offline TheWho

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #150 on: October 11, 2008, 08:14:45 PM »
Quote from: "psy"
What I mean is: will a program reject a kid, knowing he/she has no real issues, if the parents have money and are willing to pay anyway

I am sure some would not.  But I know that some will not take a child until they are examined and understand their issues.  If parents want to send their child anyway iam sure they can find a place if they have the money.

Quote
Aha. So you're saying that kids should never be "escorted" to programs? Seems like a change of opinion to me.

I am not in favour of escorts, but I am sure they are needed.  I don’t believe everything is black and white.  Once a child is settled down, feels comfortable and safe they can begin to open up and work.



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Offline psy

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #151 on: October 11, 2008, 08:32:01 PM »
"Comfortable" and "safe" are two words I would hardly use to describe program tactics.  Usually programs strive to break kids down, which usually involves taking a kid "out of his comfort zone" and making him feel "vulnerable" and "powerless".  What, you say?  There is this magical program that doesn't do this?  Pray tell what is it's name, and provide a survivor we all can ask about his experiences so we don't know you're just pulling shit out of your marketing cookbook.
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Offline psy

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #152 on: October 11, 2008, 08:33:41 PM »
Quote from: "TheWho"
I am not in favour of escorts, but I am sure they are needed.
Needed?  
But you just said "I don’t believe treatment can be forced and still be effective".  Uneffective, harmful, treatment is "needed"?
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Offline TheWho

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #153 on: October 11, 2008, 09:19:19 PM »
Quote from: "psy"
Quote from: "TheWho"
I am not in favour of escorts, but I am sure they are needed.
Needed?  
But you just said "I don’t believe treatment can be forced and still be effective".  Uneffective, harmful, treatment is "needed"?

An Escort is just transporting a person from one place to the next.  If the child does not take to the therapy or make a connection with his/her therapist then the treatment would not be effective.  It wont happen overnight either way.  Escorts are difficult because I beleive the child needs to be at least bought into idea of attending the place initially.



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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #154 on: October 11, 2008, 09:29:25 PM »
Quote from: "psy"
Quote from: "TheWho"
I am not in favour of escorts, but I am sure they are needed.
Needed?  
But you just said "I don’t believe treatment can be forced and still be effective".  Uneffective, harmful, treatment is "needed"?

Why r u continuing a convo withthis guy? The initial issue(s) have been resloved (no medical proof ever produced ANY program does anything but hurt captives)Rudy Bentz murdered a kid. You just continue on & on with this guy.....
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #155 on: October 11, 2008, 09:36:49 PM »
Quote from: "TheWho"
Quote from: "psy"
Quote from: "TheWho"
I am not in favour of escorts, but I am sure they are needed.
Needed?  
But you just said "I don’t believe treatment can be forced and still be effective".  Uneffective, harmful, treatment is "needed"?

An Escort is just transporting a person from one place to the next.  If the child does not take to the therapy or make a connection with his/her therapist then the treatment would not be effective.  It wont happen overnight either way.  Escorts are difficult because I beleive the child needs to be at least bought into idea of attending the place initially.



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Don't you mean, "I beleive the child needs to be at least SOLD on the idea of attending the place initially."?? tsk tsk. Get your marketing spiel right. What would Lon think?
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Offline TheWho

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #156 on: October 11, 2008, 09:37:34 PM »
Quote from: "sda"
Why r u continuing a convo withthis guy? The initial issue(s) have been resloved (no medical proof ever produced ANY program does anything but hurt captives)Rudy Bentz murdered a kid. You just continue on & on with this guy.....

Because we finished up with you.  You have not been able to prove one statement you have made.  You are a total mess and a waste of time, anyone can just spout off about who killed who and who was raped and who was abused.  But at some point you need to come to the table and provide proof.  That hasn’t happened yet.  I have supported my positions with facts and links outside of fornits.  So far you haven’t been able to do this.  Most of us understand why, but we just can accept what you say until you can start supporting your statements.



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Offline TheWho

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #157 on: October 11, 2008, 09:38:34 PM »
Quote from: "mixmaus"

Don't you mean, "I beleive the child needs to be at least SOLD on the idea of attending the place initially."?? tsk tsk. Get your marketing spiel right. What would Lon think?

Ha,Ha,Ha  Freudian slip?



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Offline psy

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #158 on: October 11, 2008, 09:51:04 PM »
Quote from: "TheWho"
Quote from: "psy"
Quote from: "TheWho"
I am not in favour of escorts, but I am sure they are needed.
Needed?  
But you just said "I don’t believe treatment can be forced and still be effective".  Uneffective, harmful, treatment is "needed"?

An Escort is just transporting a person from one place to the next.

in hand-cuffs and restraints...  Forcefully.   And where are they going forcefully?  To "treatment" which you admitted above was inherantly doomed to failure.  You said "I don’t believe treatment can be forced and still be effective".  One statement I whole-heartedely agree with.

Quote
Escorts are difficult because I beleive the child needs to be at least bought into idea of attending the place initially.

Yes, and hand-cuffs and goons with pepperspray are going to help him to "buy into the idea" of attending the place.  Ah.  I am beginnging to see what you qualify as persuasion.  Seems fairly coercive to me, which is not to say decieving a kid into attending a program is any better, as it's not a decision made with full informed consent.

I'm glad you agree progarms don't work, though, as I've yet to see one that doesnt' force "treatment" on kids.  And again, as I pointed out above "What, you say? There is this magical program that doesn't do this? Pray tell what is it's name, and provide a survivor we all can ask about his experiences so we don't know you're just pulling shit out of your marketing cookbook."
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Offline TheWho

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #159 on: October 11, 2008, 11:30:43 PM »
Quote from: "psy"
Yes, and hand-cuffs and goons with pepperspray are going to help him to "buy into the idea" of attending the place. Ah. I am beginnging to see what you qualify as persuasion. Seems fairly coercive to me, which is not to say decieving a kid into attending a program is any better, as it's not a decision made with full informed consent.

No, the escort service is only there to function as transportation.... As I have said before I am not a big fan of escorts.  They provide service from point A to point B.  Their function is not therapy.

Quote
I'm glad you agree progarms don't work, though, as I've yet to see one that doesnt' force "treatment" on kids. And again, as I pointed out above "What, you say? There is this magical program that doesn't do this? Pray tell what is it's name, and provide a survivor we all can ask about his experiences so we don't know you're just pulling shit out of your marketing cookbook."

I don’t believe I ever stated that programs don’t work unless you are taking me out of context somewhere.  I guess it depends on how you define forced treatment.  If a parent says you have 2 choices.... go to therapy or quit the football team then the kid is being forced into therapy.  Would this work?  Maybe... it would get the kid in the door and maybe start talking... things may work out over time.  So I don’t think a child who was escorted would be starting out willingly to open up.  But with the right therapist, time and realization that there are not many other options then the child may take to it.  The key is to provide the least restrictive environment possible.  For some this is a local therapist for others it is a program.



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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #160 on: October 12, 2008, 01:23:07 PM »
Quote from: "TheWho"
Quote from: "liawsn;on"
Fuck you asshole. The studies saying they're ineffective have been posted IN THIS VERY THREAD. If you're too stupid to find it, I can't help that.

I have been providing you studies and independent people who have written about programs.  Its information, whether a student paper or Pulitzer prize author.  Most of the information we hear here on fornits comes from people with less qualifications than that.

Quote
Again.......burden of proof falls upon those claiming success, especially when we're talking about things like medical treatment. Even though we've provided NIH studies AND MORE (which you conveniently ignore), all you can come up with are a paper written by a grad student (not a clinical study) and a book written by a guy who is PAID by the program he wrote about.

How sad for you.

Show us your proof that the person was paid to write the novel by the program.  See, I know you are lying because I was there at the time and know the circumstances.  You wonder why I don’t believe many of your stories is because I catch you lying about facts like these why would you all of a sudden start telling the truth when talking about your time in the program?

See what I mean?  This is why I don’t believe many of you and are cautious about most of the stories you tell.  I have good reason not to believe you.



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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #161 on: October 12, 2008, 03:13:09 PM »
Quote from: "qft"
Quote from: "TheWho"
Quote from: "liawsn;on"
Fuck you asshole. The studies saying they're ineffective have been posted IN THIS VERY THREAD. If you're too stupid to find it, I can't help that.

I have been providing you studies and independent people who have written about programs.  Its information, whether a student paper or Pulitzer prize author.  Most of the information we hear here on fornits comes from people with less qualifications than that.

Quote
Again.......burden of proof falls upon those claiming success, especially when we're talking about things like medical treatment. Even though we've provided NIH studies AND MORE (which you conveniently ignore), all you can come up with are a paper written by a grad student (not a clinical study) and a book written by a guy who is PAID by the program he wrote about.

How sad for you.

Show us your proof that the person was paid to write the novel by the program.  See, I know you are lying because I was there at the time and know the circumstances.  You wonder why I don’t believe many of your stories is because I catch you lying about facts like these why would you all of a sudden start telling the truth when talking about your time in the program?

See what I mean?  This is why I don’t believe many of you and are cautious about most of the stories you tell.  I have good reason not to believe you.



...

Take a look at Greg Kutz's testimony on your industry again, or is the GAO too biased for you?  Effectiveness is a moot point when you're discussing the abusive and sometimes fatal practices of programs.  I'll take the GAO's report over some grad student.  I'm surprised you haven't trotted out Keith Russell's Wilderness study, but you probably know better.
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #162 on: September 17, 2009, 08:18:07 AM »
Quote from: "hilarious to watch"
Quote from: "WhObvious"
Hate to break it to you, but you ain't foolin' anyone.


Here's an interesting post. Tells ya all about Academy at Swift River ya need to know (Werner Erhard/Charles Dietrich's zombie knows better to name an a specific helpful "program" when challenged, as that would mean the inevitable highlighting of the specific "program's policy of abduction, imprisonment, and torture, but he's such a nut he can't keep be consistant in meeting his objective)

Really, this guy is a commercial spammer who floods the forum and should be treated as such
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t= ... &start=300

Perhaps as a former student/client/survivor/inmate/whatever you want to call it, I can shed some light on the subject. I was in peer group 17, I was at ASR from October of 2000 to December of 2001. During my stay I was under the impression that the lifesteps were essentially unchanged from the start of the program up until then. I can't say anything about 2002 and onward. As was said before, they were about anger, insecurities, reconnecting with core self, (aka inner child) and forgiveness. They were held in the library in the academic building, and generally started around mid evening on a friday or saturday night, and lasted between 12 and 24 hours. Hard to tell exactly because they made a policy of taking our watches beforehand. All I know was that at the latest, we were asleep in our beds by the normal lights out the next night, except for the 4th lifestep, where we slept in tents overnight outside the library. That was about 36 hours altogether.
They definitely fed us, slightly less than usual, but more than adequate for a day's nutrition. As for sleep deprivation, we were up way past our bedtimes, which were tightly regulated, so any alterations to the routine were quite noticeable. While we were up late, full of anxiety and stress, we were subjected to a lot of yelling, a lot of exercises and workshops designed to illustrate how our behaviors were hurting us. There was a lot of crying, screaming, cursing, quiet time for writing, (read: kids can't talk, counselors walk around reading what's being written and pontificating about the topics being written about. My point is that it was very intense and quite overwhelming. I don't remember every single detail of the experiences, but I will try to include what I can.
The most memorable thing about the first lifestep was an exercise called dyads. This involved pairing up with a buddy and holding them while screaming at the top of our lungs all the things we hated our parents and ourselves for, for minutes at a time. I distinctly remember spitting up blood and being encouraged to continue screaming. There were also short group therapy sessions, there were exercises involving listing all the things our parents had ever done to hurt us, focusing on all the pain and suffering that we'd ever felt and how angry it made us. After all of us were exhausted we read letters our parents sent us about how much they loved us and why they chose to send us away. Needless to say there was a lot of crying.
The second lifestep had exercises where we had to sit in a circle, while one of us would walk around from person to person to hear whether that one or this one considered them a "giver" or a "taker". After we'd all judged each other we had to say to people why we felt this way about them. Some of this took the form of harsh criticism masked as praise. There were exercises involving how we judge ourselves and how we present ourselves to others. We had to wear cards around our necks that labeled us as one thing or another to supposedly demonstrate how restrictive the images we present to people can be. I remember carving images into cubes of sandstone to symbolize all the good qualities we had and who we really were. I also remember listening to Enya and other new age music, and doing a warped guided meditation which, rather than enhancing relaxation heightens emotions like guilt, sadness and fear. It was either in this lifestep or the third that we did an exercise involving manic, happy music, and all of us being instructed to smile until it started to hurt, and walk around laughing and smiling and looking at each other for about 5-10 minutes with the song on repeat. By the end many were crying, some were on the verge of hysteria.
The third lifestep was probably the most traumatic and damaging. It involved internalizing immense guilt. We had to write down anything and everything that we'd ever done to hurt ourselves, told how horrible it was, then forced to look at childhood pictures of ourselves that our parents had mailed to the school. Sitting there for what seemed like hours being yelled at because all the mistakes, impulses, and self destruction we'd gone through were "horrible things that we, as horrible people had done to the innocent children that we were" We were told to imagine all these wrongdoings being visited upon these children, as if we'd done them to some helpless little kid ourselves. Hurting yourself because you're horribly depressed is suddenly akin to torturing preschoolers. Talk about cognitive dissonance! We had to draw a symbolic portrait of ourselves involving all our interests, loves, etc., then tack the childhood picture to it. The other focus of this lifestep was the emotional manipulations or games that we use in an attempt to fill holes in our lives. We acted out all the games we each typically used, and had our peer group guess which one. Games such as playing the victim, using intimidation, attention games, the "everything is fine" game, etc.
The fourth lifestep involved a modified Native American sweat ritual. One of these took place before the first lifestep, almost a pre lifestep. This ritual was kind of like group therapy in a sauna, with some new age religious undertones. We were smudged with sage before entering the sweat lodge, there was a little discussion about purification. We talked about grudges we held, and how they weighed us down. To illustrate this concept physically, we took a long walk in the woods late at night, each of us carrying a rock about the size of a large melon and being lectured to about how we weigh ourselves down by not letting things go. We weren't allowed to put down the rocks, and the walk lasted somewhere between 1 and 2 hours. Being able to set down the rock was supposed to symbolize how good it feels to let go of anger and resentment. Perfect timing, the program's almost over, let's assuage some of the anger that comes from having a year of your life stolen.
All in all I would say that these lifesteps are a clear indication of the cult like way that the academy is run. In addition I would like to comment on the pervasive nature of the levels and punishment/reward system that was in effect. Profanity was punishable by doing pushups, we were continually encouraged to report each other for anything and everything, for our own good. Dish duty would be assigned for having a shirt untucked or for not cleaning the dorm before breakfast adequately. Being late to meetings or classes had similar consequences. Consequences, not punishments. There was no such thing as a punishment at ASR, just like there were no rules, only Agreements. Since you agreed to not do this or that, you had already accepted the consequence for breaking the agreement. I don't remember ever signing a contract, but then again, since as a minor you don't really have rights or the ability to sign contracts, none of that matters. The point is, it was a very effective technique for fostering obedience through guilt. You didn't just fuck up, you went back on your word and let down the school. The rule system was so pervasive it was difficult to make it through an entire day without breaking at least one. Privileges were removed at the drop of a hat. If you read too many books, you were avoiding people, and weren't allowed to read for pleasure. If you were rude or rowdy you might go on a restriction and lose the privilege of any and all recreational activity for between 1 and 4 weeks. Restrictions could involve being on "bans" with groups or individuals in the school, such as "bans with all lower school students", or all females, all males, etc. You couldn't talk to people you were on bans with or you faced serious consquences. This often caused difficulty in coordinating schoolwork with therapy. Restrictions ended when counselors felt you'd accepted whatever you'd done was horribly wrong and you felt horrible about it/learned something. Then you'd tell the whole school about it and apologize at the end of the day meeting.
Academics are another concern. The options for classes were limited, the teachers often weren't qualified. My chemistry teacher was an English major who was only a chapter ahead of the class each week. He was filling in until they found someone who knew chemistry. Most of the teachers, even those qualified to teach their subject, did not know how to deal with kids with learning disabilities, or kids who acted out constantly. This had a negative effect on the amount of actual teaching that got done. Student's writings, paintings, etc. were often censored for being to dark, too imagey, too negative, too sexual, etc. Reading material was restricted, the library was full of outdated books and random novels, all of it unorganized. On numerous occasions books I'd found in the library were confiscated, apparently even some of them weren't appropriate.
Inmates faced a barrage of emotional abuse from counselors and students alike. Students tried to curry favor by enforcing rules and ratting on others. Once an accusation of rulebreaking, innapropriate behavior, telling "warstories" i.e. talking less than disdainfully about anything ASR didn't like, such as drugs, sex, stunts we'd pulled that got us sent there. Challenging the rules for any reason was being manipulative, denying an accusation was being in denial. Getting upset at false accusations was an attempt to intimidate the accuser. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
At least a third of the inmates were on either wellbutrin or adderall. You got to see one of the 2 psychiatrists the school employed, no one from outside. You weren't allowed to refuse medication either.
Some of the other issues in the program were a lack of policies on various issues such as religions, sexual orientation, and a number of other things. For example, Rudy Bentz the headmaster would frequently speak of a higher power in thinly veiled judeo-christian propaganda terms, and there was a clear preference for mainstream religions. Shortly after 9-11 in a schoolwide discussion, he failed to reprimand or even comment on an inmate yelling in front of the school an insensitive comment about "fucking towelheads". Wiccan or Buddhist students were often slighted, or accused of using the religion as part of their image rather than professing a sincere belief. Big fucking christmas tree up in the common room, slight chanukah concession for the few jewish kids, nothing for anyone else.
On other occasions, I was told by certain counselors that I did not know what my sexual orientation was and I was going through a delusional phase where I mistakenly believed I was bisexual. Yet other counselors told me it was normal and natural and to trust myself. The lack of clear policies on these and other issues created untold confusion and despair.
All in all, I think the program has absolutely minimal potential to help anyone, and most of the help it offers comes solely from the extended period of time away from a harmful home environment, and the substantial reflection it necessitates. The entire premise revolves around group mentality, breaking down and moulding psyches, a complex reward and punishment system combined with censorship and constant, constant, constant reinforcement of obedience that comes from never knowing whether or not you're "in agreement" (currently not violating or witholding a confession about past violations of the rules), and always worrying about being punished.
Through the use of repetitive propaganda, peer pressure, and psycholinguistics, the process of conveniently rephrasing everything to give it a slant that is in line with the belief you're trying to force upon a captive population. Rules are agreements, punishments are consequences, shoveling snow for 6 hours is "getting back in agreement", expressing your feelings in an unapproved manner is either acting out or manipulative behavior.
The Academy at Swift River has done untold damage to hundreds of children whose only crime was being born to parents who held them to unreasonable standards, often abused them mentally, physically and sexually, often were alcoholics or drug addicts or suffered from mental disorders, and thought that money could fix their kid. There is a certain amount of accountability on the parents part, but it's pretty much lip service when you get right down to it. Kids are beaten, berated, treated as less than human, and shipped away to prison without a trial when they understandably start to act out in these circumstances. They go through a 14 month sentence of emotional torture under questionable auspices, subjected to the horrors I've described above. To claim that the parents who sent them there are being called to task because they have to go through a 3 hour group therapy session once every 3 months and hear about how they fucked up their kid doesn't even begin to address the issues at hand.
The whole thing is a twisted mixture of cult and psych ward, it should be burnt to the ground and its founders should be jailed.



http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=12

DAY 1, Thursday evening. Agree or Else

The participants sign an agreement which includes non-disclosure of the processes used. It is my understanding that mental/therapeutic processess are not proprietary, and cannot be covered by patent, copyright or trade secret laws and thus violating nondisclosure cannot hold up in court. I will refrain from mentioning the name of the specific training I experienced and any process used in the training that cannot be documented elsewhere.

Dr. Margaret Singer writes about LGATs in her book, "Cults in Our Midst".
"The program trainers and leaders typically get agreement from participants that they will not tell anyone about the processes that occur. To do so "will spoil it for your friends, family, co-workers etc, when they take the course. Tell them what you got out of it trainers advise. This means be vague about the actual content and provide glowing endorsements telling others that the training turned your life around but do not tell them how emotional, dramatic, confrontational, and unnerving the sessions can be for some people. Because of this promise, consumers who buy and attend these seminars do so without information about how psychologically, socially, and sometimes physically stressing the event can be."

"Day one is usually devoted to demonstrating the leader's absolute authority. The leader, or trainer immediately takes control of the setting with a demeanor that suggests he is a powerful, in-charge person and no one is to challenge what he says. He remains totally in charge, acts knowledgeable, and is practiced in verbal skills so that he never loses an encounter. Anyone who challenges the trainer will be humiliated and verbally mashed."

The first day started Thursday evening around 7. After some introductory stuff welcoming people, etc. the trainer brings up *THE AGREEMENT*. The attitude and tone of voice of the trainer predictably becomes stern and unyielding in a way to purposely provoke a response from the attendees.

The first point brought up is about not revealing the processes or personal information that is shared. Since people will be sharing some very deep personal secrets then this is common sense but people do not know this in advance. The processes are not unique to the course and not proprietary but people do not know this.

The second point was about attending all the course including the followup session and also being on time. Several people objected to this stating they had other commitments family or otherwise. There were some people from out of town who could not make the next Tuesday evening followup.

Everyone of them was was met with unyielding harshness from the trainer. One of the arguments the trainer makes was if they would only "get it" they could make the space for the course in their schedule and "getting it" would also keep others from interrupting their attendance. "Getting it", of course means that we create our own reality or experience by our thinking and interpretation. However, this is not explained at this point and is designed only to provoke more responses from attendees. Several people storm out of the room. However there are ample staff people to handle those who leave. Outside, people are pressured by the staff to return to the course. Most end up coming back in the room while a few never return.

Other rules include not talking unless called upon, not sitting next to anyone you knew prior to the training, no eating, drinking, gum chewing, etc. Some people saw fit to argue with that. At this point the show begins to get quite boring as it had been over 3 hours that we were in the ballroom. At least we were allowed potty breaks as needed so I took one. When I got back the trainer was finishing up the agreements and we were asked to stand if we agreed. So we did. Then we were allowed a 20 minute break. We were reminded to be in our seats (precisely arranged and marked with tape on the floor) on time for the next part.

When we come back there is lecture which include some of the basic philosophy/pop psychology of LGATs. One can certainly read about the philosophy in John Hanley's book, Lifespring available from Lifespring (http://www.lifespringinc.com)

Later we were asked to pair off into a diad (one on one exercises). What we did was an awareness exercise of staring into the other persons eyes in silence for several minutes. Then we were asked to introduce ourselves and have a conversation. At the end of the exercise we were guided to close our eyes and remind ourselves of how we behaved in the exercise, did we open up and share or did we talk superficially.

Then we did "The Trust Exercise". This consists of milling around the room, looking people in the eyes for a minute and stating one of only three things.

1) I trust you.
2) I don't trust you.
3) I don't know if I trust you.

This goes on for ten or fifteen minutes. At the end we were again instructed to close our eyes and review what we did from the vantage point of being above the crowd. Let me point out that there is a lot of closed eye guided exercises in these courses. By closing your eyes and going within one usually enters an alpha or hypnotic state and is much more suggestible then normal.

These courses also use popular music to set the mood. After the trust process we were instructed to sit on the floor and we listened to Jackson Browne's "The Pretender".

THE PRETENDER

I'm going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
I'm going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I'll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I'll get up and do it again
Amen
Say it again
Amen

I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening
I've been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it's the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
You'll get up and do it again
Amen

Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there

Ah the laughter of the lovers
As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others
But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight

I'm going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put our dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again

I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie In those things that money can buy
Thought true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender

(c) 1976 SWALLOW TURN MUSIC

(You can get the lyrics to damn near anything off the web :-)

During the song the trainer periodically lowers the volume and instructs people to focus on their inauthentic, pretending behaviors. The tone of the trainer's voice is negative and rebuking like we are worthless pitiful pretending creatures. "Are you there? Or are you just pretending."

In my conscious mind I am somewhat amused by all of this. In my subconscious I can feel awareness of all my senses increasing. One cannot resist the psychological opening that occurs in these courses.

After the exercises the group has to rearrange the chairs to the tape on the floor. The group is timed and encouraged to beat the previous time. This is just another way to get the group to respond to the trainer on demand. By this point nobody resists the trainer.

After this it is 1 AM and time to go home being reminded to be there the next night at 7. If people go to work the next day which I did, it makes for a night of very little sleep.


Continuation here...

http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=12
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #163 on: September 17, 2009, 10:20:11 AM »
I wil pay someone to escort the who to a mental ward.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Whooter

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Re: Why spend a year in a program when it can be done in a week
« Reply #164 on: September 17, 2009, 11:19:24 AM »
Quote from: "bobpeterson1973"
I wil pay someone to escort the who to a mental ward.

Interesting how that works here.  If we are talking about someone being escorted to a program it is referred to as Kidnapping.  But when you are the one paying for the service you call it escorting........Same service company.... just a matter of perspective.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »