Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Benchmark Young Adult School / Benchmark Transitions
psy
stina:
--- Quote from: ""Guest"" ---
Shit, I actually have some sympathy for these people. I just lost my best beloved dog. She got clipped on the road, probably running deer late one night. On the one hand, I was the one to let her out and I didn't miss her and go looking for her when I shut down the house. If I had just noticed and called her she would have come. She was that good a dog. It was my fault and I'll never forget it and I don't take offence at all when neighbours tell the story as a cautionary tale to other dog owners.
But she rarely wandered off in her 5 years, never in the most recent ones. So why should I think to check and see if she had that night? These are mollifying truths, but still I know I didn't miss her, wasn't paying attention and that's why she's gone from me.
--- End quote ---
I'm so so sorry to hear about your baby, I was there in 2001. Different scenario but I still hold myself responsible. I could tell she wasn't feeling well and just figured it would pass, covered her up with a blanket, gave her a kiss and went to the bar. The next day she was in quarantine at Helen Woodward's animal hospital and her kidneys and liver failed and she was gone within a week. They never could tell me what killed her, but it was some kind of toxin, and I hate that she was in that much pain and I hate that maybe I could have spared it.
Anyway, I don't want to go on and on, but I understand. And not having any children yet, my animals ARE my babies. My heart goes out to you.
dishdutyfugitive:
Radio Fornits.
TheWho:
--- Quote from: ""stina"" ---........ Yeah he probably was suffering prior to Benchmark, but the POINT IS that Benchmark did not help him. Obviously. I don't know what happened on that day, but that's NOT the point. These places are supposed to help children, they're not supposed to be just a holding pen, or worse a place for impotent adults to find some kind of power. And your weak Mcdonalds comparison, well, working somewhere voluntarily and being placed somewhere against your will with your civil rights ripped away from you and no one to count on are completely different animals.
--- End quote ---
The McDonalds wasn’t a good analogy, I agree. The point I was trying to make was the guy showed up at Benchmark and he was suicidal and eventually committed suicide. I can see that it is determined that Benchmark did not help him enough to prevent this, but they cant be held responsible for his death. We don’t know what triggered it… a letter from his girl friend or phone call from a family member, staff member not being compassionate etc. It could be anything, so this isn’t a death we can attribute to the program, friend, staff member, boss at his job.
...
psy:
--- Quote from: ""TheWho"" ---
--- Quote from: ""stina"" ---........ Yeah he probably was suffering prior to Benchmark, but the POINT IS that Benchmark did not help him. Obviously. I don't know what happened on that day, but that's NOT the point. These places are supposed to help children, they're not supposed to be just a holding pen, or worse a place for impotent adults to find some kind of power. And your weak Mcdonalds comparison, well, working somewhere voluntarily and being placed somewhere against your will with your civil rights ripped away from you and no one to count on are completely different animals.
--- End quote ---
The McDonalds wasn’t a good analogy, I agree. The point I was trying to make was the guy showed up at Benchmark and he was suicidal and eventually committed suicide. I can see that it is determined that Benchmark did not help him enough to prevent this, but they cant be held responsible for his death.
--- Quote ---
There is such a thing as criminal negligence. Whether that particular legal term applies to this case is irrelavant in my mind. It's the concept i'm interested in. In my opinion, the parents would have a cakewalk if they decided to sue for wrongful death. Benchmark, both in my personal experience and with people i've interviewed, misrepresents itself to get poeple in.
They'll say anything for enrollment, essentially, even throwing caution to the wind when they know they can't handle them. Or maybe they don't know and truly believe that their Synanon, LifeSpring, and est derived "therapy (whoops we can't call it that)" truly works. The only difference is the le When I interviewed Jayne and asked her about psychologists she stated that they tended to be "in their heads" (as opposed to from the "heart"/"gut"). I was called in my head a lot since I am intelligent and was taught to use my head as well as my heart. What "in your head" (very negative connotation) means is to let go of rational thought and let emotion overwhelm you (a process that is aided by the LGAT exercises and the overall milieu
--- End quote ---
--- End quote ---
"In your head" is a phrase you can quote directly out of "cults in our midst" (page 177 of the first edition, near the bottom). It's quite common in programs. I've heard it used in straight, AARC, and Benchmark among other places. The common denominator would seem to be synanon but with all the staff cross-pollination of program DNA it's hard to know where the phrase originated (could be scientology, which est "borrowed" heavily from). No. I'm not crazy. Google "you're in your head"
(copy this into address bar: "http://www.google.com/search?q=%22you're+in+your+head%22" )
and look what you find. When it's used in this context (as a synonym for "too much thinking"), it's a good bet you'll find a cult.
Examples from just the first page of google:
New age:
http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/echbod/part13.shtml
More new age, including "The Secret":
http://www.actingintuitive.com/articles/AM.8.07.htm
Article quoted from Jeff colbs by a person believing in the "Law of Attraction" from "The Secret":
http://swimpupstream.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ction.html
above is an article written by Jeff Combs which, when googled leads to this LGAT trash:
http://goldenmastermind.com/gms_home.asp?bhcp=1
Another self help article here:
http://www.womanlinks.com/index.php?opt ... 6&Itemid=0
leading to a pay service for counseling
And it goes on and on and on. Cults load language. It's like Newsspeak.
What do all these things have in common. They all offer great reward, sucess in life, careers, etc... if you just turn off your thinking. Desperate people do desperate things, and you'd be hard pressed to find a more desperate population to prey on than terrified parents with troubled kids.
The point of all this is that Jayne longnecker, becuase of her cult derived believes sincerely believes that her approach is better than psychology and the only way to save the kids (or, she knows it's a total failure but makes a lot of money). It's not a question of whether she is a fool or a knave, but rather whether she is fooled or a knave.
--- Quote ---We don’t know what triggered it…
--- End quote ---
According to multiple students who were there at the time the primary cause was Joelle Walter's harsh treatment of George just prior to his suicide. Yes. You're right. There's no way to definitively prove exactly what made the kid decide to kill himself, but people who knew him...
Ursus:
"In your head" was used during my time at Hyde as well, and that pre-dates Straight, but not Synanon. My guess is that it may have originally come out of AA.
Hyde "practices" psychology with no psychologists on staff. In fact, Gauld hated psychologists. I think he took particular pleasure in skewering the small handful of parents who were psychologists or psychiatrists during family meetings. Those families' time at Hyde often did not end well, unless they were of the ilk who thought LGATs were comprised of emotional growth material.
I like the term "criminal negligence" and I find it utterly appropriate. In fact, I think it puts Benchmark's treatment of George in an even worse light than one in which they merely "didn't help enough" or "didn't know." They knew, and they as much as pushed him over the edge.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version