Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > CEDU / Brown Schools and derivatives / clones
Steve Rookey's New Program
Che Gookin:
Bingo.. that's the one.. Great book of his Running With Scissors and its about being raised in a psych cult.
Ursus:
--- Quote from: "RMA Survivor" ---RMA/CEDU prided themselves on not having professionals. Not having people with college degrees. Their stated reasons for that pride may have been that they weren't going to use the "normal" procedures and methods of professionals, but personally I think they wanted to avoid the issue of ethics.
--- End quote ---
It may have also had something to do with the time period. I think the earlier programs definitely had that anti-psych mindset (despite the fact that they used every single psychological tool for manipulation that they could get their hands on from the Human Potential movement). I've heard it described at Hyde as "all you really need is ... to care." In fact, I think there was a real antipathy towards professionals, like they were "too much in their head," and not "real" enough.
Maybe that mindset goes back to program roots which were in the addiction treatment field, where former addicts could be considered to be somewhat on par with those who had done the legwork in academia, since they had the "field experience." That field experience was actually considered superior, at Hyde, to any bona fide in-depth course of study. Joe Gauld always used to say, "You can't con a con (and you can't kid a kid)." About half the time (according to my memory), he would only say the first part of that quote, lol.
But aside from being able to come up with their own barometer of ethics, I think it also had a lot to do with founder ego, namely folk who possess an inflated sense of self-importance and destiny. Hey, maybe they were right. After all, here we are, decades later, still wringing our gray matter over it all... I think megalomaniac narcissists like Wasserman really wanted to play God, really had a sick psychological need to play God and, on some level, probably couldn't help themselves from trying to play God. And to be able to control people like they did, they had to be in charge of "the rules," whatever they may have been. An outside body of expertise would have been able to second-guess or undercut that way too much.
--- Quote from: "RMA Survivor" ---Most professionals have to undergo ethics training, sign statements that they will work ethically and are regulated by others who try and maintain standards of ethics. Some measure of accountability. Whack jobs might get through the cracks, but I think RMA/CEDU were trying to avoid any professionals and subsequently any ethics or oversight. And I think they succeeded.
--- End quote ---
To renew their license, professionals would need to undergo some kind of regular review by their peers, no? They would be held accountable to some other body of judgment, not Mel's. My impression is that would not have sat too well with Mel.
wild thing:
Mel Wasserman, dyslexic, only had a 7th grade education, undoubtedly why he shunned anything with an academic bent. He did have his sidekick, Jim Powell, ex-Synanonnie, who had a PhD from a non-acredited program. He was "grandfathered" in when California passed stricter rules for therapists.
RMA Survivor:
Didn't Synanon have their own university or something where they pumped out fake degrees until that was taken away from them at some point? I know our diplomas were built on the same life credits nonsense.
I didn't know Mel had only a 7th grade education and was dyslexic. Dyslexic people usually have trouble perceiving the world as it is. Backwards in fact. My step monster was the head of the International Orton Dyslexia Society for a number of years. She had a PhD from Stanford University, but she cheated to get it.
It doesn't surprise me that those who founded CEDU were anti-education, against any formal and established structure and against any accountability. Did Mel's own kids have troubles too? Was he unable to raise them properly, thus creating his own system where kids are dominated and subjugated to relentless, unending punishments as his way of getting back at the world for his own inability to properly raise his own?
wild thing:
Now that is interesting, I didn't know that Synanon had its own fake school of higher learning, but it makes sense. Dr. Soltani, who provided psych services to CEDU also had his degree from whatever school it was...that was how Soltani got hooked into CEDU. A few years ago I met a school psych, who knew Soltani and did not think too highly of him. I mentioned that he had a cracker-jacks box degree and the psych was quite insulted, he, too had the same surprise inside degree! Talk about inserting foot in mouth!
From what I remember, Mark, Mel's son was the whipping boy for Mel. I don't know too much about Mel's daughters. They were fairly young when Mel started his program. I imagine he spent more time with kids other than his own. He was pretty much out of the picture when I was at CEDU, descending into dementia in Idaho, I think.
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