Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > News Items

Going Undercover at Impact House

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Ursus:
Hahaha!! I had to laugh about the orange story. If Mark Groubert had bothered to spend more than three days there, I have no doubt that the inmates would have been a little more forthright as to what "fruiting" really entailed.

But here's the thing: drug addiction is hell, and he just didn't get it. As interesting as the story is to read, the bottom line is Groubert is a bit of a poser. He isn't coming from the same place as the rest of the inmates are, and some of them rightfully sniffed him out on it, even if they couldn't intellectually put it into words. Maybe he thought enduring the anal search during entry to the program was price enough to pay, but it wasn't. Unfortunately, Groubert didn't put in the time and the effort and yes, the respect for what others are going through, to get the whole story.

psy:
Most of the comments on the article seems to be from former "patients" and staff.  The one exception:


--- Quote ---#
The three pieces on "recovery" by Mr.Groubert are frighteningly real examples of the aa/recovery industry's hold on the public and the press. Mr. Groubert uses Passages Malibu as the "straw man" in a contrived dialectic designed, ultimately, only to prove the veracity of the aa/na/twelve step programs. There are other options, besides the recovery cult, and Passages, that help individuals overcome bouts of mental illness that involve self medicating with drugs, alcohol, etc. Labeling people as addicts is only defining them by their symptoms, and ignoring the deepseeded mental health issues with which they are struggling. Mr. Groubert has swallowed whole the twelve step ficiton; this can be seen by his use of aa catchphrases, such as " some brains need washing", his obsession with Passages statistics and acceptance of anectodal, unscientific endorsements of Impact, and by extension, the twelve step movement. When Mr. Groubert casually mentions Synanon -a dangerous cult whose founders and leaders were jailed for conspiracy and attempted murdrer- as an influence on Impact, his journalistic skills certainly are to be questioned. Mr. Groubert should know that aa/na et.al have been classified as, at best a religion (federal courts), and at worst, a dangerous cult (Dr. Jeffrey Schaler, Ph.D., and others.) Any simple search of the internet could have revealed this, and much more damning information, to Mr. Groubert. Most importantly, he could have learned that the twelve step movement "cures" no one, harms many people, and measures "success" only in the number of self righteous fanatics it converts.

please do not publish my name; when confronted, the twelve steppers often become irrational and confrontational, thereby proving that they are indeed, members of a cult, and unable to rationally discuss their so called "recovery",
Comment by john tonkovich on Jun 29th, 2008, 11:45 am
--- End quote ---

Of course, the author of the article (allegedly a 12 step member) refuses to answer the man's questions, while another program supporter calls him crazy, alludes to a drug/alcohol problem, and ends up threatening to identify and out him proving once and for all that some 12 steppers are very selective in their devotion to anonymity.  Of course, this behavior only supports what he predicted in the last paragraph of his comment.

Ursus:

--- Quote ---Based mostly on Narcotics Anonymous with a little Synanon thrown in, the private nonprofit has been treating the hard cases since 1969, when one of the original founders stole the name from the back of a Panorama City bus bench that read: Impact Advertising Company.
--- End quote ---

This did pique my interest a little... wish the author had expanded on the history a little more. Obviously, Impact is one of the old, therapeutic community styled programs. The fact that it is also in California (as Synanon was), makes me wonder re. potential connections. Clearly Groubert is too young to know a lot about Synanon, and I wonder whether Stillwell is the one who filled him in on that observation (mostly NA with a little Syn sprinkled on top). What is Impact's executive director Jim Stillwell's history?

linchpin:
oddly I found this by googling (forget guys name) "is a scam artist" after seeing a commercial for some books he was peddling on recovery on tv this morning..I thought to myself this guys fucked..and then stumbled upon the above article and Ive never heard of "Impact house" . Some of it reminded me of straight but for court ordered adults..which is a sick twist.
 San quentin or complete this place ...hmmm.

linchpin:
Chris Prentiss is the guys name. With the book hes hawking in television..touted as the be all end all guaranteed secret cure to addiction,I immediately thought hes a scam artist and sure enough I got alot of google hits with~ Chris Prentiss is a scam artist~
Turns out hes got a 67,000 a month bed rehab in malibu...shit.
 You oughtta read about the place ~chainsmoking  in front of a plasma screen TV while detox meds kick in ..while Model looking men/women bring you smoothies and shit.
 Sure doesnt sound like any of the rehabs I landed my sorry ass in...but I digress
 By the way PSI ~Grats on your court victory! Was worried for ya

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