Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Daytop Village
DAYTOP Did Me Great Harm in the Long Run
SEKTO:
--- Quote from: "Dinnerw/DavidDeitch" ---http://www.atlantavampirealliance.com/educational/ethicalguidelines.html
B.I.T.E. :-*
--- End quote ---
Ironic, isn't it, that these Atlanta vampire people have more stringent ethical guidelines in place within their organization, than do the DAYTOPian psychic vampires in theirs?
Inculcated:
--- Quote from: "SEKTO" ---:-*
It is my contention that DAYTOP is a cult, and must be understood as such. Further, I contend that the DAYTOP "treatment program", whether at the inpatient or outpatient level, is essentially a thought-reform regimen.
The tactics of a thought-reform program like DAYTOP are organized to destabilize a person's sense of self, get the person to drastically reinterpret his or her life's history and radically alter his or her worldview and accept a new version of reality and causality, and then develop in the person a dependence on the organization, thereby turning the person into a deployable agent of the organization.
Think of the DAYTOP conditioning process in the light of Hassan's BITE model of explaining thought reform environments. Do you think it fits like a hand in a glove? I do.
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcece ... s/BITE.htm
The thought-reform process begins with isolation of the individual (whether in a physical or psychological sense), then proceeds to a gradual manipulation of the physyical environment in which that person is isolated. Then gradual control is exerted over the individual's behavior, the flow of information into and out of the envirnment restricts the individual's thinking, those very thoughts are retrained and controlled, and emotional range and repsonses are controlled as well.
Basically, what is commonly called "brainwashing" is a process that is mainly physically coercive in nature, and the conditioning usually reverses itself on itys own once one exits the physically coercive situation or environment. "Thought reform," "mind control," or "coercive persuation" is more subtle a process, it is psychologically coercive in nature, and the psychological conditioning is more lasting after the individual leaves the thought-reform environment.
I used to think that DAYTOP "wasn't all that bad" and that in my mind I was somehow exaggerating its coercive nature, as well as the conditioning's effects on my mentality. I used to think of DAYTOP, "Well, at least it's not Straight." But now I see that DAYTOPian coercion is n my opinion in many ways even more damaging to the individual than the blunt force applied in Straight, which is the most egregious and prominent example of an overtly abusive TC for youths in our times. The DAYTOP mind control is more subtly applied and more rigidly reinforced. Very sophisticated B-Mod stuff going down in DAYTOP. Very effective and very subtle mind-manipulation and encouragement of "right thinking" in DAYTOP. It's a thought-reform environment. You know?
If you're being forced to the ground and bound up in restraints, or if you are being subjected to food and sleep deprivation, then you KNOW that that's wrong; nobody has to tell you that it's abusive. But if you're getting screamed at during encounter group or a haircut as a part of a body of people that you are supposed to think of as "the family," and there's this groupthink going on, then there's this element of "it's for your own good" to it, and it's not so readily seen as abusive and coercive in or out of the immediate context in which it's taking place. Therefore, the conditioning is more lasting, more pervasive in a person's psyche, more personalized.
Here's a genius video on cults and thought reform/mind control. Check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E
What follows is a pertinent extract (pp. 20-21) from a book entitled Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults, by Janja Lalich. I recommend Bounded Choice for anyone seriously interested in understanding the psychological dynamics of the cult phenomenon.
http://books.google.com/books?id=p2Udi3 ... +choice%22
Individuals in a cult context are constrained not only by a bounded reality-one product of the self-sealing system-but also by bounded choice. This occurs when the individual reaches what Lifton described as a state of personal closure. ("Closure" in this sense does not mean completion, as it is sometimes used, but a turning inward and refusal to look at other ideas, belifs, or options.) I suggest that a state of person closure should be considered the individualized version of the larger self-sealing system. Thus, as a person identifies and unites with the bounded reality of the group and its belief system, becoming a devotee by making that charismatic commitment to the self-sealing worldview, another process begins to take place. That is, individual perspective and personal decision making become limited and constrained, and that restritction comes as much from within as from without. In the context of closure and constraint, choices may exist, but they are severely limited. In such situations, the person can be described as being in a state of bounded choice
http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_bookre ... choice.htm
The interaction between the individual and the charismatic system is the key to understanding bounded choice theory. The believer responds to the intellectual and emotional pull of the group with commitment that is renewed through ongoing interaction, and in the process develops a new self. The leader’s vision of the path to salvation has transformational power.
--- End quote ---
Well said. I believe that it’s harder for the victim to defend against those insidious abuses/abusers that aren’t recognized immediately as harmful. As such, it’s easier for the mind f*ckers to inflict lasting injury.
It's interesting how we let those who push the farthest boundaries of the extremes cause us to define what is intrinsically harmful in reductive terms like " lesser evils" or as "moderate".
SEKTO:
Thank you, Inculcated.
And now I shall post an augmentation to my previous post which will further expand on the topic of Hassan's B.I.T.E. model of explaining the thought-reform process.
Again: it is my contention that DAYTOP is a cult which subjects its victims to a destructive, closed-group mentality, though immersion in a highly regimented and controlled environment; the DAYTOP program is best explained and understood in the light of one of these thought-reform models. IMO B.I.T.E. fits them like a hand in a glove.
What follows is cut and pasted from a Wikipedia entry on the topic of mind control. Also outlined are models posited by Lifton and Singer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_contr ... BITE_model
In his book Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves, mental health counselor and exit counselor Steven Hassan describes his mind-control model, "BITE". "BITE" stands for "Behavior, Information, Thoughts, and Emotions." The model has a basis in the works of Singer and Lifton, and in the cognitive dissonance theory of Leon Festinger.
In the book, Hassan describes the components of the BITE model:
Behavior Control
Regulation of individual’s physical reality
Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals
Need to ask permission for major decisions
Need to report thoughts, feelings, and activities to superiors
Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques positive and negative)
Individualism discouraged; "group think" prevails
Rigid rules and regulations
Need for obedience and dependency
Information Control
Use of deception
Access to non cult sources of information minimized or discouraged
Compartmentalization of information; Outsider vs. Insider doctrines
Spying on other members is encouraged
Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda
Unethical use of confession
Thought Control
Need to internalize the group’s doctrine as "Truth"
Use of "loaded" language (for example, “thought terminating clichés"). Words are the tools we use to think with. These "special" words constrict rather than expand understanding, and can even stop thoughts altogether. They function to reduce complexities of experience into trite, platitudinous "buzz words."
Only "good" and "proper" thoughts are encouraged.
Use of hypnotic techniques to induce altered mental states
Manipulation of memories and implantation of false memories
Use of thought stopping techniques, which shut down "reality testing" by stopping "negative" thoughts and allowing only "good" thoughts
Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism. No critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate.
No alternative belief systems viewed as legitimate, good, or useful.
Emotional Control
Manipulate and narrow the range of a person’s feelings
Make the person feel that if there are ever any problems, it is always their fault, never the leader’s or the group’s
Excessive use of guilt
Excessive use of fear
Extremes of emotional highs and lows
Ritual and often public confession of "sins"
Phobia indoctrination: inculcating irrational fears about ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group.
Hassan writes that cults recruit and retain members through a three-step process which he refers to as "unfreezing," "changing," and "refreezing". This involves the use of an extensive array of various techniques, including systematic deception, behavior modification, withholding of information, and emotionally intense persuasion techniques (such as the induction of phobias), which he collectively terms mind control. He describes these steps as follows:
Unfreezing: the process of breaking a person down
Changing: the indoctrination process
Refreezing: the process of reinforcing the new identity
In Releasing the Bonds he also writes "I suspect that most cult groups use informal hypnotic techniques to induce trance states. They tend to use what are called "naturalistic" hypnotic techniques. Practicing meditation to shut down thinking, chanting a phrase repetitively for hours, or reciting affirmations are all powerful ways to promote spiritual growth. But they can also be used unethically, as methods for mind control indoctrination."
SEKTO:
On the Dresser building, DAYTOP Dallas mid-'90s (emphases added by myself):
Yep, that's it, that's the Dresser building I remember, all right. I went through second stage there, and we had Guadenzia there in October '93. That's the place where the graduation ceremony for Chris, Bobby, Clay, Don, Armando, me, and a few others was held. I cannot recall any females graduating from DAYTOP Dallas/Athens, though I am sure that some did. If I recall correctly, there were a few kids who graduated from Athens there graduating too.
I remember that the Dresser building had that huge recessed sunken fireplace, and the garish '70s design, all of the mauve taupe, burnt orange, and lime green carpeting and wallpaper. It was obvious that nobody had renovated the place in years. When DAYTOP moved in, it was a dump, dusty and trashed out, and looked like it had been frozen in time, circa 1978. It had been unoccupied for many years. When it was given to DAYTOP (technically sold for a dollar, so I heard) they had kids from Richardson (myself included) go over there from time to time in the van in order to help clean it out.
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:PB ... clnk&gl=us
Hostess College
Also in 1968, Braniff opened the most expensive and modern "Hostess" college on Wycliff in Dallas. The six-story building (pictured on the right) housed three floors (each with a different "solid" colour scheme) of dormitories. Work-out facilities, training rooms, and a beauty salon could be found on the first two levels. The ground level, was for entertaining "guests" and had a entertainment center, a recessed fireplace, meeting area and classrooms. All of the colors and 56 different "herman miller" fabrics were chosen by Girard. Art was flown in from Panama and South America, and Girard also designed and provided the furniture.
Braniff trained its flight hostesses at a Love Field Hotel and The Braniff Base prior to 1968.
It was occupied by Braniff from 1968 to 1982. It was "sold" (perhaps donated) to Dresser Industries (now part of Haliburton) in 1982. Dresser vacated the building, and it was donated to "Daytop" drug treatment centers. Daytop sold the building in 1997. In 1999, it opened as a highly upscale retirement home, and was totally remodeled. Only a few items including an original Girard art piece in the stairwell, a "fabric wall" with five herman miller colours and "fireplace pit" are the only original Braniff designs left.
SEKTO:
DAYTOP vs. the Rasta (Has been moved to the "DAYTOP Doesn't Deserve to Exist" thread.)
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