I was in AARC with a couple of people with genuine psychiatric disorders, and they are crazy as ever today. I'm sorry, but humiliation and thought reform techniques just aren't a cure for schizophrenia. It makes me really sad when I think of how many clients in AARC had underlying issues that were ignored while AARC staff berated them for being "loser druggies." For a while after AARC they played along - probably even convinced themselves that AARC had cured them and saved their lives. But when they fell, they fell hard - and who wouldn't after having it drilled it into your brain that you'll die and will never feel happiness again unless you devote your life to a cult and do everything they've taught you. Putting a kid in AARC for a year when they have a serious mental health disorder is like putting an AIDS patient through chemo. It's brutal, and in the end, they'll still have a serious untreated condition. I'm pretty sure that my local daycare does not put kids in the "naughty dark room" for days, or tackle four-year-olds for "not getting honest." Give me a break. And let's be reasonable with this success rate - let's say 30% of clients feel AARC was a positive experience after five years. What do you think the chances are that a kid might grow up and stop partying ON THEIR OWN after five years? Studies have shown that at least 80% of problem drinkers grow out of it as they grow up and mature. But what AARC does, self-admittedly, is raise the bottom. They force kids to grow up a lot faster than they would, or should. Essentially, AARC "helps" some kids become stronger and more mature in the same way Ike helped Tina become a strong woman. And for the same reason I'm sure Tina doesn't send thank you cards to Ike at Christmas, I will never thank AARC for the positive things I've done with my life since I was in that prison. I can only imagine where I'd be today if I'd never realized what a scam AARC is. Judging by what I've seen from AARColytes, I'd most likely be working as a peer counselor, making fun of rape victims, and battling illiteracy.