Author Topic: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”  (Read 33125 times)

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Offline Inculcated

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Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« on: August 18, 2009, 01:02:35 AM »
Dan Casriel in the earliest days of Daytop expounds upon the beneficial use of fear in therapy, the “parahuman” addict and gives a nod to Synanon:

Therapy of Narcotic Addicts Sparks Psychiatric Theory
[From the Medical Tribune — World Wide Report]

New York. — A psychoanalyst said here that he has evolved a psychodynamic
Theory to explain character disorders by observing and working in the successful rehabilitation of narcotic addicts. The theory is based on the concept that persons whose primary method of defense is withdrawal, not "flight or fight," "fit into the psychiatric classification of character disorder."

Dr. Daniel H. Casriel explained both his theory and the rehabilitation process, which he called "the Daytop phenomenon," at a meeting of the American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians, of which he is president-elect. The term refers to Daytop Village and Daytop Lodge, addict-reform communities in Staten Island, N.Y., patterned after the Synanon centers, with some modifications of technique.

"Daytop is the breakthrough in the treatment of the drug addict," said Dr. Casriel, who is medical-psychiatric superintendent of Daytop Village. "For the first time, an addict upon entering Daytop sees 100 people who were also addicted but who are living happily and functioning without drugs or the pre-occupation with the thought of drugs."

Daytop Village has been in existence for 6 months. It is an outgrowth of Daytop Lodge, established under a 5-year National Institutes of Mental Health project to compare the results of several alternative probation arrangements for felons of the Second Judicial District, New York Supreme Court, and initially limited to 25 probationers. ,

"People live in Daytop in a pleasant, paternalistic, tribe like, family environment," Dr. Casriel said, paraphrasing his book on Synanon, "So Fair a House."
The members think of Daytop neither as a hospital, a prison, nor a halfway house, but as a family-type club or home — a fraternity of people living together and helping each other to get well * * *. The members are neither patients nor inmates; they are free to leave any time they wish."

ONCE BELIEVED THERE WAS NO HOPE

He said that he himself had once believed there was virtually no hope for drug addicts: "Ten years of contact through community psychiatry with the problem of drug addiction had left me deeply pessimistic * * *. My observations had almost brought me to the conclusion that, once addiction was established in certain predisposed but undefined personalities. A basic metabolic change or deficiency was produced in the addict, manifesting itself in" a craving.

"That was my position until I discovered Synanon 3 years ago," he said, calling Daytop "the amalgamation of the best that was Synanon and the best of the professional understanding and knowhow."

Citing the relative lack of success of psychiatry in the treatment of character disorders, he said that "the question I kept asking myself was, 'Why were nonprofessionals able to stumble upon a rehabilitation and cure of the drug addict, whereas professionals, as a general rule, were completely unsuccessful?' At last I feel I've discovered why.

"After working intensively learning the process of treatment of the drug addict specifically and the character disorder in general, I was finally able to trace
it back and evolve a psychodynamic theory which to me explains why the process works."

The theory, he said, was a modification of the psycho cultural views developed by the Columbia School of Adaptational Psychodynamics.

"A major defect in the adaptational psychodynamic theory," asserted Dr. Casriel, "was its lack of awareness that there are three major methods of coping with pain or stress. * * * They accounted for two of these ways by the mechanisms of defense called flight or fight, using the emotions of fear or rage. What they failed to bring into focus is that there is a major, perhaps more primary mechanism in which one avoids danger or pain. * * * it uses neither the emotions of fear nor rage and may be called isolation or encapsulation. * * * Some people withdraw from the pain of awareness, the pain of reality, what they experience as the pain of everyday functioning, by withdrawing unto themselves."

It was big observation, he said, "that those people whose primary mechanism of defense is withdrawal are those who fit into the psychiatric classification of character disorder."

Once this "intrapsychic world without tension" has been evolved, he continued, "the individual will overtly or covertly fight anyone who attempts to remove him from his prison-fortress. * * * Once the adaptational mechanism of isolation is evolved and becomes a primary mechanism, the standard psycho- analytic techniques using introspections and observation are useless. The individual patient, though he hears, cannot be reached."  

To treat such patients, Dr. Casriel said, "One must first remove the shell and prevent the individual from acquiring or running into any other kind of shell."
Then he must be taught how to grow up emotionally, socially, culturally, sexually, vocationally, and educationally.

On this basis, addicts entering Daytop are given two simple prescriptions: no physical violence and no narcotics or other chemicals — "and by inference no other shells under which to hide." Only one reaction to his stress is left open to the Daytop member — fear. He can leave Daytop if unable to cope with his fears. However, said Dr. Casriel, "We anticipate that at least 80 percent of those who enter Daytop will sooner or later remain to get well."

If he stays, the member is given two prescriptions — go through the motions and act as if. The first means to abide by the rules and follow instructions, like it or not. If a member complains that he doesn't know exactly how to do as he is told, he is instructed to act as if * * * you knew what to do * * * you had the experience * * * you are mature * * * it is going to be successful * * * you are going to grow up and get well * * * you are already well and adult.

"When people go through the motions of acting as if," Dr. Casriel said, "they start thinking as if and finally feeling as if." At the beginning of this process, there is a crucial 90-day hump during which painful underlying feelings come to the surface, he said, but the support of others at Daytop helps the new member.

COMMUNICATION IS TREATMENT

Treatment through communication then helps the member to understand that
the undifferentiated somatic painful feelings that he has experienced on a visceral and emotional level * * * are nothing more than fear, anger, guilt, and depression, emotions experienced by all humanity * * * are not exclusive to what he felt was the mystical “parahuman” called the drug addict.

Tools of communications used at Daytop are a form of group therapy called the encounter, seminars, public speaking, psychodynamic interviews, lectures, and community relations. There are also rituals and rites of passage, including the intake and indoctrination processes, entrance into regular membership after a month's probation, a birthday after a year, and primitive rituals to maintain discipline, called the haircut and the general assembly.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2009, 01:14:26 AM »
Is there a link to original source? Date of publication?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2009, 01:28:18 AM »
The article above was entered as [Exhibit No. 14(g)]  in the congressional hearings cited and linked on the Narco Farm thread.
Items submitted included his CV and publications:

Curriculum vitae as of testimony(Excerpts)
- Psychiatric consultant, NIMH; grant to study drug addiction in the
U.S. Army. July. August 1962.

- Psychiatric consultant to the Synanon Foundation, August 1962 to June
1964.

- Consultant and therapist for the restoration of young through training
program : A program conducted in cooperation with the New York City Department of Correction, March 1965 to September 1965.

- Cofounder and medical-psychiatric director of Daytop Village, Inc. (a nonprofit therapeutic community and an extension of Daytop Lodge). By January 1970. 300 people in four physical facilities and four outpatient (SPAN) facilities.

- Consultant BAN/ -BAN/LSD (barbiturates, amphetamines and nar- cotics). 1965 to 1968. An ODP clinic, supervised by the New York State Supreme Court. Department of Probation. 2nd Judicial District.

 Group relations Ongoing Workshops, member of board of advisors and
chief, psychiatric services, 1968.

 Board of consultants. Country Place, Warren, Conn.

 SANE, board of consultants, 1968.

 Board of directors. Spruce Institute, Philadelphia, Pa., 1967 to date.

MEMBERSHIPS
(1) New York County and State Medical Association, 1953.
(2) American Medical Association, 1953.
(3) American Psychiatric Association and District Branch, 1952.
(4) Medical Correctional Officers' Association, 1963.
(5) American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians, 1958 (president, 1966 to
1967).
(6) Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, 1962.
(7) Pan-American Medical Association, 1967, member of the council in the
section on psychiatry, January 15. 1969.
(8) ^Member. Royal Society of Health, 1969.
(9) American Public Health Association.

PUBLICATIONS
Book

"So Fair A House." the story of Synanon, Prentice Hall, 225 pages, December
5. 1963.

Articles

(1) "Suicidal Gestures in Occupational Personnel on Okinawa," U.S. Armed
Forces, Medical Journal, vol. Ill, No. 12, December 1962.
(2) "Intramural Psychiatric Service in a Public High School." New York
State Journal of Medicine, vol. 56, No. 12, June 1956.
(3) "A Mental Hygiene Clinic in a High School," the School Review, Summer
1957.
(4) '-Modification of Adaptational Psychodynamics Theory in the Wake of
Successful Rehabilitation of the Drug Addict at Daytop Village," Physicians
Panorama, October 1966.
(5) "The Marathon and Time .Extended Group Therapy," Current: Psychiatric
Therapies, 1968
(6) 'Advice To The Family Doctor,'* Physicians Panorama, February 1970.
..(XT). 'Therapeutic Significance of Peer Interaction," American Public Health Bulletin, (to be published).
(8) -Federal Probation."

TO BE PUBLISHED:

Books

(1) "The Concept." The story of Daytop. Hill & Wang, Spring 1971
(2) "A Scream Away From Happiness." Psychodynamic theory and process of
my new identity process, an accelerated reeducation of emotion, attitude, and
behavior. Spring 1971.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2009, 03:28:32 AM »
[Exhibit No. 14(c)]

Significant Therapeutic Benefits Based on Peer Treatment in the Casriel Institute and AREBA  -Daniel Casriel, M.D., New York, N.Y.
EXCERPTS:

“Currently, an ever-growing list of self-help groups are being established.
 Self-help therapeutic communities such as Daytop and Synanon, and more recently, scores of lesser known smaller self-help communities and storefront operations such as Encounter and SPAN are sprouting and growing".


 "Why is this happening? What need are these organizations fulfilling that traditional therapies (medical, paramedical, or religious) failed to fulfill? Who are the people helping and being helped that found no help by professional workers?
How are the incurable and un-helpable being helped by each other? Who are they able to help, and why are they able to help each other? What is the new "magic" ingredient? What can trained professionals learn from all this?

Simply stated, we must examine the process involved with words such as peer relationship, responsibility, concern, involvement, absence of magic and confrontation.”
He then goes on into a really pompous drone about how there is no magic. He really gets repetitive with the "there is no magic" bit. The basis of this section is an assumption that the person on the receiving end of treatment has such expectations or beliefs. In my opinion,this assumption speaks volumes of the reductive perceptions that lead to the concept.

- AREBA : A private therapeutic community for the rehabilitation of middle and upper class drug addicts and other behavioral bankrupts. AREBA (accelerated reeducation of emotions, behavior and attitudes).
“In AREBA, it is assumed that the new entering member knows nothing, has learned nothing but self-destructive, maladaptive behavior, thinking, and feeling. The members and staff of AREBA have in their own growth learned to be truly concerned for the entering member. They enjoy the challenge and will involve themselves with the new member. They know that the more they teach, the more they learn.
There is also the assumption that the emotionally and socially bankrupt member has learned nothing constructive for himself. The staff and senior residents.”

“The humanistic-peer attitude on the part of the therapeutic teacher-leader is essential. Peer relationship on the part of the therapist demands a more personal kind of involvement. It leads to a quicker, more resonant, and fuller human growth for the patient. It is diametrically opposite to the formal, detached, impersonal, nonfeeling therapeutic relationship demanded in our training and experience in psychoanalysis.

The effectiveness of humanistic-peer involvement as a therapeutic treatment
process has several significant implications.”

Hmmm, that kinda reminds me of something.
Quote
Harry G. Levine wrote:
Dr. Deitch claims to have played an important role in calling the lock-em up and bust-em down approach to curing drug addiction a "therapeutic community." But in his interview Deitch reveals that he is unhappy with the name therapeutic community. He regrets not using the term "humanizing community" to characterize these punitive, moralistic, authoritarian, infantilizing institutions. I believe that earnestly using the opposite term to name something is properly called "Orwellian." Since the fifteenth century, "humanism" has been about respect for human freedom, creativity and autonomy. Most American TCs push pretty much in the opposite direction. And Deitch hasn't a clue to the ironies and contradictions in his ideology.”
Now we return to this "humanist" expounding on what is required of treating the “untreatables”.  For Casriel this catch all classification subsumes addicts, hysterics and homosexuals.

"The effectiveness of humanistic-peer involvement as a therapeutic treatment
process has several significant implications.

First and foremost is a total change of attitude that professionals have to
develop in order to effectively engage in this type of process.

Second, the obvious empirical observation that a feeling human being, who
has learned for himself as a patient-student the process, and has the capacity, ability, and desire to engage others, can be an extremely effective therapeutic change agent. Previous academic training is of relatively little use, though previous life experiences are of great value as are one's own former neuroses or character-logical problems which have been resolved. In line with this, cured hysterics are most effective with uncured hysterics; cured alcoholics are most effective with uncured alcoholics; cured drug addicts are most effective with uncured drug addicts; and cured homosexuals are most effective with uncured homosexuals.
 However, this does not mean to say or imply that one has to be an ex-hysteric, alcoholic, drug addict, homosexual, to do effective intervention. The peer symptoms identification early in treatment is extremely helpful and in some cases necessary, but within a few weeks all patients, no matter what the variation of symptoms, realize they have the same problems,* that below the symptoms, they are all human beings with the same basic needs and desires and the same basic fears.

Third, psychoanalysis must be returned to the areas where it belongs : as a
highly specialized, very limited fine tool, in the tool chest of psychotherapy.

Fourth, because of the relative ease of treating and training, large numbers
of individuals can be treated and trained at little cost and relatively little time.
This means that large numbers of skilled group leaders can become available to meet a tidal wave of need. Costs are within realistic ranges."

Fifth, it is logical to see the role of the professionally experientially trained psychiatrist, psychologist and S.W. as consultant and trainer of the trainers, as well as being used as the agent of initial interviews, medication, testing or using traditional ancillary roles.

The significance for society is that the large number of untreatables could
now be treated ; the large numbers who could not afford treatment could now
afford it ; the large numbers who wanted treatment but had no available therapist in the area could now find therapists ; a large number who were unwilling or unable to commit themselves to many years of therapy could now look forward to major reparative psychotherapy and reconstructive (major personality change) therapy being done in a matter of months for most, or 1 to 2 years for some. Indeed, this process, if fully applied, could make a significant impact relatively quickly on major portions of our sick society."
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2009, 01:12:37 AM »
Casriel mentioned in an article that goes on to describe bastardized variants of Encounters within the human potentials movement that reaches out from TCs into religious and corporate retreats. (excerpts below)

Behavior: Human Potential: The Revolution in Feeling:Monday, Nov. 09, 1970

...From a four-story midtown Manhattan brownstone, the sound of screaming can be heard all day long. It comes from patients of Psychiatrist Daniel Casriel, who believes that such release is therapeutic...
To many Americans, these activities typify a leaderless, formless and wildly eclectic movement that is variously called sensitivity training, encounter, "therapy for normals," the bod biz, or the acidless trip. Such terms merely describe the more sensational parts of a whole that is coming to be known as the human potentials movement —a quest conducted in hundreds of ways and places, to redefine and enrich the spirit of social man.

………. Encounter. T groups are now conducted internationally by 600 N.T.L.-trained leaders and are designed to improve corporations, government agencies, churches and other institutions. They differ from encounter groups in that they tend to be less emotional, place more reliance on verbal than on nonverbal communication, and are less concerned with the individuals' growth per se than with his development within his group. T groups improve relationships within organizations by trading what the late Douglas McGregor of M.I.T. called management's "X" approach (do as I say) for the "Y" approach (join with me so that we can work things out together). Obviously, that does not and cannot make equals of the boss and the factory hand; if that is the unrealistic goal, the "Y" approach will fail. But by making the president and the factory hand more aware of each other it can vastly improve the employee's sense of his own value and place...

......The very eclecticism of the human potentials movement has brought it criticism even from within its own ranks. Robert Driver, founder and operator of Kairos, San Diego's human growth center, has compared it to "a tree which is growing too fast without putting down proper roots." The movement also attracts a great many persons who join it for the wrong reasons: "Already," says Driver, "we see some growth experiences that are used merely to blow out the tubes every six months or so."

………There are more disturbing aspects of the proliferating group sessions. Among some 200 Stanford University undergraduates exposed to a wide variety of personal growth workshop experiences, the overall "casualty rate" —those who suffered psychological impairment—was 8%. Perhaps even more significant was the discovery that a so-called charismatic leader, or trainer, within the movement produced a casualty rate of 14%. Psychiatrist Louis A. Gottschalk of the University of California, after participating in one encounter group of eleven, diagnosed "one borderline acute psychotic withdrawal reaction" and "two severe emotional breakdowns with acute anxiety" within that group. Irving D. Yalom, chairman of the American PsychiatricAssociation's Task Force on encounter groups, reports that after one T group session 10% to 15% of the members consulted a resident psychiatrist for such adverse responses as anxiety, depression, agitation and insomnia.
The explanation could lie in the possibility that some leaders themselves may desperately need what they preach. At most growth centers, anyone can join the movement as a trainer with little experience. He learns on the job. Many such trainers are unequipped to recognize the casualties they produce. Their approach tends to be simplistic. "If expression of feelings is good," says the A.P.A. report sarcastically, "then total expression—hitting, touching, feeling, kissing and fornication—must be better."

The movement is also well aware of what it calls the "reentry problem." Writes Jane Howard in Please Touch, the result of a year's participation in the human potentials movement: ………..
.....Re-entry Problem. There is genuine concern as well at the lack of follow-up procedures to determine the long-term effect of the group experiences.

.....Youth's Disaffection. The dangers are real. But the human potentials movement cannot be dismissed as a passing fad. "There is increasing concern for the humanization of organizations," says Dr. Vladimir Dupre, executive director of N.T.L., "an increasing desire by people to feel more connected with each other, to act on their own environment rather than feeling acted upon."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Ursus

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2009, 01:32:08 AM »
Quote from: "Guest"
Is there a link to original source? Date of publication?

Link to source:
http://www.archive.org/stream/narcotics ... t_djvu.txt

Link to the post in which it appeared (The Narcotics Farm thread):
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=28143&p=341167#p341202

As to date of the article Therapy of Narcotic Addicts Sparks Psychiatric Theory (Medical Tribune — World Wide Report) ... Casriel mentions that Daytop had been in existence for about 6 months at the time, and that he had discovered Synanon 3 years prior.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2009, 01:43:55 AM »
The following is excerpted from a Time article:
Hazardous EncountersMonday, Apr. 30, 1973

These leaders are ill-equipped to deal with serious emotional problems, take no responsibility for what they do, and are unwilling to let trained investigators take a close look at their results. Their methods, moreover, tend to be either useless absurdities or destructive assaults on the often fragile psyches of encounter enthusiasts—or victims.
Among the offending leaders, Maliver cites Manhattan's Dr. Daniel Casriel, a physician who, says Maliver, admits that he was dismissed from his analytic institute and appears to make "as much as $12,000 each week." "Name any psychiatric symptom," Maliver writes, "and Casriel will tell you how long it will take him to eradicate it." According to Maliver, Casriel promises patients "an accelerated re-education of your 'ABCs' A = affect-feelings-emotions. B = behavior-act-actions. C = cognition-attitudes-thoughts."
His approach, similar to Arthur Janov's "primal scream" therapy, is to teach members of his groups "to grab hold of a feeling—any feeling—and express it in a series of yells, screams and moans which increase in volume to almost unbearable intensity." Overwrought, the patient is then soothed by the rest of his group, as well as by Casriel, if he is present, or by one of the ex-patients who run most of Casriel's groups. No effort is made to understand the emotions that have so painfully —and dangerously—been aroused.
Casriel's technique is one version of what Maliver calls "psychological karate," an approach that precipitously strips away emotional defenses "in the naive view that by recognizing their pathological sides, people will automatically become healthy." In fact, without the careful preparatory steps taken in professional psychotherapy, such recognition can cause serious psychological damage. The effect is similar to that in encounter groups where participants are psychologically assaulted under the guise of "openness" or "honesty."
Summing up his own view of encounter, Maliver cites a position paper issued by the American Group Psychotherapy Association. Its key statement: "A much lower incidence of adverse side effects produced by a drug would cause its immediate withdrawal from the marketplace by federal authorities."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html

They knew it was wrong even then. Hell, before I was even born. Yet, they’re still f*ing doing it. WRONG!
What’s wrong with them? (… as if any answer would bring satisfaction)  I wonder why I even bother wondering at the whys of it all.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Ursus

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2009, 01:49:00 AM »
Quote
T groups are now conducted internationally by 600 N.T.L.-trained leaders and are designed to improve corporations, government agencies, churches and other institutions. They differ from encounter groups in that they tend to be less emotional, place more reliance on verbal than on nonverbal communication, and are less concerned with the individuals' growth per se than with his development within his group. T groups improve relationships within organizations by trading what the late Douglas McGregor of M.I.T. called management's "X" approach (do as I say) for the "Y" approach (join with me so that we can work things out together). Obviously, that does not and cannot make equals of the boss and the factory hand; if that is the unrealistic goal, the "Y" approach will fail. But by making the president and the factory hand more aware of each other it can vastly improve the employee's sense of his own value and place...
N.T.L. stands for National Training Labs based, at the time, in Washington D.C. and Bethel, Maine. It was and is the U.S. counterpart to Tavistock. You can see how their work fed into and helped propagate the "corporate climate" some of us so like to disparage.

Kurt Lewin was the fulcrum of the group at MIT, and he was also integral to helping start up NTL, though he died before that work came to fruition. Some time after his death, most of the MIT group moved as a unit to the University of Michigan.

One later member of that group at MIT or its remnants was a fellow by the name of Warren Bennis, later to become good friend of Werner Erhard and est-apologist. He is also a Hyde parent.

There was some quite relevant material you chose not to cite; the full article would have been helpful.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2009, 01:52:41 AM »
I kept my focus narrowed to the excerpts I felt most pertinent to this thread.
I was then going to excavate the thread discussing corporate retreats and post paste.
Where is that thread btw?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2009, 08:01:18 PM »
Im startin to get real curious about this Casriel guy, namely why is there so little to be found on him ( as he is a rather important historical figure) and why are the germans such big fans? Google him or the therapy he invented, New identity Process or more recently bonding psychotherapy, and most everything comes up german. So if anyone speaks geman I need a translator.

Here are some interesting contributions to this thread.

The New Identity Process (NIP) is a method of group psychotherapy that began in the late 1960's, during the height of the humanistic psychotherapy movement. Developed by Dr. Dan Casriel, the NIP originally focused on the use of intense emotional release combined with a process of gentle, physical holding, to bring about a full experience of catharsis.

Therapeutic catharsis involves a safe and contained re-experiencing of regressed emotional material, which can then become cognitively integrated to improve the functioning and health of an individual. The NIP uses an affective, behavioral and cognitive method to achieve this integrative process.

Unique to the NIP is the practice of bonding, a technique combining, emotional opening and physical closeness, within a contained therapeutic space. Bonding may include minimum touch, as in holding a person's hand, to a full body hug during the process of catharsis, to aid integration of material and prevent retraumatization. The NIP is one of the few psychotherapies that addresses the importance of the role of therapeutic touch in psychological health.

Casriel trained therapists in the NIP in the US, Canada and across Europe, before his untimely illness and early death. The therapists he trained created the International Society of the New Identity Process (ISNIP) to continue education, research and training, with chapters in each country.

In the fifteen years since Dr. Casriel's death, the NIP has continued to be used in a wide variety of settings in hospitals, clinics and outpatient offices with adults, adolescents and families. The method has proven to be flexible and effective, undergoing a series of modifications that reflect the psychological advances of the past decade. As more is understood about mind/body science and the role of emotional energy, the NIP is able to validate its reliance on emotional expression as a method for holistic body/mind healing.

NIP groups, workshops and trainings are offered regularly throughout the US and Europe. ISNIP Conferences are held every two years, in the US and Europe. An International training center has been established in France and a rigorous certification program has become standardized for all NIP therapists. The NIP has a code of ethics and a methodology that details the correct use of the process. Only certified NIP therapists are authorized to lead NIP groups.

For more information about the NIP, or to become a member of the American Chapter and receive the quarterly newsletter, please contact Yetta Lautenschlager, President of ASNIP at toll free phone number 1-888-912-1891. You may also contact Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, Tel. (301) 434-0766, or e-mail her at http://primal-page.com/pplist1.htm

more on that
http://primal-page.com/pert.htm
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Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #10 on: October 28, 2009, 10:36:48 PM »
Bitte  Gast,
Have you read Crazy Therapies (Singer/Lalich)?
 
I’m not sure why so many Germans seem to embrace the primal scream n’ snuggle bit, but I noticed that too. Kinky ?
The ISBP “Bonding psychotherapy” conference was held in Bad Grönenbach, last may.

There seems to be no dearth of reference material out there on the interthingy about Casriel’s contributions.
Some articles are vituperative and others praise loud Quacks of approval.

More info. re: Casriel and New Identity Process (basically build your own personality disorder, IMO).
http://www.skepdic.com/therapy.html -From Abracadabra to Zombies (See also Janov for NIP)
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Awake

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #11 on: January 28, 2010, 08:26:32 PM »
Has anyone actually read this book? I'm pretty much through it. It is unbelievably telling in terms of the methods he used and that have continued throughout TBS.

I found his philosophy to contain some obvious distortions especially in his perception of subjective vs objective reality. This especially applies in his definition of mental health and illness, in which he estimates 80% of Americans are Character Disordered, Neurotic, or Psychotic. Also the definition of “symptom” is applied extremely broadly, to just about any behavior (Being too introverted, extraverted, homosexual, drug addicted… all symptoms of illness and treated with the same universal group method).

All in all this is without a doubt the most definitive and concise book on how any yokel can build a psychotherapy cult I have read (aside from it being paired with with the hierarchal Synanon model, which he has written about in other books), in fact if you actually bought into it and did what he says you could probably end up running a cult and not even know it.

I found it amazing just how obviously destructive his processes could be and how he allows the group to act as therapist to each other with basically no structure or boundaries except to pressure each other to get into states of anger, rage, infantile helplessness and pain.

In many areas he points out dangers such as issues of transference between members in groups run by a mentally ill group leader and dissociative reactions to confrontation, but they are VERY downplayed and excused with fluffy logic and for the most part the possible dangers are not discussed at all.

Even at the end of the book he answers the question
“7. Can Group become a way of life? Doesn’t it tend to make participants depend on it? A. If someone is not committed to getting well, he will stay sick. My groups are by no means exempt from that problem…. He must stay in the struggle, and if group itself becomes too comfortable, he is not struggling in the outside world.”

“8. What about the possibility of Cultism? A. Cultism is a danger of any group oriented approach to living…. Treatment is for the good of the patient; Cultism and brainwashing is for the good of the leader.”

I could go on and on. Highly recommended reading. So much wrong with it I don’t know where to begin. Maybe the most important book in understanding the history and philosophy of the TTI IMO
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline SEKTO

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2010, 06:59:56 PM »
Greetings.  You know, I do own a copy of this book, though have not read it yet.  Perhaps soon I shall do so, and will offer my thoughts when it's done.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Antigen

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2010, 11:59:12 AM »
:bump:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
"Don\'t let the past remind us of what we are not now."
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Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2010, 03:58:20 PM »
Quote from: "Awake"
Has anyone actually read this book? I'm pretty much through it. It is unbelievably telling in terms of the methods he used and that have continued throughout TBS.
I found his philosophy to contain some obvious distortions especially in his perception of subjective vs objective reality. This especially applies in his definition of mental health and illness, in which he estimates 80% of Americans are Character Disordered, Neurotic, or Psychotic. Also the definition of “symptom” is applied extremely broadly, to just about any behavior (Being too introverted, extraverted, homosexual, drug addicted… all symptoms of illness and treated with the same universal group method).
All in all this is without a doubt the most definitive and concise book on how any yokel can build a psychotherapy cult I have read (aside from it being paired with with the hierarchal Synanon model, which he has written about in other books), in fact if you actually bought into it and did what he says you could probably end up running a cult and not even know it.
Yes, all who fall within that group were what Casriel called the “untreatables” …ahem while going on to outline his methods for treating them. Casriel’s dissonance in life was only outstripped in staggering nature by David Deitch. Megalomaniacs don’t play well with each other, but they will conjure up bastardized variants of whatever Philosophies play into their own egomaniacal reductive views of how they’re the cure all for the incurables.  Ursus and SEKTO had an interesting exchange on the topic of Diedrich and Hubbard, that says it well enough.
Quote from: "Ursus"
Quote from: "SEKTO"
Both LRH and CED were apparently obsessed with the idea of abortion. I see many similarities. LRH was a tall-tale teller, plagarist, and pathological liar. So was CED.

They all are!! Add to that list: megalomania and narcissism! Lately, I've been reading about Paul Twitchell of Eckankar (who also delved into Scientology at one point). Good Lord, I never knew... Plagiarism, in particular, seems to be de riguer for these harbingers of new "truths," lololol. They all steal from each other.

Quote from: "SEKTO"
Sure, there are many obvious differences too; CED didn't come up with some system paralleling LRH's Reactive/Analytical/Somatic division of the human mind, for staters.

Chuckie did not exactly have a "contemplative turn of mind," if ya get my drift!  :D
Quote from: "Awake"
Highly recommended reading. So much wrong with it I don’t know where to begin. Maybe the most important book in understanding the history and philosophy of the TTI IMO
I had (a few months back) skimmed a library copy of A scream away from Happiness, but didn’t get much more than a stomach ache out of it. I’ll order a copy and get back to you when the vomiting subsides.

Incidentally, I also read a copy of Junkie Priest a few years back and was struck by how much of the Monsignor oral lore (as opposed to current PR) attributed to O’Brian by Daytop seemed to be strikingly similar (concocted to co-opt?) to the Junkie Priest (Rev. Daniel Egan) story.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis