Synanon Therapeutic Model

[MedicalWhistleblower]

Synanon therapeutic model

Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich, Sr., a reformed alcoholic and a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), created his own program, Synanon, to treat persons with addictions.  Professionals, even those without drug addictions, were invited to join Synanon. The Synanon program became the model for substance abuse treatment.     The New York Psychiatrist, Daniel Casriel M.D., founder of AREBA  (today the oldest surviving private addiction treatment center in the United States) and co-founder of Daytop Village   wrote a book about his experiences at Synanon.   In the Synanon therapeutic model, control was exerted over members by in group sessions having members humiliate one another and encouraging clients to expose one-another’s innermost weaknesses.      These group session confrontations were called “the game”.  

In 1974, the legal authorities began to question Synanon's promises and practices.  Many persons, who turn to substance abuse, do so because they are attempting to escape some trauma in their personal life.  Clients may be dealing with physically, emotionally or sexually abusive situations, dealing with tragedy or loss or even have been a victim of crime. These methods of coercive psychological control can lead to physical abuse and even human rights violations.  Thus the use of degrading and humiliating techniques of mind control established by Synanon and CEDU/Brown Schools constituted psychologically abusive treatment.  

The concept of "lifetime rehabilitation" did not agree with therapeutic norms, and it was alleged that the Synanon group was running an unauthorized medical clinic. To avoid regulation and investigation Chuck Dederich declared that Synanon was a tax exempt religious organization, the "Church of Synanon."  Children who had been placed in Synanon began running away and an “underground railroad” established to help return them to their parents.  There was physical abuse of clients and in 1978 a state Grand Jury in Marin County issued a scathing report about child abuse at Synanon and the lack of oversight by governmental authorities.  The child abuse at Synanon was widely covered by San Francisco area newspapers and broadcasters but they were largely silenced by lawsuits from Synanon lawyers, who made libel claims.   These lawsuits ultimately turned out to be a large part of Synanon's undoing, by giving journalists access to Synanon's own internal documents.  The small Point Reyes Light newspaper, a weekly in Marin County, received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1979 in recognition of its coverage of Synanon when other news agencies avoided reporting on it.  

In spite of mounting evidence that the Synanon therapeutic model of confrontation therapy was ineffective and abusive, it was copied by others, including Mel Wasserman who founded CEDU Education.  CEDU Education was a chain of parent-choice private-pay residential programs.   The CEDU model of therapy influenced a growing number of facilities in the in the therapeutic boarding school industry.   A Synanon center was even established in Germany.  Dederich was arrested while drunk on December 2, 1978.  The two Synanon residents pleaded "no contest" to charges of assault, and also conspiracy to commit murder.  While his associates went to jail, Dederich himself avoided imprisonment by formally stepping down as the chairman of Synanon.  The Internal Revenue Service revoked Synanon's Federal tax exemption, and all of its properties were confiscated and sold.  By the mid-1990s, Synanon was no longer in operation but confrontational therapy had become the norm in residential substance abuse treatment.

Matrix House

Matrix House was a self-help therapeutic community which was established in the Clinical Research Center in the National Center for Mental Health in Lexington, Kentucky.  Matrix House was an official aftercare agency under the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act (NARA) of 1966.  Participants were under civil commitment.    The Matrix House was the first unit of the center which was completely operated and administrated by ex-addicts.  In group sessions Matrix participants used “the game” of confrontation which was patterned after Synanon.

References and citations:


1.  Where did it come from?, Synanon Church and the medical basis for the $traights, or Hoopla in Lake Havasu, by Wes Fager (c) 2000 http://thestraights.com/theprogram/synanon-story2.htm

2.  Szalavitz, Maia (2007-08-20). "The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry".  Mother Jones. Maia Szalavitz claims to charts the influence of Synanon in other programs including Phoenix House and Boot Camps. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature ... ustry.html

3.  ACI describes itself as a wholistic healthcare organization made up of physicians and a wide variety of healthcare professionals experts in the field of healing addiction. http://www.acirehab.org/

4.  Daytop History, Daytop Homepage,  Father William B. O’Brien who founded New York's Daytop Village included Synanon's group encounters and confrontational approach in his research into addiction treatment methods.   http://www.daytop.org/history.html

5.  "So Fair A House: The story of Synanon" New York: Prentice-Hall. 1963

6.   Morgan, Fiona, One big dysfunctional family: A former member of the Synanon cult recalls the "alternative lifestyle" that shaped her, for better and worse, Salon Magazine, March 29, 1999, http://www.rickross.com/reference/synanon/synanon2.html

7.  Synanon at the Internet Movie Database.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059774/

8.   Clark, Michael D.,  Her life with "One Big Brother", San Jose Mercury News, March 19, 1999, http://www.rickross.com/reference/synanon/synanon4.html

9.  Gerstel, D. U. (1982). Paradise, incorporated: Synanon. Novato, CA: Presidio Press.

 10. Jack Anderson, "NBC Cancelled Jonestown Story", March 20, 1981, http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/images/jtr8/i ... rticle.pdf

 11, Ever unconventional, long controversial, By Keith Chu, The Bend Bulletin, November 15, 2009,  http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d ... ory=NEWS01

12,  Struggling Teens, StrugglingTeens.com went online as a website for information about the many schools and programs available for troubled teens. The website lists news and articles as a resource for both parents and professionals, as well as anyone interested in helping troubled teens find successful paths to adulthood. http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 5922.shtml

13,   A German offshoot of Synanon, website in German. http://www.synanon-aktuell.de/

14,   R. S. Weppner, Matrix House.  Its first year at Lexington, Ky, HSMHA Health Rep. 1971 September; 86(9): 761–768, PMCID: PMC1937175, NCBI.nlm.nih.gov, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1937175/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 9-0005.pdf

[Xelebes]

Here's a good question: was Synanon intentionally subverted?  That is, were the experiments simply put forth to make what would have been left-wing groups into right-wing groups?  When Esalen was created, the founders were worried that just like other Theosophist-style communities, they would succumb to a charismatic leader - so they set up controls to make it really difficult for that to happen.  It has been established that much of the method was devised outside of Synanon, in terms of intensity, aggression and the removal of identity.

Theosophy was a very left-wing mind set from 1880-1960, before the human potential movement and the new-age movement caught on.  They preached equality of every sort of person, and so were considered by the fascist rightwing of the McCarthy days to be just as bad as the Communists.  Theosophy had many vulnerabilities and many mistakes were made in the whole theology behind it, lending it to charismatic leadership.  Dederich was reading "The Prophet," and was likely using it alongside the Big Book of AA.  Some anti-drug therapies were going on at the same time at Narco Farm and other facilities.  Some were violent, others were humanised.  All working towards the goal of reducing addiction.  Synanon probably seemed dangerous, when compared with the competition, given the Theosophy espoused.  So it is likely from 1958-1960 or any of the first months, it would have been deemed largely harmless.  Once doctors came to the doors asking. . .

Of course, for this theory to be verified or to have any form of validity, it requires papers from MKULTRA and any other records from the doctors, officers and bureaucrats involved.  It requires papers mentioning of threats posed by Theosophist and other eastern-thought philosophies/proto-religions.  It requires Synanon being mentioned as a potential threat and/or ally.  None of which we have at the present moment.

But it is interesting to note how the cults went from left-wing (50s and 60s) to right-wing, perversions of established religions (60s and 70s.)

There is also the concern of Multi-Step Marketing (Amway, Herbalife).  My school library might offer more on the history of that development.

[none-ya]

Good point. And once they figured out how create republcan automatons, they recruted non drug addicted inmates into their programs. They're even easier to work on.Can't deny the connection between Bush the 1st and straight.

[Xelebes]

I think one of the more curious side effects is that for those who fall out, they are so broken as to lose credibility with either PTSD, perpetual psychosis, depression or the exacerbation of prior symptoms.  Those who abide by the rules are, I guess, would be considered among the converted - much like what was seen in the fascist regimes in Europe.

[none-ya]

I don't think it's like the movies where they're trying to create super soldiers, but more like a voting block,and a general mindset of "conservative values"(whatever they are).

[Xelebes]

There are several possible theories on the objectives of the subversion and how they were intended to be carried out.

- Create a violent environment so that the community breaks up faster
- Create a violent environment to scare people away from liberal religious groups (especially effective with regards to Jonestown, although some decade or two later)
- Create an isolating community so that while the community persists, it scares people away from groups like it
- Create an environment which subverts the dogma itself (This seems to be evident in the CEDU schools)

[none-ya]

Xelebes wrote:
"scare people away from liberal religious groups"

And there aren't many of them to start with.The only liberal church Iv'e had any contact with were the order of friends. The Quakers. They oganised a hemp festival one year,and we actually "burned the hay" inside their church. Pretty cool for a "higher power".

[none-ya]

Although, I do know an ordained minister who ran a christian punk flophouse.Which was the home of all kinds of debauchery,
and hardly qualified as a church.

[jharsan]

I can't believe people are still taking these crazy places seriously. Do you have any idea of the suicide rate of past members (inmates)?

[Froderik]

bump 

[NivekOgre]

I have to wonder the statistics of how many people who went through these programs committed suicide. I know of quite a few who did from when I was at CEDU. I definitely have experienced symptoms quite similar to PTSD since leaving the nightmare.