Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Synanon

The Children of Synanon

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SEKTO:
Greetings.  I do not know about studies, but have you have heard of a play entitled "Hundreds of Sisters and One Big Brother," by a Deborah Swisher?  This play is Ms. Swisher's account of growing up in Synanon.  I've never seen nor read it, but it looks interesting to me.

http://www.curtainup.com/100sofsisters.html

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "exposecedu" ---When did Mel Wasserman leave Synanon?
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--- Quote from: "Inculcated" ---Exposecedu: An educational consulting firm Is very interested to know the answer to that very same question

--- Quote ---In (or near) 1972 Mel Wasserman, a gentleman who was very close to Charles Dederich founded Cedu High School. According to Wikipedia, (as of October 8, 2008) Wasserman was a former Synanon Resident.  We doubt that, as Synanon was intended to be a lifelong commitment and people who left the community were not generally treated cordially by those still in the community. Clearly Wasserman lived outside the Synanon Community.  (If any reader wants to dispute that date, or clarify Wasserman's actual connection with Synanon and Dederich, please respond to us with corrected information and/or clarification.)
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Well... Synanon had more than its share of extreme policy changes. They were, after all, an experiment in progress. The expectation that residents would make "lifelong commitments" didn't come about 'till they had been around for awhile, and Dederich had seen too many relapses. I'm thinking late 1960s, maybe early 1970s.

Ursus:
Ah! According to those who would know, this policy change regarding "lifelong commitments" came about in 1968.

From an April 2004 post in ReligionNewsBlog.com (re. the 25th anniversary of the The Point Reyes Light's winning a Pulitzer for their Synanon exposé):

...A master of self-promotion, Dederich managed to convince the public he was doing something no one else could do: cure drug addicts. In fact, 90 percent of those he admitted left before receiving rehabilitation, and of those who completed rehabilitation, only 10 percent demonstrated long-term abstention from drugs.

In 1968, Dederich abolished the idea of residents ever "graduating" to the outside world. Synanon then became an "alternative-lifestyle community," with former addicts providing a low-paid workforce for the Synanon corporation, which ultimately was focused on a $10 million per year Advertising Gifts and Premiums business. Synanon members simply acted as middlemen between manufacturer and retailers who wanted their logos on promotional knickknacks.

Synanon remained minimally in the treatment business, in part by providing juvenile authorities with a cheap place for dumping troubled kids, but the targets for its recruitment became members of the middleclass, such as doctors, lawyers, and architects. Most turned over all their wealth when they joined Synanon, believing they would be taken care of forever.[/list]

Anonymous:

--- Quote from: "Inculcated" ---Exposecedu: An educational consulting firm Is very interested to know the answer to that very same question
 
--- Quote ---In (or near) 1972 Mel Wasserman, a gentleman who was very close to Charles Dederich founded Cedu High School. According to Wikipedia, (as of October 8, 2008) Wasserman was a former Synanon Resident.  We doubt that, as Synanon was intended to be a lifelong commitment and people who left the community were not generally treated cordially by those still in the community. Clearly Wasserman lived outside the Synanon Community.  (If any reader wants to dispute that date, or clarify Wasserman's actual connection with Synanon and Dederich, please respond to us with corrected information and/or clarification.)
--- End quote ---



DannyBennison:  ??? Maybe, repost when you’ve digested.


Inculcated,
 I have digested this fine read and came up w/one thing,  that the thought process by Mr. Dederich and Wasserman along w/ the Goverment in this social dichotomy of nuclear and communal I'm sure was revolutionary.
Nuclear vs. Communal..We have that dichotomy here in America it is of less significance now, look to your guakers and the ammish folks also your latin american families they are communal although strick I would not say cultish. They have the Greatgrandparents...grandparents....parents...sibling..W/ great aunts/uncles....aunts/uncles....cousins all contributing in the family enviroment. In most other countries other then Western their still doing communal....here it is mainly nuclear. Hmmmm I don't know if one is better than the other, I grew up in a sorta half n half at one point it was communal then we moved and it became nuclear. In more ways then one. lol....Still studing ...good stuff..... :shamrock:  



Ursus: other quotes from the same A 1977 study on the Children of Synanon illustrate the daily lives of children and infants within Synanon.

--- Quote ---Synanon provides the most extreme example of child rearing by multiple caretakers. Up to 20 different caretakers per year care for these children; with parents spending an average of approximately three hours per week with their children.
Ranging from 6 mos. To sixteen years of age… Here the child lives with his peers while the parents live in the larger Synanon community…
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Are there links to any other studies conducted on the children there?
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