General Interest > Feed Your Head
APA Task Force Report: ENCOUNTER GROUPS AND PSYCHIATRY
psy:
--- Quote from: "heretik" ---Psy,
Two sets of circumstances, one group (whooter is talking about) comes to the table willingly seeking knowledge or just a experience, the group (you are referring to (kids in a program)) are forced to the table and punished with the identical experiential tool. Unbelievable.
There is no wiggle room here at all the "encounter groups" being used (from what I have read) in programs can only produce negative results. This is putting it kindly.
Whooter, are you getting this or are you still wanting to compare to the 70's when your wife was experimenting.
--- End quote ---
But even a program that recruits "consensually" will not really have full consent because it's almost never informed. Lack of informed consent through fraudulent advertisement. It's a cult. The idea is to take people in and keep them for as long as possible in order to make as much money as possible and then they eject them onto the streets like human garbage. Many cults do this, many programs do this, it's really the same thing, but you're entitled to your opinion.
heretik:
--- Quote from: "psy" ---
--- Quote from: "heretik" ---Psy,
Two sets of circumstances, one group (whooter is talking about) comes to the table willingly seeking knowledge or just a experience, the group (you are referring to (kids in a program)) are forced to the table and punished with the identical experiential tool. Unbelievable.
There is no wiggle room here at all the "encounter groups" being used (from what I have read) in programs can only produce negative results. This is putting it kindly.
Whooter, are you getting this or are you still wanting to compare to the 70's when your wife was experimenting.
--- End quote ---
But even a program that recruits "consensually" will not really have full consent because it's almost never informed. Lack of informed consent through fraudulent advertisement. It's a cult. The idea is to take people in and keep them for as long as possible in order to make as much money as possible and then they eject them onto the streets like human garbage. Many cults do this, many programs do this, it's really the same thing, but you're entitled to your opinion.
--- End quote ---
I see what you are saying, your situation (@ Benchmark) being the bases for your comments, I presume. How could they give exact information concerning their behavioral alteration methods, this would lead in to further conversation. As I have read they do not want to explain anymore then they have to.
Whooter, why in Gods name would anyone want to subject a aspergers person to a "encounter group" of any kind. The close intense proximity of emotions being generated would probably blow out their psyche. I am not saying you would condone this or are even saying this but jeesh, just the thought it's mortifying.
Ursus:
--- Quote from: "psy" ---
--- Quote from: "Whooter" ---I think there was a very small percentage of people who benefited long term in that it changed their direction in life.
--- End quote ---
So you admit the encounter group methods used by programs only changes most people temporarily? Would you aslo admit that these confrontational techniques can cause harm in a number of people, especially when combined with other elements of program thought reform?
See. The issue with encounter groups and attack therapy is that it is only appropriate, if at all, for a very small number of people. Mostly those who have already established a strong core identity, who can stand up for themselves, and who can leave if it gets too much for them. None of these things apply in most programs where these encounter groups are central to the program (raps or group are normally a daily occurrence). I've personally seen a guy totally freak out in an LGAT and i've seen many utterly decimated by constant attacks in encounter groups -- to the point where they were basically dead inside and had no will of their own left to resist.
Sometimes the encounter groups were more moderate and it was just a circle of chairs discussing and attacking and just random stuff but if staff felt it necessary, if for some reason they thought you weren't "real" enough, or if you did something against the every changing, subjective and arbitrary rules, they would put you in the center of the room and that circle of chairs would become a 360 degree verbal firing squad. It would not stop until either the time ran out or they felt you were sufficiently changed or repentant or whatever the particular goal was. If you managed to outlast the time, they would bring you in the next day and the process would start all over again, meanwhile you would be on "bans" so you weren't allowed to talk to anybody or decompress (not that there was anybody you could trust to talk to anyway).
These techinques may not harm some people, but I have seriously doubts that they help anybody and I know from personal experience that they harm a lot of the kids that these programs claim to serve (aspergers, anxiety attacks, depression, etc). They're simply not appropriate and the "one size fits all" approach most programs do harm many kids (even if they "claim" to provide "individuals educational plans" or some bullshit like that). This isn't to imply that the techniques are appropriate for anybody, mind you, just that for some people they are more harmful than others.
--- End quote ---
Bears repeating...
It certainly goes without saying that kids in program usually do NOT have strong core identities yet, are certainly NOT able to leave at will, and are certainly NOT allowed to stand up for themselves without consequences.*
I'd also like to add the issue of informed consent (in case anyone hasn't already brought it up, and I happened to miss it). Namely, given the fact that kids are minors; technically, they are incapable of truly giving consent, especially to a non-benign and pretty psychologically invasive procedure like an encounter group (or whatever it was/is called at your hell-hole of choice).
* Re. standing up for oneself without consequences: at Hyde, at least during *my* time, there may have been a few exceptions. E.g., the kid already happened to be one of the "chosen few," or was able to find a staff member who backed them up. Perhaps this kid was then thought of as having exemplified "courage" (one of the Five Words). But this was not to be attempted by those low on the totem pole of Hyde social stratification. :D
Whooter:
--- Quote from: "psy" ---
--- Quote from: "Whooter" ---I think there was a very small percentage of people who benefited long term in that it changed their direction in life.
--- End quote ---
So you admit the encounter group methods used by programs only changes most people temporarily? Would you aslo admit that these confrontational techniques can cause harm in a number of people, especially when combined with other elements of program thought reform?
--- End quote ---
The encounter groups were designed to impose short term change and/or enlighten people to see outside their normal range of thought or vision. Any change that took affect was temporary. But it was found that these changes and/or revelations could be expanded upon or utilized by ongoing therapy to get the person on a new track and any ongoing weekly therapy would help to solidify long term positive change.
Like anything else the techniques used could be dangerous if taken too far or not regulated properly.
...
Ursus:
Another installment:
American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report No. 1 - 'Encounter Groups and Psychiatry', continued...
-------------- • -------------- • --------------
Relevance of the Encounter Group Movement for Psychiatry
We urge psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to obtain as much information as possible about encounter groups. Among the many clear implications for the mental health field are the following:
1. Many types of encounter groups have goals of behavior change and personal growth and employ techniques which overlap heavily with those of traditional psychotherapy.2. Some practicing psychiatrists are heavily involved with encounter groups: they lead them, they participate in them as members, and they refer their patients to encounter groups as a technique to accelerate therapy. (Some psychiatrists, in fact, accompany their patients and participate as a member in the same encounter group.)3. It is increasingly common for psychiatric patients to have some encounter group experience: they may, for example, with or without the recommendation of their therapist, during the course of therapy attend a weekend encounter lab; or they may have decided to enter therapy as a result of some unsettling experience in an encounter group. The latter point, the psychiatric hazards of the encounter groups, will be discussed in detail shortly.4. The public, considering psychiatrists as experts in mental health questions, has turned to them for information and recommendations about the advisability or inadvisability of the encounter group experience. To cite one example, some California school districts have been heavily embroiled in the controversial issue of the use of sensitivity training in the school classroom; frequently the school board, the opposing factions as well as the local newspapers, have sought and quoted the opinions of psychiatrists.5. A number of the technical innovations employed by various encounter group leaders may have applicability in traditional therapy groups. Group psychotherapy has, in fact, already profited considerably from innovations arising from sensitivity training groups in the human relations field.
In summary, it seems apparent that the small group field is a rapidly expanding one, that it has a broad interface with the mental health field, and that, though the bizarre aspects may fade, the encounter group is based on a solid foundation and appears destined to survive for some time to come.
Encounter Groups and Psychiatry
© American Psychiatric Association
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