Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > CEDU / Brown Schools and derivatives / clones
Need help from RMA staff
Anonymous:
Well, maybe not quite the opposite: but if you mean by "entrenched" unwilling to consider changing my beliefs if the evidence dictates it,you are dead wrong.
I am trained as a scientist, and so I do strive to look at the facts of a situation, even when the facts are unclear, ambiguous, or difficult to come by. It is true that some of the facts that I have at hand (my own experiences, those of a number of others who I know well) presently convince me that there have been, at least for some, beneficial aspects to the emotional growth/CEDU program. Some of the information that I have heard at this site, and elsewhere, convinces me that there have also been clear problems within these programs, and that these programs have, at the very least, been useless for some people.
It occurs to me that the differences in how various participants (both parents and children) have ended up feeling about the overall experience, may be based on some real, potentially knowable differences. There may be differences either in terms of individual personality structure and personal outlook, or in terms of specific events and interactions that happened to any given person during his or her stay at one of these schools. There may, for example, be some very positive things going on in a certain program, as well as some useless or even detrimental things: these are good things to clarify, especially in terms of developing new programs.
I hope you can see that it would be unreasonable of me to just disregard part of what I know (ie, that some people feel that they benefited from these programs) simply because some people feel that they did not. One has to apply some degree of critical thinking to sorting out what is going on when such differences exist---I just think it is too easy to define everyone who had good experiences as brainwashed, or mistaken in what they attribute to their good outcome.
So, am I "entrenched", as in unwilling to change my hypothesis that the programs in question are doing some helpful things? I don't believe so, if what evolves is that there are other explanations for the good outcomes that have occurred, I would have to reject the hypothesis that these programs are doing anything useful. As far as possible (and I do believe it is possible) I would like to find this out.
But by all means, if you think that further discussions on the subject are a waste of your time, don't let me bother you.
At the same time, if others have comments on the CEDU experience (pro or con) especially in terms of staff interactions and especially (but not limited to) the RMA/Team Eclipse/1990's experience, I'd be grateful for the input.
Anonymous:
I guess I know what I saw and that was rampant therapeutic, emotional, and mental abuse. Maybe some people got stronger for it. I actually subliminated it for years. Lots of people have nightmares and some form of PTSD 10, 15, 20 years later. (are you one of those people who would write them off as losers or wimps?) Some staff were well-meaning, many were sadistic bullies, some were caring people just trying to find themselves. There are always the people who are willing to stick with abusive partners because of their other good traits.
Anonymous:
Bullshit dude, I was at RMA in the early 90's. Team Eclipse was one of the fakest teams at RMA, and believe me, that is saying a lot. I actually believe that you think RMA was good for your kid, RMA churned out a lot of dysfunctional people, kiss-ass motherfuckers. That was the whole deal with RMA. I forgot what we used to call faker motherfuckers. Fool yourself all you want, CEDU was good for no one.It does not promote strong self image, indeed it teaches you how to be a proper bitch.....think about that.
Anonymous:
I've had a bit of back and forth with the mother of agood son who attended. My hypothesis is that whatever strength he got from the program does not override its many abuses and cult-control of your minds and family. Also, from some ex staff posts, there seems to be rampant financial negligence and shady dealings. Everything was smoke and mirrors. Will you tell her of your experiences w/o rancor--just straight up, the good thebad the ugly because I've reached an impasse. Thanks, Shanlea
ottawa5:
Shanlea--I've been off for the last little while putting in hours for my clinical psychology internship and have had no time to check on this site until this evening.
Imagine my surprise to find out that you have posted, more than once since I last checked, with the intention of getting people to respond to my earlier inquiries about the Eclipse/RMA experience.
All this is good information, thanks for your interest.
I know that you like to post anonymously as well as with a recognizable identifier (ie Shanlea), but I tell you, after watching this site for a while, I have pretty well determined that I cannot put much credibility in posts that are not somehow ascribable to one particular person.
It is not as if a name on the post gives me any specific information about the person providing the opinion---it is just that if I rely on "anonymous" posts how can I tell if these represent one person, posing as different people, or a legitimate collection of several people advocating a particular opinion?
I will bring what I have observed here to my son's attention, when the family is together this weekend, especially the responses that relate to Team Eclipse. I intend to ask him for his opinion about the rather derogatory view that some (often anonymous) correspondents hold of that particular experience. Again, if he chooses to involve himself in these discussions, I will support him in that, as I will support him in choosing to not respond if that is his preference.
It seems kind of strange: I am perfectly willing to consider that the emotional growth school experience was, for reasons that are yet to be defined, negative for some people. Yet, at this site, I have not seen much interest in looking at why some adolescents do well after the CEDU experience, and go on to live happy, good lives, with positive memories surrounding the years spent in these schools.
I suppose that I could accept unquestioningly the point of view that the individuals who could be called CEDU success stories are brainwashed. Yet several of these people are known to me reasonably well and I see no sign of delusion or dysfunction in the ways (which are appropiately individualized) in which they have gone on to live their lives after CEDU.
Puzzling, but then life is sometimes like that--I am confident that patience and further information will help to clarify the situation.
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