Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum
successfull seed graduates
cleveland:
All I can say is: The Seed may have been a top-down hierarchy, but it was also a bunch of late-adolescent-to-early 20s kids running around, taking kids home, leading raps, trying to be 'straight' - and all of these kids had only months before been hanging out with their friends getting drunk and getting high - now they were 'perfect' seedlings? So, depending upon who your oldcomer was, who was on staff at the time, and hundreds of other variables, the experience could be SO different.
When I moved from Cleveland to the Florida Seed in the late 70s, things had a totally different feel. The Cleveland Seed had the charismatic, hilariously funny Scott B. as the senior staff, with the grimmer, more serious Bob W. as his counterpart. My oldcomers were all serious gearheads, construction workers, greasers, hard-asses. There was kind of a macho vibe in Cleveland. Moving to Florida - almost all the staff were women, there were palm trees and balmy weather - it was different.
When I read about toilet seat humiliations and other excesses, those things just weren't part of my experience. I was also a volunteer as were many of my cohorts as the laws had changed, making it illegal to compel someone thru the courts or by parental decree to 'get straight.' So it was different.
I have to point out though, that subtle forms of humiliation and ostracism were always part of the Seed experience, as there would be with any group that is trying to enforce it's own group standards. No room for dissent or ambiguity at the Seed!
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Wally Gator[ This Message was edited by: cleveland on 2004-12-13 07:22 ][ This Message was edited by: cleveland on 2004-12-13 07:23 ]
GregFL:
Just one point Cleveland. It really didn't become illegal to "compel" someone into treatment, the tools of the trade just changed and Art didn't change with it.
Nowadays, they put you in and instead of threatening you with a court order, they threaten you with the Baker act,and use it quite liberally when people refuse to sign themselves in.
The modern day programs also use "escorts" where these burly self rightous assholes come and with the blessing of the parents they kidnap the kids, handcuff them and "transport" them. As illegal as this sounds, oftentimes airlines let them put them on planes like this and even transport them out of the country. All they have to do is say they are transporting a kid into a treatment facility and have a paper signed by the parent.
Also, they just changed the name to "host home" in order to get around the foster home requirements.
Things have changed, but not necessarily for the best.
cleveland:
Thanks for the detail.
I had some personal experience with this on the other side. My mom, after a life-long battle with depression, started drinking heavily after a divorce, business breakup and the death of her boyfriend. It got so bad that she showed up to family events and her job roaring drunk. I got calls from the police and from coworkers. We arranged for an 'intervention' and she told us all to go to hell, so, I did my best to push it out of my mind. Meanwhile, she got so bad that her house went into foreclosure and she declared bankruptcy, and had to be admitted to the hospital several times in a state of acute alcohol poisoning. Once I even signed her in for an evaluation at a rehab against her will, but she signed herself out in three days, her legal right. However, every time I had Adult Protective Services schedule a visit, she'd clean up her act, serve tea and cookies and charm everyone with her wit and her sense of humor. "We can't do anything for someone who's made bad choices" they told me!
Imagine my dilemma - I don't want her to kill herself (or someone else, she's still driving) but she will not admit to any problems with alcohol. Finally, at the last near-fatal hospitalization, I am able to get a psychiatrist to admit her to a lock down faciality and hold a competency hearing. It was very ugly.
Today, it's a year later, she is sober (perhaps against her will), her health issues have been addressed and she's on medicare/medicaid and has a legal guardian, and is living in a controlled facility. She is better than she's been in years - I actually enjoy being with her. However, she is petitioning the court to end her guardianship and they might do it, so we'll see. Apparently she's admitted (but not to me) a problem with alcohol.
So, while I am a total liberal in almost every respect when it came to my mom destroying her life I was completely ready to lock her up and at least give her the opportunity to sober up before she died of this. It gives me some hint of what parents might have faced or feared when they dropped kids off at the seed.
GregFL:
Boy what tough decisions you and your brother have had to make. My heart goes out to you guys and I feel sorry for your mother.
My mom is an alcoholic and a compulsive smoker. In fact, it is literally killing her as we speak, she has advanced Emphysema.
Life isn't always black and white, just as Robin said earlier.
cleveland:
Oh yeah, my mom's a heavy smoker too. It's amazing to see her side by side with her sister, who is older but has taken good care of herself. They're both about 73 - my mom looks like she's in her 80s, my aunt looks like she's in her 60s.
Yes, there is no black or white - sometimes I wish there were clear answers, but no. So we can talk about all of this forever. Human beings seem to have a need to alter their reality, whether it's meditation or skydiving, or alcohol or drugs, and for some people, the temptation turns into an addiction. What do we do with them? What do we do ourselves, when it's us?
Personally I ascribe to the buddhist belief of conscious living - go ahead, smoke, drink, whatever, but pay close attention to how you feel, in the moment. What's the payoff? What's the cost? I think it's useful to be as aware as possible.
Take care, Greg!
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