Thanks, Chris.
On 2005-03-15 14:59:00, Anonymous wrote:
I'm honestly not sure why Mark and Cheryl don't post here. However, I highly doubt I would either if there was a forum where I was being called an animal and child abuser. Having "group on someone" basically just means having a discussion about someone's behaviors, feelings, actions, etc.. It typically goes on until the problem at hand is solved.
If you want me to ellaborate further let me know!
Chris
That and what others have said sounds a whole lot like a come down rap at The Seed or Straight. That's my firsthand experience. It's also about the same as what people describe at some other programs. Or, for the general public, imagine an episode of Maurey where you get to be the little girl accused of sucking some grown man's dick, only it goes on and on and on w/o a commercial break or any end in sight. AND the people involved are the only people you're permitted to associate w/ for an indeterminate period, contingent on meeting an unpredictable set of standards and requirements. (long enough sentence for ya? sorry, this is complicated stuff well outside of most people's experience)
Basically, what I'm trying to get across here is that the concept of group therapy
sounds like a good idea. But if you've ever been forced to endure it against your will, you might think otherwise.
The problem I have with it is that there is no trained professional in the house to keep this kind of group discussion restricted to issues apropriate to the group. Now, that doesn't mean that a piece of paper is going to guarantee sensible, beneficial group therapy. There are plenty of Phoenix House and other Synanon or CEDU trained "therapists" with lovely bits of paper who will cheerfully go about demoralizing a kid in Group, fully believing that suffering is healthy and that what they're doing is therapeutic. But there's not even the pretense of any kind of psyche professional to take charge and keep Group from turning decidedly untherapeutic.
At the time, as a kid, I just knew it was making me crazy and that I needed desperately to get away and sort myself out. Since then, I've read up on the topic and found that real psyche doctors and researchers have studied exactly what happens under those circumstances. And that explained a LOT!
Again, not saying that Whitmore is just like Straight. Now that I've learned a little bit about it, though, it does seem to be a whole lot like The Seed after they quit locking kids into bedrooms and started acting more like a 'normal' cult. I don't think Seedlings were ever quite as threatening as I've seen Whitmore kids, though. In that regard, it seems a little more like Synanon.
Forgive, O Lord, my little joke on Thee and I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.
--Robert Frost, American poet
