Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Mission Mountain School
Questions for John Mercer
Anonymous:
Katie, while I agree some of the questions were written more as accusations, some are actual questions based on things that actually happened. Asking someones qualifications is not an accusation, nor is asking about the inadequate schooling,because in my time there that certainly was a problem. I think that while some people may have lots of anger and fear, there are some people who saw things John did that were wrong, and just want to ask him about those things. That doesn't mean that it's a huge issue in their life, or that they need therapy about it. I think that in some cases here, people's anger at John is just that, anger at John. Not because he told them things they didn't want to hear, or because the truth hurts, but because he did things in their presence that they felt were inappropriate. It is unrealistic to expect any experience to be perfect, I agree. But it's not unrealistic to expect a certain level of proper behavior. A level that many feel John did not meet.
Melissa
Anonymous:
I agree whole heartedly with what Melissa has so articulately expressed. The bottom line is there were many who feel there were some things that are unacceptable.
To answer your quesion, Katie, no I currently do not see a therapist, but to the therapists I have described MMS to have frequently raised their eyebrows at the descriptions of the methods of MMS. The fear based change, the level of activity for the purpose of exposing emotions- rarely providing any clarity on issues that I struggled with, however I did, as you mention, feel damn good about that 50 mile bike ride, etc. For me, however, that was almost beside the point...The critical stuff was negelcted or exacerbated. Forced accountability seemed entirely contradictory and confused me- even at age 14, I recall feeling that the bs of clear ego stroking on the part of John and Mike was an insult to my intelligence! Especially with such things as fear based growth and development. In my case, much of the recovery themes MMS promoted seemed oversimplified and the superficial modes of 'therapy' unhelpful, to say the least- much felt ultimately hypocritical, that is, this false assumption of John's own virtue (self-promoted) is almost laughable to me if it weren't so tragic, IMHO-also considering freedom of thought and opinion was nonexistent, unless they coincided with their own doctrine is appaling. Worse, I had to convince myself they were right, to a certain degree- for the sake of playing along and not having to do work crew!
Ultimately, I am beginning to suspect MMS's 'sucess rate'- in the sense of adults looking back on thier adolescent years and saying MMS was great and in actuality helped them theraputically heal from past struggles, seems ridiculous that studies have not been done on this topic! Some would say, a life saver. Others have drasticlly different views and, while there may be no reconciling that, the older I get and the better educated I become the more convinced I am that these points of negative and what some call abusive MMS methods are important and not to be dismissed - there's no reason the truth of what someone experienced should have to be silenced or sent to a therapist.
Anonymous:
i agree with you melissa.
i agree with you too, michelle!
Anonymous:
ditto (I agree with Melissa & Michelle)
Anonymous:
SARAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hey! Its Julie...remember me? How is it going?
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