Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Straight, Inc. and Derivatives => Topic started by: nicoleesther on August 26, 2003, 01:03:00 PM
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:???:
Just out of curiosity does anyone know of a pro Straight websight? I know we have the occasional brainwashed losers such as "Straight will always be my Higher Power." I was wondering if any of the surviviors happened to stumble on a websight and "Rock the Boat" This would be very cool! Disguise yourself by saying "Straight saved my life" then really let them have it......
Nicole
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The yahoo group Straight, Inc., run by Don Smith USED to be a pro-straight site. Don was an adamant supporter of the program and was quite miffed at our opinions on the original discussion forum we had.
Over time I believe Don came to realize just how wrong the program was, and his site was overwhelmed with negative comments and experiences people had in the program.
I think Don has gone thru quite the opinion change since he first started his site, but only Don can answer that accurately. Don, care to comment?May the fleas of one thousand llamas infest your armpits
--One ticked off sysadmin
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On 2003-08-26 10:03:00, nicoleesther wrote:
" ::heart::
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Thanks, Mo! I wonder... if Sheba could read, would she agree with that assessment? I hope so.
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of both mind and body will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day
Thomas Jefferson
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tell her i said, "arf! arf!"
nice pop-up quote btw!
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nicole, yes, go to http://www.dfaf.org (http://www.dfaf.org)
Last year a bunch of us survivors posted there and they shut down the forum for a couple days, then brought it back up only now it is moderated by, IN MY OPINION, a friggin COMMUNIST! LOL...
I doubt that there is a pro straight one out there, unless it is concealed by some different name, like Pathway, or Kids Helping Kids, etc... At http://www.orlandoweekly.com (http://www.orlandoweekly.com) there is another lively discussion in the archives there under the NEWS message boards called "SAFE or else!" (The one topic that had nearly 500 replies) LOL... Those people got a BIG earful from us and crawled back into the woodwork. Brian Seeber, the Director of SAFE, Inc. now, claimed to have read Miller Newton's book "Gone Way Down" 150 times at least.
MG8 :smokin:
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Sure, thanks.
My opinion of Straight over the last three years has changed. I no longer think Straight saved me. I do think the idea of the Steps and signs and all are a good idea but the way in which Staff controlled our every move and thought was well over the top and was very abusive.
Someone else made the comment that this is the only forum that doesn't banned members. Not true. I do not ban anyone. The only reason a person would be removed from membership is for sending SPAM. That is clearly covered in the description page of the Yahoo site. In the three year history of the Straight Inc. Alumni less than a handful of people have been removed. Most were internet business looking for a place to send their SPAM. I HATE SPAM.
Don :wave:
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If you knew about Pathway then you must have been at the Springfield Straight, yes? in 1992?
Email me at [email protected]
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Sorry, it's [email protected] forgot the s above.
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Brian Seeber, the Director of SAFE, Inc. now, claimed to have read Miller Newton's book "Gone Way Down" 150 times at least.
He posted two reviews (http://http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Way-Down-Teenage-Drug-Use/product-reviews/0934996164/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending) of it on Amazon.com:
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5.0 out of 5 stars · My family's life in print, October 24, 2000
By Brian R. Seeber (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use Is a Disease (Paperback)
I wish I had read this book at the time I was taking my 14 year old son to therapists, tutors, and psychiatrists. The anti-depressants he was prescribed only served to mask the volume of alcohol and drugs he was consuming every day, unknown to me. This book showed me that my son's behavior was not something he could control the way I treid to make him do. He had a disease by then which was not mental illness; it was not depression; it was not learning disabilities. It was Drug Addiction, and that disease has its own treatment separate and distinct from the symptoms such as depression and anti-social behavior which present while a teenager slips farther and farther into drug abuse. Every parent who sees his or her child's choices of friends, grades, clothing, and attitude become more and more foreign owes it to the child and to the family to read this book. It is short, concise, compelling, and eye-opening. I never dreamed it was drug use when I saw the symptoms; this book may save a parent from the years of suffering I permitted my son and me to live through out of ignorance.
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3.0 out of 5 stars · I reviewed the book, not the author, January 28, 2006
By Brian R. Seeber (REAL NAME) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gone Way Down: Teenage Drug-Use Is a Disease (Paperback)
Many of the derogatory things other people who reviewed Gone Way Down say about Miller Newton are true. The closing of programs with which he was connected and the litigation in which he has been involved over the years make this clear. The way he operated treatment programs brought much suffering to many, and he did a lot of violence to a treatment modality that has otherwise helped many.
Having said all that, a review of a book should focus on the content and presentation of the ideas in the book, and not focus on the dysfunctions of the author, unless doing so is relevant to evaluating the book. As is often true in life, both can be true: Miller Newton may have written an excellent book but not been able to conduct a treatment program well. The insights he had about the nature of the disease of adolescent substance abuse may have been clouded by his own personal issues, to produce treatment programs that have been closed down whenever Newton put his hand to operations as opposed to authorship.
Indeed that is what I believe is the case.
What Newton writes about the course and characteristics of the disease of adolescent substance abuse is not only supported by what I observed in my own family's experience; it is also supported by the literature and research around the disease. Indeed one of the complaints about Newton is that he is a plagiarist.
The ignorance involved in being unwilling to permit the possibility that "both are true" keeps those who write about Newton from seeing any validity in his writings (especially if they are summaries of other people's work). It is a shame when this inability interferes with parents getting information which they need in assessing the activities and life style of present day children, because of the personal issues of Newton and those who hate him, often justifiably.
I am glad that, when I first read Gone Way Down, I had never heard of Miller Newton or Straight or anything about adolescent substance abuse treatment. What I knew a lot about, without realizing it, was how an adolescent looks when s/he is abusing substances under a parent's roof. Reading Gone Way Down opened my eyes in the midst of my ignorance, but it was a passive ignorance born of simply not knowing, as opposed to choosing to hide from the facts, or advising others to do so. Gone Way Down contains an accurate, insightful description of adolescent substance abuse; it is factual and succint; and is premised on the research based information widely accepted in the treatment field. Those who wrote negative reviews about the book based on their abhorrence of Miller Newton, even when fully justified, instead of the merits, or lack thereof, of the information contained in the book, discount both the need for an accurate picture of what adolescent substance abuse feels like in a family's life, and the need of families to get help in the face of that disease.
Since I wrote my first review of this book, I have earned the Certified Addicitons Profesional credential in Florida, with reciprocity to all other American and some foreign jurisdictions; those who are stuck in hammering Miller Newton seem to remain trapped in his past, and theirs. That is a disservice to those who have this problem in their families today.
Brian R. Seeber, CAP
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First,one has to ask,was an actual drug addiction being treated?
Straight knew that most of their clients were not drug addicts.So,why were we being treated like drug addicts if we weren't(ethical question)?How was this going to benefit my future well-being in any capacity?It's like trying to treat athlete's foot or menstrual cramps with chemotherapy.No good can come of it and only bad that would not have normally been there will arise.The only positive message I got from Straight was I didn't need substances to enjoy myself.For that tidbit of info,I got a 16 1/2 month mindfuck which I'm still dealing with.If a real drug addiction is in play,serious intervention by qualified,serious professionals in needed.Straight and their loony squad was not that place.Drug addictions are serious matters,not to be taken lightly,but leaving your child in the care of a Helen Petermann or a Miller Newton is not even an option.