Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Aspen Education Group => Topic started by: Covergaard on February 08, 2007, 07:48:57 AM
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During my research of Aspen Ranch, ASR og Copper Canyon I have discovered that Lifestep has been abandoned at ASR.
Detainees from Aspen Ranch has to go to Copper Canyon for the Marathon seminars and it is only those person, who is "working the program", who is tormented with the ordeal.
According to a press-release ASR made that the decision to abandon Lifestep in order to achieve better results.
Why did the rest of the facilities not go in the same direction. Why continue to use a less efficiend method?
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_at_Swift_River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_at_Swift_River)
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Canyon_Academy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Canyon_Academy)
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oh my god....maybe they just realized that what they were doing might have been wrong and decided to try something else. what is so hard to believe about this. i mean you down the Lifesteps over and over and when it appears they feel the same way instead of seeing what comes about you stil lhave to down them. i don;t get it!
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Can't remember where I read it (someone help me out here), but ASR is indeed carrying on with the LGAT marathons, only they're calling it someting else and claim it has been "refined."
Same shit, different name...
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I found this press release from the marketing firm of the industry.
http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 5437.shtml (http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/publish/article_5437.shtml)
How should I interpret this press release? It was not meant for us.
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Don't interpret it. It's ass-covering nonsense.
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I found this press release from the marketing firm of the industry.
http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 5437.shtml (http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/publish/article_5437.shtml)
How should I interpret this press release? It was not meant for us.
Wasn't meant for us, but is definitely a response to their critics. You can interpret it as an attempt to sway the public/ed cons/etc to believe that they're changing their ways. Apparently trying to move away from the reputation of employing CEDUs experimental methods. Trying to present the program as softer and more therapeutic. The methods would have to be described by a survivor and scrutinized before it can be determined if they are evidence based or not.
What's relevant is that they're admitting that the methods they "previously employed" (wink,wink) were unethical, weren't evidence-based, and harmful.
They also brought an industry gal on board to do 'research' of their facilities (Behrens), and there's plenty about that scam on Fornits. Just search Behrens.
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I found this press release from the marketing firm of the industry.
http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/p ... 5437.shtml (http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/publish/article_5437.shtml)
How should I interpret this press release? It was not meant for us.
Wasn't meant for us, but is definitely a response to their critics. You can interpret it as an attempt to sway the public/ed cons/etc to believe that they're changing their ways. Apparently trying to move away from the reputation of employing CEDUs experimental methods. Trying to present the program as softer and more therapeutic. The methods would have to be described by a survivor and scrutinized before it can be determined if they are evidence based or not.
What's relevant is that they're admitting that the methods they "previously employed" (wink,wink) were unethical, weren't evidence-based, and harmful.
They also brought an industry gal on board to do 'research' of their facilities (Behrens), and there's plenty about that scam on Fornits. Just search Behrens.
"Psychodrama" and "Sociometry" are the junk sciences of psychology. The methods are not mainstream and success in treatment has never been proven.
These topics get, at best, maybe one college course to cover both along with a few other "experimental" methods. Mostly these methods are taught at "training institutes" :roll: and not any bona-fide colleges.
If someone can provide clinical trial results, I'd like to see those.
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Well, here's the irony.
They issued this press release, "Lifesteps or Mis-steps" in Oct stating the methods previously used were potentially damaging AFTER Behren's "long-term study" was released in Aug attempting to show efficacy.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?p=215887#215887 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?p=215887#215887)
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It appears (to me) that ASR, like many schools and businesses, react to the findings and studies, as they come to light, and use this as an opportunity to improve and grow.
I have always been a firm believer that the ability to recognize short comings in ones own businesses? process and adjust quickly is key (and in my opinion is fundamental) to the success and long term survival of any business. To step up and say ?This doesn?t appear to be working as well as we would like? and then ?change it? and implement a new strategy shows business integrity, Professional courage and confidence in their commitment to helping these children.
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You idiot.
The appropriate analogy here is that, following a year-long study, a report is presented to the shareholders claiming that the business model was excellent, all was good, profits up.
Two months later, it's reported that the business model is flawed at it's very core and will be restructured.
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You idiot.
The appropriate analogy here is that, following a year-long study, a report is presented to the shareholders claiming that the business model was excellent, all was good, profits up.
Two months later, it's reported that the business model is flawed at it's very core and will be restructured.
Patience and educating others doesn?t seem to be a strong point with you??
So harsh, Deborah !! They are restructuring ?.every company I have ever had business dealings with (that have been successful) has restructured from time to time. Beware of the ones that don?t change with the times as new information/technology come to light, they will not grow or thrive, because they cant (or wont) see the larger picture.
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You're a dope. The research that LGATs were harmful has been around since the 60's. This place was using an already debunked method for years knowing full well what the research showed.
Now that people are hip to what LGATs are, they have to change the name to "psychodrama" which is equally debunked and should never be performed by anyone not explicitly trained in its methods and even as practiced by those people it is shown to be ineffective and possibly damaging. New name, same concept.
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You're a dope. The research that LGATs were harmful has been around since the 60's. This place was using an already debunked method for years knowing full well what the research showed.
Now that people are hip to what LGATs are, they have to change the name to "psychodrama" which is equally debunked and should never be performed by anyone not explicitly trained in its methods and even as practiced by those people it is shown to be ineffective and possibly damaging. New name, same concept.
....."Advances, however, in our understanding of trauma, the adolescent brain and disorders of affect regulation have correspondingly led to more judicious applications of expressive therapies. These understandings have played a key role in Swift River's implementation of an evidenced based clinical model...............................................Psychodramatic methods can be very powerful, however, when misapplied can create the risk of harm especially for certain adolescent populations.
Press release 10/24/2006"
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Advances, however, in our understanding of trauma, the adolescent brain and disorders of affect regulation have correspondingly led to more judicious applications of expressive therapies.
Advances? This has been widely known since the 60's!
Is ASR lying or incompetent? It's got to be one of the two!
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Just stop arguing with him already?
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http://www.rickross.com/reference/apolo ... ist23.html (http://www.rickross.com/reference/apologist/apologist23.html)
Abstract
Cults and large group awareness trainings have generated considerable controversy because of their widespread use of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control. These techniques can compromise individual freedom, and their use has resulted in serious harm to thousands of individuals and families. This report reviews the literature on this subject, proposes a new way of conceptualizing influence techniques, explores the ethical ramifications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, and makes recommendations addressing the problems described in the report.
Historical Background
During this century a series of events demonstrated that individual autonomy is much more fragile than was commonly believed. The Russian purge trials of the 1930s manipulated men and women into falsely confessing to crimes and falsely accusing others of having committed crimes (Mindszenty, 1974).
The world press expressed bewilderment and amazement at the phenomenon, but, with few exceptions, soon lapsed into silence (Rogge, 1959).
The late 1940's and early 1950's saw the effects of the revolutionary universities in China and the subjugation of an entire nation to a thought reform program which induced millions to espouse new philosophies and exhibit new behaviors (Chen, 1960; Hinkle and Wolff, 1956; Hunter, 1951; Lifton, 1961; Meerloo, 1951; Sargant, 1951, 1957, 1973; Schein, 1961).
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amazing stuff!!..I remember reading about the "Purge trials" in college .....I have not read Schreibers' book (not sure it would be directed to me).......but, it appears these two guys are taking another look at it:
Frank Bartolomeo, M.S.W, A.B.D.: Since January 2005, Frank Bartolomeo has been the Director of Counseling at Academy at Swift River in Cummington, Massachusetts. Prior to Swift River, Frank practiced in the Boston area and served as clinical director of a specialized trauma clinic, Children's Charter, Inc., and as director of the child and adolescent outpatient group therapy program at McLean Hospital. Frank was also an assistant clinical professor at the Boston University School of Social Work.
Edward Schreiber M.Ed., T.E.P., is a Trainer, Educator, Practitioner of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy. He is Director of the Moreno Institute East, a training center located in Western Massachusetts. Mr. Schreiber is co-editor, along with Toni Horvatin, of a recently published book on psychodrama: "The Quintessential Zerka: Writings by Zerka Toeman Moreno on Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy" by Routledge Press
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Edward Schreiber M.Ed., T.E.P., is a Trainer, Educator, Practitioner of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy. He is Director of the Moreno Institute East, a training center located in Western Massachusetts. Mr. Schreiber is co-editor, along with Toni Horvatin, of a recently published book on psychodrama: "The Quintessential Zerka: Writings by Zerka Toeman Moreno on Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy" by Routledge Press
this guy's a quack. notice he has no psychology degree and his title is trainer. this guy has no business trying to "treat" anyone.
any parents reading this should see a BIG RED FLAG. this is just more new-agey, emotion-over-science GARBAGE!
ASR is trading one research proven ineffective and damaging technique for another with the same outcomes. i thought they were using an "EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH"??? not hardly.
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(http://http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdirec/s-z/schreibered.JPG)
Edward Schreiber, M.Ed., C.P. is in Rhode Island, and teaches and writes about theory and practice in psychodrama. He was the winner of the Neil Passariello Award in 2001.
Swapping 4 Lifesteps for 4 Codes.
http://www.morenoinstituteeast.org/philosophy.htm (http://www.morenoinstituteeast.org/philosophy.htm)
The roots of psychodrama ? an interactive method meaning "psyche in action" ? come from 1912. It was then that Dr. J.L. Moreno, a young physician, gathered together a group of prostitutes in Vienna, Austria, to discuss their problems, health needs and concerns with each other.
Moreno expected that each woman would act as the "therapeutic agent" for the other women as they shared their common experiences; so began the birth of group psychotherapy and self help-groups.
http://www.souldrama.com/ (http://www.souldrama.com/)
A psychodrama director begins a session through a "warming up" process in which he helps the group to select an issue and a protagonist or subject, the person around whose problems the group therapy session will revolve. The protagonist is asked to present themselves on their stage of life and to enact situations that are relevant to their problem. The session can be an issue in the past, the present, or their anticipation of a future problem.
The group present is not an audience as in a theatrical production. The group present is crucial to a psychodrama because all members are considered participants. Many members will participate actively at some point in the session as auxiliary egos to the protagonist playing such roles as parents, son, daughter, or spouse. However, even those who sit through a session without speaking are expected to be empathetic and identify with the protagonist and the problem being presented for their benefit and the protagonists.
There are generally three phases to a classic psychodrama session: The warmup, which involves members of the group tuning- in to each other's concerns and focusing on a protagonist and a problem. The heart of the session involves the role-playing portrayal of various key scenes and the use of various techniques necessary to reveal the problem and move toward its solution. And finally there is the sharing at the end of the session which involves an intensive examination by the director, the protagonist, and the group on the meaning of the session.
In the process, some of the methods utilized include: (l) "role-reversal," a method that enables protagonists to see themselves from another point of view; (2) "doubling," which can facilitate members of the group to participate by sharing their viewpoint with the protagonist; (3) "soliloquizing," a method that enables a protagonist to share their most intimate thoughts in a crucial situation in their life; (4) "future-projection," a method that presents the opportunity for the protagonist to project himself into his future life; and (4) "group-sharing," the significant process which enables members of the group to share their emotions and possible solutions they derived from the session.
http://www.lewyablonsky.com/psychothera ... erapy.html (http://www.lewyablonsky.com/psychotherapy/psychotherapy.html)
A Historical Chronology of
Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama
http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/hxgrprx.htm (http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/hxgrprx.htm)
Excerpts:
1908-1911: Jacob L. Moreno began to experiment with creative drama with children in Vienna. 1912: Moreno organized the first self-help group, with the disadvantaged class of prostitutes in Vienna.
1922: Sigmund Freud speculated on group dynamics in his paper "Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego."
1932: J. L. Moreno first coined the terms "group therapy" and "group psychotherapy" at a conference of the American Psychiatric Association in Philadelphia, after doing basic research on prison populations. (He was encouraged to do this work by William Alanson White.) Moreno's approach of truly interactional, group-centered methods was in contrast to earlier group methods that were often classes in mental health, taught by lecture and exhortation.
1936: Moreno opened Beacon Hill Sanitarium, a private psychiatric hospital about 60 miles north of New York City on the Hudson River, with an attached psychodrama theater and facilities for training professionals. (This is also the year he became a naturalized citizen.)
1937: Alcoholics Anonymous, started a few years earlier in Akron, Ohio, was beginning to be recognized.
1949-1955: Maxwell Jones developed the concept of the '`therapeutic community" at the Social Rehabilitation Unit (later renamed Henderson Hospital) of the Belmont Hospital in Sutton, England. Around that time, Paul Sivadon in France pioneered the idea of open (unlocked) wards.
1958-1966: Frederick (Fritz) Perls, Laura Perls, Paul Goodman, Ralph Hefferline, and others developed Gestalt therapy in New York; it became popular after Fritz Perls moved to the Esalen Institute in California around 1966.
1963-1966: Marathon (time-extended) group therapy (mainly for personal growth); Frederick Stoller, George Bach, Elizabeth Mintz.
1963-1966: Michael Murphy and Richard Price organized Esalen Institute just south of Big Sur, California. It was the prototype of the "growth center," and hundreds sprouted up around the country (and some overseas) over the next decade. These centers became the focus of the human potential movement, which was a marriage of humanistic psychology and T-group methods.
1967: Will Schutz, at Esalen, combined many modes of therapy with the process of the basic encounter group psychodrama, bioenergetic analysis, sensory awakening, guided fantasy, and a variety of action techniques, many of which were ultimately based on Moreno's methods.
1967: Synanon "games" opened to the public as a form of encounter group in Santa Monica, a seaside suburb on the west side of Los Angeles. Synanon was started in 1958 as a drug abuse treatment center by Charles Diedrich. These games were just short of being violently confrontational, and some of this approach generalized to contaminate parts of the encounter group movement.
1968: Hindu gurus, swamis, and Eastern spiritual teachers and disciplines were becoming fashionable, in part stimulated by the support of the Beatles for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his system of transcendental meditation. The use of psychedelic agents added to metaphysical interest, and group therapies began integrating transpersonal issues.
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?..notice he has no psychology degree and his title is trainer. this guy has no business trying to "treat" anyone.
Whoa sorry I gave the impression he was treating kids he is a theorist and writes and teaches on the subject at the Moreno Institute. Deborah pointed this out also in the above post, thanks Deborah, I can see how that could be confusing.
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From the Press Release:
Advances, however, in our understanding of trauma, the adolescent brain and disorders of affect regulation have correspondingly led to more judicious applications of expressive therapies. These understandings have played a key role in Swift River's implementation of an evidenced based clinical model.
7. Why is psychodrama not more widely recognized?
It continues to be marginalized for a variety of reasons.
1. There are increasing numbers of competing forms of psychotherapy, new ones emerging every few years.
2. There is a continuing demand for "evidence-based" approaches, requiring hard research.
Many forms of therapy are not readily amenable to more current requirements of research, while a few other approaches are more amenable?especially those that can be described in a manual. (The problem with such approaches is that they address some common denominators in most psychiatric problems, such as sloppy and self-defeating thought patterns. It is not surprising that tightening up thinking would be shown to be statistically effective in most problems, but that doesn't mean it gets to the roots of the problem!)....
http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/Psychodrama-FAQ.html (http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/Psychodrama-FAQ.html)
This workshop, hosted by Director of Counseling, Frank Bartolomeo, M.S.W., A.B.D. and Ed Schreiber M.Ed., T.E.P., Director of Moreno Institute East, will focus on psychodramatic techniques and especially the role of catharsis. Psychodramatic methods can be very powerful, however, when misapplied can create the risk of harm especially for certain adolescent populations. This workshop will address these misapplications and offer guidelines for safe, competent application of psychodramatic work.
Is psychodrama a cathartic therapy?
While catharsis has been associated with psychodrama, there are many aspects of this method that are not particularly concerned with catharsis per se.
The processes of warming up and behavioral practice often have little to do with catharsis, except in a broader sense of there being a minor, not-particularly-emotional sense of "aha" or "whew" that goes with the integration of any learning experience. This corrects a talk by Prochaska in which he assigned psychodrama to the action phase of therapy, but not to the pre-contemplation, contemplation, or, following the action phase, homework phase. In fact, psychodramatic methods can be helpful and adapted to all phases of the work.
Problems with Psychodrama: Usually people are impressed and pleased with psychodrama, both group members and professionals who observe the method. On occasion, though, I've heard someone report that they either had a terrible experience with the method or they know someone who felt bad about the method. What explains this discrepancy?
Psychodrama, like any method, can be done badly. This is one reason the field tried to build in some quality control by establishing a Board of Certification, just as is done in many specialty areas in the professions. Still, there are many people who use psychodrama who have taken little actual training, and there is no legal way to stop them. It's not a big enough field to lobby for a requirement in licensing. Also, as mentioned, many professionals integrate the methods into their other types of counseling or therapy, and when this is done judiciously, it's usually quite helpful. But it can be done injudiciously, clumsily, or partially.
For example, I've heard a number of people who had negative experiences with "role playing." When these experiences were asked about in greater detail, usually it turns out that the group leader failed to adequately warm up either or both the participants and/or the group as a whole. Under such circumstances, being pressured to perform without being warmed up generates anxiety and is awkward and unpleasant. Some group leaders don't think there's that much to it.
I hear tell of undergraduates who are asked to demonstrate psychodrama in classes on psychology! This would be like asking high school students to demonstrate surgery! It's necessary to recognize that psychodrama?especially classical psychodrama?is in fact as complex as surgery!
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Beginning to see it's appeal.
Psychodrama and Dramatherapy are based on the principle that actions speak louder than words. Both forms of therapy encourage clients to be creative and each spontaneous action may contain a multiplicity of meaning.
How then do we evaluate our practice both as art forms and as clinical interventions?
When we can see that clients benefit from these interventions, who are the evaluations for?
Why do we need to present a body of evidence in the first place?
9.45 -10.00 Introduction
10.00 -11.00 Therapist-Researcher: An impossible role to play?
Dramatherapists - and I imagine Psychodramatists too - sometimes set out to find "proof that Dramatherapy (or Psychodrama) works". This may be by searching for studies that other people have undertaken, or by trying to design their own research to fulfil this purpose. I will argue that this goal is (a) too ambitious for the stage of knowledge we are currently at in our professions and (b) in any case a fundamentally flawed question. I will suggest some alternative, more achievable and more valid questions, and make some suggestions for how the professions might develop in order to answer them. Some other questions to be addressed will include:
*What's the difference between efficacy and effectiveness (and does it matter)? :question:
*How are these measured and do we want to play by others' rules to do this? :o
*Is the drama part of the process or part of the outcome?
*Can we 'measure' the drama and would we want to?
I will use my research on the 6-Part Story Method to illustrate some of these questions.
Dr Kim Dent-Brown trained as a Dramatherapist and now works in the NHS and at the University of Sheffield as a Research Fellow in Psychological Therapies. Current research interests include a trial of psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder, and an evaluation of the Layard-inspired Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme. He is convenor of the research sub-committee of the British Association of Dramatherapists.
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This man should practice his "therapy" in an an atmosphere better suited to it.
I suggest the surface of Venus.
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?..notice he has no psychology degree and his title is trainer. this guy has no business trying to "treat" anyone.
Whoa sorry I gave the impression he was treating kids he is a theorist and writes and teaches on the subject at the Moreno Institute. Deborah pointed this out also in the above post, thanks Deborah, I can see how that could be confusing.
the point is that this garbage has nothing to do with psychology. it's roots are in psychotherapy, long ago discredited (like all the works of Freud). he shouldn't TREAT anyone or presume to TEACH OTHERS how to treat anyone. he's a QUACKER.
why would ASR change approaches to include non-outcome-based treatment like this nonsense right after they pledged to do outcome-based work? oh yeah, i forgot...they won't use any outcome-based strategies that would require tracking and reporting results. :roll:
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During my research of Aspen Ranch, ASR og Copper Canyon I have discovered that Lifestep has been abandoned at ASR.
Detainees from Aspen Ranch has to go to Copper Canyon for the Marathon seminars and it is only those person, who is "working the program", who is tormented with the ordeal.
According to a press-release ASR made that the decision to abandon Lifestep in order to achieve better results.
Why did the rest of the facilities not go in the same direction. Why continue to use a less efficiend method?
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_at_Swift_River (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_at_Swift_River)
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Canyon_Academy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Canyon_Academy)
Perfect example of ASR changing certain things so they don't appear as controversial. That type of "therapy" is nothing more than new age guru bullshit and it's incredibly dangerous. Especially in a setting like ASR. Once they began to get some bad publicity, suddenly LifeSteps arent' a part of ASR anymore. Or are they?
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oh my god....maybe they just realized that what they were doing might have been wrong and decided to try something else. what is so hard to believe about this. i mean you down the Lifesteps over and over and when it appears they feel the same way instead of seeing what comes about you stil lhave to down them. i don;t get it!
Oh bullshit. You get it. They changed the name but it's the same old mindfuck. Why do you pretend it's anything different?
AB (too lazy to sign in)