synanon survivors
My disappointment, as stated in my book, is that after all this great work, led by the entertainment field it regressed, with HBO and Showtime saying the best job you could get if you were a woman was to strip or manipulate a millionaire to marry you. Eventually Dr. DuPont left government service and became a paid consultant for Straight, which had replaced The Seed after the US Senate likened its methods to North Korean brainwashing. He wrote the failure of Yablonsky to see the horror of what he had written raised questions suggesting a lack of humanity in Yablonsky. We were mentally ill. Chuck Dederich would not only envy the Money Elan made, but the protection they got. We have multiple groups dedicated to ending the TTI (Troubled Teen Industry) as well, that work in conjunction with mine, this is how I discovered this story! Synanon was a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and movement-turned-cult in California that existed from 1958 to 1991. Poor and, at one point, subsisting mostly off of rabbits they raised and butchered in their backyard, Jollett was unable to process the trauma he'd experienced, according to the book. Yet by the time Synanon shut down in 1991, its model had already been widely copied. According to Department of The money was too good; parents panicking at the finding of a joint and willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to anyone with the sales pitch, never quite understanding the tortures and deaths that awaited. Real crazy people. It was bizarre, surreal,and violent it was not a school in any stretch of the imagination. And you quite accurately describe the reason, it was protected. Many have the support of state agencies, because of the past publicity for Synanon, unaware of what happened in California and assuming therefor these programs worked. And it will be edited further. Its goal was to take it to the context of greater society.I would appreciate you know your feelings. If I did not want comments i would not have it set up too comments. It is also a story of the unconditional love between Stop telling me this didn't happen, because this happened.'" Largely, the squares were people looking for purpose and to be part of something. That Young people were beaten, some in public demonstrations. As I said, I would say the same of Janzen. As for women, I cant purport to be an expert, but having lived through the 60s Revolution and womens rights I do have my observations. Some children were taken to foreign countries, or islands, although foreign countries have done more to stop them than our government. That's crazy,'" says Jollett, reflecting back on cult-members giving their children away at 6 months old. The authorities closed it down. Synanon was the first therapeutic community devoted to the treatment of the drug addicted according to the Encyclopedia of Drugs and Alcohol, which is edited by the first White House Drug Czar, per Wes Fager, who also noted Dr. Jerome Jaffe stated Synanon is the prototype of the drug-related therapeutic community-a community where the addict surrenders all aspects of his life, except one-the right to leave. Fager further noted Bratter and Forrest write that In less than a quarter of a century, the American self-help residential therapeutic community has come to span the globe. The game and all other methods of forced confessions, real or false to conform, are the essence of Liftons brainwashing. WebSynanon Industries. You dont present any facts that they are lies because you have none. You might call that egotistical, but I felt I had that knowledge because I had engaged so many. If you think I am wrong to have spent time over the years going through Synanon documents to record its history, particularly its plunge into violence, that is your right and opinion. The autopsy report stated that he died from a perforated ulcer, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. As to CED I have no clear answer, but certainly his childhood traumas and abandonments were likely to produce pathology. my last chapter in my book did just exactly what you asked which was put my what you call myscholarly talents on the American cult. The leader, Chuck Dederich, decided we wouldn't have parents, and then we just didn't.". also, to write a good book, you have to think that is what you are doing or it will not be a good book. Jollett believes the violence to which adults were subjected has received widespread attention. In 1971, the federal government, through he second White House Drug Czar, Robertq L. Dupont, Jr. MD. The study of cults can teach us the problems of nations. How old were you. standing in line at a supermarketI get it reading the rags past the time. Out of 1,180 addicts who had entered Synanon in its first five years of operation, only 26 had graduated. The bad publicity led some supporters, Melvin and Betty Sembler of The Seed to create a copycat organization under a different name Straight Inc.but employed Du Point as a consultant. But I also concluded that Synanon would always be dangerous because of the nature of the Synanon game. But these rules had long been eradicated at Synanon the root of todays confrontational-type therapeutic communities. . And he told of the case of one TC therapist who forced female clients to perform fellatio on him while he talked on the phone to their probation officers., *..**. Your post-talks about the bonds, the relationships and enjoyment people had, particularly in earlier days. Its first example, naturally, as failure, was Synanon, and like Synanon, its clones became the darlings of the media and politicians in election years. And in the end, what I presented were facts, i.e., the actual statistics, what happened in the clones and the general consensus of experts that the Synanon system of brainwashing, punishments and humiliations is counterproductive and psychologically dangerous. It also provides no real therapy and is the same program for everyone. And with that all being announced on the wire, murder attempts begin. Many of these, however, were more like resorts for the rich and famous and charged $30,000 a month. Sincerely One could argue that the destruction caused by the Synanon game was a legacy to the extent that it helped quash the humanistic movement and the over self indulgence in encounter groups. The example story might be that of Joe Musico and Lance Kenton. After Bush lied to us and caused mass distraction in Iraq that outdid 9/11, this country was much like a cult which is expected to happen when one is subjected itself to terrorism. Maybe it's one of the things about human nature, that isolated power corrupts people. For those, as stated above, there is no doubt Synanon served as Ofshe stated, a realistic shelter while they got their act together. And he started saying, 'Don't be like me. Children say they were punched, kicked and forced to eat dirt for minor infractions such as failing to stand up straight. Suggest reading the fall of series. Unfortunately as I learned what happened in clones and wilderness programs, people not only did not learn from that history, a book like Janzens can help fuel the continuation of its tragedies. . Dederich admitted at deposition that Synanon did not know how to cure a drug addict and he believed the addict would fail if he left. But he was tapped for his past violent tendencies and unleashed like Russell Crowe in L. The monster that now existed had to be stopped. Today there is argument, but generally it only comes from true believers like Janzen or long time residents who once condemned Synanon, , but now in their old age, as is generally the final stage for victims of brainwashing, per Dr. Lifton, rewrite their memories so each night they are at peace with what they took part in, including, if not outright participating, knowing of the Imperial Marines and all the beatings. I am very grateful that you have included in writing your blog about Joe Riccis version or interpetation of Synanon. I suppose if they werent why Id have to find another business. It did make news. While the abuse in Synanon was bad enough, it pails in comparison to a stream of sociopaths who hijacked the system to become Millionaires through the abuse of children; in some cases even as morally deprived as organizations that kidnap children and sell them for profit. Justice For Our Angels. You would know that in general I have a higher regard for Synanon people than the public at large. Margo, you say you are a successful attorney. 65-pound Michael Wiltsie, 12, at Camp E-Kel-Etu, a private Florida facility, in 2000 was suffocated to death by a 320-pound counselor who sat on him until he stopped breathing. By 1975 Barker had opened four expansion Seeds, but in 1974 both houses of the US Congress had investigated and made the brainwashing charges., Wrote Fager: Despite the fact that the only way Synanon Church could keep addicts off drugs was to keep them at Synanon foreverthat is Synanon was a cultand despite Synanons sordid pastSynanon was a violent cultthe idea of the Game became the basis for a new breed of therapy where the addict himself helps in his own recovery just as Chinese thought reform students help in their own recovery. Society would have to catch up with Dederich on his ideas of dieting, exercise, and no smoking. Education website. Need your help! Nicholaus Contreraz, 16, died at the Arizona Boys Ranch near Oracle, Arizona, March 2, 1998, of cardiac arrest, after instructors continued to harass him and force him to exercise even though he told them he was sick. Those who chose to reject his ideas were removed. When she finally was rescued by a grandmother, the organization was fortunately wiped out by the resulting civil judgment for damages. Its wonderful. Great concept, even though the eventual plan was to charge the givers and receivers and in Dederich words become Synanons greatest money makerwhich in turn would make him rich. He would want to know the reasons that motivated me, if he was in search for the truth. In my opinion Elan operated as a continueing criminal enterprise for close to forty years. Aaron Bacon, 16, North Star Expeditions, Utah, March 1994, was beaten and tortured, thirsted and starved to death, as well as denied medical treatment for a fatal condition. Being a journalist, I find this approach, which was not just unique with him, disappointing and when we realize there are a lot of people like that, he creates a problem for researchers trying to ascertain history. And I think he saw I might be going down that path, too. But is there anything worth giving up freedom of thought? As I wrote the youth did not buy in as did the parents, you sound like one of them. I dont have to stay in it anymore. Some of the kids when graduated became counselors for cheap wages, and there is probably nothing more vicious than an 18 year-old who was abused and now given the power to abuse. Spankings with paddles often drew blood and Phil Williams was beaten to death in the ring. Elan was known of using such standards as haircut, pull- up, the game and humiliating signs; but added a boxing ring for resisters to be plummeted by bigger guys until a bloody confession was extracted, regardless of its truth. Thats why I wrote the history of Synanon because there is so much to learn. But, Ms. Szalavitz writes, the shuttered programs simply changed their names and reopened, often with the same staff, in the same stateeven in the same building. First touted as a rehabilitation center for addicts when it was founded in 1958, Synanon helped thousands get sober and amassed $30 million or more in assets. NIH had even started its own experimental synanon at the federal lockup hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. And as the classic 1971 Stanford prison experiment demonstrated, creating situations in which the severe treatment of powerless people is rewarded inevitably yields abuse. In terms of drug addiction, thats where it ends. And thank you for further documenting the direct connection of where all these horribly abusive re-education brainwashing treatment centers came from, the mother of them all Synanon. Joe Ricci, the owner, survived the state of Illinois pulling residents out because of the abuse and beat them in court. Its a calculated risk. No one will be mad at you. WebJan 2010 - Present13 years 2 months United States Im a CEDU Survivor who created & runs the Synanon Survivors Group on Facebook. As a key distinction between comparing Synanon to America, those in Synanon who tried to warn or criticize were shut down and shoved out. Died of dehydration. see review. "All of us started having kids, and I think as parents we were like, 'Holy s---, what? It does appear prior post returned and I did respond to you at length. By 1971 Dederich would submit that while 10 to 12,000 people had gone through Synanon only about 10% stayed free of drugs for as much as 2 years, which was similar to the statistics everyone else concluded, which were the same at Lexington Hospital when Synanon was founded. But that idea was bantered by law enforcement as because of the wire, and the wire logs, knowledge could be proven against all who stayed in support. He interviewed Richard Ofshe but then without explanation he wrote Ofshes discourses of brainwashing interesting, but not applicable. It exposes the cruel abnormal policies, practices and propaganda the Synanon children were forced to endure in a so-called modern America. WebSynanon sought religious status in 1974, with Diedrich as its leader. TimI didnt say I was the only one to fight Synanon. Saying his death was caused by cardiac arrest, said Cohen, is really sugar-coating the pill as he was tortured to death and also denied medical treatment. (He is now sober. And that was great. As to the above, I remain impressed with your apparent life long research into many areas, and you write so much, it is hard to know where to begin. Janzen could have had this dissertation, but he was not looking for truth. He participated in several missions, and arguably would have lived a better life but for his exposure to Synanon. First, while our government says that all people are equal the fact is they are not born equal. 14-year-old Anthony Haynes died while attending a five-week boot camp operated by the Americas Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association. The evil was he boasted that they would cut off any charity that did not do as Synanon told them to do. This program was called MATRIX. is probably the most clear and present danger the presidential office ever faced. But these ideals were short lived. What is this thing that you think you're doing? Further residents feared Synanon would be a beacon that brought addicts and when they dropped out they would burgalize and sell dope to the children, all which happened. I did not delete Susans comment, they disappeared and then reappeared; have happy holidays. "I became very interested in the idea of buried history, all the ways that we as children were told things that were patently untrue, and that we believed them," says Jollett, whose book will publish on May 26, just after the same-titled album. To me there is good reason why Elan was not on the the map. While Synanons bragging of curing drug addiction was far off from reality, its public relations system did promote the concept that drug addiction was not impossible to overcome as many had thought when Synanon was conceived. It reasoned that success stories generally had little to do with the programs themselves. The story of Synanon is how one man took good people and turned them into terrorists. (c) Nov. 2012. Synanons advertising of its few success stories was so convincing that many professionals like New York psychiatrist Dan Casriel had become convinced of the Games efficacy. The Old Man would testify that he never gave a splitee a single thought from the moment each left. He also forced women to have abortions and almost 200 men had vasectomies after Dederich forbade any more children. Maia wrote: No fewer than 50 programs can trace their treatment philosophy, directly or indirectly, to an anti-drug cult called Synanon. Experience indicates that when these counselors use an especially intrusive, aggressive approach, frequently debasing and harshly confronting clients, they may do more harm than good. "Mary Karr likes to say, 'You have to write about difficult relationships with great love.' Synanon Industries August 23, 2022 2. They covered his mouth with a hand and forced him to inhale ammonia, which caused spasm of his vocal cords and prevented him from being able to inhale. I am a Synanon survivor. And that Susan, is what differentiates us, from other countries where there is no freedom of press. So I asked him how he could then discount it and he responded because if it existed, he would have to consider it occurring in religions (he is a Christian and lover of utopian communities) and other groups. Originally a nonviolent group, Diedrich created the Imperial Marines to maintain orderwithin and outside of the community. Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program turned violent cult founded by Charles Dederich Sr. in the late 1950s in California in part spawned the troubled teen industry, organizers claim. . 1 talking about this. I'm going to get up at 5:00, I'm going to feed the rabbits, I'm going to make myself breakfast, I'm going to make myself lunch, I'm going to walk to school. Information from former members of the cult quickly identified two of Synanons Imperial Marines as suspects in the snake-attack. . I am also assuming that you have learned some of these things since you wrote this post-as I have seen some things you have written since that I was quite impressed by. Eventually, on the subject of rehabilitation, Ofshe would write, Synanon was the failure thats gave birth to an industry.. Free choice is an American ideal, and we sacrifice for it, to preserve it, because as a nation we believe it is our greatest freedom. That is just a fact. "He was just this big, masculine, Italian, strong guy that loved his boys. *, As with The Seed, at Straight abuse was omnipresentincluding beatings and kidnapping of adult participants. AA, as Synanon did, says one must participate in AA for life and have a religious belief in AA 12 steps. Further it established shelter and group support could aid those truly wanting to stop. But, in the late '70s, the California-based organization became synonymous with violence. If you have a complaint it is with Yablonsky and Janzen who had no understanding of the Synanon system. He wrote that the Synanon experience in playing the game, peers caring for peers without doctors, created a cure for drug addiction. This issue obviously needs further elaboration and research, but there are suggestions that there are age limits below which this form of treatment is contraindicated. Further, it is foolish to treat all persons in the same manner. Elan made millions and millions of dollars, off of criminal child abuse. TTI Survivor - Leviah Rose. Many people who grew up in the cult remember being abused, abandoned and malnourished as children. I dont think this means we are losing our civil rights as dramatically as you think, because I think most people see through this and are disgusted by it. Rather than a commune wonderfully described by Yablonsky and Janzen as reforming criminals, it made criminals out of non-criminals, and took former reformed criminals to a higher level of criminal violence. I gave you a ring and was most pleasantly surprised that you answered. The legacy quotes statistics that I did not keep or make, but Synanon did. In the introduction I asked the question was Charles Dederich just another sociopath who rose to power or was he a Jedi Knight seduced by the Dark Side. Relationships at the school between students and staff seemed to have little formal structure or sense of normal boundary and a students life was always under threat of intense and unpredictable disciplining and punishment. Synanons punitive system of verbal attacks and humiliation was counterproductive and drove out most that entered. Gina Score, 14, at the state-run juvenile prison camp at Plankinton, South Dakota, 1999 was run to death. Ex-members have no idea how close they all came to being arrested for conspiracy of RICO violations. "I think the insight for me was I always loved her, she just wasn't very good at loving me. Also, because of time restraints, I put up the information so it is there and then go back and edit when I have the chance. His motive, which Janzen missed, was the eventual plan to steal all the money. Barker had been arrested at age 16 for burglary and when he was 18 he was charged with assault and robbery, for which he joined the Army a few days later and then went AWOL. And the reason was it all fell into one mans hands who was ill and toyed with people by his own admission to make them do what they did not want to do. I would say probably every decade my views changed, either up or down, but only in small degrees. By 1976 the plan to transfer the money to the Dederich family was cemented and implanted. But instead he made lab rats out of people. What is mysterious about this? In 1984 a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia awarded Fred Collins, Jr. $220,000 for being falsely imprisoned at Straight.Inc. The problem of these programs was it was believed it was justified to use any means, denying human and civil rights and treating people who didnt need treatment; all this done without any proof that behavior modification programs ever worked. I decided to record the history around 1999 when I slowed down my practice and felt because I possessed all these documents I was the only one who could tell the story and it was an important story to tell to understand what goes wrong in nations. Oh so very funny. when I was growing up I thought world would be a better place if women were in control. But it is mans nature to flock together and unfortunately war with each other. "And probing into this world of the traumatized child. Pierce (1977) As stated, Dederich, himself, admitted at deposition that he created the boogeyman to bond people and keep them from running away. Most of what I wrote was a no comment description in detail of Synanons evolution taken from its own records. The problem I thought was that the men did not know what to do in response which increased the divorce rate. The problem is, however, is how to ensure they are taken advantage of. The article listed more; interesting the largest number of abusive clones were in Arizona, where several juvenile probation officers had became visitor/participators in Synanon and recommended Synanon to officials and courts even though Marin County juvenile probation had stopped all sending of kids to Synanon and returning runaways. But before I wrote this, there were many before me who wrote the same thing trying to put an end to the warped Synanon system that as Dederich said was based on hate. Unfortunately, came the imitators who sold the idea it was rehabilitative and copied it leading to a much greater list of damaged individuals than Synanon could ever achieve. The founder, Charles Dederich, ordered his cult followers to divorce and swap partners, with more than 200 couples complying. Others who completed the program were absorbed into the organization as low-paid or voluntary staff limited to walking around money. Kenton, through no fault of his own, was placed in the Synanon school by square musician parents and at age 18 became the youngest member of the Imperial Marines. Because he had lived for so long surrounded by yes people, he had no understanding how others would see his actions and thus was very open in admitting what he did, including that violence could not happen unless he approved it.
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