“The Recovery Revolution: The Battle Over Addiction Treatment in the United States” by Claire D. Clark, Columbia University Press, 2017

A new book documenting the successful promotion of the Synanon Cult and Synanon based Therapeutic Communities in the USA, by Claire D. Clark, assistant professor of behavioral science, University of Kentucky.  

Based extensively on selective archive literature that promoted the Synanon Cult in the 1960s, alongside interviews with former cult members and supporters working in the field of addiction treatment, “The Recovery Revolution” presents an overview of the history of addiction treatment in the USA.

Some sections of the book referring to Alcoholics Anonymous are misleading. The Synanon/Therapeutic Communities “Act as if” principle has been incorrectly attributed to A.A. on page 25. Also misleading are statements made on pages 183 and 188, implying that journalist Jack Alexander was among A.A. “skeptics” and “detractors”, and that the disease model of addiction was originally proposed in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous.” These highlight the challenge A.A. Public Information now face in correcting negative misconceptions about A.A. that appear in academic literature, which when taught in universities, filter down to professionals and the general public.

The book has been criticised for failing to adequately document the Synanon Cult’s fraudulent and violent activities and the unethical marketing and abuse that has occurred in Synanon based Therapeutic Community treatment facilities – See the following reviews of the book by journalist Maia Szalavitz and lawyer Paul Morantz:

“Breaking Addicts in Order to Fix Them: How Synanon revolutionized drug treatment and poisoned the politics of prohibition” by Maia Szalavitz: http://reason.com/archives/2017/09/21/breaking-addicts-in-order-to-f

“Claire Clark “The Recovery Revolution” Columbia Press 2017 Fake History – Synanon – A Book Review” by Paul Morantz:  http://www.paulmorantz.com/cult/claire-clark-columbia-press-fake-history-synanon-a-book-review-once-on-amazon-but-somehow-removed/

Despite its shortcomings the “Recovery Revolution” does document in detail the extent to which the Synanon Cult and its Therapeutic Community successors expanded and the extent of their political influence in shaping  government policies on addiction treatment in the United States, from Synanon’s beginning in 1958 to the present rise of the Recovery Movement and Recovery Oriented Systems of Care.

Readers of the book are unlikely to gain much of an insight into the nature of Synanon's successful promotion, or the “battle over addiction treatment in the United States” without reading the history of the Synanon cult and Therapeutic Communities and how cults of the 1960s and 70s have since evolved in the following publications: “The Light on Synanon: How a Country Weekly Exposed a Corporate Cult and Won the Pulitzer Prize” by Dave & Cathy Mitchell and Professor Richard Ofshe, Seaview Books, 1980;  “From Miracle to Madness: The true story of Charles Dederich and Synanon” by Paul Morantz, 2^nd Edition, Cresta Publications, 2015; “Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids” by Maia Szalavitz, Riverhead Books, 2006; “Cults in our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace” by Professor Margaret Thaler Singer, 2^nd Revised Edition, Jossey-Bass, 2003.

Unfortunately for A.A., the misuse of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” as an addiction treatment for decades by various institutions, including Synanon Cult based Therapeutic Community institutions, has meant that the battle over addiction treatment in the United States is one that is also being fought within A.A. 

Maybe one day, sociologists, psychiatrists, and addiction treatment policy makers might work out that it wasn’t such a bright idea to base an addiction treatment model on the ideas of a megalomaniac alcoholic who thought A.A. meetings were “limited and really of no value”, who founded a destructive cult, who failed to achieve permanent sobriety himself, and who was eventually convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.   That it wasn’t such a bright idea also, to base addiction treatment models on a book called “Alcoholics Anonymous” that was not intended to be an addiction treatment, the title of which is also a registered trademark of Alcoholics Anonymous that cannot legally be used by other organisations - including large corporations such as the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation for the purpose of selling their Minnesota Model and wares.

For a brief history of the Synanon Cult’s influence on addiction treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous in the USA and Great Britain see AA Minority Report 2017: “Synanon Cult influence on Alcoholics Anonymous, Addiction Treatment and the Criminal Justice System 1968-2017”

Big Book Study Cult invades A.A. in Lithuania

Extract from 19^th European Service Meeting, 2017, page 63: https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/download/1/Library/Documents/Europe/19th%20European%20Service%20Meeting%202017.pdf

“Around 2010 ― “Big book STUDY” groups started to form. They look like followers of the Oxford groups. Seminars of "sponsorship" are being organised. Written contracts are being made between a sponsor and sponsee. Usage of 0th (zero) step. Persistant persuasion that there is "the one and only true path to RECOVERY". They're stating that they don't have alcohol problem anymore, ―”Aren't ill anymore”. Big book study groups aggressively express themselves in public information also discrediting ideas of AA. They publish and sell AA GSO unapproved literature. Inside of AA fellowship in Lithuania a few individuals are trying to organize a separate structure, which is based on distorted principles of sponsorship. They are attempting to affect AA processes through their sponsees. In this way, chaos is being spread and AA unity is being pulled apart. Hyperactive actions in public information and ignored opinions of other AA groups and services is making society feel repulsive towards AA fellowship, damaging its public image. Based on the Twelve Concepts for World Service we understand that we can‘t do much more than just talk trying to appeal to their conscience and urge to follow the 12 traditions of AA. That's why we are asking you to share your experience on how did you deal in similar situations.”

The experience of A.A. in Lithuania is similar to that experienced by A.A. in some parts of Great Britain.

The Big Book Study movement, supported by an international recruitment apparatus involving a network of treatment centres, seminars, retreats, speaker recordings, publications, websites and online meetings, is unlikely to go away anytime soon. New cult groups are likely to pop up wherever the movement, using what are sophisticated forms of brainwashing, can recruit and radicalize vulnerable individuals. Lack of information appears to be part of the problem.

For information on Big Book Study cults and the Synanon Cult’s contribution to this international movement, see AA Minority Report 2017: “Synanon Cult influence on Alcoholics Anonymous, Addiction Treatment and the Criminal Justice System 1968-2017”