AA MINORITY REPORT 2017 PDF (REVISED 28.12.17) CLICK HERE
Showing posts with label Synanon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Synanon. Show all posts

Thursday, 4 January 2018

The Lawyer Synanon Tried to Kill - Legally Speaking


University of California Television (UCTV)




California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden interviews Paul Morantz, the lawyer Synanon tried to kill.
- An educational video about Charles Dederich & Synanon and how cults brainwash followers.

Video can also be viewed at University of California Television (UCTV):
https://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=24671

Saturday, 23 December 2017

“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, 2nd 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, 2nd 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”

Thursday, 2 November 2017

“From Miracle to Madness: The True Story of Charles Dederich and Synanon” by Paul Morantz, 2nd. Edition, Cresta Publications, 2015


Written mainly from the Synanon cult’s records and tape recordings by Paul Morantz a lawyer specialising in cults and brainwashing. This important book records the history of Synanon's fraudulent and violent operations extensively, including crucial details that are largely ignored in some historical accounts.  

- Suggested reading in the AA Minority Report 

“The Light on Synanon: How a country weekly exposed a corporate cult - and won the Pulitzer Prize” Seaview Books, 1980



Co-written by journalists Dave Mitchell and Cathy Mitchell and Professor Richard Ofshe, University of California, Berkeley, this book presents a remarkable account of courageous journalism. Despite intimidation from a multi-million dollar corporate cult, and at risk to themselves, the Mitchells continued to publish reports on Synanon in their small town weekly newspaper at a time when  nationwide media outlets had fallen silent - fearful of Synanon’s litigation campaign against the media. For its exposé of Synanon, the Point Reyes Light newspaper won the Pulitzer Gold Medal for Meritorious Public Service in 1979. This important book records crucial details of Synanon cult history that are largely ignored in some historical accounts.

- Suggested reading in the AA Minority Report
See also:  “The Social Development of the Synanon Cult: The Managerial Strategy of Organizational Transformation” by Richard Ofshe, University of California, Berkeley: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3709903?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Sunday, 29 October 2017

"Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids" by Maia Szalavitz, Riverhead Books, 2006






In this book, journalist Maia Szalavitz traces the roots of the USA’s troubled-teen industry to the Synanon cult, records the rise of this billion-dollar-a-year 'Tough Love' industry, examines the forces that drive it, and exposes the abuses and misleading claims of success that led to congressional investigations and legislation. 

She discusses how this industry usurps the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps, twisting them so perversely that they meet Lifton’s criteria for thought-reform programmes.

 -  Suggested reading in the AA Minority Report


The con continues…

Friday, 11 August 2017

"Taking Liberties Cults and Capitalism"


An article on Synanon by Ann Neumann, visiting scholar at the Center for Religion and Media at  New York University:
See also, “The Social Development of the Synanon Cult: The Managerial Strategy of Organizational Transformation” by Richard Ofshe, University of California, Berkeley:



Friday, 23 June 2017

Minority Report 2017 (Alcoholics Anonymous): "Synanon Cult Influence on Alcoholics Anonymous, Addiction Treatment and the Criminal Justice System 1968-2017"

Full report PDF click here


Contents


Preface                                                                                                                                                 

1 Introduction                                                                                                                                        

2  Synanon Cult influence on Addiction Treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous
2.1 The Synanon Cult Origin                                                                                                          
2.2 Transfer of Synanon philosphy to mainstream addiction treatment                                        
2.2.1 Daytop Lodge/Daytop Village                                                                                              
2.2.2 Phoenix House                                                                                                                    
2.2.3 First Generation Synanon TCs in USA
2.2.4 First Generation Synanon TCs in UK
2.2.5 Second Generation and Contemporary Synanon TCs in USA
2.2.6 Synanon and first generation TC influence on Alcoholics Anonymous        
2.2.7 Synanon “Religion”, TC philosophy and Oxford Group nostalgia in A.A.
2.2.8 Therapeutic Communities, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the Cult Phenomenon
2.2.9 Therapeutic Communities “Back to Basics” Movement
2.2.10 Recovery Model
2.2.11 Recovery Oriented Integration System (ROIS)
2.2.12 Emergence of the Recovery Movement/Recovery Advocacy Movement
2.2.13 Contemporary Thought Reform Programmes
2.2.14 Thought Reform Programmes and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties          
2.2.15 The distortion of history relating to the origin of Synanon, Alcoholics Anonymous and the TC movement
2.2.16 Contemporary TCs

3   Synanon TC influence on the Criminal Justice System and Alcoholics Anonymous         
3.1 Synanon TC political influence and influence on the Criminal Justice System
3.2 Drug Courts, Coercion in the Justice System, and Court mandated attendance at A.A. meetings
3.3 Effect of Court mandated attendance on A.A.
3.4 Drug Court Advocacy in A.A.
3.5 Drug Courts and coercive referral to A.A. in the UK
3.6 Drug Court/Recovery Community Advocacy in the UK
3.7 The future progression of Drug Courts and how this political trend in the Criminal Justice system may affect alcoholics

4  Emergence of a Fundamentalist Movement in A.A.                                                             
4.1 Synanon, Tom P. Jr., “Gresham’s Law and Alcoholics Anonymous”, East Ridge Community and Recovery Center, All Addicts Anonymous, The Family Foundation School/Allynwood Academy, Congress Child Abuse Hearings, House of Parliament Presentation  
4.2 Clarence S., Mitchell K., Came to Believe Retreats    
4.3 Dick B., Freedom Ranch Maui Inc., International Christian Recovery Coalition, Overcomer’s Outreach
4.4 Joe McQ, The Primary Purpose Group of Dallas, Texas
4.5 Wally P., Back To Basics Foundation Inc., Faith With Works Publishing Company
4.6 Clancy I., The Pacific Group, Plymouth Road To Recovery Group
4.7 Deceptive Distortion of A.A. History regarding A.A.’s relationship with the Oxford Group

5  Recovery Alliance Inc.                                                                                                                    

6  12-Step Facilitation, Project Match and Hazelden Foundation                                                  

7  Distortion of early Alcoholics Anonymous History                                                                     

8  Corruption of A.A. Sponsorship                                                                                                    

9  Commercial Corruption of Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                  
9.1 Loss of AA’s Circle and Triangle Trademark  
9.2 Commercial Corruption in A.A. Intergroups
9.3 Illegal reprinting of A.A. Literature in ‘Big Book Study Guides’
9.4 Hazelden Publishing
9.5 Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing
9.6 Commercial Corruption in A.A. General Service Conferences and General Service Boards
9.7 A.A., the Internet and Online Therapeutic Communities

10 Diseasing of America: How We Allowed Recovery Zealots and the Treatment Industry to Convince US We Are Out of Control                                                                                             
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Public Criticism of A.A.
10.3 Social Trends and Changing Language in A.A.
10.4 Disease Theory Controversy
10.5 Misuse of Alcoholics Anonymous as an Addiction Treatment
10.6 Alcoholism, Narcissism and Cult Leadership
10.7 Circuit speakers and speaker recordings
10.8 The “Is A.A. a Cult?” debate

11 Conclusion                                                                                                                          
11.1 Conclusion
11.2 Bibliography/Suggested Reading

12 A.A.’s ‘Final Great Decision’                                                                                                      

Appendices                                                                                                                                 

A Synanon Cult Influence on A.A. - A.A. Grapevine Articles 1968-1975                                    

References

For full report PDF click here
                                                                                                                                          

Friday, 16 June 2017

Short Synanon Documentary Video


An important piece of history recorded on film

To view documentary, Click here