AA Conference Questions 2014 (contd)

AA Conference 2014 Committee No. 1 Q 2

(See the new aacultwatch forum)

“Learning from the US experience of Twelve Step Facilitation continued….

I wonder if Mark Gilman is fully aware of the cultic goings on in the US treatment industry, Congressional inquiries, and that he himself, as a government policy maker in the UK, might be a prime target for indoctrination by thought reform. I think the whole truth and magnitude of the Synanon cult’s ongoing influence in addiction treatment in the USA has still yet to be fully evaluated by the scientific community. The following are extracts from papers by Richard Ofshe, professor of Sociology at University of California, Berkeley, concerning Synanon and coercive persuasion.

“ Synanon, drawn from Ofshe” University of Nebraska; School of Criminology/Criminal Justice

“If we have learned anything in this field of criminology, it is that any one of us is capable of doing most anything. Given the right (or wrong) system of social controls and rewards, social expectations, personal circumstances, peer pressures, contingencies of the moment, and perceived personal threats, we are capable of engaging in both remarkable as well as horrific activities…” http://www.unl.edu/eskridge/cj496index.html

"Coercive Persuasion and Attitude Change" Richard J Ofshe Encyclopedia of Sociology Vol. 1 http://attachments.wetpaintserv.us/wh2Cjr4E38HgFqqmUdfXng==99651

“Thought-reform programs have been employed in attempts to control and indoctrinate individuals, societal groups (e.g., intellectuals), and even entire populations….”

“…Programs of coercive persuasion appear in various forms in contemporary society. They depend on the voluntary initial participation of targets. This is usually accomplished because the target assumes that there is a common goal that unites him or her with the organization or that involvement will confer some benefit (e.g., relief of symptoms, personal growth, spiritual development, etc.). Apparently some programs were developed based on the assumption that they could be used to facilitate desirable changes (e.g., certain rehabilitation or psychotherapy programs). Some religious organizations and social movements utilize them for recruitment purposes. Some commercial organizations utilize them as methods for promoting sales. Under unusual circumstances, modern police-interrogation methods can exhibit some of the properties of a thought-reform program. In some instances, reform programs appear to have been operated for the sole purpose of gaining a high degree of control over individuals to facilitate their exploitation.

Virtually any acknowledged expertise or authority can serve as a power base to develop the social structure necessary to carry out thought reform. In the course of developing a new form of rehabilitation, psychotherapy, religious organization, utopian community, school, or sales organization it is not difficult to justify the introduction of thought-reform procedures.

Perhaps the most famous example of a thought reforming program developed for the ostensible purpose of rehabilitation was Synanon, a drug treatment program (Sarbin and Adler 1970, Yabionsky 1965; Ofshe et al. 1974). The Synanon environment possessed all of Lifton's eight themes. It used as its principle coercive procedure a highly aggressive encounter/therapy group interaction. In form it resembled "struggle groups" observed in China (Whyte 1976), but it differed in content. Individuals were vilified and humiliated not for past political behavior but for current conduct as well as far more psychologically intimate subjects, such as early childhood experiences, sexual experiences, degrading experiences as adults, etc. The coercive power of the group experience to affect behavior was substantial as was its ability to induce psychological injury (Lieberman, Yalom, and Miles 1973; Ofshe et al. 1974).

Allegedly started as a drug-rehabilitation program, Synanon failed to accomplish significant long-term rehabilitation. Eventually, Synanon's leader, Charles Diederich, promoted the idea that any degree of drug abuse was incurable and that persons so afflicted needed to spend their lives in the Synanon community. Synanon's influence program was successful in convincing many that this was so. Under Diederich's direction, Synanon evolved from an organization that espoused nonviolence into one that was violent. Its soldiers were dispatched to assault and attempt to murder persons identified by Diederich as Synanon's enemies (Mitchell, Mitchell, and Ofshe 1981)”

See also, Synanon in “Extreme Influence – Thought Reform, High Control Groups, Interrogation and Recovered Memory Psychotherapy” RICHARD J. OFSHE. Encyclopedia of Sociology, Vol. 2, 2001 http://find.galegroup.com/gic/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=fb720fd31d9036c1ed2d1f3a0500fcc2&prodId=GIC&userGroupName=itsbtrial&tabID=T001&docId=CX3404400125&type=retrieve&contentSet=EBKS&version=1.0”

Note: Conference Questions can be downloaded in pdf from the GSO (GB) website. They are on pages 5-11, AA Service News, Issue 157, Winter 2013 http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/download/1/Library/Documents/AA%20Service%20News/157%20Winter%202013.pdf

Conference 2014 background material can be found on the GSO (GB) website. Follow the “Background Material for Conference 2014” link in the Document Library. http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/Members/Document-Library

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

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