AA Conference Questions 2014 (contd)

AA Conference 2014 Committee No. 1 Q 2

(See the new aacultwatch forum)

“With reference to the following extract from the article about Recovery Champions: “Walk the Line” by Harry Shapiro and Carolyn Oubridrge, Druglink July/August 2012: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/Resources/Drugscope/Documents/PDF/Publications/WalktheLine.pdf “…In 2011, Addaction held its first conference for the organisation’s own Recovery Champions. The main speaker was therapeutic community guru and creator of the Recovery-Orientated-Integration- System (ROIS), George de Leon. He reflected back to the 1960s and the early days of Phoenix House and Synanon, whose founders, he said, were the first recovery champions, “only we didn’t call it ‘recovery’, we called it ‘change….’”

Although hailed as a “therapeutic community” or “self- help/mutual aid” organisation, by sociologists and psychiatrists working in the Therapeutic Communities movement, Synanon is also recognised by other sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists; journalists and lawyers to be one of USA’s most influential and notorious destructive cults (Mitchell,Mitchell, Ofshe, 1980; Singer,2003; Lalich, 2006; Hassan,1990;  Morantz, 2013; Szalavitz, 2006) This begs the question to authors of certain peer reviewed papers published within the addiction treatment industry/ therapeutic communities movement: Can a destructive cult honestly be described as a “therapeutic community” or “self-help/ mutual aid" organisation”?  I don’t think today’s new organising “recovery” paradigm and the “recovery movement” can be fully understood  without understanding the circumstances from which it has since been built; and without including the perspective of sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, lawyers and journalists who study destructive cults and how these organisations evolve.

References:

Mitchell,D, Mitchell, C, Ofshe, R, (1980) The Light On Synanon, How a country weekly exposed a corporate cult- and won the Pulitzer Prize, Seaview Books. http://www.amazon.com/Light-Synanon-Corporate-Cult--Pulitzer/dp/0872236137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391088389&sr=1-1&keywords=the+light+on+synanon

Singer, (Margaret Thaler Singer) (2003) Cults In Our Midst, The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, Jossey-Bass. http://www.amazon.com/Cults-Our-Midst-Continuing-Against/dp/0787967416/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391088513&sr=1-1&keywords=Cults+in+our+midst

Lalich, J. (2006) Take back Your Life: Recovering From Cults And Abusive Relationships, 2^nd ed. Bay Tree Publishing http://www.amazon.com/Take-Back-Your-Life-Relationships/dp/0972002154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391088574&sr=1-1&keywords=take+back+your+life+recovering+from+cults+and+abusive+relationships

Hassan, S., (1990) Combatting Cult Mind Control, Park Street Press. http://www.amazon.com/Combatting-Cult-Mind-Control-Best-selling/dp/0892813113/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

Morantz,P. (2013) Escape, My Lifelong War Against Cults, 2^nd ed., Cresta Publications http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Life-Long-Against-Cults/dp/0615848699/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391088668&sr=1-3-fkmr0&keywords=Escape+my+life+long+war+with+cults

Szalavitz,M.,(2006) Help At Any Cost, How the Troubled –Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, Riverhead Books. http://www.amazon.com/Help-Any-Cost-Troubled-Teen-Szalavitz/dp/B00E31IOFK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391088759&sr=8-2&keywords=help+at+any+cost+how+the+troubled+teen+industry+hurts+cons+parents+and+hurts+kids”

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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