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COncerned Partner
My apologies to Caroline as the author of the blog. I only just googled and found the blog. The defense was written by someone else who also needs to check their credentials.

One by Brendan Mooney, Registered Psychologist BPsySci (Hons) AmusA

[truthaboutuniversalmedicine.com]

Oh Dear, what can you say about this nonsense and lack of self awareness? It is certainly not an advertisement to use his services is it? ( remember Brendan, the vast majority of your customers are not in the cult)

I would like to point out to all psychologists, doctors, lawyers and those that think their professional status lends credibility to UM that this is totally irrelevant. These people may have a tertiary eduction but they are just as given to cognitive illusions and bias as much as the next person. In fact, there is evidence to suggest more so. Which is why most cults in the world are full of professionals that one assumes might be immune to thought reform. More problematically, these people are much more adept at convincing themselves and others by selective application of their knowledge.

For anyone in the know, Brendan and co, your education is irrelevant to the nature of the group. There is of course an expectation that you might know better, but that is clearly false.

Just for future reference- the cult status of UM is not in question at all to the vast majority of non members, including many other professionals that would outnumber the few involved 100 to 1, plus cult experts, various govt. departments, ex cult member themselves, people who started with UM and stopped when they realized how inappropriate much of it is. A well worded missive on a cult blog does nothing but disguise the truth to themselves.

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treefern

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COncerned Partner
My apologies to Caroline as the author of the blog. I only just googled and found the blog. The defense was written by someone else who also needs to check their credentials.

One by Brendan Mooney, Registered Psychologist BPsySci (Hons) AmusA

[truthaboutuniversalmedicine.com]

Oh Dear, what can you say about this nonsense and lack of self awareness? It is certainly not an advertisement to use his services is it? ( remember Brendan, the vast majority of your customers are not in the cult)

I would like to point out to all psychologists, doctors, lawyers and those that think their professional status lends credibility to UM that this is totally irrelevant. These people may have a tertiary eduction but they are just as given to cognitive illusions and bias as much as the next person. In fact, there is evidence to suggest more so. Which is why most cults in the world are full of professionals that one assumes might be immune to thought reform. More problematically, these people are much more adept at convincing themselves and others by selective application of their knowledge.

For anyone in the know, Brendan and co, your education is irrelevant to the nature of the group. There is of course an expectation that you might know better, but that is clearly false.

Just for future reference- the cult status of UM is not in question at all to the vast majority of non members, including many other professionals that would outnumber the few involved 100 to 1, plus cult experts, various govt. departments, ex cult member themselves, people who started with UM and stopped when they realized how inappropriate much of it is. A well worded missive on a cult blog does nothing but disguise the truth to themselves.

I find it very sad that to 'live' in honesty and to be able to help the many, many UMers who are now questioning what-in-the-hell they are/have been doing, I yet again have to disclose another personal part of myself!

Two things CP, I would very much doubt that Brendan has any clients outside of UMers if he does they would number in the few, Brendan sticks very closely within the Umers.

I was referred to see Caroline at Uni Med by someone within the 'firm', it was suggested at the time even before I had my first appointment that I apply for a Mental Health Plan for the 8 visits I would initally require. I made an apointment and saw Caroline, I had a problem at the time concerning my mother who was and still is a very abusive woman...in the TRUE sense of the word! I expained to Caroline at the time that I "wanted to be a better mother to my children than my mother had been to me". To my surprise the first thing Caroline said to me was "well you are in fact a worse mother than she ever was!" I was shocked to say the least, Caroline hadn't even asked why I would want or even say that, she hadn't even established exactly what kind of mother mine was, but had jumped to the conclusion that I was a bad mother..and how did she know this, well even when I was tired I "did" things for them.

Caroline proceeded to tell me that she was, indeed a much more loving mother to her (then) 5 year old son. You see when she was tired she "lovingly" wnet to bed no matter what time it was and it was much "better" for her (then) 5 year old son to get himself something to eat for dinner and put himself to bed than for her to do it out of duty and "lovelessness". This not only had me fearing for the welfare of this little boy but also the very judgemental way I had been treated made the question of returning easy..... I didn't! I did however speak to some child walfare workers at the time who did suggest to me that this response to raising a small child would be considered NEGLECT! You see being a 'loving' parent does sometimes mean placing yourself behind the needs of a small child/children and not listening to the bunk that comes out of someones mouth that supports your already selfish and narssicistic view of being a parent.

And so on it goes...........

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John lazuras
Hi All,

A Registered Psychologist who works from and for the Universal Medicine Clinic at Goonellabah has made some comments on the “Truth about Universal Medicine” web site.

I am not too sure where he gets his information from about UM but I need to share my experience with UM here.

His comments are in black bold:

In recent weeks, there have been a number of articles written by the media stating that Universal Medicine may be a cult organisation. However, these articles have not provided any evidence to this claim, and obvious facts about Universal Medicine have not been published. The intention of this article is to outline the true facts about Universal Medicine. In doing so, the reader will have an opportunity to be more informed in making up his or her own mind.

The facts about Universal Medicine are:
• All Universal Medicine events are publicly open to all, and there is no prequalification to attend entry-level events of any kind.

– Wrong to attend a UM EDG / EWG meeting you must be approved by the Practioner that is running the area. No one can attend and the followers are discouraged in bringing anyone along that has not been “approved” to attend.

Also for next year’s retreat when a follower books in, UM is asking who their Practioner is so they can check if the person is authorised to attend.

• There are no recruitment methods used by Universal Medicine. This is in contrast to cults, as world-renowned cult-expert Dr Margaret Thaler Singer states ‘contrary to the myth that those who join cults are seekers, it is the cults that go out and actively and aggressively find followers’ (Singer, 1995, p. XXIII).

– Wrong UM has a very good recruitment system in place to get the followers into the cult.
1. The use of Chris James as a recruitment specialist – this guy promotes singing but he is a major recruiter of UM he gets you in thinking you are learning how to sing and use your voice but this guy takes you into UM.
2. The use of various practioners around the country – the followers go to these practioners for “counselling for some problem” and after time the practioners introduce the followers to the dangerous beliefs and teachings of UM ….these people introduce the followers to the next step of attending EDG, EWG, retreats, charak puncture.
3. The constant bombarding of emails from UM and Chris James to the students email accounts advising them about UM.
4. The constant need in attending monthly visits to the clinics, monthly EDG and EWG meetings,

• People who attend Universal Medicine events are clearly informed of what the organisation is that they are becoming involved with. For example, extensive information can be gained from the public website, which states key messages presented by Universal Medicine. Instead, cults typically use deceptive recruiting methods and often exhibit secret stages within the organisation (Singer, 1995).

– Wrong - when my partner attended the practioner it was not about all the way out their teachings of UM and Serge. She attend to fill a void in her life that I believe the practioner gained her trust in exposing this void and then introduced her to the evil / bad / teachings of UM when she was at a very vulnerable point in her life . The website only shows the basic information that UM want the public to know, get a sign in as a student to the UM web site and look into the students areas on the web site and you will see the dangerous teaching and beliefs of this group.

• People are free to attend none, some or all of the events presented by Universal Medicine. To attend an event, each person is required to individually register for every event they wish to attend. For example, some people attend only the Friday evening lectures, held once per month, at $5 per person. In contrast, cults have an expectation if not a requirement that attendees at cult events become members of the cult (Singer, 1995; Singer, 1996).

– Wrong it is stated that if a student do not attend the various courses / sing a longs/ EDG – EWG/ Chris James concerts then they are not “into the livingness of the Esoteric way” to the point the UM get rather annoyed that the students are not attending the UM events.

• There are no recurring fees or memberships at Universal Medicine.

- Wrong to get a log in you have to sign up as a member and pay a fee through pay pal. Then there are the constant charges for EDG – EWG meetings and the constant money paid out on a regular basis for sessions at the practioners.

• People are free to leave an event at any time. For example, the events are held in public rented venues and the entrance door remains unlocked at all times. Events are not held in communes, and Universal Medicine publicly announces that any attendee can obtain a full refund and exit the premises at any time without penalty of any kind.

Wrong – to work as a cult events do not need to be held in communes (though I would suggest the yearly retreat is like a commune meeting). Also the various Chris James retreats are usually held in a place away from the general public.

• There are no rituals, no mantras, and no exceptional practices.

Wrong - I will leave this to CP to address.

• Universal Medicine publicly advocates freedom of choice. For example, people are encouraged to make up their own minds with regards to their chosen religion and political views, as well as whether they accept or reject some or all of what Universal Medicine presents.

Wrong – Serge does not like the Catholic Church along with many other religions and constantly bags them to the followers. My partner stoped our children from getting their confirmation as she stated the Church is evil as she had learnt from Serges teachings about the church.

• People attending Universal Medicine events are free to choose their friends and family associations (including their selection of a partner or spouse). There is no restriction of access to information in relation to television, radio, telephone, mail or reading material. This is in contrast to cults which typically isolate their members from their loved ones, and from society in general (Singer, 1995; Singer, 1996).

Wrong – UMers socialise with mainly other UM followers – as it is stated that they are in the “livingness” and the “brotherhood” and they are encourage to have only UMers as friends as they are living a better life than those that are not practising UM.

• Universal Medicine does not tell people what to eat or wear or where to work, sleep or bathe. Universal Medicine presents the importance of regular exercise and a sleep rhythm that honours the body’s natural rhythms. This is in contrast to cults that rarely encourage members to maintain good health practices or fitness (Singer, 1995). For example, Universal Medicine presents that the body functions well with an earlier bedtime (e.g. 9 or 10pm) and an earlier rise time, rather than doing things at night when we are tired. However, no bedtime is prescribed. Similarly with food, Universal Medicine presents the importance of discerning for oneself what food is right for you. Universal Medicine openly states that the food that one person eats will not necessarily be right for another. It is up to each person to feel this for themselves. If a person decides to make dietary changes, the main changes may include ceasing consumption of alcohol, gluten, and/or dairy. Alcohol has been well researched and scientifically documented as a chemical poison to the human body. There are also large numbers of people worldwide who do not eat gluten or dairy, as evidenced by the many restaurants that include gluten and/or dairy free meals in their menus.

Wrong – UM have classified the majority of foods into various foods groups and have a rating for the foods and followers are told at the retreats and from practioners what they should eat and what they should not. If they eat certain foods they are ‘comfort eating” ….”What emotions are happening” …they are made to feel guilty if they eat a food source that has not been approved by UM.
They are told that the best sleep is between 9.00 pm and 3.00 am and followers are told this is when they should sleep.

• Universal Medicine publically encourages medical treatment. For example, many people who attend events are themselves medical and allied health professionals. The Practitioners Committee of the Esoteric Practitioners Association consists mainly of medically-trained professionals, such as General Practitioners, Dentists, and Surgeons. This is in contrast to cults which typically discourage or forbid medical treatment (Singer, 1995).

Wrong – when a UMer is sick they will try and clear the sickness by having charka puncture, a healing session with the practioner who will try and rid the bad energy from the body, they will sit on healing cards, burn candles to rid the bad energy and after all this fails they then reluctantly go off to a Doctor for treatment.
This is one of my biggest problems as by the time the followers does this by the time they go to the Doctor for treatment the sickness has got worse. Read the Medical Observer story on “Jenny” who was getting Esoteric treatments and told her condition was improving then she found out she had cancer.

My Summary:

We have seen the various readings on the student blogs all being positive about UM and Serge and here we see someone like this person defend the UM teachings and beliefs. All we see is a positive spin on the organisation but yet no one from UM will write publically about the very negative teachings and beliefs of UM.

I have unfortunately listened to a EWG meeting and read various notes from these meetings and I do not understand how at these meetings Serge and a young Natalie a person with little life experience or no formal education can talk so disrespectfully about women in general. E.g. - the use of tampons (wearing a tampon is like a dirty man’s penis inside you).

I do not understand where topics like this find their way into what is supposed to be a loving and caring organisation. I have known UM practioners who are mainly unqualified followers (they only have Esoteric Practioner Training) advise people on numerous concerns:
1. Marriage problems
2. Work problems
3. Health issues
4. Diets
5. Children issues
6. Past traumas in one’s life
7. Relationship issues

The majority of practioners are not qualified to give advice on the above issues yet day in and day out they are and in many cases giving the wrong information to people that has a major effect on a person’s life.

Any finally I have read notes from the yearly retreats that the faithful take down word for word over the 5 days and let me say the Retreats are very manipulative and dangerous to the followers. They get them in a very loving environment, make them feel all warm and fuzzy and then fill their heads with a whole lot of pure crap about the perils of life. At this year’s retreat Serge spoke about if your partner is not with you on Esoteric beliefs what you need to do, what will be the consequences when you leave the relationship (e.g. family intervention) and what you as a student need to do to get on with your life………………..and yes Brendan at UM I have a copy of these writings stating this and much more……. contradicting to your spin on events.

UM a loving organisation and supportive of families I do not think so … you are involved in a very dangerous cult ….take your skills and your reputation and go and practice elsewhere away from UM where you can be of a real benefit to society.

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Rock Biter

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John lazuras
Hi All,

A Registered Psychologist who works from and for the Universal Medicine Clinic at Goonellabah has made some comments on the “Truth about Universal Medicine” web site.

I am not too sure where he gets his information from about UM but I need to share my experience with UM here.

His comments are in black bold:

In recent weeks, there have been a number of articles written by the media stating that Universal Medicine may be a cult organisation. However, these articles have not provided any evidence to this claim, and obvious facts about Universal Medicine have not been published. The intention of this article is to outline the true facts about Universal Medicine. In doing so, the reader will have an opportunity to be more informed in making up his or her own mind.

The facts about Universal Medicine are:
• All Universal Medicine events are publicly open to all, and there is no prequalification to attend entry-level events of any kind.

– Wrong to attend a UM EDG / EWG meeting you must be approved by the Practioner that is running the area. No one can attend and the followers are discouraged in bringing anyone along that has not been “approved” to attend.

Also for next year’s retreat when a follower books in, UM is asking who their Practioner is so they can check if the person is authorised to attend.

• There are no recruitment methods used by Universal Medicine. This is in contrast to cults, as world-renowned cult-expert Dr Margaret Thaler Singer states ‘contrary to the myth that those who join cults are seekers, it is the cults that go out and actively and aggressively find followers’ (Singer, 1995, p. XXIII).

– Wrong UM has a very good recruitment system in place to get the followers into the cult.
1. The use of Chris James as a recruitment specialist – this guy promotes singing but he is a major recruiter of UM he gets you in thinking you are learning how to sing and use your voice but this guy takes you into UM.
2. The use of various practioners around the country – the followers go to these practioners for “counselling for some problem” and after time the practioners introduce the followers to the dangerous beliefs and teachings of UM ….these people introduce the followers to the next step of attending EDG, EWG, retreats, charak puncture.
3. The constant bombarding of emails from UM and Chris James to the students email accounts advising them about UM.
4. The constant need in attending monthly visits to the clinics, monthly EDG and EWG meetings,

• People who attend Universal Medicine events are clearly informed of what the organisation is that they are becoming involved with. For example, extensive information can be gained from the public website, which states key messages presented by Universal Medicine. Instead, cults typically use deceptive recruiting methods and often exhibit secret stages within the organisation (Singer, 1995).

– Wrong - when my partner attended the practioner it was not about all the way out their teachings of UM and Serge. She attend to fill a void in her life that I believe the practioner gained her trust in exposing this void and then introduced her to the evil / bad / teachings of UM when she was at a very vulnerable point in her life . The website only shows the basic information that UM want the public to know, get a sign in as a student to the UM web site and look into the students areas on the web site and you will see the dangerous teaching and beliefs of this group.

• People are free to attend none, some or all of the events presented by Universal Medicine. To attend an event, each person is required to individually register for every event they wish to attend. For example, some people attend only the Friday evening lectures, held once per month, at $5 per person. In contrast, cults have an expectation if not a requirement that attendees at cult events become members of the cult (Singer, 1995; Singer, 1996).

– Wrong it is stated that if a student do not attend the various courses / sing a longs/ EDG – EWG/ Chris James concerts then they are not “into the livingness of the Esoteric way” to the point the UM get rather annoyed that the students are not attending the UM events.

• There are no recurring fees or memberships at Universal Medicine.

- Wrong to get a log in you have to sign up as a member and pay a fee through pay pal. Then there are the constant charges for EDG – EWG meetings and the constant money paid out on a regular basis for sessions at the practioners.

• People are free to leave an event at any time. For example, the events are held in public rented venues and the entrance door remains unlocked at all times. Events are not held in communes, and Universal Medicine publicly announces that any attendee can obtain a full refund and exit the premises at any time without penalty of any kind.

Wrong – to work as a cult events do not need to be held in communes (though I would suggest the yearly retreat is like a commune meeting). Also the various Chris James retreats are usually held in a place away from the general public.

• There are no rituals, no mantras, and no exceptional practices.

Wrong - I will leave this to CP to address.

• Universal Medicine publicly advocates freedom of choice. For example, people are encouraged to make up their own minds with regards to their chosen religion and political views, as well as whether they accept or reject some or all of what Universal Medicine presents.

Wrong – Serge does not like the Catholic Church along with many other religions and constantly bags them to the followers. My partner stoped our children from getting their confirmation as she stated the Church is evil as she had learnt from Serges teachings about the church.

• People attending Universal Medicine events are free to choose their friends and family associations (including their selection of a partner or spouse). There is no restriction of access to information in relation to television, radio, telephone, mail or reading material. This is in contrast to cults which typically isolate their members from their loved ones, and from society in general (Singer, 1995; Singer, 1996).

Wrong – UMers socialise with mainly other UM followers – as it is stated that they are in the “livingness” and the “brotherhood” and they are encourage to have only UMers as friends as they are living a better life than those that are not practising UM.

• Universal Medicine does not tell people what to eat or wear or where to work, sleep or bathe. Universal Medicine presents the importance of regular exercise and a sleep rhythm that honours the body’s natural rhythms. This is in contrast to cults that rarely encourage members to maintain good health practices or fitness (Singer, 1995). For example, Universal Medicine presents that the body functions well with an earlier bedtime (e.g. 9 or 10pm) and an earlier rise time, rather than doing things at night when we are tired. However, no bedtime is prescribed. Similarly with food, Universal Medicine presents the importance of discerning for oneself what food is right for you. Universal Medicine openly states that the food that one person eats will not necessarily be right for another. It is up to each person to feel this for themselves. If a person decides to make dietary changes, the main changes may include ceasing consumption of alcohol, gluten, and/or dairy. Alcohol has been well researched and scientifically documented as a chemical poison to the human body. There are also large numbers of people worldwide who do not eat gluten or dairy, as evidenced by the many restaurants that include gluten and/or dairy free meals in their menus.

Wrong – UM have classified the majority of foods into various foods groups and have a rating for the foods and followers are told at the retreats and from practioners what they should eat and what they should not. If they eat certain foods they are ‘comfort eating” ….”What emotions are happening” …they are made to feel guilty if they eat a food source that has not been approved by UM.
They are told that the best sleep is between 9.00 pm and 3.00 am and followers are told this is when they should sleep.

• Universal Medicine publically encourages medical treatment. For example, many people who attend events are themselves medical and allied health professionals. The Practitioners Committee of the Esoteric Practitioners Association consists mainly of medically-trained professionals, such as General Practitioners, Dentists, and Surgeons. This is in contrast to cults which typically discourage or forbid medical treatment (Singer, 1995).

Wrong – when a UMer is sick they will try and clear the sickness by having charka puncture, a healing session with the practioner who will try and rid the bad energy from the body, they will sit on healing cards, burn candles to rid the bad energy and after all this fails they then reluctantly go off to a Doctor for treatment.
This is one of my biggest problems as by the time the followers does this by the time they go to the Doctor for treatment the sickness has got worse. Read the Medical Observer story on “Jenny” who was getting Esoteric treatments and told her condition was improving then she found out she had cancer.

My Summary:

We have seen the various readings on the student blogs all being positive about UM and Serge and here we see someone like this person defend the UM teachings and beliefs. All we see is a positive spin on the organisation but yet no one from UM will write publically about the very negative teachings and beliefs of UM.

I have unfortunately listened to a EWG meeting and read various notes from these meetings and I do not understand how at these meetings Serge and a young Natalie a person with little life experience or no formal education can talk so disrespectfully about women in general. E.g. - the use of tampons (wearing a tampon is like a dirty man’s penis inside you).

I do not understand where topics like this find their way into what is supposed to be a loving and caring organisation. I have known UM practioners who are mainly unqualified followers (they only have Esoteric Practioner Training) advise people on numerous concerns:
1. Marriage problems
2. Work problems
3. Health issues
4. Diets
5. Children issues
6. Past traumas in one’s life
7. Relationship issues

The majority of practioners are not qualified to give advice on the above issues yet day in and day out they are and in many cases giving the wrong information to people that has a major effect on a person’s life.

Any finally I have read notes from the yearly retreats that the faithful take down word for word over the 5 days and let me say the Retreats are very manipulative and dangerous to the followers. They get them in a very loving environment, make them feel all warm and fuzzy and then fill their heads with a whole lot of pure crap about the perils of life. At this year’s retreat Serge spoke about if your partner is not with you on Esoteric beliefs what you need to do, what will be the consequences when you leave the relationship (e.g. family intervention) and what you as a student need to do to get on with your life………………..and yes Brendan at UM I have a copy of these writings stating this and much more……. contradicting to your spin on events.

UM a loving organisation and supportive of families I do not think so … you are involved in a very dangerous cult ….take your skills and your reputation and go and practice elsewhere away from UM where you can be of a real benefit to society.

There's a very simple definition for a 'cult'. It's this: You know its a cult when all the 400 insiders are protesting "i'm not in a cult" whilst the other 2 billion people outside are going, "Mate. You're in a cult." Essentially you can't be in a cult if you think you're in a cult. To do so would make it a fraction, a small part just like every other insignificant sect. A part of the peculiar and the strange fabric of humanity. No. Cult members see themselves as the antithesis of the fragment. They hold the universal truth. They are not a part of the peculiar and the strange they are at the centre of the Truth and Being. In truth they are the Universal and every one else just hasn't woken up yet. It makes you feel good if you can achieve that. Especially if you only hang around other non-cult members telling you (a) you're at the centre of the known world and (b) all other modalities, ways of thinking, being etc are pranic, wrong, mistaken, false gods (c) how love filled you are to see through all the illusions and be with all these others on this sacred journey to fiery love, God, holiness, etc. So you can't be a member of a cult and be conscious that you are in a cult. Its the price you pay. Or to put this in another way. If cult members were to see themselves as cult members this would raise the question what is the difference between this cult and that in terms of universal claims to the truth? A bit exposing. But this is heresy of course. And not the kind of thinking or feeling that is welcomed at UM or any other cult by definition.

Which leads to the next thing. Brendon, if you believe that you have the keys to the kingdom then you will seize every moment to 'help' the souls of others. That's called recruitment. The two things are bound to each other. It comes from believing that you are the only path to Universal truth. Especially if you also believe in brotherhood. That means somehow everyone has to joing up! If on the other hand your beliefs are only your beliefs or at best only some of some possible oneness (probably the strange and peculiar fabric of the Universe seen at a distance or all at once) then you are more interested in hearing the truth in different beliefs. There's no similar interest or excitement in conversion. IN fact it is difference that is celebrated and makes up the 'truth'.

The first one is a dualism 'us' and 'them' where 'us' is always trying to show or waken 'not us' to the real truth (hence the endless going on about how the organisation is growing, expanding etc etc). So yes it really is all about you! Not really brotherhood is it or at the very least a twisted kind of brotherhood when we get to be brothers (sic) when everyone else wakes up to our universal truth. The second one is really about brotherhood here and now. A good cult is one that covers its tracks to make this misrecognition work. Its useful to use language that sounds like choice or brotherhood or we don't recruit whilst underpinning it with dualism and evangalism which goes hand in hand with knowing the path to the Universal truth.

Lastly, and related to this, it is totally manipulative to bolster up claims with a claim to science. Could it be that these doctors and psychologists didn't understand that the fundamental definitive principle of scientific method is the notion of peer review? But for Umers everyone else is pranic, not us and therefore invalid. It doesn't matter to science whether you're the pope, the magician or the doctor. What matters is how does your science measure up against the scrutiny of peers? Logically and despite the noise, there can definitively be no science in Umer claims to science. Brendon to be scientific you need only truly consider the scientific question, what if x isn't true? What if I am in a cult? And then look for the reasons/feelings/experts/evidence that suggest you are. Love to you all!

Quote
treefern
I find it very sad that to 'live' in honesty and to be able to help the many, many UMers who are now questioning what-in-the-hell they are/have been doing, I yet again have to disclose another personal part of myself!

Quote
treefern
I was referred to see Caroline at Uni Med by someone within the 'firm', it was suggested at the time even before I had my first appointment that I apply for a Mental Health Plan for the 8 visits I would initally require. I made an apointment and saw Caroline, I had a problem at the time concerning my mother who was and still is a very abusive woman...in the TRUE sense of the word! I expained to Caroline at the time that I "wanted to be a better mother to my children than my mother had been to me". To my surprise the first thing Caroline said to me was "well you are in fact a worse mother than she ever was!" I was shocked to say the least, Caroline hadn't even asked why I would want or even say that, she hadn't even established exactly what kind of mother mine was, but had jumped to the conclusion that I was a bad mother..and how did she know this, well even when I was tired I "did" things for them.

Caroline proceeded to tell me that she was, indeed a much more loving mother to her (then) 5 year old son. You see when she was tired she "lovingly" wnet to bed no matter what time it was and it was much "better" for her (then) 5 year old son to get himself something to eat for dinner and put himself to bed than for her to do it out of duty and "lovelessness". This not only had me fearing for the welfare of this little boy but also the very judgemental way I had been treated made the question of returning easy..... I didn't! I did however speak to some child walfare workers at the time who did suggest to me that this response to raising a small child would be considered NEGLECT! You see being a 'loving' parent does sometimes mean placing yourself behind the needs of a small child/children and not listening to the bunk that comes out of someones mouth that supports your already selfish and narssicistic view of being a parent.

Quote
COncerned Partner
Hi TF,

Yes, I have witness those ideas in many of the students about their children and it is of grave concern to me.

They dont seem to understand that we have to be the adults and to parent our children. Serge teaches them two very dangerous ideas.

First is that children are adults in childs bodies. This explains why children are at events and exposed to things that they should not be. It also might explain some other things, but I wont go into that here.

The second is that you put yourself first to be 'loving'- while i agree you do need to have regard for yourself and boundaries, that does not work with children and partners/spouses whereby sometimes it is necessary to put the other before yourself. I know I certainly did this all the time with my partner, quite willingly out of love for her and wanting the best for the family. On the other hand, the more esoteric she became the less this was reciprocated and the more I heard " I dont think that is self loving for me" ( Imagine if society functioned like this? I think Ayn Rand and Serge would have got on very well)

Quote

This forum is not a place for advertising or business promotions.

Helpful relevant links posted are appreciated, but please don't post links for the purpose of promotion.

Quote

Here are some excerpts from Dr. Beyerstein's article to whet our appetites. Dont stop here. Read the WHOLE thing.

Quoted Excerpts:


‘And with the growth of the “New Age” movement, the market has also been flooded by a growing cadre of therapists with little formal training but an immense investment in pop-psychology and “post modernist” psychobabble.

"In most jurisdicitions, these entrepreneurs cannot call themselves psychologists or psychiatrists because licensing statutes restrict these titles to professionals with specified credentials and training. They can however, offer their services (where local laws permit) by appropriating unreserved titles** such as counselor, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, sex therapist, pastoral counselor, Dianetics auditor (one of several pseudonyms for Scientology), New Age guide, relationship advisor, mental therapist, etc.

**(Pop quiz: How many other 'unreserved titles' have we observed in use by persons using powerful methods without proper training, oversight or accountablity? C)


(p3) At the highest levels of the profession, the erosion of the likage between science and clinical practice was further aggravated in recent years when many research psychologists left the American Psychological Association (APA) to form the rival American Psychological Society. The defectors felt that the APA was undervaluing the scientific side of its mandate as it devoted more effort to lobbying and other professional issues primarily of concern to clinicians. Many also felt that the APA had been too timid in disciplining those of its members who engage in scientifically dubious practices. On several occasions, I have witnessed this reluctance to chastise peddlers of outlandish wares myself. My disappointments spring from fruitless attempts to get various psychological associations to rein in their members who charge clients for scientifically discredited services such as subliminal audiotapes, graphology (handwriting analysis), dubious psychological tests, bogus therapy techniques, and various so called ‘rejuvenation’ techniques for recovering supposedly repressed memories.

"I continue to be appalled to see journals of various psychological associations with advertisements for courses carrying official continuing education credits for therapists that promote this kind of pseudoscience.’

"Even if minimally-trained therapists can do some good, there remains the danger that they will divert clients from treatments that would help them more.

"More worrisome is the possibility that their limited knowledge will lead them to apply risky procedures than exacerbate existing conditions or even create serious problems of their own.

"When such malpractice occurs, these uncertified therapists have no professional associations and disciplinary boards to whom dissatisified customers can turn. It is when therapeutic fads emerge from a research vacuum and treatments lack proper outcome evaluations that these safety concerns arise. "


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