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Originally posted by Cosmophilospher
There is much more to this stuff than meets the eye, in my view.
I think it is similar to the Guru/Slave dynamic. That is older than humanity.
Personally, i don't think its healthy.
Coz
Coz,
Apart from depersonalisation and dissociation I think there are other outcomes from BDSM/cultic/Human Potential involvement.
Two obvious results are post-traumatic stress (induced by the trauma of the personal emotional exercises, age regression, and challenging new mental concepts like ~transformation~ or ~rackets~ or submission) and addiction/dependency encouraged by continuing involvement with groups. I think both are influenced by the chemical and hormonal effects of BDSM/cult/HP involvement where wide mood swings result from the release of adrenalin and endorphins and other ‘happy hormones’ in the brain which affect mental states and behaviour.
Incidentally until I found this site I didn’t appreciate the concept of depersonalisation properly. Now on reflection I can see how old pre-indoctrinated Chris had a good relationship with reality, I had just a normal range of anxieties and neuroses but was basically mentally healthy, well motivated, functioning well and making good quality decisions in my life. After I became a victim of ‘Personal Development’/Human Potential work I suffered all the classic symptoms of depersonalisation, feeling I was an actor observing myself in a drama or workshop called my ‘life’ instead of being a real person. My values and behaviour all deteriorated, my decision making ability became terrible, but none of it mattered because I was just an observer in a passive dissociated trance state. It’s like being in a waking dream state where the subconscious mind takes charge over the conscious mind, and behaviour becomes infantilised. In Transactional Analysis terms, the internal child takes over decision making functions from the parent or adult.
I’d like to see medical research done and published on the emotional effects of cult/HP participation where people’s emotional states are tested and measured before and after high-demand workshops like Landmark.
These medical studies could then be used as evidence by those of us who want to limit or regulate cults and LGATs as well as for ongoing anti-cult publicity, and for advice to mental health professionals who have to pick up the pieces for people in recovery from psychological damage.
Chris