A very dear friend and roommate attended a 5 day Personal Dynamics seminar in New York and was completely SUCKED in. I tried to talk to him after the first night, but he was taking it with classmates and a teacher and said he might drop out that night. He didn't. After the 5th day, he came home and the look in his eyes was completely dead. I had been researching LGAT's all weekend and knew the signs. I was waiting for an invitation and it was not long in coming. What was I doing Thurs? I was busy, "Oh, just an introductory session on what I've just gone through." I'm afraid I burst into tears and let him know how sad I was that he bought into it. Later, I told him I loved him and cared about him and nothing would change that, but I had always believed in him and wished that he could have believed he deserved everything he wanted without buying into the group. He told me he loved me too and hugged me. Yes, he was more open, but in a totally distrubing way. Then he told us he was going to his school but went off to his 90 min Advanced Living Interview and to hang out with the other students who bought into the course. I know this because I looked on the website and our other roommate confirmed it today.

Does anyone know anything about this particular mind control program? My other roommate is more a wait and see if he can come to the realization himself kind of person. I know there's no other way to get around it, but I'd like to be more educated.

Thanks!

There were posts about Personal Dynamics several months to a year ago. There wasn't a lot on the web at the time, but if I recall correctly, it was the typical LGAT. Googling it now might give you more hits.

'The Awareness Page'

[perso.wanadoo.fr]


'Pathology as Personal Growth'

(small quote from a larger article.)

Many of the encounter groups of the human potential movement have been described as regressive because of their disinhibitive effects and their tendency to stress abandonment to strong emotions while disparaging reasoning and intellect (Back 1972, p 79; Schur 1976, pp48-53).

The emphasis upon "getting in touch with your feelings" and "getting out of your head" may be of therapeutic value in encouraging participants to gain access to previously warded off impulses, a process which often occurs in successful forms of psychodynamic therapy.

[i:1c3e0ac7ee]However, without an interpretive framework which reconciles affective states with objective reality and logical thought processes[/i:1c3e0ac7ee], such group cathartic experiences offer little opportunity for sustained therapeutic change and may, in fact, be psychologically damaging (Lieberman, Yalom, and Miles 1973 pp 167-209

and

Many participants reported feelings of elation and expansiveness following this exercise. The level of insight gained was akin to the reasoning of a small child who has not yet cognitively overcome an egocentric view of the world--the conviction that all events emanate from the self. The subjective experience of liberation which accompanied this exercise seemed to stem from the sense of omnipotent control generated among the participants. The group was particularly vulnerable to this type of primitive reasoning because of the effects of the earlier training. The lowering of inhibitions, the extensive structuring of the environment and the undermining of critical thought combined to elicit archaic defenses such as omnipotence.[/quote]

[64.233.187.104].
braun/awareness/pathology.htm+eldon+braun&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

I have read those quotes in my research over the past week. Thanks though.

I guess not much is known about Personal Dynamics. I'll just have to live with my roommate and try to go by my instincts.

Yeah - there isn't a lot out there on them yet, or perhaps they're really trying hard to keep it under the radar. Did you try asking questions on Craigslist? Play dumb, like you want info because you're planning on taking the course.