NLP'ers call it "anchoring".

They use it a lot during training to tie strong positive emotional states to the workshop and teachers. But to do it right is a art, most can't. If done correctly, before you know it you want to attend more seminars and see those same trainers again and you don't know why but you feel good when you think about them.

But in the long term it turns people against them. It's called buyers remorse because it goes against their values. This is why some LGAT groups like NLP are withering away. They burn people the way a cop eats donuts and as a result don't have a positive image anymore and their seminar prices are so high as to discourage people from signing up.

The euphoria serves as what would be called an unconditioned response (UR) in classical conditioning. Just like Pavlov's dogs learn to associate the ringing of a bell with food, so LGAT participants - exhausted, confused, but euphoric - associate the euphoria with the philosophy of the training. They make this connection without ever making a cognitive connection. While LGATs love to boast that they are 'experiential' all that this means is that they bypass critical thinking by employing conditioning techniques. (Of course the bad old psychologists who can point this out are demonised by LGAT trainers to remove their credibility.)

Strangely most LGATs employ a number of techniques which are taken directly from psychology - the only difference is that a trained and accountable person uses these techniques in psychology.

1. Elements of existential therapy play a big role in LGATs - things like 'responsibility', 'authenticity', 'life is meaningless' etc. were used by Viktor Frankl. The whole concept of the subjectivity of life is also an existential idea. The difference between LGATs and psychology is that these philosophies are not forced down your throat by psychologists.
2. Cognitive behaviour therapy looks at changing the way people think about themselves, their situations and their future - again this is done in a nurturing way. Same technique - different approach. CBT also uses guided imagery, and exposure therapy (exposing a person to the thing that they are afraid of). Once again this is done with a great deal of care and personal assessment of the client.
3. Gestalt therapy often makes use of exercises where the client has mock conversations with his mother/father. Again this is done in a very contained environment.
4. Freud's psychoanalysis used free assocication techniques to tap into the unconscious of his patients. They would lie on a couch and just say anything that popped into their heads. This sort of exercise (couch excluded) was used in my LGAT where participants were repeatedly asked the same question and had to keep providing answers.

One of the results of this type of therapy was that patients guards would drop, they would regress often, and they would become more prone to impulsive behaviour. Therapists actually would make a special point of ensuring that - for the course of the therapy - their patients did not get divorced or quit their jobs. These are two frighteningly frequent consequences of LGAT participation.

I once had a wild automobile ride with a person who was deeply involved with with a LGAT, specifically Impact Trainings/ Life Mastery Trainings (LMT). I'll just call this person LMT Trainee/Graduate or LMTTG for short. LMTTG and I were driving on a freeway, with LMTTG at the wheel. LMTTG began doing around 100 mph, and I anxiously demanded a slower, reasonable speed. LMTTG said that there was a blue flame around us that would protect us and not to worry. This high speed run continued for longer than I wanted, and was thankfully terminated when an officer pulled over our car and issued a citation for speed. So, in this one incident, I see the following LGAT behavior evidenced: short term euphoria, grandiosity, risk taking, impulsive behavior, and reckless driving. Also excessive spending was evidenced, because the ticket was not cheap. Most of the other behaviours mentioned in Dopamine Link's initial post have been evidenced by LMTTG.

LMT is an advanced course of Impact Trainings, headquartered in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley, in Utah. This blue flame (violet fire) notion can be traced to the Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1939-2009) teachings that can be readily found by searching her name on Google. Among her chants is the following: "I am the violet fire. I am the purity God desires."

Same results are being reported for those coming out of ACCD/Momentus/Breakthrough?