[www.skepticreport.com]

This might already be listed on this website, so excuse me if I'm posting it unnecessarily or in the wrong place, but this article, which centers on the brutal insanity known as "attachment therapy" (responsible for the death and physical and psychological abuse of children), also gives an interesting run down of the genesis of quack psychology and LGATs.

(excerpt below)

Both AT (Attachment Therapy) and TA (Transactional Analysis) grew in part out of the social chaos of the late 60s and 70s, a time of racial unrest, student protests, and an unpopular war. It was also the time of the "transformation" craze, which started down in Big Sur in the early 60s with the Esalen Institute. The Esalen Institute promoted the Human Potential Movement (HPM). The HPM promised experiential "transformation," resulting in "growth." Human potential was assumed to be almost limitless. (8)

But in order to grow, a person needed to change. By recalling trauma assumed to be responsible for a person's inability to change and by abreacting, or "catharting" the emotions associated with that trauma, a person would a better person there and then-- redemption through pain. The methods used by the HPM to achieve this transformation varied from nonviolent "rebirthing" in hot tubs, painful bodywork, gestalt psychodrama, primal screaming, to transactional analysis. The "work" was done in a group setting, with "crisis rooms" being provided! (Recall Mesmer.) Here the affluent "worried well" came for excitement. Also, many therapists came to learn the latest techniques to take home to enhance their private practice or share with their agencies. A lot of people had fun but a lot of unnecessary damage was also done. Stanislav Groff and Timothy Leary promoted LSD as a liberating agent and possible cure for schizophrenia. Groff even insisted on his nurses taking LSD to make them more empathetic with their dying patients!

Transformation was also promised through a variety of pyramid rackets. Institutes were set up to offer expensive training to graduates, who in turn set up their own institutes, promising quick fixes to complex life issues. It was like so many fast therapy franchises! One such pyramid was TA. And then there was Scientology and the Moonies.

Werner Erhart set up his own empire with his own nihilistic philosophy: "We all create our own reality!" From here he deduced that we also create our own misfortunes, and that we deserve no pity and on and on until reality slips away.

The forerunner of this idea originated in the eighteenth century and was called "solipsism." It was proposed by Bishop Berkeley, an English cleric, amateur botanist, and "experimental psychologist." He had discovered experimentally that we can't always trust our senses to give an accurate representation of "reality," and therefore in a way we create our own reality through our sense data. But the Bishop's ideas got blown out of proportion. For a while it was the talk of the salons and coffeehouses of London, but was refuted by Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, upon hearing about it on a trip to Scotland, angrily kicked a stone, saying, "Matter is real Sir, and there's an end 'ont."

And then there was Synannon, the alcohol and drug rehabilitation program with the "game" of hot seat confrontation. It seemed to start out so well, but devolved into a destructive cult when the "game" took over; people could not stop playing it and kids got hurt. After an exposé, the Synannon movement gradually drifted over to Europe, under the leadership of an ex-junkie from the Phoenix House in New York. His name was Denny Yuson, and he was to become Swami Varesh, right-hand man to the crazy Indian con man known as Bhagwan Rajneesh.

The human potential movement, or growth movement, also spread to Europe. Esalen-type institutes were created in England, Holland, Germany and Spain, appealing to a jaded population of affluent middle-class professionals in pursuit of an imaginary state of awareness called "enlightenment," achieved by pain and abreaction. The level of violence spun out of control and people got hurt.

The human potential movement devolved into a "growth enforcement industry" and attracted a circus of American growth gurus hawking their latest and most painful methods. By the late 1970s these growth centers--Quasitor in London, Stitching Center in Amsterdam, and Zist outside of Munich--were infiltrated and influenced by disciples of the Bhagwan Rajneesh. The Bhagwan, in turn, financed in part by the Synannon movement, set up his own enterprise.

Synannon attack groups, now called "enlightenment intensives," were promoted as "encounter groups" through the growth centers. Many who signed on were destabilized.

From 1975 through 1979 Bhagwan orchestrated a self-indulgent reign of terror and obscenity in his ashram in Poona, India. Nevertheless, many American mental health practitioners flocked to him. Core regressions (see below) were standard, together with group violence followed by indiscriminate sex. There were many casualties, including a young father called Welf, who was killed in 1979. (9) He was the Prince of Hanover and cousin to Prince Charles. Although his death was given wide coverage in the European press, this news never reached the US. So, after income tax trouble in India, Bhagwan was had to move and ended up in Oregon, where his followers took over the town of Antelope. Many practitioners of alternative medicine (including two who are part of the AT movement at the present), got their start in this milieu, chief among them being James Gordon, MD, whose book, The Golden Guru, describes his experiences in Poona, including a core regression. Gordon, who has nothing but praise for Bhagwan, is now the Chairman of the recently appointed Federal Commission on Alternative Medicine!

Then you have Reike and Transpersonal Psychology. The list is pretty long. The bottom line: most people are too lazy to do the work in therapy. They want a quick fix or some kind of shortcut.

See Kevin Trudeau

I just finished this piece, it's longish but worth the trouble. Horrifying.

It gives a good sense of the big picture, beginning with exorcisms and blood letting, through Freud and the beginnings of "regression" therapy, through Esalen and Erhard, to the twisted scams being perpetrated today on the usual class of "worried well" (and wealthy) to well meaning seekers, and most horribly, children.

My god, if anyone can navigate this world of lunatics and come through unscathed they can consider themselves truly blessed.

Vic-Luc, what kind of therapy do you consider valid and helpful?

Also, Vic-Luc, are you a therapist of some kind?

What are your thoughts on Transactional Analysis?

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vlinden
Also, Vic-Luc, are you a therapist of some kind?

What are your thoughts on Transactional Analysis?

Yes.

Transactional Analysis? In a purist sense, Berne was asinine. "Curing" clients? Some general concepts are universal.

Myself? Adherent to Client-Centered Therapy, mostly. Hard to fuck up that skill set. I use it in conjunction with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy when necessary.

Vic-Luc,

I have no training in any form of therapy, and all of this is new to me.

But in my brief reading on TA, I came away with the same thought. Many of the ideas of Transactional Analysis are universal and in many ways quite obvious (also simplistic and maybe flawed), and that's fine for discussion, insight and perhaps as a guide for resolving some communication problems, but the idea of "curing" and resolution of deeper personal issues based on TA seemed a bit absurd to me. Still, I don't feel I know enough about it to comment beyond this.

It was extremely disturbing (this is a huge understatement) to read about Attachment Therapy and the abuse and murder of children, something that in some ways has been influenced by Transactional Analysis.

My ex who is now in Landmark mentioned to me at the beginning of our relationship that he was a fan of Berne's book "The Games People Play." I had never read it and we never discussed it. Now I know that this said a lot about him and explains more about why he likes Landmark.

All of this has made me want to examine the different schools of analysis and therapy. Clearly any dissecting of the human psyche can be helpful or harmful -- maybe sometimes both at the same time.

It seems that people with relatively minor issues of dysfunction or unhappiness could be helped by a trained therapist who can guide them through unraveling their thought processes in a gentle way, and see some of the influences that are shaping them. Maybe then there is a "cure" so to speak.

But for people with deeper dysfunction and real mental problems, is there ever really a cure? Or is there only management and ongoing therapy? And people who go to Landmark, if they are told they are in control and believe it, their ultimate failure to truly "cure" themselves might result in even deeper trouble.

These are big issues, I know, and I appreciate any discussion and insight. I've recommended to my ex that he seek a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist in NYC.

Quote
vlinden

All of this has made me want to examine the different schools of analysis and therapy. Clearly any dissecting of the human psyche can be helpful or harmful -- maybe sometimes both at the same time.

It seems that people with relatively minor issues of dysfunction or unhappiness could be helped by a trained therapist who can guide them through unraveling their thought processes in a gentle way, and see some of the influences that are shaping them. Maybe then there is a "cure" so to speak.

But for people with deeper dysfunction and real mental problems, is there ever really a cure? Or is there only management and ongoing therapy? And people who go to Landmark, if they are told they are in control and believe it, their ultimate failure to truly "cure" themselves might result in even deeper trouble.

These are big issues, I know, and I appreciate any discussion and insight. I've recommended to my ex that he seek a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist in NYC.

Being primarily client-centered works. It's almost the de facto standard in doing no harm. My CBT isn't usually formal. I want to introduce the concepts slowly and let them make their own choices. It's _their_ therapy and _their_ issues.

I have no agenda, and CCT's core conditions require me to be gentle. Dual-diagnosis is different but I've had the pleasure of working with a forensic teaching psychiatrist, a practicing instructor, so to speak. No client slips through the cracks, and I warn my clients of LGATs outright. I think they have the right to be informed to make healthier decisions.