hello,

i just joined this forum after attending the november landmark education forum in alexandria, va and dropping out after the first day in order to tend to my emotional wellbeing.

my boyfriend jonathan attended the forum and some of the further landmark education seminars. he is an awesome person and he attributes much of his personal development to landmark and the 'transformational technology' they offer. i decided to attend the forum after having several conversations with jon about it. i thought it would help me get over a depression i've been suffering from for the past two years.

landmark makes you sign a waiver to attend the forum if you have a psychiatric history (ie past hospitalization, psych meds, in therapy -- all of which apply to me). they say that you are responsible for your own "physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing" and they need to make sure you are able to take care of yourself while you are attending the forum. it is an intense program, 9AM to midnight for three days (fri-sun.) and then three hours on a tuesday evening. but jonathan thought at this stage in my recovery process i should be healthy enough to withstand the long hours and intensive nature of the forum.

apparently jonathan overestimated my capacity for boredom: by the time the second break rolled around, i felt like i could no longer sit in the chair comfortably and i was missing my boyfriend back in virginia beach. i decided to leave after having a conversation with one of the staff members, who informed me that my money would be fully refunded because of my mental health status (if i hadn't signed that waiver, i'd be stuck with the $395).

i was welcomed home by two very worried parents, who had looked up landmark education on the web (they found the rickross site among others) and were pretty shocked at what they found. they were afraid they were about to lose their emotionally fragile adult child to a dangerous cult. my parents were actually the main reason i decided not to return the second day, after jonathan offered to drive up to alexandria and be with me while i completed the forum.

You are so fortunate that you did not get sucked into the love-bombing that goes on the first day, that the volunteers did not try to persuade you to stay, and that your parents did some homework on your behalf. I hope jon isn't pressuring you to try it again.

Thing is, you have no idea going into a Forum what it is like. If they told you, you wouldn't have even considered it. By the second day, they mock therapy, generalize about depression and make jokes about everything being your mother's fault - all very funny - and then they go on to say your depression is your racket - your way of avoiding responsibility for your life while looking good. They would have pegged you as wanting to be a victim.

What makes me angry is that even though you signed the waiver, no one from LE called you to say that perhaps you should do the Forum later on down the road or even not at all.

Thanks for sharing your experience here.

My doctor was a Landmark junkie, yet did not disclose that detail about himself when he treated me for a common ailment. He used landmark tech on me covertly and then finally, about 1-1/2 yrs of being my doctor, persuaded me to try landmark. I'm still amazed how after only mentioning LED as an aside ("I have a friend who had the same problem you have that did something called Landmark - did you ever hear of it - and they got a lot of benefit from it. Something to think about") This was at my 2nd visit. He never mentioned it again for a yr, but proceeded to do his own Forum on me the entire time. He begged me to try it a yr after the 1st visit, but he pressured me so that I backed off. Incredibly, though I stopped going to him, we kept in touch and he recruited me to work for him setting up his seminars (which, of course, after the fact, I realized were mini forums a la doctor).

But in the course of researching and talking to people, I've found that so many professionals have been or are involved in LGATs, especially the forum. LEC has a very big presence on the campus of the med school my doctor graduated from. Another woman on this forum is a psychiatrist and she's been recruited and has dumped her friends and possibly her profession. I'm wondering if there is a special effort to recruit psychologists and physicians at Landmark.

We targeted many VIPs for special treatment. Anyone having a voice of authority might get a private audience with the FL. We used their authority bring in new recruits.
I'd report your doctor to the AMA board.
His behaviour is unethical.

Sone of his credentials were bogus. He left the country.

in the forum that i took some business
man in austin was applauded by the
crowd when he revealed that he had
brought over 50 of his employees to
be done at the forum.

and i want to mention that i dont
believe that businesses realize that
once their employees have dont he
forum their loyalties are no longer
to their company. they all belong
to landmark.

gates of microsoft is up to his
neck in the cults as are many
other american businesses.