There has been alot of talk about how abusive it is in the media, but no real specifics....does anyone know about how it is so abusive?

Just curious and I thought it should be brought up in greater detail than "its bad".

thanks,

Knotty

From what I can tell about Love in Action, it's structure and practices seem to be very similar to that of Straight Inc, a Synanon based non-professional therapy cult. I believe there to be a direct connection to Straight Inc. because the language used, such as "raps", the parental "open meetings", the level system, and some of the little details such as saying "I love you ____" after somebody shares in a rap are exactly identical to Straight Inc. More details at this link here.

There are too many details like that for there not to be a connection. I would love it if anybody knew what staff member from Straight brought the rules over, or whether the Straight founders had anything to do with this. From what I can tell, if it's anything like Straight, they use some of the most brutal thought reform tactics around. "Raps" at least at straight, were a form of "attack therapy" (not actually a therapy). It should also be noted that, like Straight, the program accepts and deals with minors, who are subjected to this.

If you want to know what Straight was like, there is a film called "Over the GW" about KIDS of Bergen County (A branch of Straight run personally by it's doctrinal architect, Dr (now Fr.) Miller Newton. It was considered by many to be the worst of all the branches of Straight Inc. It was posted by the director in full form online here. There is also a Straight documentary in the making, and based on what I've seen (I was at a pre-premiere), it's very, very good. Miller Newton wasn't actually a medical doctor. He had a doctorate in theology. The group's beliefs were based on AA, with many practices such as Raps gleaned from Synanon (it was called "the game" there). It seems Love in Action has taken Straight's doctrine, and replaced "addiction" with "homosexuality".

I feel very, very, very sorry for the people who have to endure this, and the resulting trauma they will likely have to work through. Many, many, of those who were once in Straight are dead now from suicide. Sadly, Straight never totally died. Clients from Straight went on to found other, nearly Identical groups, one of which is Canada called AARC. They've given up some of the stranger practices (like shaking hands wildly, called "motivating", in the air to get permission to speak). The CBC did a documentary on them here which AARC is up in litigation about. I know one of the clients they're suing and I don't believe for a second she is lying. I also believe the one person who retracted his statement was probably blackmailed or threatened by the group. So if you want to get an idea of what Love in Action is like, my suggestion would be to look into Straight and it's ilk. Based on the practices and language set out in the first link I posted, it seems to be a clone.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2013 12:23AM by psyborgue.