In reference to this thread: Here’s a thread to discuss the risks of psychotherapy. “Psychotherapy” is used in the general sense here, so it includes psychology, psychiatry (but not the drugs), counselling and so on, and includes licensed/registered therapists. This purpose of this thread is not vilify all therapists. The purpose is to draw attention to the problems that can arise f
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

No worries. We're on the same page. QuoteVic-LucMargarets- Stop PMing me and stick to the board threads. Thanks!
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I'm not in Australia or Asia. But to keep things clear, let's limit our argument to the USA. Vic-Luc, even with all the licensing boards and malpractice insurance and codes of ethics and all of that, there are still many cases every year of therapist misconduct. The fact that you can go online and check out a therapist's history of complaints etc proves that. And again - thos
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Just as an example, in my jurisdiction a complaint was made to a regulating agency (closest thing we have to a licensing board) about a therapist who had sex with, exchanged nude photos via email with, showed porn to, and did drugs with a client who was a minor at the time. A monstrous violation of psychotherapy ethics if there ever was one. The therapist's discpline was: to be prohibite
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteVic-LucYou DO realise one can't practice psychotherapy without a license and malpractice insurance, right? Actually that depends on the jurisdiction. In my jurisdiction you absolutely can practice without a license - there is no license to get, no authority to give one or take it away. "Malpractice insurance" is a non-issue for psychotherapists here. I have done my
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuotecorboyIf a therapist screws up with a client by using an untested modality (such as Byron Katies stuff or Eckhart Tolles stuff), that therapists ass and license are on the line. In theory, yes. But if an actual complaint is made, the client has to 1) figure out which modality was being used on them (the therapist may never have named it, just did it anyway), 2) provide some evidence that
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I posted this link on the BK/ET thread. It's not a lot of info, but it shows that this stuff is entering the mainstream of psychotherapy. I'll bet the presenters never looked into any of the criticisms of ET et al. They just liked his ideas and assumed they would be useful for everyone. They didn't consider the risks of misapplying these ideas, or how a therapist can determine
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Unfortunately there isn't much to stop a licensed psychologist/psychotherapist in private practice from sending a client to an LGAT. In private practice they are pretty much free to do what they like unless a client complains, which of course only happens AFTER an incident of misconduct and only if the client is willing to go through the complaint process. "Supervision" is a bit
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I agree with Sparky that if you seek a therapist, only go with someone who is licensed and trained. However (and it's a big one!) I was seeing a licensed (in my area the term is 'registered', but same difference) and trained therapist and it was a freaking disaster and trying to sort out the whole experience is what led me to this site. (There were some cult-ish deceit and mani
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I would just add that for the "peak experience" that LGAT events offer, try some hard exercise. Something that really gets your heart rate up, like running or riding a bike up a hill, or some big all-day job around the house, like a big gardening or maintenance project. Wear yourself out physically (within healthy limits of course) and you will get the endorphin rush that will feel gr
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This is why your friend waited 8 months to mention Landmark: bait and switch. If he'd called you up out of the blue to talk about Landmark right away, or even just very early on in the re-connection of the friendship, you would have twigged that something was up. Just as if he'd tried to sell you a car or get you to help him find a job or something. So he laid the groundwork by a
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Anti-cult, that is very interesting. When I've looked back on the bad therapy experience (therapist was doing Gestalt therapy on me without my informed consent - I'd never heard of Gestalt in my life - and of course NLP emerged from Gestalt therapy) I see clearly now that there were little subtle commands, and lots of framing, in many of the things she said. I don't know the tech
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Even as a non-fan of EPL, I will say there is value to meditation. But meditation does not have to take the form of sitting cross-legged for hours. Many people can get into a meditative state by taking long walks, long runs, long bike rides, gardening, doing crafts or woodworking or the like, or even just getting down on the floor (the floor again!) and playing with their kids. It doesn't
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"Tell me what your metaphors are and I will know how to find the back door into your inner life." Heh - now there's some metaphors in action! Did you do that on purpose corboy?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, OK, but the floor metaphor was around long before ELP and BK. "I was floored", "my jaw hit the floor" and so on. A million movies show a character hitting rock bottom emotionally by showing them on a floor crying or puking or whatever. It's kind of a go-to metaphor, not at all unique to ELP or BK. Having said that.... yikes, there must be a lot of people out t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Oooh, interesting post Stoic. I would add to the WEIRD concept the fact that we humans have only been "civilized" for about 10 000 years - less in some places. We evolved as hunter-gatherers, and we still have the same brains and bodies as our recent ancestors. So not only is it weird to live in settlements, living off agriculture and animal husbandry, in hierarchical societies, it
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't have a problem with Gilbert getting an advance for her book. That's usual in the publishing world. I don't even have problem with her writing a lousy book (except for the trees that died for it). What vexes me is that it was positioned as a self-help how-to-live-your-life book and, it seems, a sneaky way to advance the cause of some dodgy exploitative guru. The other
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This reminds me - I'm involved with another online forum where sometimes people recommend books like EPL, Eckhardt Tolle, etc. It's not the main focus of the forum but it comes up now and then. Based on my reading here, I posted a message letting people know that they need to be careful about the self-help/personal development stuff they get into. I didn't name any names, just r
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's tricky - it depends a lot on the laws in your jurisdiction and the interpretation of words like "psychotherapy", "mental health treatment" and so on, plus how strictly these laws are enforced. In my jurisdiction they are only just now beginning to regulate psychotherapy and it's still unclear what exactly regulation will look like. If you are in an area with
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

Anticult - WHOA. I just clicked on your links. Yikes! Honestly all this time I thought EPL was lame but not much more harmful than other mass-market pop culture/psychology stuff. OK, she went to an ashram in India, but some of them must be OK. I didn't know she was involved with a highly questionable one and kept that detail on the down low. That's a pretty major red flag.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I saw the movie. I needed to see if it was as bad as I'd heard (it is), and the all-day rain put the kibosh on my plans for the day, and I figured I'd at least see some pretty pictures of Bali (I did). The movie is not going to attract any more fans to the book, so that's one good thing. The spiritual stuff is nonsensical - all it seems to amount to is this woman finding the a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

She did get an advance, which in itself I have no problem with. Writers get them all the time; it's the publisher's investment in a product they hope will be profitable. In that sense, Elizabeth Gilbert delivered. Capitalism. Before long, another book like this will come out, because people are that desperate and they need a new fix.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteMartin N Even in therapy - professionals with degrees, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc - she would have to confront the trauma of what she went through - and the therapist would be ripping her off or setting her up for failure if he or she did not have her 1) re-experience/release the trauma in some way, and 2) create a new interpretation around the event that took place, regardless of how
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I read "The Brain That Changes Itself" - great book! I'm answering on the fly here, but re: bringing down the thought-stopping wall, I would recommend doing activities engage your brain without a lot of conscious deliberative thinking. Sports, gardening, crafts, a cooking class, puzzles and games - whatever rings your bell interest-wise. My theory is that your brain gets used
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

This is the text of a presentation email-forwarded to me by a former colleague (who also forwards emails about absurd nutrition and diet regimens). There is no escaping this rubbish. Notice the language: "should', "must", "react properly". Author: Stephen Covey The 90/10 principle What is this Principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteAlmost any ordeal creates a bonding experience. This got me thinking... For the majority of human history, we lived as hunter-gatherers in small tribes and clans. Every day the group faced one ordeal or another - finding food and water, staying warm - and other ordeals such as fights with neighbouring groups, the deaths of members of the group and so on were frequent. Whatever group y
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

skepticGranny, you wrote: And if I'm reading on this forum that at least one person has really been helped by her approach I would like to deminish all the negative stuff about her here. I would like to see a bit more of a balance in the judging. She's not all bad, in my eyes she's just one of those new age guru's aiming for profit for the most part. Thus, stay away from th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I did more research into this organization. It is a "leading lifestyle improvement centre". The hypnotist is a Master Practitioner of NLP and Regression Therapy. Hypnosis is totally unregulated in my jurisdiction, but psychotherapy recently became a "controlled act" here, but the details of regulation have yet to be worked out. So it will be interesting to see how all this
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

I took an online quiz to test my hypnotize-ability. The quiz was on the website of a hypnosis company in my area. I answered it honestly. This was the result: Here is your score. Score = 47.62 % Total number of people tested = 982 Average of all test takers = 67.77 % 30-69%: Your answers show that you may have a more difficult time in letting go of your “analytical” mind. Your
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

OK, so, I'm trying to follow the logic. Is anyone suggesting that the current ubiquity of vampires in pop culture is leading to the formation of true cults (as commonly defined by cult researchers)? I.e. harmful, destructive cults? A few nutjob serial killers doesn't make a cult. Serial killers are always fascinated by something, usually something related to violence and death. N
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"