in evaluating situations like this: go to go to the section on cults and read 'Evaluating Spiritual and Utopian Groups.' It is commonplace for untrained healers to argue that the functioning ego is a trap. The thing is, the functioning ego is like our skeletons. We need it in order to function on a day to day basis. Genuine spiritual growth preserves the integrity of your ego, bu
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

the key thing is whether the use of psychology is conducted honestly or deceitfully, whether it is in the best interest of the client, and whether there is accountability to something objective that is outside of the client practitioner relationship--eg laws, a standard of care that a group of practitioners have arrived at by consensus, professional codes of ethics, etc. The problem with mave
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

My therapist specializes in working with severely traumatized people--he is an expert on dissociative disorders--PTSD, the spectrum of dissociative reactions, even multiple personality disorder. His philosophy is to create a safe but boundaried environment so that people can slow down, feel safe, and their stuff surface on its own schedule--like a midwife who assists a mother through the natural
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Some random thoughts: I agree 100% that it is out of order to convene a 'meditation group' then turn it into a forum for a medium to channel some entity, whether real or bogus. Here are some issues: 1) It is common for many people to equate the spiritual with the psychic. (the two domains are different. Spiritual practice involves transcending the ego while staying grounded in ord
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This URl will give you a list of news flashes from East Bay Express in columnar format. Keep scrolling down and you will find Duby. Gives intriguing information about his background. All hail, Google!
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

of the citation from 'metroactive'--it was originally published in October, 2001 in East Bay Express.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I hear it involves trance induction, but I am unsure of the precise details. Am curious: 1) what was taught & were they honest with you about what it would involve? 2)how it affected you (for better, for worse, or both?) 3)would you do it again, knowing what you know now 4) if you stopped using Silva, why you chose to do so.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Rick Ross may be able to point you in their direction if you cant find contact info on the net. They are: Margaret Thaler Singer Ph.D, emeritus professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and Janja Lalitch Ph.D, Dept of Sociology, Cal State Chico. Singer is one of the foremost authorities in the world on cults, and Janja Lalitch is also coming into her own as a first class scholar on the subject.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

if you want to know more about how a confusing, eclectic mixture of traditions and treatments can be used to disorient people, go to the forum thread for LGAT's and then go to the discussion of Landmark Forum. Hope and I had quite discussion there and I quoted from a book by a psychiatrist about how boundaries get disrupted in therapeutic relationships long before specific unethical behavior
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

Dear Mavin, everything you have written has been very helpful. You might appreciate some of the information on this link by Dick Sutphen--he was the first source I encountered who described how NLP is covertly used in a wide range of settings. A\ And if you go to go to 'cults' and select the article 'Evaluating Spiritual and Utopian Groups, you'll get common sense guid
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

My guess is that that technique you mention where there's a commerical, and at the very end of it, something's included that seemingly 'makes no sense'-- is this a method of inducing a subtle shock or disorientation, designed to enhance susceptibility to the previous message? I have heard that one way to make people suggestible is to shock them, or stun them for an instant, th
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

Make 100% sure you are grounded and will not be easily tricked into following the agenda of an unethical journalist. Two, please, please consult with one or two attorneys before you even think of publicly naming your abuser. You could risk being sued for libel, and defending yourself will be costly, both emotionally and financially, even if you win the case. Legal proceedings take months, even
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I will need some time to read that quantum physics article. But here's a key concept: a big problem with bad groups and malfeasant 'professionals' is not always the content of their belief systems, it is their covert agenda in relation to you that's the real problem. You can teach someone quantum physics in such a way as to help a person wake up, refine his or her capacity
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Dear Hope, give yourself sufficient time to acquire a vocabulary that will do justice to what you went through and to get a focus on the exact process of what you went through. Recovery from spiritual exploitation is complex because it is in stages. What is therapeutic in early recovery is often not useful in later recovery. Attitudes essential to advanced recovery can hinder early recovery
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

However, please be warned, it is expensive (I paid about $40 for it 4 years ago)--anything printed by a small academic/medical publishing house will be expensive. It was written by a psychiatrist for mental health professionals, so feel free to take notes and run things by your therapist. In fact, you might offer to loan the book to your therapist at some point--he or she might be grateful! ( I l
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

(Epstein continues 'For example, a therapist who has been successfully treating a patient with psychodynamic psychotherapy begins to advise hypnosis using touch as part of the trance induction to help the patient 'relax', suggests sessions be conducted out side of the office..the new treatment might be appropriate when applied as part of a coherant treatment modality, but a sudden
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This is important. I may have to post two messages to give you the full text of my reply. Will quote from one of the books I recommended. Robert S Epstein, the psychiatrist who is author of 'Keeping Boundaries : Maintaining Safety and Integrity in the Psychotherapeutic Process' (ISBN-0-88048-660-0) 1994, says this on page 97: ''Petersen(1992) viewed every boundary violation
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Dear Hope, your story would be valuable, precisely because you illustrate the problems that arise when a health care provider elicits trust, then uses the provider patient relationship as a 'point of recruitment' to serve a covert agenda that is NOT in the patient's best interests. The problem is when a provider has bought into a cult or cultic relationship and does sincerely b
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This URL was posted on craigslist.org, a bulletin board I use quite often. It is a prospectus for a workshop on powerful hypnotic techiques, including Neuro-Linguistic Programming. It is offered by a group called 'Somnambulistic Sleepwalkers' () They emphasize the personal power/ego-driven benefits one can expect to get by mastering the technicques. No reminder that hypnosis is
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

Dear Hope, it is appalling that you were referred to LF by a psychotherapist. The whole point of being a psychotherapist is to function as a professional on behalf of the client's best interests. The therapist should never, ever have a hidden agenda of recruiting/evangelizing for a belief system that has never been approved for use in psychotherapy. There is a remarkable article on Rick
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

You did Landmark, and 'been there', so your report is especially valuable. You dont have to reply if you dont wish, but--how long did it take for you to recover from the adverse effects of participating in Landmark? Was anything you did or your therapist did especially helpful in aiding your recovery?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

If this is true, it could create a spiritual and legal quagmire/nightmare. First, various reports in the RR.com database indicate that LGATs such as Landmark Forum can high-pressure, indoctrination experiences. Many former participants report theyve found such experiences unpleasant. Some participants have had stress reactions and have needed psychotherapy to cope with this. Not enough LG
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There are some common 'red flags' that indicate whether a group has an exploitative agenda; 1) Frequent name changes 2) Mixing techniques and methods from totally different traditions--using yoga and the Oriental Orthodox Church is an example of this. NOTE: Yogic breathing techniques can be hazardous unless taught by a qualified teacher and in small groups where the welfare of
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Can anyone describe what is actually taught in Silva Mind Control?(now known as Silva Method). Two, what are indications that a teacher, trainer or 'guru' is making covert use of Neurolinguistic Programming?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Its prospective title will be 'Bounded Choices: The Dilemma of the True Believer', with University of California Press as the publisher. I think this will be based on Lalitch's Ph.D thesis--she recently passed defense and will join the sociology department at Cal State Chico as an assistant professor--you might contact her and see about trying to transfer to Chico to take some clas
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

Unless I am mistaken, Goldie Hawn was once linked to Satya Sai Baba, as was whoever started the Hard Rock Cafe chain. SSB is renowned for his psychic powers and miracles and is considered God in human form. His ashram is in Puttaparthi, in southern India. Recently some news has come out that SSB has been a long time pedophile who targets young boys and men, and may well have faked many of his all
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

It's marvellous that you're in your forties and have already found a career in education. What steps did you take to accomplish this? Did you have to return to school? How did you manage the stress of it all. And how did you find a way to structure life on your own terms when you left the structure of Jehovah's Witnesses?
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups