This thread began with a post in which I acknowledged that I may have been manic or psychotic and it is now clear to me, as I imagine it was to those of you who interacted with me during that time, that I was in fact both manic and quite psychotic. The other side of psychosis, looking back on how your mind can play tricks on you and how it is possible to frighten people and stress the closest
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

LOL.Thanks for the kind words The previous poem ("Invictus") was written by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY and published in 1888. It was Nelson Mandela's favourite poem, and it's brilliant. The one above ("Dr Johnson") was written by John Hunter (not PhD yet) in 2009. I wrote it for a friend who had just been broken up with, and who had - in an email to me a few days be
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Thanks, Facet In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson quotes Dr Samuel Johnson, who says, "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"... and right now I'm finding it hard to fight the urge to be angry and full of hate for the people who have hurt me. I don't want to end up like the person in this poem... I just want to find peace... b
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi facet I appreciate the feedback and you are certainly right about all of this. As I explain in the foreword, the book is about how psychological pain and abuse can push people into a "transformative" (hypomanic/manic) state and how our emotions can distort our judgment... which is why I included things of a personal nature (a break-up with someone I loved... which caused the psych
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi kdag I think there's generally far greater awareness of the abuses among the public, and I would say that LGATs (because they go by different names) and because of the deliberate deception before attending are more hidden (they are often seen as unrelated). I do understand, and respect, your decision... but Landmark and Co seem to be a little more cautious than KR when it comes to thin
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi kdag I am frustrated that these bullies have intimidated good people like you, and Hopeful Soul, and StopLGATS, and Freda_Last, and ellenaaa, and facet, and concernedprof, and SpeakingUp, and Truthnow, and GloriaG, and TalkingMouse, and SaneAgain, and dwyern , and Noncompliant94, and Free from this cult, and Dopamine Link, and ConcernedandSad, and anonday, and The Anticult, and Lady Pleiade
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi Hopeful Soul I think that there have been a number of positives from the pandemic, and many people are shifting their priorities as a result. It's true that LGATs will battle to function in these conditions, but I don't think it's realistic to believe that they won't kick off again with a vengeance when a vaccine emerges. They are waiting patiently, and they will be back
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

So, I understand if everyone is frightened to make a video clip, explaining what they've been through... ... but what is the alternative? If we don't speak out, we'll be in the same position ten years from now, twenty years from now, thirty years from now... complaining about how Landmark Galaxywide (I'm pretty sure they will have changed their name again...) has destroy
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I'm sure he would argue that "everyone deserves a fair legal defence"... but it takes a special kind of person to climb into bed with the devil.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

The public has a right to understand the risks of participating in LGATs and YOU HAVE THE POWER TO LET THE PUBLIC KNOW WHAT THESE RISKS ARE. If you're tired of hiding from these bullies, then make a video and upload it below this video: Share what you have been through... and let's end this cycle of abuse.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi Freda_Last Sadly, this is exactly what we should expect from those running these abusive seminars. In every LGAT, regardless of where or when it occurs, you get the same horrific consequences, and the same avoidance of responsibility by those who spend their lives preaching responsibility. It's sick... and there's a special place in hell for these sorts of people.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi everyone I've just put a video together in which I shamelessly plug my (free) book, and provide a link to it: Obviously, the primary goal of the book is to alert the public of what goes on in LGATs, and so I'm asking that you watch it and - if you do like it - then like it. Additionally, if you've read the book (or my PhD) and can comment on them, then that would reall
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

In this video I focus specifically on NEWSPEAK ("Loading the Language") in LGATs like the Landmark Forum:
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

CBS has just had one of the videos I posted on YouTube (the 60 minutes episode on Erhard) blocked "for copyright reasons". JUST TO BE CLEAR... IT WASN'T BECAUSE OF "FACTUAL DISCREPANCIES" LOL I'm GLAD THAT MANY PEOPLE WATCHED IT AND DOWNLOADED IT - these corrupt organisations can't hide behind their attorneys any longer. Just to remind you of why CBS doesn
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

From Upstart Logic's (Peter Finkelstein's) company's website (http://www.upstartlogic.com/): "Upstart Logic helps entrepreneurs and executive teams develop the tools to maximize their performance and transform their organizations." Sound familiar?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Large Group Awareness Traing (Finkelstein, Wenegrat & Yalom, 1982). The 1982 article entitled "Large Group Awareness Training" by the authors above, from Stanford University's department of psychiatry, was the among the first peer-reviewed articles on LGATs. I make numerous references to this review article in my PhD and have wondered why, in spite of their insistence that f
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

In this video I provide evidence for the effectiveness of thought reform ("brainwashing"):
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

In this video I explain "reciprocal connections" and why LGAT leaders insist on APPLAUSE at strategic points during the training. (This would fall under what Lifton (1961) calls "MYSTICAL MANIPULATION"...):
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Yesterday I explained the conditions of thought reform as they apply to LGATs: Today I made a video which explains other insights from social and cognitive psychology, as they apply to LGATs: (THIS FURTHER EXPOSES THE LIES FROM AUTHORITY FIGURES LIKE DR RAYMOND FOWLER WHO, AS THE HEAD OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, PERSONALLY ENDORSED LANDMARK IN 1999 AND CLAIMED THAT
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I'm sorry you went through that, corboy. Nothing hurts more than betrayal by those we love and trust.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

In this video, I explain Thought Reform ("Brainwashing"), how these conditions are present in LGATs like est, Landmark, Lifespring, etc., and how these organisations lie through their teeth about their BLATANT USE OF THESE TECHNIQUES to the public:
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Apologies for this long post (it's a cut and paste from pages 256-265 of my PhD), but - given the previous discussion about "trusting your gut" - I think that it's important to articulate the way that LGATs emphasise "experience" (your gut) and de-emphasise independent thinking or rationality: Thought reform condition 5 of 8: Sacred Science Sacred Science descr
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi corboy I don't disagree that there have been some highly manipulative LGAT trolls on these boards (I can't speak about other cult-like groups, as this has been my focus), and you've clearly had far more experience with this than I have, but I that characterisation of all LGAT graduates is one devoid of hope, and one which will never result in reconciliation. As I mention in t
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi kdag I don't think you were trying to undermine my work. I've looked at the evidence... all of your posts... and so I would never jump to that conclusion based on "gut feel", "thin slicing" (Gladwell), System 1 (Kahneman), the peripheral route (Petty & Cacioppo) or intuition ;). I was worried that what you said would (unintentionally) undermine it though
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi kdag I agree (and have said as much) that the gut should be trusted sometimes, and I agree that many (most) people will sense that something is wrong during an LGAT, but ignore that gut feel for various "reasons". Ironically, these other "reasons" are intuitions or "gut feelings" themselves... such as "not wanting to go against the group", or "no
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Consider that "trusting your gut" (relying on heuristics) in the LGAT space results in participation. People do not participate because they have considered all of the evidence (the rational approach) - they participate because of little pieces of evidence, like "this person I trust has recommended it to me" (this is a form of intuition... or "trusting your gut"). Ev
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Apologies, Robert Cialdini's book is called 'Influence', not 'Persuasion'. Oprah (and I know that people love her) is literally the physical embodiment of outsourcing your thinking. She has promoted dangerous people and dangerous new age thinking her whole career, and while she brought James Frey (author of A Million Little Pieces) back onto her show to chastise him fo
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi kdag Since Oprah pushes The Secret, and James Arthur Ray (an LGAT trainer who is responsible for... ie has been convicted and sent to prison for... the deaths of those who trusted him), I would steer clear of her recommendations when it comes to critical thinking. Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink similarly emphasises the benefits of trusting your gut, but many who read it fail to acknowle
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It may be a little unclear, but the post above is my correspondence with the twelve people who I thank in my foreword (generally, senior academics who have helped me over the years... but also Marc Fisher, who wrote some articles about Lifespring in the 1980s,and who is now a senior editor at the Washington Post). What is clearly revealed in this email exchange is how all the knowledge in the
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi James I thought you should know that the world now knows that you are corrupt, and that you've contributed to the suffering of millions of people. In addition to lying about scientific studies demonstrating the benefits of these highly abusive trainings (and anyone who views that YouTube clip and looks at our correspondence will see you for the liar that you are), you also lied about
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"