Crazy Therapies: What are They? Do They Work? [Hardcover]
Margaret Thaler Singer, Janja LalichReviews
"This book is an intelligent, witty guide for anyone who is considering an "innovative" or unconventional approach to mental health or personal transformation."
"Singer brings educated skepticism to her topic--the wide-open field of fringe psychotherapy." (Dallas Morning News)
"Crazy Therapies is a much-needed book to help consumers navigate the unregulated filed of psychotherapy."
"This is a consumer guide to help sort out what might be right for you." (The Denver Post)
"Written in a clear, highly entertaining, and popular style, "Crazy Therapies" is just the book for anyone trying to wend their way through the daunting therapeutic maze."
"Tells a sad but fascinating tale of pathological therapies that abound throughout the country."
"This title is a good complement to Jack Gorman's The New Psychiatry. Together, the two titles provide a solid background for anyone seeking assistance with life's problems."
"Crazy Therapies is fascinating reading and would be helpful for anyone considering any innovative approach to mental health or personal transformation."
"...a must read for anyone who believes that there is sometimes little difference between some mental health practices and the occult. This is that rare book that is both highly entertaining and deeply disturbing..."
Insane Therapy: Portrait of a Psychotherapy Cult [Kindle Edition]
Marybeth F. Ayella (Author)Product Description
Sensational media coverage of groups like Heaven's Gate, the People's Temple, and Synanon is tinged with the suggestion that only crazy, lonely, or gullible people join cults. Cults attract people on the fringe of society, people already on the edge. Contrary to this public perception, Marybeth Ayella reveals how anyone seeking personal change in an intense community setting is susceptible to the lure of group influence. The book begins with the candid story of how one keen skeptic was recruited by Moonies in the 1970s - the author herself. Ayella's personal experience fueled her interest in studying the cult phenomenon.This book focuses on her analysis of one community in southern California, The Center for Feeling Therapy, which opened in 1971 as an offshoot of Arthur Janov's Primal Scream approach. The group attracted mostly middle-class, college-educated clients interested in change through intense sessions led by licensed therapists. At the time of the Center's collapse in 1980, there were three hundred individuals living in the therapeutic community and another six hundred outpatients. Through interviews with twenty-one former patients, the author develops a picture of the positive changes they sought, the pressures of group living, and the allegations of abuse against therapists. Many patients contended that they were beaten, made to strip before the group and to engage in forced sex, forced to have abortions and give up children, and coerced to donate money and to work in business affiliated with the Center.
The close of the Center brought yet more trauma to the patients as they struggled to readjust to mainstream life. Ayella recounts the stories of these individuals, again and again returning to the question of how personal identity is formed and the power of social influences. This book is a key to understanding how 'normal' people wind up in cults. Author note: Marybeth F. Ayella teaches Sociology at St. Joseph's University.
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