Posted by noa on August 16, 2000, at 14:37:52
In reply to Should I attend?, posted by smoky on August 15, 2000, at 14:34:33
Landmark Forum is formerly EST, I believe, the name having been changed because of bad publicity in the 80s.
I can't say whether such a program is a good idea for you, but I know that I had friends who were involved in a similar one called Lifespring(it had been referred to as the "gentle EST") , and they were caught up in a sort of pyramid sales scheme. It is run by salespeople, not professionals in psychology. It consumed their lives and their friendships with non-participants really suffered, because they were constantly trying to sell us on the idea.
Years ago I read an article on it, and the participant observers who wrote the article, for a respected journal, said it was based mostly on peer pressure to agree with the facilitators. People who disagreed were shamed.
I don't know if this is the same article, but perhaps you might like to read this one, citation from pubmed below.
BTW, after a few years went by, my friends recontacted me and resumed the friendship, apologizing for how they acted while involved in Lifespring.
Also, BTW, I believe in the late 80s and early ninties, Lifespring was in the news because of law suits. This may be why such programs ask about mental illness on the application.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6622602&dopt=Abstract
poster:noa
thread:10674
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000811/msgs/43099.html