Sunday, April 24, 2016

The Beliefs of synanon

Moriah Ponder
April 24th, 2016
Professor Delaporte
Blog #2
The Beliefs of Synanon
            Synanon began as a very peculiar Rehabilitation Center that didn’t use doctors or medication. Over the years Synanon went from the first ever no doctor involved self help drug rehab, to a building of a new society in Synanon cities to lead the world into the 21st Century, to becoming a self-claimed religion. These changes occurred over the span of the life of the cult.
            Charles Dederich grew up living a rough life. He lost his father in a car accident at age 4. Then at age 8 he lost his brother from influenza. He felt very guilty and responsibly, he would never have a good relationship with children again. His mother remarried when he was 12, he turned to alcohol and rebelled. He dropped out of Notre Dame, got married twice but both relationships were ruined from alcohol. Even after having children of his own, he still had bad relationships with children. He almost died from meningitis but was saved by penicillin in the 1940’s when t was discovered. He was found passed out on a kitchen floor and was told, “Fatso,” if you do not go to Alcoholic Anonymous you will die.” (Morantz).
            Dederich joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and attended meetings every day; he even became a regular speaker. He read Emerson’s “Self Reliance” and it inspired him to devout his time to cleaning up other Alcoholics.  He lived off of a $35 unemployment check and donations and charity from others. He volunteered for an LSD experiment, during this time he thought he understood the world and that good and bad are the same. When he spoke at AA meetings, his speeches shift from more psychological topics to philosophical. He slowly began to gather a group of followers; they had meetings in an apartment, and then rented a small store for meetings because they grew. The original named for Synanon was The Tender Loving Care Club. The main form of therapy was the group session called “The Game”. This consisted of people yelling at each other about anything they wanted, it didn’t matter if it was true or not. Violence was prohibited during “The Game” and outside of it as well. Members of this group survived off of stale food from catering trucks, and hookers doing tricks and donations.
            Eventually, drug addicts began to attend and alcoholics objected. Dederich kicked out alcoholics because there was already AA.  A member’s slurring the words “symposium” and “seminar” led to name Synanon. While in Synanon members go through withdraws and are mentally and emotionally abused. Addicts’ behaviors and past lives were attacked viciously in games, members were told their lives depended on staying, contacts with family were prohibited, and a system of rewards and punishments was applied. Dederich preached “Act as If” which meant do not try to reason as to what Synanon asks they do; as thinking got them there, just trust what they were told and act as if it is right.” In 1962 Dederich moved to an empty National Guard building on the beach in Santa Monica. He was arrested and imprisoned for operating without a health license but Governor Edmund Brown Sr. signed a bill to save Synanon and make them exempt from health licensing  laws. The imprisonment made Dederich a public martyr. Monetary donations came in from the rich and Hollywood, as guys like Robert Wagner, Leonard Nimoy and Ben Gazzra came to Synanon to play the game with ex-addicts and ex-hookers. Synanon became an alternative community in 1964, attracting people with its emphasis on living a self-examined life, as aided by group truth-telling sessions known as the “Synanon Game.” With its new wealth, they started building its first “city” in Marin County (Tomales Bay) (Morantz).
            Charles Dederich believed that his program was unsuccessful. He realized that ex-addicts would revert back to drug without peer pressure. He believed that people should stay at Synanon forever. If members stayed forever they could build a Utopian world designed by Dederich. The organization developed a business that sold promotional items, a successful enterprise that eventually generated roughly $10 million per year of revenue. Synanon enterprises would run gas stations, pottery making, apartment buildings and other income businesses without having to pay workers or taxes. Dederich bought and sold real estate. 
            Synanon purchased in 1967 the Club Casa del Mar, a large beach side 1926 hotel in Santa Monica), and used it as a center and dormitory for drug treatment and business operations. The city tried to claim they owned the beach front but Dederich went to the press and declared Synanon would sue the city. At this point Santa Monica surrendered and Synanon became untouchable. It no longer obeyed zoning rules, sympathetic donations reheated and Synanon soon became Santa Monica’s largest land owner.
            Synanon began using other ways of treatment such as containment (keeping member separate from their families), The Trip, and The Stew ( a 72 hours Game).
            In the 70’s juveniles were sent to Synanon, but these juveniles did not want to be there causing the methods of Synanon fail. Synanon accepted juveniles to keep their tax free status. Violence was permitted on juveniles. This was the first time Synanon broke the “non violent rule”.
            On remote properties in California such as Tomales Bay in Marin County and Badger, Tulare County, the organization had built unpermitted buildings, a trash dump, and an airstrip. (Gerstel, Paradise Inc.) Beginning in 1974 the authorities began to question Synanon’s promises and practices.   Paul Morantz brought various issues to the Health department in regards to Synanon and some of the medical practices they did. This caused some tax problems. Dederich declared in l974 that Synanon was a tax exempt religious organization, the “Church of Synanon (Morantz).” Dederich declared no more children were allowed in Synanon because it took time away from Synanon goals. Men were forced to have vasectomies and women were even forced to have abortions. These were just some of the crazy beliefs Synanon had during their history
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Morantz, Paul. "The History of Synanon and Charles Dederich." The History of Synanon and Charles Dederich. Paul Morantz. Web. 24 Apr. 2016. 

4 comments:

  1. I found it very interesting how synanon got its name. I always had wondered where the name came from. it makes sense that the name came from a member slurring the words “symposium” and “seminar” which led to name Synanon. After reading about all the money syanon made it showHe how smart Charles was. He had to be very smart because he found many loop holes around paying taxes and keeping as much revenue as possible. Not just anyone could build an utopia that is successful and very wealthy. He was a great businessman and very smart with money and manipulating people. I was surprised with how much syanon was able to make.

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  2. I find it interesting how you start your article stating that Synanon first started as a rehabilitation center that did not use doctors or medication, instead it focused more on verbal therapy but as we start seeing the way Synanon began to slowly transition, the use of doctors or having them on site were starting to take place. I know Dedreich's mission was to help drug addicts from reverting back to their old ways by having a communal support but sometimes that was not necessarily the case especially as the Game started to become incorporated in their daily rituals. This had such a negative influence on people and its was led them to feel angry and like they were worth nothing which made them fall back to their old ways. I know Dedreich grew up living a hard life with the death of his brother, father and mother remarrying. For any teenager, so many life transitions can be traumatic and for him, his escape to ease the pain was alcohol. However, alcohol clearly ruined his life, which you show evidence of in your blog and how it deteriorated the marriages he was in which eventually led to his severe sickness. His way to do good for others was by opening a drug rehabilitation center and helping those who wanted it, fight their addiction. As the years went on, it did not necessarily exemplify itself as the drug rehabilitation center people wanted to participate in but for others, they absolutely loved the idea of being involved in Synanon because it was a cool, hip place to be as Naomi and Dr. Don explained when they came to speak at our class. Even though Synanon lasted for as long as it did, I still can't believe half the things that happened during Synanon's reign from putting rattle snakes in people's mailboxes, to encouraging woman, men and children in shaving their heads, to several beatings if anyone tried to run away. I am just so shocked that it lasted for as long as it did but I will say that they were good at covering it up for the time they had left.

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  3. I find it interesting how you start your article stating that Synanon first started as a rehabilitation center that did not use doctors or medication, instead it focused more on verbal therapy but as we start seeing the way Synanon began to slowly transition, the use of doctors or having them on site were starting to take place. I know Dedreich's mission was to help drug addicts from reverting back to their old ways by having a communal support but sometimes that was not necessarily the case especially as the Game started to become incorporated in their daily rituals. This had such a negative influence on people and its was led them to feel angry and like they were worth nothing which made them fall back to their old ways. I know Dedreich grew up living a hard life with the death of his brother, father and mother remarrying. For any teenager, so many life transitions can be traumatic and for him, his escape to ease the pain was alcohol. However, alcohol clearly ruined his life, which you show evidence of in your blog and how it deteriorated the marriages he was in which eventually led to his severe sickness. His way to do good for others was by opening a drug rehabilitation center and helping those who wanted it, fight their addiction. As the years went on, it did not necessarily exemplify itself as the drug rehabilitation center people wanted to participate in but for others, they absolutely loved the idea of being involved in Synanon because it was a cool, hip place to be as Naomi and Dr. Don explained when they came to speak at our class. Even though Synanon lasted for as long as it did, I still can't believe half the things that happened during Synanon's reign from putting rattle snakes in people's mailboxes, to encouraging woman, men and children in shaving their heads, to several beatings if anyone tried to run away. I am just so shocked that it lasted for as long as it did but I will say that they were good at covering it up for the time they had left.

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  4. I'm not sure if this comment will ever be seen, since this Blog is from 2016; but here goes.

    It's an interesting feeling seeing your life as someone's school project.

    I think you made a mistake using Paul Morantz as a source. Considering the feud between Morantz and Synanon any information he provides is biased. Without objective information it is difficult to get the whole picture, an understanding of Synanon (the good, the bad, the ugly), what Synanon was really about, and a clear idea of the growth and metamorphosis of Synanon.
    I am not sure what to recommend using for sound objective information, although I'd suggest reading Synanon: The Tunnel Back as a start to really understanding.
    It should be noted that the doctors in Synanon were doctors living and practicing there, like pediatricians that did our physical exams, etc.; they were not there to help with rehabilitation and no drugs were used to soften the effects of withdrawl or make it less traumatic to kick drugs cold turkey.

    It is also important to note that many of the well know rehab therapeutic communites, such as Delancey Street of Pheonix House were started by people who left Synanon as the community turned more inward and began to move away from rehabilitation; those organizations are amoung the many that use rehab techniques created by Synanon.
    There is so much...missed and mis-information...it kind of makes me sad that the world gets this skewed view...

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