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Large-group awareness training

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Large Group Awareness Training (or LGAT) is a term used by psychologists to describe commercial trainings that include various techniques from group therapy and the human potential movement. These group trainings have also been referred to as new age trainings,[1] mass marathon trainings[2] and white collar cults.[3] Although this latter label has been contested by the groups themselves,[4] the term "white-collar cult" was again used in 2005 to describe Large Group Awareness Training in the context of marketing and advertising techniques.[5]

The trainings are usually run by non-psychologists and often involve more than two hundred people at a time. Though early definitions cited LGAT as being of unusually long duration, more recent texts cite the training as lasting from a few hours to a few days. About a million Americans have attended LGATs.[6] The phrase Large Group Awareness Training has been used by psychologists,[7] psychiatrists and academics in academic journal peer reviewed articles[8][9] and psychology books and textbooks.[10][11][5][12][13]

Large Group Awareness Training is discussed and explained by psychologists in the textbook, Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior[14], in the Handbook of Group Psychotherapy[15] and in the book: Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training.[16]

Definition

Large Group Awareness Training often takes place in Conference halls or Hotels.

Large Group Awareness Training has been described as teaching simple, but often overlooked education, which takes place over the period of a few days, in which individuals receive intense, emotionally-focused instruction. [6] Large Group Awareness Training has been compared to certain principles of cognitive therapy, such as the idea that people can change their lives by interpreting the way they view external circumstances[17]. Large Group Awareness Trainings often take place in relatively closed confines.[18]

Academic writings such as Handbook of Group Psychotherapy described Large Group Awareness Training as focusing on "philosophical, psychological and ethical issues", as related to a desire to increase personal effectiveness in people's lives.[15] Psychologist Dennis Coon's textbook, Psychology: A Journey, defined the term as referring to: "programs that claim to increase self-awareness and facilitate constructive personal change."[10] The textbook cites Lifespring, Actualizations, and the Forum as definitional examples of LGAT methods.[10] Coon further defines Large Group Awareness Training in his book Introduction to Psychology.[14]

Evolution

Leadership Dynamics was the first form of what psychologists termed "Large Group Awareness Training"[19]. William Penn Patrick, founder of Leadership Dynamics, was also the financial backer and later the owner of Mind Dynamics[20][21]. Mind Dynamics, founded by Patrick's business partner Alexander Everett, has been described as the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings.[22] Though the Mind Dynamics was itself only in existence for a short period of time it was the impetus for the development of an industry of similar trainings.[22]

Lifespring, Erhard Seminars Training and The Forum were later cited as examples of Large Group Awareness Training in textbooks and articles on the subject.[23][13][24]

Academic analysis, studies

"Large Group Awarenesss Training" is the title of a 1982 peer-reviewed article which sought to summarize literature on the subject and examine its efficacy and relationship to more standard psychology. This article was one of the first academic works to analyze and describe large group awareness training from a psychological perspective. Influenced by the work of humanistic psychologists such as Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May and often considered part of the human potential movement, LGAT's are commercial trainings that took many techniques from encounter groups. Existing alongside but "outside the domains of academic psychology or psychiatry. Their measure of performance was consumer satisfaction and formal research was seldom pursued." Finkelstein's article explicitly mentioned Lifespring and Actualizations, using the example of Erhard Seminars Training ("est") as a typical LGAT.

The article describes an est training, and discusses the literature on the testimony of est graduates. It notes minor changes on psychological tests after the training and mentions anecdotal reports of psychiatric casualties among est trainees. The article considers how est compares to more standard psychotherapy techniques such as behavior therapy, group and existential psychotherapy before concluding that "objective and rigorous research" was needed and that unknown variables might have accounted for some of the positive accounts. Borderline or psychotic patients were advised by psychologists not to participate.[25]

Among the psychological factors cited by academics are emotional "flooding," catharsis, universality (identification with others), the instillation of hope, identification and what Sartre called "uncontested authorship."[25]

In 1989 researchers from the University of Connecticut received the "National Consultants to Management Award" from the American Psychological Association, for their study: Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training.[16]

Psychologist Chris Mathe wrote that in the interests of consumer protection, potential attendees at LGAT's are encouraged to discuss such trainings with their current therapist or counselor, examine the principles upon which the program is based, determine pre-screening methods, the training of facilitators, the full cost of the training and any suggested follow-up care.[26]

Techniques

Yoga is a technique used in some LGATs.

Finkelstein's 1982 article provides a detailed description of the structure and techniques of an Erhard Seminars Training, noting the unusual authoritarian demeanor of the trainer, the physical strains of a long schedule on the participants and the similary of many techniques to those used in some group therapy and encounter groups.[25] The academic textbook, Handbook of Group Psychotherapy notes that Large Group Awareness Training organizations are "less open to leader differences", because they follow a "detailed written plan", that does not vary from one training to the next.[15]

Specific techniques used in Large Group Awareness Trainings include meditation, biofeedback, self-hypnosis, relaxation techniques, mind control, body touching, yoga, trance induction, visualization, neuro-linguistic programming[27] and attack therapy[28]. These techniques are applied during long sessions, sometimes called a marathon session when lasting for eight hours or more.[29] Compare with regular psychiatric outpatient care, where sessions last thirty to sixty minutes.

In his book Life 102, LGAT participant and former trainer Peter McWilliams describes the basic technique of marathon trainings as pressure/release and asserts that "pressure/release is used in advertising all the time," as well as in "good cop/bad cop" police interrogations and in revival meetings. By spending approximately half the time making a person feel bad and then suddenly reversing the feeling through effusive praise, participants experience a stress reaction and an "endorphin high." McWilliams gives examples of various LGAT activities called processes with names such as "love bomb," "lifeboat," "cocktail party" and "cradling" which take place over many hours and days, physically exhausting the participants to make them more susceptible to the trainer's message, whether it is in the participants best interests or not.[30]

Although extremely critical of some LGAT's, McWilliams found positive value in others, asserting that it was not the technique which was positive or negative, but the way in which it was used.[30]

Evaluations of LGATs

Tapper characterizes Large Group Awareness Training within the frame of, among other things, pyramid schemes.[31]

Finkelstein noted the many difficulties in evaluating LGAT's, from proponents' explicit rejection of certain study models to difficulty in establishing a rigorous control group.[25] Some studies have been partially funded by the organizations they studied.[9]

Not all professional researchers view LGAT favorably. Researchers such as psychologist Philip Cushman[32] for example, found that the program he studied "consists of a pre-meditated attack on the self". A 1983 study on Lifespring [33] found that "although participants often experience a heightened sense of well-being as a consequence of the training, the phenomenon is essentially pathological", meaning that, in the program they studied, "the training systematically undermines ego functioning and promotes regression to the extent that reality testing is significantly impaired". Lieberman's 1987 study,[9] funded partially by Lifespring, noted that 5 out of a sample of 289 participants experienced "stress reactions" including one "transitory psychotic episode". He commented: "Whether [these five] would have experienced such stress under other conditions cannot be answered. The clinical evidence, however, is that the reactions were directly attributable to the large group awareness training."

In the psychology textbook, Introduction to Psychology, the author references many other studies, which postulate that many of the "claimed benefits" of Large Group Awareness Training actually take the form of "a kind of therapy placebo effect"[14]. DuMerton writes that "..there is a lack of scientific evidence to quantify the longer-term positive outcomes and changes objectively.."[6] Jarvis described Large Group Awareness Training as "educationally dubious" in the 2002 book The Theory & Practice of Teaching.[34]

Controversial tactics sometimes used by these groups have included physical violence, isolation, entrapment, brainwashing, and sexual experiences.[35] Tapper characterizes Large Group Awareness Training within the frame of political cults and pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing groups.[31] Benjamin criticizes these groups for their high prices and spiritual subtleties.[36] In an academic research paper on "Choices", a type of LGAT, researchers cited LGAT programs with having perhaps a million American attendees, many of whom give positive testimonials of "healing effects" and "positive outcomes in their lives".[6] Publicist Daniel Yankelovich conducted a study of Landmark Education and endorsed it in his book The Magic of Dialog.[37]

Compared to cults

The work of psychologist Margaret Singer included large group awareness trainings as one example of what she called "coercive persuasion" and mentioned them in a report, commissioned and subsequently rejected by the APA, known as "The DIMPAC Report." After this rejection, much of the material was reworked into the book Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives, which she co-authored with Janja Lalich.

Singer and Lalich use the phrase "large group awareness trainings," in reference to organizations whose "programs tend to last at least four days and usually five." The book explicitly mentions Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training and its "new age" derivatives such as the Forum, "Lifespring, Actualizations, MSIA/Insight, PSI World, and the many affiliates of Transformational Technologies" inspired by Erhard.[28] Landmark Education subsequently sued Singer for defamation, after which she issued a statement that she did not intend to call their organization a "cult." Amanda Scioscia reported in the Phoenix New Times that Singer never called Landmark a cult, but that she described it as "a controversial New Age training course". She also stated that she would not recommend the group to anyone, and would not comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion for fear of legal recrimination from Landmark.[38]

As Dr. Singer demonstrated in her book Cults in our Midst,[28] critics differentiate between the usage of the terms cult and Large Group Awareness Training. Singer also writes that employees taking part in a company-wide Large Group Awareness Training program not only complained about attempted religious conversion, but also objected to the specific techniques used.[28]

Michael Langone, Ph.D. analyzed Large Group Awareness Training in an article in Cult Observer.[1] Dr. Langone wrote that Large Group Awareness Training has been compared to "brainwashing" and "cults", and posited that many of these groups have an implied or even explicit religious nature to them[1]. Dr. Langone concluded by stating that he knew of no specific academic research which showed that Large Group Awareness Trainings have positive behavioral effects.[1] Langone cited a study which showed no difference between the Large Group Awareness Training test subjects and the control group[1][39]. The International Cultic Studies Association has grouped some Large Group Awareness Training organizations together with research about them.[40] Lorne Dawson stated in his book on cults and new religious movements that similar thought reform techniques are used in both cults and Large Group Awareness Training.[41]

In popular culture

The character Red describes "large group awareness training", in Reichs' 1999 forensic thriller novel, Death Du Jour.[42] In Pressure Points, a 2001 novel by Larry Brooks, one of the book's protagonists asserts that the programs developed by Werner Erhard, William Penn Patrick, and Alexander Everett all came from the same source[43].

The Program, a 2004 novel by Hurwitz, described a fictional large group awareness training called "The Program", and characters also used the term "LGAT" to refer to the course.[44] In the novel, the seminar leader had "married two cult models", which one of the protagonists described as a blend of the "psychotherapeutic cult", and the "self-improvement cult".[44] The character then tells his friend that "The Program", is similar to a combination of the Sullivanians and Lifespring.[44] Werner Erhard is quoted, prior to the opening of the prologue.[44]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Langone, Michael (1998). "Large Group Awareness Trainings". Cult Observer. 15 (1). ISSN 1539-0152. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Mass Marathon Trainings, excerpted, The Politics of Transformation: Recruitment - Indoctrination Processes in a Mass Marathon Psychology Organization, St. Martin's Press 1993, Philip Cushman, Ph.D.
  3. ^ White collar cults, they want your mind ... and your money, and six of your friends. A look at the new, white-collar world of cults--where 'personal growth' means brainwashing., Self Magazine, February, 1993, Dirk Mathison
  4. ^ Settlement Agreement, Landmark Education Corporation & Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc., 1993
  5. ^ a b Howard, Martin (2005). We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind. The Disinformation Company. ISBN 1932857052. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b c d DuMerton, M.A., C. (July 2004). "Tragic Optimism and Choices: The Life Attitudes Scale with a First Nations Sample" (PDF). (Master's Thesis). Peer Review by Paul Wong, Ph.D., Jill Charlie, M.Ed., Marvin McDonald, Ph.D., Rod McCormack, Ph.D. (Master of Arts, Graduate Counseling Psychology Program). Trinity Western University. Retrieved 2007-04-14. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "The researcher contends that the Choices seminar is a type of Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT) program. Perhaps a million Americans have attended LGATs (Langone, 1998) and often give positive testimonials of the healing effects and positive outcomes that take place in their lives in a very short period. A major tenet of est and other LGATs is the personal assumption of responsibility. It seems that Werner Erhart figured out a highly successful, mass produced and profitable way to dispense such simple, but often overlooked, wisdom."
  7. ^ Knox, Jack (2006). How to Be an Entrepreneur Without Going to Jail. Lulu Press, Inc. pp. P. 326. ISBN 1430302887. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "Werner Erhard's EST, (Erhard Seminar Training, also Latin for "It is"), was a large group awareness training program, as psychologists called it. Erhard had his seminars in large meeting rooms for hundreds of people at a time."
  8. ^ Denison, Charles Wayne (1994), Children of EST a Study of the Experience and Perceived Effects of a Large Group Awareness Training., University of Denver, pp. Ph.D. Dissertation
  9. ^ a b c Lieberman, "Effects of Large Group Awareness Training on Participants' Psychiatric Status", American Journal of Psychiatry v 144 p 460-464, April 1987.
  10. ^ a b c Coon, Dennis (2004). Psychology: A Journey. Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 520, 528, 538. ISBN 0534632645. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "Large-group awareness training refers to programs that claim to increase self-awareness and facilitate constructive personal change. Lifespring, Actualizations, the Forum, and similar commercial programs are examples. Like the smaller groups that preceded them, large-group trainings combine psychological exercises, confrontation, new view-points, and group dynamics to promote personal change."
  11. ^ Pettijohn, Terri F. (1988). Annotated Instructor's Edition, Psychology an Introduction, 6th Ed. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0137345003. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); line feed character in |coauthors= at position 19 (help)
    "A recent development has been the emergence of large-group awareness training. Erhard Seminar Training (est) is one of the best known."
  12. ^ Lilienfeld, Scott O. (2003). Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. Guilford Press. p. 186. ISBN 1572308281. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b Tindale, R. Scott (2001). Group Processes: Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology. Blackwell Publishing. p. 630. ISBN 1405106530. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "EST, FORUM and LIFESPRING are all examples of LGATs, for members seek to improve their overall level of satisfaction and interpersonal relations by carrying out such experiential exercises as role-playing, group singing and chanting, and guided group interaction."
  14. ^ a b c Coon, Dennis (2003). Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior. Thomson Wadsworth. pp. Pp. 648, 649, 655. ISBN 053461227X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ a b c Burlingame, Gary M. (1994). Handbook of Group Psychotherapy: An Empirical and Clinical Synthesis. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 528, 532, 535, 539, 549, 550, 555, 556, 581, 583. ISBN 0471555924. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ a b Fisher, Jeffrey D. (1990). Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training. Springer-Verlag. p. 142. ISBN 0387973206 , ISBN 978-0387973203. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
    Page. vii. -- "The research reported in this volume was awarded the American Psychological Association, Division 13, National Consultants to Management Award, August 13, 1989."
  17. ^ Rubinstein, Gidi (2005). "Characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants: A comparative study". Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 78 (4). British Psychological Society: 481–492. doi:10.1348/147608305X42721. ISSN 1476-0835. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ Brown, Stephen I. (1997). Consumer Research: Postcards from the edge. Routledge. p. 279. ISBN 041515684X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Kilzer, Lou (July 18, 1999). "Desperate Measures Network of Behavior Modification Compounds Known as Teen Help Has Straightened Out Hundreds of Defiant Adolescents, But Its Methods Aren't For the Faint-hearted". Rocky Mountain News. E. W. Scripps Company. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "The first of the genre psychologists call "large group awareness training" was the Leadership Dynamics Institute..."
  20. ^ Bartley, William Warren (1988). Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man the Founding of EST. Clarkson Potter. pp. Page 177. ISBN 0-517-53502-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  21. ^ Lande, Nathaniel (1976). Mindstyles, Lifestyles: A Comprehensive Overview of Today's Life-changing Philosophies. Price/Stern/Sloan. p. 143. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ a b Navarro,, Espy M. (2002). Self Realization: The Est and Forum Phenomena in American Society. Xlibris Corporation. p. 54. ISBN 1401042201. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
    Page. 54. :
    "Mind Dynamics, founded by Alexander Everett, was the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings. Although Mind Dynamics was only in existence for a few years, it sparked an entire industry of similar trainings."
  23. ^ Brewer, Maryilyn B. (2004). Applied Social Psychology. Blackwell Publishing. pp. Pp. 81. ISBN 1405110678. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Zeig, Jeffrey K. (1997). The Evolution of Psychotherapy: The Third Conference. Psychology Press. pp. Pp. 352, 357. ISBN 0876308132. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
    "Training or T-groups, sensitivity training, and encounter groups spread and were followed by commercially sold large group awareness training programs, such as est, Lifespring and other programs."
  25. ^ a b c d Finkelstein, P. (1982). "Large Group Awareness Training". Annual Review of Psychology. 33. Calvin Perry Stone: 515–539. ISSN 0066-4308. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

    More objective and rigorous research reports fail to demonstrate that the positive testimony and evidence of psychological change among est graduates result from specific attributes of est training. Instead, nonspecific effects of expectancy and response sets may account for positive outcomes. Reports of psychological harm as the result of est training remain anecdotal, but borderline or psychotic patients would be well advised not to participate.
  26. ^ Choosing a Personal Growth Program: Ten questions to help you make an informed decision, Chris Mathe, Ph. D., 1999
  27. ^ Partridge, C. (2004). New Religions: A Guide; New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities. Oxford University Press. p. 407. ISBN 0-19-522042-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  28. ^ a b c d Intruding into the Workplace, Dr. Margaret Singer, excerpted from Cults in our Midst (book), 1995
  29. ^ Paglia, Carmen (Winter 2003). "Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s" (PDF). Arion. 10 (3). Boston University. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  30. ^ a b Peter McWilliams, Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You (Prelude Press: Los Angeles, 1994). ISBN 0-931580-34-X., pp 6-7.
  31. ^ a b Tapper, A (September 2002). "The Impact of Cults on Health" (PDF). Nursing Spectrum. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  32. ^ Cushman, "Iron Fists/Velvet Gloves: A Study of A Mass Marathon Psychology Training", Psychotherapy vol 26, Spring 1989.
  33. ^ Haaken, J. and Adams, R., "Pathology as 'Personal Growth': A Participant-Observation Study of Lifespring Training", Psychiatry, vol 46, August 1983.
  34. ^ Jarvis, Peter (2002). The Theory & Practice of Teaching. Routledge. p. 97. ISBN 0749434090. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  35. ^ Weir, D., An Odyssey of Sexual/Gender Evolution: An Autoethnographical Study of the United States from the 1950s to the Present, April 2002, (available online)
  36. ^ Benjamin, Ph.D., Elliot (June 2005). "Spirituality and Cults" (PDF). Integral Science. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  37. ^ Daniel Yankelovich: The Magic of Dialog: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation. New York: Touchstone, 2001. ISBN 0-684-86566-1
  38. ^ Amanda Scioscia, 2000, Phoenix New Times, Drive-thru Deliverance Singer said she never called it a cult in her book, but simply mentioned it as a controversial New Age training course. In resolution of the suit, Singer gave a sworn statement that the organization is not a cult or sect. She said this doesn't mean she supports Landmark. "I do not endorse them -- never have," she said. Singer, who was in her 70s at the time, said she can't comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion because "the SOBs have already sued me once." "I'm afraid to tell you what I really think about them because I'm not covered by any lawyers like I was when I wrote my book."Singer said, however, that she would not recommend the group to anyone.
  39. ^ Hosford, Ray, E., Moss, C. Scott, Cavior, Helene, & Kerish, Burton. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1982, Manuscript #2419, American Psychological Association
  40. ^ "Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGAT)". Cultic Studies Journal, International Cultic Studies Association. Archived from the original on 2006-01-28. Retrieved 2006-01-18.
  41. ^ Dawson, Lorne L. (2003). Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader. Blackwell Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 1405101814. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  42. ^ Reichs, Kathy (1999). Death Du Jour. Scribner. p. 311. ISBN 0684841185. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  43. ^ Brooks, Larry (November 29, 2001). Pressure Points. Onyx. pp. Page 77. ISBN 0451410017 , ISBN 978-0451410016. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  44. ^ a b c d Hurwitz, Gregg Andrew (2004). The Program. HarperCollins. p. 176. ISBN 0060530405. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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