Customer Reviews

Therapy Gone Mad: The True Story of Hundreds of Patients and a Generation Betrayed

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This book was chilling, and I give it a full two thumbs up for being so clear, thought out, well-researched and well-presented. It gave a play-by-play account of how a cult is created, and how people in need of healing are sucked into it...and trade their lives away for membership in it. It is also a beautiful example of how compelling such cult life is, and shows some of the clear benefits - despite the horrors - of being in such a world: the community, protection, camaraderie, agreement with a firm point of view. These are things we all want and strive for in our own ways - but god, how much these people had to sacrifice to achieve it. They sacrificed themselves and their self-respect...and also built their world on a house of cards.

Mild criticism: I think author could have gone deeper with the book had she further explored the parallel relationship between the cult dynamics and the dynamics of its members' abusive families of origin (as does Alice Miller in For Your Own Good). I think all therapy - and all adult relationships - entails the risk of such a non-healing re-creation, essentially just acting out, but what's most frightening is when therapists, like those in this book, not only participate in it...but NURTURE IT for their own benefits.

Other criticism: the book was too long-winded. I could have happily read a condensed version of this book and gotten just as much out of it. 400+ pages was just too much, yet due to the book's ever-changing nature, it was a tough one to skim.

This book is extremely well written. Not only was I completely absorbed and always wanting to find out what happened next, but I found myself almost "living" what these poor people went through in the hands of such deluded and destructive "therapists". The author brings the material so much to life, that it is easy to feel the pain, confusion and devastation the "patients" went through. Particularly sad are the final chapters of the book, in which the patients come to realize what has been done to them: the lies they have been told, the abuse they have suffered, and the years that have been wasted. It takes some of them quite a while to reach this stage, after a blind sort of wading and groping through layers of disbelief and confusion. A very sobering, deep, and painful account.

This was a GREAT book.

The book was carefully researched, yet gripping to read. It was detailed and exhaustive, yet compellingly written. It was long and informative, yet it was a real page-turner -- I couldn't put it down. In short, it combines many elements which are rarely found together.

Mithers is a true journalist. She treats her subject with balance, care, and professionalism; but she still manages to be engaging.

As a child growing up , Richard stayed at our house, as he was the head of a corporation known as "fusion inc" i believe. At that time, I was about 5, he had told me that his PHD was in statistics. Fusion was a company that helped give new organizational and management tactics for large corporations. The target was KN energy. Later on it was found, when a company called "midcon" i believe dug it up, that he was involved in this counsling scandal in California. By talking to him you would have never known he was capable of these things. Weird huh?

I was a student of Riggs Courier at UCI in 1970. Joe Hart and Riggs had quite a following with their charismatic personalities. I almost fell for it.

The copy of the book I obtained from Amazon.com had notes in it cross-referencing the fictitious names with the real names in the classes so I knew who was being discussed. What a find! I knew there was something fishy going on, but I had NO idea what a cult was developing. ...Facinating reading for those of you who were there.

SKD

Well folks, this book is very informative. But i got something
way better to say to you. I was there in that cult. I saw
everything happen from day one until the end. I survived the
cult and I did everything in power to bring this cult down.
We sued and won, and we had the State of California go after
these rotten bastards as hard as they could. We did this so
these lying snakes would never harm another "patient" again
in their lives. Feel free to ask me about the details of
this cult. crsds@hotmail.com