Northern California
1985

The McDonalds of Psychiatry?
 

This is a commentary on so called self help seminars, such as Est, who propose that they can help make one a better, more productive person. It could happen. However, in my case, it wouldn't be facillitated by a group who seemed to function as the McDonalds of psychiatry.

A friend recommended the seminar, after having completed it himself. I should have noticed that he had not changed as a person, but that his use of jargon was much-improved.

I chose to take this workshop in part because of my misconception that it was natural for people to be happy all the time. Due to my natural range of emotions I thought that I needed to be 'fixed'. The zeitgeist seemed to pathologize normal sadness. I naively thought that I could get IT, that magical quality that prevents angst. Dream on.

The course was a five day seminar which included lectures, roleplaying, and attempts to dump negative emotional baggage. 

On the first day at registration, I couldn't help but notice an attitude on the part of the staff. Any questions to them were met with an angry, smirking non-response. "Where do I register?"  "Which conference room will we be using?"  "Where is the bathroom?" were all considered inappropriate questions somehow. Yes, we were an arrogant bunch all right, demanding such information!

Over a period of several days, we were bombarded with lectures about responsibility, how nothing is random, how one creates  all personal experiences. Yeah, right. Tell that to a holocaust survivor. 

We were asked to choose 'partners' randomly, for whose behavior one became responsible. This could present problems, resulting in public humiliation. The staff would verbally attack and harass people who were one second late returning after a break - or who voiced certain opinions, or who were overtly trying to hide from their process. If you failed to make eye contact, you were a goner.

A few memorable people I met there were: a European lady who seemed to be fully enjoying herself (while the rest of us sweated blood), who I later realized spoke very little English; a young woman who was was obsessed with her doppelganger (who wasn't present); a man who looked exactly like an extra in the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers remake.

The course culminated in myself and others being in the hot seat -  having eight glaring, hostile strangers verbally attack us was very unnerving. Later, after the course, I was harassed by phone at home once, at no extra charge.

I heard that the staffers occasionally have reunions. I imagine they discuss highlights of past seminars, such as "And what ever happened to whats-his-name? . . . after he broke down and was hospitalized?"

I decided that I could deal with life without a drive-thru support system - and that having a realistic attitude in the first place certainly couldn't hurt. 
 

EST
Lifespring
"The Plan"

And . . . More Groups Than We Should Know About