Dark Secrets of the Center for Feeling Therapy

Between 1971 and 1980, a radical psychotherapy community-based in Los Angeles, California, served up abusive therapies bent on unlocking their patient's full potential. Part of the human potential movement that swept through the United States in the 1970s, The Center had, at its peak, had 350 resident patients and 2,000 members across several locations. While lacking a religious element, the group operated like a cult. The Center's charismatic leaders, Richard "Riggs" Corriere and Joseph Hart, who dubbed themselves "the Butch Cassidy and Sun Dance Kid of psychology" (red flags all over the place), would later lose their licenses to practice psychology after the group's collapse. The rise and fall of the Center is known as one of the greatest scandals in the history of psychology. By the end of its reign, the Center became known as the "Center for Cruelty."

The Center for Feeling Therapy Founding

The Center for Feeling Therapy was founded by Richard "Riggs" Corriere, Joseph Hart, and Jerry Binder, three former members of Arthur Janov's Primal Institute. The Center proposed improvements for perceived flaws in Janov's philosophies. The Center began as a direct outgrowth of primal therapy. However, the Center quickly abandoned its roots, underwent radical theological shifts, and emphasized dream analysis.