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.
According to Carol Lynn Mithers in her book Therapy Gone Mad, Riggs, Hart, and Binder believed that if they facilitated the group together, they would avoid the narcissism that had consumed Janov (pot calling the kettle black). Leadership would make decisions collectively, guaranteeing that no one individual dominated. Additionally, all therapists would remain in treatment, gaining insight from their peers to have therapies evolve with them.
Primal Therapy
Arthur Janov developed Prima Therapy as a trauma-based treatment and argued that an underlying cause of neurosis lay disguised in repressed childhood trauma. Janov believed that repressed anger and pain caused by traumas could be brought into consciousness by reliving these painful incidences. Primal Therapy encouraged patients to indulge in unrestricted yelling and frenzied tantrums as they relived their traumas. These often violent displays gave the therapy its name.
Abandonment of Primal Therapy
It is evident from the start that some apostates from primal therapy were faking their 'primals.' To counter these fakers, Riggs and Hart determined primal therapy was a hoax and wasn't an answer to trauma so they rejected the practice. The Center replaced primal therapy with Riggs, Hart, and Binder dubbed 'present-life feelings,' an idea which was also abandoned. This flip-flopping from one type of therapeutic idea to another would become the Center for Feeling Therapy hallmark.
"Present-life feeling" was replaced by dream hypnosis which focused on lucid dreaming. The goal of dream hypnosis was to have dreams free from fictitious components that ultimately guided the dreamer in their waking lives. The Center claimed that every senior therapist could lucid dream and that their patients could have them. To facilitate dream hypnosis, therapists prescribed exercises along with charts, graphs, and workbooks to self-track their advancement with the technique. However patients didn't progress the way the Center had hoped, and dream hypnosis was ditched.
"Psychological Fitness"
The "Psychological Fitness" concept asserted that it would help patients earn heaps of money and thrive in life. Therapists encouraged patients to wear expensive clothing to appear professional to start businesses and work exceedingly long hours. Patients were told their actions would "teach the world to excel." Fake it until the world makes it, I guess.
The Center for Feeling Therapy's Organization
A hierarchal approach separated groups of therapists paired with patients. These groups were then graded on the gains made by the patients. "Group One" was the most successful, with the "Tombstone Group" in the bottom spot with the least successful patients. Promotions or demotions were dolled out to groups regarding their dedication to the Center's techniques and how well they completed assignments prescribed by therapists.
These often absurd assignments were used to humiliate patients. During one session, a woman whose therapist considered her overweight was told to act like a cow in front of the group while hurling insults at her.
The Center for Feeling Therapy Recruitment
Those who had outside jobs and were allowed to leave the Center encountered those who were in search of relief from the day-to-day strains of life, or assistance in out-of-ordinary pressures, like divorce or assisting other patients to flee from another cult. This is what occurred to Paul Morantz. While removing children from Synanon, Morantz met two female patients from the Center for Feeling Therapy. The women urged him to try the Center to support him in dealing with his anxiety. They claimed that everyone who lived at the Center participated in stress-free lives.
The more Paul Morantz listened, the more the Center sounded like Synanon. The women invited him to an open house for the Center to see for himself.
The Soft Sell
Paul met the women at a restaurant across the street from the Hollywood Center location. He was met with hugs and handshakes and made to feel important. He saw other people sitting at tables getting the same treatment and realized that they were all recruits. The "Open House" was very organized, giving the impression that they happened often.
After dinner at the restaurant, the recruits were herded over to the Center to view a film. The movie expounded on how wonderful the founders of the Center were, especially Riggs Corriere and Joseph Hart, and how fortunate the world was that these people were sharing their extraordinary minds.
After the recruitment film, a man came onto the stage and spoke. He relayed what a nerd he'd been before finding the Center and how he would have never met his wife, who was a tall, beautiful blond. The message: if you joined the Center, you would be transformed into a person deserving of what this guy had.
Next, recruits were ushered into another room where they were told about the Associate Program. The Associate Program would last several months. Each person would train to become a therapist. After which, they would be given clients and charged up to $50 an hour, which went to the Center.
At this point in the recruitment spiel, Paul raised his hand, which startled the woman. He informed her that it is illegal in California to practice therapy without a license.
The woman replied that the Center hasn't any interest in the law, only helping people.
Verbal Abuse
The new therapies became intense, and many who had come over with them from primal therapy left the group. Patients were often debased by their therapists in group settings. Verbal insults like 'fat,' 'lazy,' or 'loser' were employed to describe patients who didn't live up to the expectations of their therapists. Other patients were encouraged to ridicule what was considered failing members.
Anything related to Judaism was seen as a weakness. Patients' "Jewishness" was often attacked as a shortcoming and "negative."
Physical Abuse
Beyond ridicule and debasement, physical abuse played a role in "healing" patients. The practice dubbed "Sluggo" consisted of therapists breaking down patients' defenses through physical assaults. Patients would be hit repeatedly during sessions which led to bruising and bleeding.
Micromanaging Patients' Lives
To the smallest detail, therapists had control over their patients' lives. They were told what to wear, what to do, which job to take, who their sexual partners could be, how often to have sex, which they could date and marry, whether they should have children, and how much they could weigh (women only), and whether or not they could leave the Center for Feeling Therapy.
Forced Labor
For some patients, life at the Center consisted of long, arduous physical work. The labor was so intense that many patients sustained permanent injuries.
Monetary Fines
Those who didn't perform well under the "Psychological Fitness" regime were not only physically and mentally abused. They were fined for their lack of performance.
Forced Abortion
Surprisingly only one patient became pregnant during the nine years the Center was in operation. The forty-year-old woman who'd been trying to get pregnant for 17 years was pressured to have an abortion. Her therapist ensured her she'd have plenty of time to conceive again.
Rebellion and Closure of the Center for Feeling Therapy
Over its nine-year lifespan, the Center expanded outside of Los Angeles to Boston, Honolulu, Munich, and San Francisco. In November of 1980, a mass uprising took place in every location, and the Center closed. The trained therapists lost their licenses and were banned from practicing in California. Even though ex-patients accused their therapists of sexual assault, including rape, no criminal charges were filed. In January 1986, a lawsuit involving 55 former patients charging the Center with fraud, brainwashing, and physical and emotional abuse was settled for $7 million.
Three books discuss the Center of Feeling Therapy: Therapy Gone Mad by Carol Lynn Mithers, including 48 interviews from former patients of the Center of Feeling Therapy; Insane Therapy, Portrait of Psychotherapy Cult by Marybeth Ayella; and Escape: My Life Long War Against Cults by Paul Morantz.
Sources
Mithers, Carol Lynn (1994). Therapy Gone Mad. Da Capo Press.
Morantz, Paul (2010). Escape from the Center for Feeling Therapy (Cult of Cruelty). http://www.paulmorantz.com/cult/escape-from-the-center-for-feeling-therapythe-cult-of-cruelty/
Timnick, Lois. "Psychologists in 'Feeling Therapy' Lose Licenses." Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1987. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-30-me-7303-story.html
A/N: This article originally appeared on DemiWorld Podcast.
