Trigger warning : This article contains descriptions of abuse.
Netflix's The Program explores the troubled teen industry from the perspective of those who have experienced it. Filmmaker Katherine Kubler spent 15 months at Ivy Ridge College and used the new documentary series to connect with former students and share their experiences since the school closed.
In the three-part series, which aired March 5, participants opened up about alleged abuses at the agency, such as regular "workshops," which Kubler described as "pseudo-psychological, emotional abuse and humiliation".
For example, some participants recalled that at one workshop they were forced to repeat chants and accompanying gestures for eight hours without interruption. Kubler also described hearing music used to promote a "trance state" while teenagers were forced to their knees and screamed personal, disturbing details about their lives. "That's what they use to destroy you."
Ongoing cult history
As Kubler points out in the program, these practices are not unique to Ivy Ridge or other similar World Association of Professional Programs and Schools (WWASPS). Instead, she cited a cult called Synanon that began in 1958 as a precursor to the troubled teen industry.
In the show , journalist Maia Szalavitz describes what Synanon's "aggression therapy" means. "You basically find someone's weakness, zero in on it, and attack them," she said. "This can go on for 24 hours, or even longer, with people just crying to other people until they completely collapse."
Sarawicz explains that this practice causes participants to become anxious and have reduced logical thinking skills, making them "easier" to accept the leader's beliefs.
Where is Synanon today?
As the new documentary series recounts, the cult disbanded in 1991, long before the events of The Plan. The organization quickly collapsed after the government revoked Synanon's tax-exempt status, denouncing its "terrorist and violent" corporate policies, The New York Times reported.
But Kübler points out that other programs are modeled after Synanon. Szalavitz profiled several such organizations in a 2007 article for Mother Jones. For example, The Seed reportedly used Synanon therapy on teenagers who were using or suspected of using drugs. A similar program, Straight Inc., was supported by Nancy Reagan as part of her "Just Say No" campaign in the 1980s. Saravec said the scheme reportedly featured "beatings and kidnappings of adult participants."
Today, neither organization operates a rehabilitation program, but as Szalavitz explains, the "tough love" approach popularized by Synanon and his descendants can be found in some of the programs that still exist.
