Here's what Margaret Singer had to say. The whole article is a quick read, but in lieu of a highlighter, I cherry-picked a few points that seemed especially relevant here. Her description of second-generation thought reform so accurately describes Landmark.
[www.culteducation.com]
2nd paragraph:
"Programs used the organization and application of intense guilt/shame/anxiety manipulation, combined with the production of strong emotional arousal in settings where people did not leave because of social and psychological pressures or because of enforced confinement. The pressures could be reduced only by participants' accepting the belief system or adopting behaviors promulgated by the purveyors of the thought reform programs."
From 5th paragraph:
"The subject person's motivation to adopt the manipulator's position and to become obedient is manufactured by inducing extreme anxiety and emotional distress. "
" The goal was to hold the subject at the point of maximum stress without inducing psychosis. "
From 7th paragraph:
"In the newer thought reform programs, attacks appear to be designed to destabilize the subject's most central aspects of the experience of the self. The newer programs undermine a person's basic consciousness, reality awareness, beliefs and world view, emotional control, and defense mechanisms."
From 8th paragraph:
"Second-generation programs often incorporate technical advances in influence production, such as hypnosis to intensify recalled or imagined experiences, emotional flooding, sleep deprivation, stripping away of various psychological defense mechanisms, and the induction of cognitive confusion. Second-generation programs are illustrated by certain cults, in therapeutic communities gone astray, and in some large-group awareness programs."
From 13th paragraph:
"The tactics of a thought reform program are organized to destabilize individuals' sense of self by getting them to drastically reinterpret their life's history, radically alter their world view, accept a new version of reality and causality, and develop dependency on the organization,..."
All of these things are so glaringly obvious at L.E.
These things should be listed on the consent form, in the description of what the program IS. THEN, and only then, would they have obtained informed consent.
They should also mention that, (especially if they consider you a "hard case"), they sometimes extract information from your recruiter, and might use this information to meddle in areas of your life that you have not invited them into.
They should also list the illnesses described in the section titled, "Induced Psychopathologies," when they talk about possible risks. Then, if somebody wants to sign that thing, at least they know what they're getting into.
It seems that Landmark has appropriated the more traditional metaphysical concept of "breakdown," (things aren't working), and applied it to something far more harmful.
This is NOT what most metaphysicians are talking about when they speak of breakdowns preceding breakthroughs, but Landmark seems to use that concept, tied to this part:
"The goal was to hold the subject at the point of maximum stress without inducing psychosis." (5th paragraph).
In my humble opinion.
[www.culteducation.com]
2nd paragraph:
"Programs used the organization and application of intense guilt/shame/anxiety manipulation, combined with the production of strong emotional arousal in settings where people did not leave because of social and psychological pressures or because of enforced confinement. The pressures could be reduced only by participants' accepting the belief system or adopting behaviors promulgated by the purveyors of the thought reform programs."
From 5th paragraph:
"The subject person's motivation to adopt the manipulator's position and to become obedient is manufactured by inducing extreme anxiety and emotional distress. "
" The goal was to hold the subject at the point of maximum stress without inducing psychosis. "
From 7th paragraph:
"In the newer thought reform programs, attacks appear to be designed to destabilize the subject's most central aspects of the experience of the self. The newer programs undermine a person's basic consciousness, reality awareness, beliefs and world view, emotional control, and defense mechanisms."
From 8th paragraph:
"Second-generation programs often incorporate technical advances in influence production, such as hypnosis to intensify recalled or imagined experiences, emotional flooding, sleep deprivation, stripping away of various psychological defense mechanisms, and the induction of cognitive confusion. Second-generation programs are illustrated by certain cults, in therapeutic communities gone astray, and in some large-group awareness programs."
From 13th paragraph:
"The tactics of a thought reform program are organized to destabilize individuals' sense of self by getting them to drastically reinterpret their life's history, radically alter their world view, accept a new version of reality and causality, and develop dependency on the organization,..."
All of these things are so glaringly obvious at L.E.
These things should be listed on the consent form, in the description of what the program IS. THEN, and only then, would they have obtained informed consent.
They should also mention that, (especially if they consider you a "hard case"), they sometimes extract information from your recruiter, and might use this information to meddle in areas of your life that you have not invited them into.
They should also list the illnesses described in the section titled, "Induced Psychopathologies," when they talk about possible risks. Then, if somebody wants to sign that thing, at least they know what they're getting into.
It seems that Landmark has appropriated the more traditional metaphysical concept of "breakdown," (things aren't working), and applied it to something far more harmful.
This is NOT what most metaphysicians are talking about when they speak of breakdowns preceding breakthroughs, but Landmark seems to use that concept, tied to this part:
"The goal was to hold the subject at the point of maximum stress without inducing psychosis." (5th paragraph).
In my humble opinion.