Five days of deprivation of rationality: What exactly do people who fall into pyramid schemes experience?

If you make a promise in front of others, you will fulfill your promise to do it.

If you do something, you will feel that you want to do it.

If you feel like doing it yourself (without realizing that you are being forced by circumstances), you will believe that those thoughts and actions originate from within you.

-- Margaret Singer, "Cults Among Us"

You are surrounded by a group of people who want to brainwash you.

They may be strangers, but they may also be your acquaintances, friends or even relatives.

They originally had normal IQ and stable emotions. They worked and studied as needed, and got along well with their family, friends and colleagues.

One day, they went to a five-day training course , which was said to make people smarter, more efficient and happier. When they came back, they looked the same, even a little happier and more enthusiastic.

But they have been brainwashed. A new goal has been implanted in their minds to brainwash more people .

After reading this, you may wonder: "How is it possible that a 5-day course can brainwash an adult with normal IQ?"

But the fact is that the technology of "brainwashing" really exists . It is used by pyramid schemes, cults, and this type of "collective awakening training" (Large Group Awareness Training, LGAT).

Brainwashing can generally be divided into three major steps:

Set traps;

Open your heart;

Implant new ideas.

Next, this article will disassemble step by step each brainwashing method used in the "Collective Awakening Training" LGAT course, as well as the purpose and principles behind it .

The narratives about the LGAT course come from 6 sources and are arranged chronologically as follows.

1. Mark Brewer, 1975

In 1975, journalist Mark Brewer participated in the first generation of LGAT in the United States, Erhard Seminars Training (EST), and wrote an 18-page report titled "We'll Tear You Apart and Put You Back Together."

2. Hacken and Adams, 1983

In 1983, psychologist Janice Haaken and sociologist Richard Adams, who were involved in the Lifespring LGAT program, published a paper in the journal Psychiatry, “A Pathological Analysis of ‘Personal Growth’.”

3. Singh, 2003

In 2003, Margaret Singer, a psychologist specializing in cults, surveyed six LGAT courses, studied training manuals and course videos, interviewed dozens of LGAT graduates, and wrote a book titled "Cults Among Us."

4. Li Yaling, 2007

In 2007, journalist Li Yaling went undercover at the Life Source LGAT course in China and wrote a report about her personal experience titled "Unveiling the Elite Course Life Source: The Process of Forced Brainwashing."

5. Shi Xiyuan, 2010

In 2010, Shi Xiyuan, who was studying for a master's degree at Shandong University, was invited by his parents' friends to participate in a "Leadership Quality Training Course" organized by a T organization in Jinan. He lived in the course for nearly two weeks, completed three stages of training, and wrote his personal observations into a master's thesis entitled "Ritual and Mind Control: A Study of the Influence of a Training Organization's Courses on Its Members' Attitudes."

6. Hunter, 2015

Anthropologist John Hunter participated in a LGAT course in South Africa and wrote 33 pages of field research notes in the days after the course ended, which he wrote in his 2015 paper "Brainwashing in Collective Awakening Training?"

Step 1: Set the Trap

It was a carefully constructed trap.

The plan of the course from the beginning is to brainwash you.

The first step is the preparation work hidden behind the scenes. Except for the manipulator, no one else knows anything about this part.

Brainwashing, also known as mind control, simply means that the controller uses unethical means to change the thinking and value orientation of the controlled person .

The relationship between the manipulator and the controlled is unequal. The controller takes advantage of the trust and sacrifice of the controlled to exploit the controlled's economy, body, and credit to gain benefits.

When promoting LGAT courses, various “baits” may be used: leadership, marketing, success, team building, stress relief courses, getting rich quickly, spiritual growth, health and wellness, intimate relationship therapy…

But no matter what kind of "bait" it is, the only purpose is to lure people in . The actual course content later has nothing to do with the bait. The ultimate goal is only one - to make the controlled people willing to pay for the course, recruit people, and volunteer .

Psychologist Singer analyzed that the key to brainwashing lies in the "double plan". The manipulator guides the controlled person to experience a series of things and tells the controlled person that the effect of this series of things is plan A; but in fact, the real effect of this series of things is plan B, which makes the controlled person blindly abandon his past beliefs and values.

The "double plan" is the reason why the controlled persons cooperate. They only see the surface plan and do not realize that they are being brainwashed and transformed .

Deception and concealment

Graduates will not discuss the training content with people who have not received the training. This is an important and must-follow principle of the EST Training Program.

This principle stems from the course's motto: training can neither be explained nor understood, it can only be "experienced" .

An enthusiastic but vague recommendation from a friend or relative brings the potential couple to a course held at the hotel.

When the newcomers arrived on the first day, no one knew what they would encounter.

—Bloor, 1975

They were unwilling to reveal the specific content of the course , only saying: "It is an experiential course, there is no textbook, and no notes are required. The instructor will let everyone experience and understand through some games and exercises. It will not teach you anything specific, it just gives you a tool, but with it, you can apply it to everything in life."

——Li Yaling, 2003

Notetaking and recording were not allowed during training , so we took extensive notes during breaks and at the end of each day’s training.

—Hacken and Adams, 1983

Recording or writing with pen and paper is not allowed in the T organization. And the author is always under "surveillance" and cannot record the content of the interview on the spot. Therefore, after leaving the T organization, the author sorted out the experiences and interview records of life in the T organization based on his memories.

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

The first unethical aspect of brainwashing courses is the deliberate deception and concealment .

Because in order to achieve brainwashing, the manipulator must first hide his or her brainwashing intentions so that the controlled person "does not know that he or she is being brainwashed."

Brainwashing is a process that cannot be completed in an instant, and it takes at least several days. The steps of brainwashing are progressive, and each step of change may seem small, but it pushes the controlled person step by step to a place that he would never agree to at the beginning.

In order to prevent the controlled person from escaping early, it is necessary to make the controlled person completely unaware of the content of the course so that he or she will not be wary or resist.

For example, the last step of this type of course is usually "inspiration" , which requires the brainwashed subjects to recruit new subjects. The subjects' graduation, performance, and whether they can enter the next stage of the upgrade course are forcibly linked to how many new students they recruit.

However, if people knew from the beginning that they had to recruit people, very few would volunteer to participate.

Therefore, this type of brainwashing course requires that the controlled person only share their "feelings" when recruiting new members, and not reveal the specific content and requirements of the course. At the same time, it is strictly forbidden to record the training process to prevent "new members from knowing what will happen in advance" to the greatest extent possible.

In order to prevent the subjects from escaping midway, the LGAT course also uses the "antibiotic analogy strategy" and claims that "a refund can only be requested if you have completed the entire course and participated in all exercises."

The coach made an analogy, saying that the course was like a course of antibiotics, which had to be taken throughout in order to work , and he also said that, just like antibiotic treatment, stopping the medication midway would be bad for us.

— Hunter, 2015

This analogy has no basis in fact. The principle of antibiotic treatment to produce "resistance" is completely different from the principle of psychotherapy or training courses. The strange refund policy is also completely unreasonable. When students "completed the entire course and participated in all exercises", the company can use this as a reason to refuse a refund.

These concealments and deceptions also bring up a very important question:

All the students in the LGAT course did not give true “informed consent.” They made a promise under pressure to “stick to the course to the end,” but they had no idea what they had agreed to or what they would encounter.

Environmental Control

The environment was carefully designed , like what an obsessive parent might arrange for their child. Lines were taped to the floor and chairs were carefully placed along them. If a chair was displaced, the teaching assistant would instruct the students to move it back to the line. The Star Wars theme song played at the beginning of each class, and everyone had to sit in their chairs when the music ended. The students followed the rules maniacally, even though they had no idea what they meant by them or what the consequences would be for breaking them.

—Hacken and Adams, 1983

The training course organized by T was arranged in a conference room of a hotel in the city. The classroom was a completely enclosed room without a single window. It was illuminated by lights all day long, and it was impossible to judge the time during the class based on the light. When I first entered, I felt that the air was very turbid. In the classroom, the podium and the desk were in the center of the front, higher than the ground level, and more than 200 stools were neatly arranged below. I couldn't help but think of a military academy.

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

"Controlling the environment" is an important means of brainwashing.

Control the body first, then the mind.

Controlling the environment includes controlling the location, time, energy, companions around, and information received . The controlled person will be cut off from the original source of information, feedback channels, and social support system.

If a person is completely deprived of personal freedom and placed in a controlled environment for several days or even weeks, it is most conducive to brainwashing. Therefore, many pyramid schemes or cults will first trick people into going to remote places , such as campsites in the countryside or retreats in the suburbs.

Brainwashing courses are usually held in office buildings or hotel meeting rooms in the city. People who come here will feel that this is an open and recognized course and thus let down their guard.

But in fact, there are not only coaches and teaching assistants in the course, but also old students who come for "refresher training" and "shills" lurking among the students . These people will stand on the same side and act together.

The props of the course are also specially selected to clearly show the identity characteristics and status of the coach, assistant or student. As the leader of the ceremony, the coach has absolute guidance and control , and the participants can only follow the order and obey the rules.

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

In other words, the brainwasher has the environment and props to support him, and a group of "shills" to assist him, while the controlled person has to fight alone - and the controlled person doesn't even know that a great battle in the spiritual realm is waiting for him.

At the same time, the newcomers are also "selected" .

People who attend brainwashing courses are often strongly recommended by acquaintances or asked by their superiors to participate in "job training."

Referrals from acquaintances are not advertisements to "non-specific people" that are posted on WeChat Moments. Instead, they are directly seeking out potential new people and recruiting them one-on-one. With the endorsement of acquaintances and the instinct to "maintain interpersonal relationships," the controlled person will agree.

If the request comes from a superior or employer, it will be even more difficult for the person being controlled to refuse for the sake of work and future.

This is the coercive nature of brainwashing courses.

Li Yaling recounted a case of failed escape.

When Mr. Fang, a builder, went to get his tuition refunded, the company called his "inspirer" friend, who used both soft and hard tactics to get him to stay, sometimes crying and sometimes saying that he would never talk to him again if he didn't take the course . Mr. Fang stayed for his friend's sake.

Shi Xiyuan also wrote about a 40-year-old student L who was forced by his family to participate.

Student L said, "I came to this course because of my wife's 'inspiration'. She also paid the registration fee for me without discussing it with me. She told me that I must come here to improve my quality. Some of my friends also joined under the strong recommendation of relatives and friends. After the training, many people said that they asked their husbands or wives to take this course as well, otherwise they would have no common language."

Finally, if there are indeed suspicious and rebellious people, they will be quickly and quietly screened out . The goal is to make the newcomers not notice that others are dissatisfied, so that even if the newcomers have doubts in their hearts, they will feel that they are in the minority.

A young man was invited to a sermon. When he arrived, he noticed many pairs of shoes against the wall and people were barefoot. So he took off his shoes and put them next to the other shoes. Everyone was talking in low voices, so he lowered his voice as well. Although the young man was full of doubts, he just sat there meekly and followed everything the group did.

The evening was almost over, and when the young man was invited again, he replied, "No, thank you..." Two people quickly pushed him out the back door so that others could not hear his unpleasant words.

—Singh, 2003

In short, all newcomers have gone through layers of screening, including recommendation, registration, and payment. Brainwashers tend not to touch stubborn, defensive, and self-centered people, because these people are difficult to control and change. In the end, most of the newcomers who stay in the brainwashing course are friendly, obedient, and selfless, because such people are easy to persuade and manage.

By the time the course started, most people no longer openly opposed it even if they had some dissatisfaction.

The trap is set and the prey has come in. The next step is to get the prey to open their hearts.

Step 2: Open your heart

Opening the door of the heart means that the controlled person lets down his defenses, voluntarily gives up rationality and logic, and allows brainwashing content to penetrate directly.

To achieve this within a few days, the brainwashing program will once again cross the moral line and use physical and mental abuse.

Suppression and denigration: "It's all your fault"

Newcomers will not expect that they are about to be scolded from head to toe, and their character and intelligence will be completely denied.

The coach got to the point. He barked in an imperative voice, You newbies are here because your lives are a mess and hopeless. You don't know what you are doing, you don't know how to experience life, you are struggling, desperate, confused. You are assholes! The coach paused for a moment, savoring the word "asshole", and then said it again. From then on, newbies were always called "assholes" unless they "got it".

Your brain is so confused about what’s wrong with you, what’s wrong with the world, or with other people, that you can’t experience life, let alone enjoy it. So the coach yells, “ We’re going to throw away your entire belief system… We’re going to tear you apart and then put you back together again. ”

—Bloor, 1975

The coach ranted about the destruction of the rainforests, the depletion of fish in the oceans, the pollution we were causing, and how greedy and selfish each of us was. He screamed and stamped his feet, telling us over and over again that we were all assholes, that we were stupid, that we were responsible for all the bad things in the world, and that he didn't care about our opinions or ideas.

— Hunter, 2015

Faced with such overwhelming verbal violence, ordinary people will of course feel fear, helplessness and shame. These strong negative emotions will weaken people's rational thinking ability . Newcomers feel that they are really unforgivable to come here, forgetting that they were deceived by "self-improvement" or forced to come by their superiors, relatives and friends.

In addition to direct verbal attacks, manipulators will also use games with carefully designed outcomes to attack the person being controlled.

One example was the “Red and Black Game,” which required two teams to develop a strategy based on a set of rules to score the most points. Neither team realized that the most points were scored if both teams won. Basically, both teams lost. This exercise could have been used to discuss what made it difficult for us to work together. But the coach chose to berate the students, saying in disgust, “You all make me sick.” This exercise was the last one of the night, and the students went home to reflect on what they had learned. Many were silent and in tears.

—Hacken and Adams, 1983

Li Yaling also experienced the Red and Black Game in 2007. Because the rules of this game are complicated and the results will affect the team, newcomers will naturally choose the conservative strategy of "non-cooperation". If they play a few more rounds, get familiar with each other, and find a better win-win strategy, people may enter the cooperation mode.

But the coach took this opportunity to attack and deny the student.

"Some people achieve a win-win situation, while others choose to lose both sides... Are you constantly playing this game? Are you playing this game with your colleagues, subordinates, and lovers? Why don't you try to choose to trust each other and give sincerely first?"

Edward's expression was very sad, and his words and tone were full of regret.

This made us who were just "scheming" in the game feel very ashamed. Then Edward suddenly announced that the class tonight would end early: "Please close your eyes, I will play a song for everyone to listen to. After listening, please don't talk and leave quietly."

LP, who was in charge of the sound control, played an exciting foreign song. Edward took the microphone and translated simultaneously: "Have you been playing the same game all the time? You never tell the truth, and few of the things you do tell are true..."

The lyrics and music were so infectious that I heard some people around me start to sob quietly.

——Li Yaling, 2007

In the United States in 1983 and China in 2007, the same game and the same predetermined ending. The coach becomes a strict and rejecting parent, and the student becomes a fearful and helpless bad child. This emotion will prompt the student to cooperate more and identify with the coach in order to become a sensible "good child".

Hacken concluded that this type of game directly attacks the students' self-esteem, makes them feel ashamed and worthless, and makes them vulnerable to judgment and manipulation by others.

The above two types of "map cannon" are general suppression . In addition, the manipulators will also carry out " targeted humiliation ", seizing the students' violations of rules or minor mistakes, and insulting them in an exaggerated way. For example, Hunter recorded the coach yelling at an old woman who simply sat in the wrong seat.

The coach suddenly appeared in front of her with the contempt of an abuser. "This is what you promised! You agreed to the rules! You knew you had to change seats! But you didn't!! Where is your dignity!!!" the coach screamed, and she was horrified. I couldn't believe that this bully was viciously attacking an elderly woman who was obviously overwhelmed, but I didn't say anything, which made me sad.

— Hunter, 2015

Hunter was upset that he did not stop his coach from doing evil. Why did no one stop this public abuse?

First, the coach said in advance that he was a "strict mentor", and the abuse was glorified as "a necessary measure for the good of the students."

Secondly, there were many people present and no one else objected, so even if someone felt something was wrong, they were more inclined to think, “Maybe I don’t understand,” and so remained silent.

Finally, once a student has condoned public abuse, his or her mind will automatically explain his or her cowardice - this is helping others grow, and if I don't stop it, it's for their own good.

This kind of general suppression and targeted humiliation will continue throughout the first half of the training. Trainees are repeatedly told "you can't do it" until they believe that they really can't do it and must learn from coaches who can do it.

The next step is to get the students to stop thinking with their own brains and to stop “coming to conclusions” on their own. The coach will take over, explain everything, and the students just listen.

Suppress rationality, "experience and feelings are the most important"

In order to make students accept that "their own thinking is worthless", the manipulators will instill a concept - experience and feelings are the most important, rationality is not important, and is even an "obstacle".

At this stage, the brainwashing course will try to devalue the value of "rationality", "experimentation" and "analysis". The coach of the course that Shi Xiyuan participated in emphasized, "Please temporarily put aside everything in your mind, put aside all analysis, evaluation and judgment, and devote yourself to the experience of the course, so that you can get the most out of it..."

Not only that, the brainwashing course also puts forward the requirement of " like an empty cup into which water can be poured " -

"No self" means that your heart should be as pure and clean as a newborn baby, completely open to the outside world, and completely accept everything from the outside world. "Do your best" means to wholeheartedly do everything you can to learn, imitate, and copy others.

To truly achieve "selflessness" and "doing one's best", one needs to overcome three major obstacles: doubt, contempt, and originality, which correspond to trust, seriousness, and compliance.

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

To ask a person to overcome the "barrier of doubt" and "completely open up to the outside world and completely accept everything from the outside world" is actually asking the newcomers to suppress their rationality and open their minds.

After several hours of discussion, the first premise that the trainee is worthless was established. The coach then began to write a huge table on the blackboard, dividing mental activities into "experience" and "non-experience. " Belief, reason, logic, and understanding were all classified as "non-experience." These second-hand mental activities must be abandoned in order to gain the true meaning of life.

The students were skeptical about this, “But you still need to believe in something…”

“Don’t give me your fucking belief system, you stupid asshole!” the coach stormed off the stage, yelling at the student. “It’s not working! That’s why your life is screwed! Get rid of that crap.”

The coach's attack on belief continued. Each participant was deeply confused. The coach assured them that confusion was nothing serious, that it was the first step toward "natural knowing," the pinnacle to which the training would take you.

—Bloor, 1975

Reasoning and intellectual processes are minimized, while emotional states are heightened.

Regarding “Tools for Personal Growth”, the key words are “Humble Obedience”, “100% Commitment”, and “Spontaneity”.

With this emphasis on obedience and full participation, participants inevitably have doubts and reservations. To address this resistance, the coach begins by discussing “What is preventing you from benefiting from the program?” By the end of the first evening, participants’ questions, doubts, and concerns have been labeled “barriers to personal growth.”

—Hacken and Adams, 1983

Experience and feelings are indeed important, but so are rationality and logic. First-hand experience is important, but so is second-hand knowledge. Formal psychological counseling will never require a person to completely abandon rationality, nor will it belittle knowledge learned from books.

The reason why the LGAT course devalues rationality and knowledge and elevates feelings and experiences to the "true source of wisdom" is because LGAT is actually unconvincing in terms of logic and evidence . What the LGAT course really does is to forcefully trigger your emotional experience , and then use conditioning and manipulation to convince you that "because you have experienced huge emotional fluctuations, our philosophy is correct."

This behavior of bypassing rationality and manipulating emotional experience is brainwashing.

Blind trust is a virtue, and the coach has absolute authority

The next concept to be instilled is that blind trust is a virtue and only by completely obeying the coach can one "make progress."

The LGAT course uses a lot of abuse and harm, so how do you prevent students from rebelling?

The answer is to encourage blind trust in the coach . Trainees are told that here, "unconditional trust" is not stupidity/naivety/gullibility, but a positive human trait.

Trainees are asked to stand up and agree to a list of “Lifestream’s rules of the game.” Notably, these rules lack any discernible rationale and emphasize only obedience to the instructor’s instructions . Lengthy discussions of the rules have the effect of consolidating the instructor’s control as a legitimate authority and undermining the trainees’ control.

—Hacken and Adams, 1983

When someone disagrees with the coach, the coach yells at him, saying that he doesn't care about his opinion and that the only opinion that matters is the coach's.

"In this room, you will follow my orders."

— Hunter, 2015

L (student): "Sometimes I feel like what they say is wrong, but I can't really tell what the problem is. For example, they always ask me to be tolerant, so why can't they tolerate my comments on the course?"

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

Le Bon wrote in The Crowd, “If you want to instill some ideas and beliefs into the minds of a group, there are three most important means: assertion, repetition and infection .”

This is exactly what LGAT course coaches will do over and over again.

At the same time, coaches will also use the " unknown unknowns " approach.

The instructor walked to the whiteboard and began to draw a pie chart. "There are some things you know you know, and this piece is what you know you don't know. For example, I know I don't know much about nuclear physics." There was still most of the pie chart left, and the instructor said, "This is what you don't know you don't know . This is what you will learn in this course."

— Hunter, 2015

"Unknown unknowns" do exist, for example, ordinary people do not know that they do not know about brainwashing. But when the coach talks about this concept, it is not "Since we have to face unknown unknowns, we should explore and discuss together"; instead, it is to arouse the students' sense of helplessness and suppress their doubts . Since you don't even know how ignorant you are, how can you challenge the coach who knows everything in this regard? If you still have to question it, doesn't it mean that you are both ignorant and arrogant?

Even so, there will still be people who raise objections or questions, but these questions will be suppressed by the manipulator with specious arguments, and in the end, the ending will always be "the coach is right" .

In the "Trust" exercise, participants are asked to judge others one by one, "I trust you," "I don't trust you," "I don't know if I trust you," or "I don't want to say whether I trust you."

A student raised a question about this exercise.

James: "I don't know what that has to do with real trust. I mean, trust is not an all-or-nothing thing. I might trust someone enough to lend me my car, and then I might trust them enough to trust my kids..."

Coach: “Have you ever considered the possibility that you don’t know what trust really means?”

James (confused and hesitant): "Possibly."

Coach: "Thank you, you can sit down now." (Students applaud)

—Hacken and Adams, 1983

Hacken concluded that in this case, the student raised a very reasonable question, that is, this exercise has nothing to do with "real trust" in reality. However, the coach ignored the student's question about "what is the meaning of the exercise itself", and changed the question again to "the student does not understand anything", forcibly ending the discussion and suppressing the student .

The coach rewards students for obedience (or at least the appearance of obedience) . Students who raise questions are either laughed at, dismissed, confused by sophistry, or told to "save your questions for after the presentation."

Another common tactic used by coaches is to criticize these questionable students for not making enough progress, being "uncoachable" , "only wanting to prove themselves right and not wanting to make progress", and "staying at the analytical level and always obsessing over analyzing everything".

Critical thinking and proactively asking questions are both good traits, but they are distorted and defined as negative traits in coaching language.

Finally, the students became increasingly tired and shaken, and began to feel that "having too many questions" was their problem, and that they should trust others more and "listen with an open mind."

Through the environment, through agents, through suppressing students, and through strong tone and repeated assertions, the coach established absolute authority.

Then the coach can do whatever he wants.

If the superior's instructions go against your values, how many people can stand up and oppose it? The answer is that there are very few staunch opponents .

In the famous Milgram experiment, psychologists recruited some subjects and told them that they needed to teach a student who was tied to an electric chair. If the student answered a question incorrectly, he would be punished with electric shock. As the number of electric shocks increased, the voltage of the electric shock would continue to rise, from 15 volts (mild electric shock) to a maximum of 450 volts (dangerous, severe electric shock). The student would also go from screaming in pain, banging on the wall, saying that he had a heart disease, and asking to quit the experiment, to silence after 300 volts.

Seeing the students in pain, the subjects also felt pain. They sweated, trembled, cried, and said they wanted to stop the electric shock. But the psychologists told the subjects that although the electric shock was painful, it would not cause permanent damage; in addition, it was to help students answer the questions correctly, so even if the students didn't like it, they had to continue.

In total, the psychologists rejected them four times, with instructions:

①Please continue.

②The experiment requires you to continue.

③It is absolutely necessary that you continue.

④You have no choice but to continue.

If the subject still expresses a desire to stop the electric shock after four such firm instructions, then the shock can be stopped early.

However, the results of the experiment were that all the subjects subjected the students to more than 300 volts of electric shock (enough to be fatal). At the same time, 65% of them obeyed to the end and were shocked all the way to 450 volts .

In the Milgram experiment, the electric shock was actually fake, and the students were actors who were just acting out a scene of being "shocked." But the subjects didn't know that.

In the LGAT course, abuse and harm really happen. But as long as the coach has absolute authority, the students will obey the authority and may even hurt others under the command of the authority.

Sleep deprivation, physical and mental exhaustion

During training, you are not allowed to move around, talk, smoke, eat or take notes. You are not allowed to leave the room unless a formal break is announced (a maximum of two breaks per 16-hour training day).

—Bloor, 1975

Li Yaling and Shi Xiyuan both mentioned that the course is a residential course, and the principle of the course is " put your head on the pillow for no more than 4 hours every night ". The training time lasts from 10 am to 24:00 pm, and sometimes even until 1 or 2 am. Only breakfast and dinner are eaten every day, no lunch is arranged, and the dinner time is only 30 minutes. There is a 10-minute break every three to four hours for students to drink water and go to the toilet.

The new recruits' full attention is focused on a heavy schedule of activities, such as playing games, participating in studies, singing in small groups, doing group work, learning basic terminology, writing personal autobiographies, completing assigned tasks... The new recruits are kept so busy that they have no time to think about what they are doing or what others are doing to them.

—Singh, 2003

A major feature of brainwashing courses is that students cannot eat well, cannot sleep well, and feel extremely tired.

Sleep deprivation, in particular, can seriously affect brain function. A sleep-deprived brain is like a drunk. If students don’t get enough sleep, they will “be too tired to think”—rational and critical thinking consumes a lot of energy and is difficult to function when tired and hungry.

In order to prevent students from getting a good night's sleep, brainwashing courses require students to study for long hours every day, with irregular rest times. Sometimes they simply don't tell students when to rest, making them think they are about to rest, and then suddenly bring up new discussions and new activities. This arrangement is particularly exhausting.

In addition, the environment will be arranged to hinder sleep, such as playing loud music from morning to night, bright lights, and arranging beds that are not comfortable to sleep in for students .

This arrangement puts the trainees in a state of disordered work and rest, malnutrition, and physical fatigue. They cannot think independently or refute, and can only passively accept the coach's indoctrination .

Studies have shown that people who lack sleep are more likely to misremember the topics they have seen, misremember the content of videos they have watched, and are more easily persuaded when doing tasks... In short, lack of sleep will make people more susceptible to pressure to conform and more likely to have false memories.

At the same time, brainwashing courses will provide a huge amount of new information. Faced with an ocean of information that exceeds the processing capacity, the brain will be overwhelmed and enter a "paralyzed" state, unable to think clearly.

These measures not only weaken the brain's defense system, but also the body's immune system, making students more susceptible to illness . Li Yaling mentioned that several students fell ill the day after the breakthrough course ended, and she and another male student from Dujiangyan even received intravenous treatment for lung infection.

Bullying under peer pressure

Old members train and monitor newcomers. Newcomers never go alone, nor can they talk freely with other newcomers. There is no opportunity to verify their suspicions or negative feelings.

Newcomers are told to never express negative emotions publicly and to ask their coaches, assistant coaches, mentors or other supervisors if they have any questions, doubts or bad feelings.

In short, those who have doubts are isolated from each other . The newcomers feel that everyone else approves of what is happening.

—Singh, 2003

Shi Xiyuan observed that students will be divided into different groups in the course, and the group leader is an old student who comes back to volunteer. Each group is called a "family". Team members play various roles in the family according to their age, such as "dad", "mother", "big brother", "big sister", "three treasures", and "four treasures". If a member does not perform well enough, it will cause losses to the "family".

This arrangement adds the moral obligation to "give the family to the glory" to each member, and increases collective consciousness and team identity. China has a tradition of a big family, and family members are their own people. Once they start to call each other as relatives, members will gradually feel that the person who was strangers just now has become "people". With more and more communication, more privacy secrets are shared, and the game goals are achieved together, the more feelings they invest, and the dependence and sense of belonging to the "family" will increase. This is a practice that quickly generates and enhances group identity.

Once you agree with the group and feel that everyone in the group has the same views, it is easy for people to succumb to peer pressure and do things that go against their original values.

It is difficult to fight against group pressure. Solomon Asch has done a series of famous "Asch conformity experiments" and found that even if it is a very simple question "judging which two straight lines are the same length", as long as six out of 7 people deliberately choose the wrong answer, the remaining one will follow suit. In the experiment, 75% of the subjects surrendered at least once against their will , and only 25% of the people - these people are either confident enough or withdrawn enough - can always stick to their correct judgments.

Even people who do not do evil usually do evil will do evil in the group. "Deindividuation" and "depersonalization" will occur in the group. Everyone no longer pays attention to their values, attitudes and behaviors, but tends to identify with their group and obey the rules of the group . Everyone feels that they are invisible and anonymous, feel that the responsibility for the consequences of the behavior is scattered, and do not feel that they are being evaluated and examined... "It is not my fault for everyone to do this." If the group agrees to do evil, the individual will follow them.

The result is that when they are separated and alone, they are all civilized people, but when they get together, they become "mobs".

Brainwashing courses allow students to participate in actual "collective bullying" based on this principle.

For example, drag exercises.

All men were asked to wear makeup and dresses, imitate a little girl of three or four years old, try to be shy and cute and sing.

——Hunt, 2015

The practice of dragging into the opposite sex is common, pretending to be a fat woman in a bikini, singing in the street, trying to seduce a group of men to follow her.

——Singer, 2003

Many of the "breakthrough" exercises in LGAT and the "helping someone improve" are actually very close to the bullying of small campus groups .

These exercises are not helpful to the work in reality. The real role is to reduce the participants' self-esteem and make the participants feel that they are inferior to the coach.

Release the wound and retreat to childhood

The third day is usually used as "guiding imagination". The students are guided into a state of hypnosis and trance, recalling all the disappointments and sad memories of childhood to this day , about your parents, about the promises you did not keep, and the failures others have given you...

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

——Singer, 2003

"Close your eyes…it's good…relax. Now you're going back to your childhood, look around and find something that makes you miserable, make you feel small, uncomfortable, or to some extent harassed…recreate that thing and bring that thing here."

Many students find it difficult when doing this exercise, one of them I later learned that I had been molested in childhood. Looking at the people who collapse around me, anyone with empathy will feel pain.

——Hunt, 2015

Is this exercise really good for students?

On the one hand, this may cause new emotional trauma.

To recall the injuries suffered in childhood by closing your eyes is, in a sense, to repeat the injuries.

Sometimes psychotherapy does make people face traumatic memories, and eventually slowly accept them and become brave and firm. However, this method requires the patient's own informed consent, and secondly, it has high requirements for the therapist, which takes a long time, such as spending one or two years, which may not necessarily lead to improvement.

In contrast, the LGAT course is an irresponsible behavior that a large group of people re-energizes trauma in the short term without any “healing” and “support” without real informed consent .

Not only that, memory itself is not a fixed thing stored in the safe. Every memory is actually the brain reconstructing the situation with various fragments. This reconstruction may be distorted and wrong. Especially when the student lacks sleep and his brain is dull, problems are more likely to occur. Imagination and what actually happens may be mixed together. Other people's narration and coaching guidance may become materials for reconstructing the situation. The end result is that the memory is rewritten. Even if you have not suffered too much harm in your childhood, you may also "recalling" a lot of harm.

On the other hand, this exercise often causes regression .

Members become psychologically childish, no longer using mature coping mechanisms (because LGAT courses derogatory to reason and self-control), and instead use more primitive and childish methods to deal with pain and stress, regressing to childhood behavioral patterns, such as lying on the ground and crying .

Singh believes that there are several purposes for guiding students to review childhood trauma in the LGAT course—

First of all, it implies that parents failed the students . Their parents were very bad, causing all kinds of pain in the students' lives. Only by learning from the courses and coaches can you move towards love and happiness;

Secondly, contagious emotions , and a large group of people crying for their childhood together is a high-intensity and touching emotional experience, and many people will feel that they have been profoundly changed;

Third, trauma and regression will further open the students' hearts, making them more fragile and more convenient for brainwashing . Students feel that they have become smaller and helpless, while coaches seem to be more trustworthy and trustworthy. In the end, students act more like children, such as violent emotions, and eager to obey and please the coach.

Privacy reveals, forcing people to confess

The LGAT course will put the privacy disclosure link behind the comparison , because it is like attracting new people, and it is a matter of "if the controlled person is asked to do it from the beginning, the controlled person will definitely refuse."

But after experiencing the previous links, the students have been suppressed and eager for affirmation . Just say a little about their own affairs and can get affirmation, which suddenly becomes a very attractive thing.

Newcomers don’t know that most LGAT courses allow or even encourage old students to re-enter the training. These old students are demonstrations and applauding. Old students follow the rules and speak the same jargon as coaches, so they are praised by the coach. New students begin to imitate the words and deeds of the old students, learn from the old students to reveal their personal privacy, and are praised for this.

Coaches train newcomers to applaud after each "sharing", no matter how stupid, off-the-topic, or incoherent it is. For most people, it is exciting to have hundreds of people applaud you after saying a sentence or two.

——Singer, 2003

The coach encourages us to reveal our hearts, saying that this will allow us to learn more from the course. Those who refuse to reveal will get the words "Okay... you can do whatever you want for your own course..." Several people confess their insecurity, are exploited, and pretend. Some people burst into tears when confessing.

——Hunt, 2015

There is another part of the course, which is to "be honest" with other "best friends" (i.e. students in the same class).

The instructor will ask you to answer and tell you some extremely sensitive privacy .

…

The one who impressed me the most was a female student, who was about her early twenties and had a very wealthy family. Her father was a wealthy businessman and her mother was a beautiful woman. But she failed to inherit her mother's beauty, nor did she inherit her father's high IQ. She was extremely inferior because of this, and in this link, she expressed a lot of privacy between herself and her family. Even her privacy for abortion for a man.

I thought it was wrong at the time. How could I say that these contents were for these strangers who were just taking classes together for a few days?

——Li Yaling, 2007

LGAT courses also use games to force students to ask about privacy and desires.

Another exercise on Friday is "two face-to-face" . Two people sit face to face in a chair, your knees touching each other's knees (this short distance means you actually invade each other's private space, which can lead to tension). This exercise requires one person to repeatedly ask the other person, "What do you want?" Every time you are asked, you have to answer a new answer - this is actually impossible.

We were told not to hide anything. The coach encouraged the questioner to use every means to squeeze out new answers from the other party , "Scream! Stomp! Swear! Threat! Do whatever you think is necessary except not being able to stand up from the chair or using violence."

——Hunt, 2015

Hunter looked around and noticed that many people were crying, many were forced to tell their deep secrets and desires. It was a massive bullying.

But it is not the end to telling privacy, and the praise the students received by revealing their privacy is extremely short-lived.

Next, the coach will use the privacy they reveal to attack them , and the coach will reinterpret their life story to prove how bad they were before.

Sharing privacy is something that is strongly encouraged. The more personal and painful the content shared, the happier the coach will be. Many meetings become like this, with a person standing up to confess, sharing their past, and the coach reinterpreting the story.

——Hunt, 2015

The 2012 French documentary "Landmark: Journey to the Land of the New Gurus" recorded a course clip: the coach publicly insulted a mother trying to solve the relationship problem with her daughter in front of dozens of students. She scolded her for 50 minutes, calling her a bastard who doesn't love her daughter at all. She said that she deliberately destroyed her daughter's intimacy, making her daughter feel that men are bastards, thus destroying her daughter's relationship and making her daughter unhappy. She said that she destroyed all the possibilities in her daughter's life, and even dared to say that she loved her daughter...

When the mother broke down and cried in front of dozens of strangers, asking herself what to do, the coach said, "If you want to do something for her, you can kill yourself. Oh no, that's not enough. You should find something that makes you more painful. Getting cancer, drag it on for 29 years so you can be tortured and die."

This is already obvious abuse and humiliation. This mother may have suffered huge trauma from it.

Li Yaling also encountered a situation in which LGAT coach used privacy to suppress her in 2007.
At that time, Li Yaling was involved in the "sweeping" process. The students stood in horseshoe shape, and each of them took turns standing at the "pressure point" at the horseshoe-shaped gap and were scolded. If the students who cursed were not cruel enough, they would be criticized by the coach for being "injustice to their friends! I X you! You are still betraying your friends and yourself at this time!"

Other students did not know Li Yaling, so they could only call her "arrogant", "indifferent" and "self-righteous". These words did not hurt Li Yaling. But when the coach who knew her before took action personally, she mentioned her dead relatives based on Li Yaling's personal privacy, mentioned her dead relatives, and said that she was stubborn and pretended to be strong... and kept scolding Li Yaling to tears.

There are more than these problems that privacy leaks can cause.

Formal psychological counseling is to keep the privacy of the counselor completely confidential. However, the LGAT course only blindly persuades "open and be honest", but there is no way to ensure that the privacy of the students is not spread and utilized .

Step 3: Instill new ideas

Unlimited liability, “responsible for your life”

“Responsible for your choices” and “Looking at life from a new perspective” are one of the concepts that the LGAT course focuses on inculcating.

There is nothing wrong with "responsibility", but the responsibility advocated by LGAT is beyond the normal scope.

“Responsible for your own life” is basically the idea that your problems are caused not by illness, fate, or others, but by you , and you can never solve any problem unless you accept this.

It’s no surprise that every student can give his own counterexamples. But the coach said there is no counterexample, and he doesn’t care whether you were gang-raped or born with brain defects. These are all excuses for killing.

——Brewer, 1975

Guide students to adopt a new perspective, but the specific practices do not have therapeutic skills or respect individual differences.

The coach told a rape victim, "If you want to make a breakthrough, you have a chance to make a breakthrough," and that victim is obviously neither ready nor able to "transform immediately." Some such confrontations are highly tense and last for hours. In all confrontations, the coach is the last word. The trainees clumsily grasp the elusive wisdom that no matter what problem you encounter, it is your fault, and it is only your fault .

——Hunt, 2015

In this case Hunter witnessed, the trainee talked about his experience of being raped, while the coach kept using the "responsible theory" to force the trainee. It is obvious that the discussion will not end unless you accept the coach's point of view . Finally, the trainee admits that she is responsible and that she "allows herself to be raped." Hunter noticed that many discussions about "responsible" eventually turned into confession, and everyone confessed that they were not responsible enough in the past. This feeling of "I am guilty" will make the trainee more helpless and more likely to be brainwashed.

In addition, the coach will also use a student's violation to kill the chicken to warn the monkey and convey this information to everyone.

The coach in the T organization seized the late arrival of a class by Clan B (30 years old, securities company trader) as an opportunity to indoctrinate.

Coach: "You're late."

Ms. B: "I'm sorry, I just answered the phone outside..."

Coach (stern tone): "You don't need to apologize to me, you don't need to apologize to everyone, has it been delayed. You have to question your own heart. Is this your usual attitude in doing things?! You just now solemnly promised to abide by the classroom order we read out, and you have betrayed your promise! "

Ms. B: "My phone number is very important. Besides, the promise I just made everyone stand up and take the oath, not what I want."

Coach (an angry tone): "That's just your excuse! Since you promised not to be late, you should handle it yourself for any reason. Think about it, in real life, are you also easily destroying your promises? You want to escape! "

... Finally, the coach guided everyone to conclude that "except life and death are real "must have to", the rest of the "must have to" are essentially "I am willing", and it is your proactive choice after calculating gains and losses, so don't make excuses, be responsible for your choices."

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

Be responsible for your choices, adopt a new perspective, and realize the pros and cons of the apparent "unnecessary" and subjective initiative - this concept itself is correct, and many psychological counseling will also talk about this.

Many people cannot see through the problem of LGAT courses because there is indeed a part in the course that is consistent with the mainstream psychology school.

However, the problem with the LGAT course is not how much similar it has to "decent", but how much difference it is from "decent". Just like a bowl of rice mixed with poison, the key is not how much carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals that this bowl of rice has in common with other rice... The key is what poisons and how many poisons are mixed with this bowl of rice.

The reason why the LGAT course instills in the concept of "responsibility" is to play two roles: ① Prevent students from quitting in the middle ; ② Prevent students from resisting the coach .

When students are dissatisfied with the LGAT course and want to quit, the LGAT course will tell students that you have chosen to take this course to improve yourself. If you quit, you are irresponsible for your own choices and life, so you will definitely fail in life and achieve nothing.

When students are dissatisfied with the coach's specific practices or the unreasonable provisions of the course, the LGAT course will tell students that you have promised to abide by every rule (including completely obeying the coach). If you resist, you are irresponsible for your own commitment and life, so you will definitely fail in life and achieve nothing.

In short, as long as you want to withdraw from the class or have objections, you are irresponsible and will definitely fail in life .

This is the difference between LGAT courses and normal psychological counseling—

Normal psychological counseling will also tell the counselor to "look at things from a different perspective and pay attention to your subconscious choices, which is the part you can change." But if the counselor wants to change a counselor? No problem. Are you dissatisfied with a certain point that the counseling itself talks about? Let's have a good talk.

No normal counselor would imply a counselor that if you don’t do consulting with me today, your life will be over.

Of course, people have many parts that can be changed, but the reality is that people also have many things that cannot be changed and powerless. Normal psychological counseling will help counselors to clarify what can be changed and what can be changed but can be dealt with or accepted in a better way.

The extreme and unlimited responsibility system of LGAT courses is actually selling a false panacea. First, the students are beaten down "You are wrong in the past", and then the students are raised "You can do anything in the future" . The students think that they have achieved "growth", but they are actually moving towards the "giant baby".

A theme exercise for “take all responsibility” requires students to pair up in pairs, one person tells one of their own victimization, several tells about being beaten by their parents when they were kids, and the other retells that story from the perspective of “100% responsible”—in other words, how we ourselves “make things go that way.”

This exercise transforms the baby-like sense of helplessness that the trainee just experienced into a baby-like sense of omnipotence .

The insights gained by the trainees in this exercise are about the infant level. The infant has not cognitively overcome the self-centered worldview and believes that everything comes from the self. The sense of joy and liberation obtained with this exercise seems to be derived from the sense of omnipotence control generated by the trainees.

——Hacken and Adams, 1983

New vocabulary and new language

Students are increasingly relying on official vocabulary of the source of life, such as “get rid of automatic behavior,” “being bravely forward,” “being risky,” “take responsibility,” “creating your own reality,” etc., which shows their recognition of the strong status of the coach.

——Hacken and Adams, 1983

"You want to improve your relationships through the course? I said you have no hope anymore! Because you just hope, not really want... Pay attention, this 'I hope...' it has no energy... You have a different mentality, and the results you will get will be different..." Edward said.

He asked us not to use the word "I hope..." when speaking, and to a stronger tone, "I want..."

“I want to improve my relationships!”

"I want to make a lot of money!"

"I want a healthy body!"

The students stood up one by one according to this sentence, shouting, while Edward kept expressing affirmation and encouragement.

The classroom atmosphere quickly became passionate.

——Li Yaling, 2007

The training courses organized by T have their own language system. "Inspiration", "Experience", "Thank you", etc. are the most commonly heard words. For example, at a "family" sharing session, a self-written sketch may reflect the usage pattern of this set of language:

"Guo Jing": "Ah, Rong'er, I've experienced how many pounds you have gained! I've inspired you to keep your body in mind!"

"Huang Rong": "Ah, Brother Jing, thank you for giving me a real response! But that's just your opinion."

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

LGAT courses often teach students a complete set of new vocabulary.

Everyone is learning hard. Because the coach controls rewards and punishments. Students who learn fast and well will be recognized by authoritatively, respected, status and privileges. Those who learn slowly or refuse to learn will be criticized and suppressed, disrespected, anxious, and feel guilty towards their peers.

The role of controlling the environment also emerges again at this time. Students do not have time to communicate with the outside world and cannot obtain external feedback. No one can point out the problem with these new words at this time.

In fact, from an objective perspective, many of these "new languages" are unreasonable and are rigid and even ridiculous in real life . For example, the term "I hope" will not arouse resistance and disgust from others when used to communicate with others; when used on yourself, it can give yourself flexibility and freedom. People often "discover what they want, not what they really need", thereby changing their goals. The so-called "I must" with sufficient energy will hinder this self-discovery.

The introduction of these new words is not so much accelerating students, but rather four things have been done for the LGAT course:

1. It is difficult to learn new words, which can take up students' time and energy, leaving students with no time to figure out the loopholes;

2. A sense of harvest makes students feel that they have learned something;

3. Transform students' thoughts. Language is a tool for thinking. Changing language can change thinking, allowing students to strengthen themselves and convince themselves;

4. Divide inside and outside, understanding "blame talk" is one's own people, and add a barrier between students and the outside world.

As students become more and more familiar with the vocabulary in the course, they will have a good impression of people who are also proficient in using this discourse. Once students return to the outside world and talk to their original relatives and friends, they will find it difficult to communicate smoothly because the other party is not familiar with this language system, and they will develop a sense of estrangement and disappointment, and even feel contempt for their original relatives and friends, feeling that the other party is "backward". Many members will take the initiative to bring their partners in to class after being brainwashed, which is due to this mentality of "I have made progress, you have to keep up."

Operational restrictions

Operant conditioning is similar to conditioning , with a very simple principle: rewards are given when good behavior occurs, thereby positively enhancing; punishments are given when bad behavior occurs, thereby weakening suppression.

Using operational constraints, the operator can change the behavior and beliefs of the person being accused. The method is as follows:

Use [Emotional A] to lead to [Emotional Experience A], and [Event B] occurs at the same time.

[Emotional Experience a] and [Event B] are actually not really related.

However, since [emotional experience a] and [event B] occur simultaneously, the controller will eventually associate [emotional experience a] with [event B] .

For example, Paplov controls dogs and uses "feeding" (event A) to induce "drooling" (emotional experience a), while shaking the bell (event B).

Since drooling and the bell ringing occur simultaneously, the dog drools when he hears the bell ringing.

To give another example, the famous suspension bridge effect leads to "heartbeat acceleration" (emotional experience a) through the thrilling suspension bridge (event A), and at the same time, a opposite sex (event B).

Since "accelerating heartbeat" and "seeing a opposite sex" occur at the same time, many people mistakenly think that they have a good impression of that opposite sex.

The same principle applies to the aversion therapy of electric shock that was once used immorally. The "bad habits" that you want to correct are linked to the severe pain of electric shock. In the end, people completely lose interest in the "bad habits", and the side effect is that they themselves suffer huge psychological trauma.

Abnormal psychology: an integrated approach also records cases where cancer patients often vomit violently during chemotherapy (event A) and see nurses (event B). As a result, patients feel nauseous even when they are not chemotherapy .

The LGAT course uses this technique to connect the ideas you want to instill in (event B) with good feelings (emotional experience a).

The students felt happy, confident, optimistic, energetic, loved and accepted... But what the students did not notice was that what triggered these emotional experiences were actually some other things in the environment at that time - the coach's praise, the applause of the others, the smiles, hugs, etc.

Laura walked to the microphone, her voice trembling, talking about how she became alienated, and about the obstacles she set to keep her distance from others. The coach asked her if she would try the "trust" practice. The lights dimmed, and the sensual music sounded, Laura stood in the chair, the coach stood beside her, whispering intimately. Finally Laura fell back into the arms of six people, and people shook her back and forth to the music. Laura was sobbing, and the coach kept leaning against her, rubbing her, talking to her softly. The exercise was very sentimental, and many students shed tears.

——Hacken and Adams, 1983

Hacken's analysis is that this exercise evokes a desire for "fusion" . When we are young, we rely on others and gain a sense of security from dependence, which is a "fusion". After that, when we are drunk, religious, and fall in love, we get a similar sense of "fusion".

But the essence of this exercise is to satisfy the need for intimacy through embrace, shaking, caressing, and whispering (emotional experience a) , and to associate this sense of intimacy and comfort with "unconditional trust" (event B).

It doesn't seem to matter whether others are trustworthy or not, as long as you trust others unconditionally - in reality, this obviously doesn't work. Misbelieving can have serious consequences.

The students formed two concentric circles, with the inner and outer circles facing each other. Each group of paired people can choose one of four interactions: contactless, handshake, handhold, and hug. After the brief interaction, the concentric circles moved to form a new pairing, and then interacted again. Most people chose hug.

——Hacken and Adams, 1983

This is also an exercise of "no matter who the other party is, trust and close" and advocates unselected and unconditional closeness (event B). Students think that their happiness and sense of acceptance at that time come from the concept of course teaching, but in fact, it comes from the collective hug and smile deliberately organized by the course .

During the last two days of training, there were a lot of physical contact and a lot of love expression among the trainees. However, this "love for everyone" is not an attachment established by understanding, but is closer to the expression of "I love the whole world" after the students' self-inflated self-containment. The "love and feeling of love" brought by these short physical contacts will soon disappear, and they cannot provide lasting support like truly profound interpersonal attachments.

When students return to the real world, they can no longer experience the feeling of "fusion, intimacy, love and acceptance" in the course. The real reason is simple. No one is queuing up to hug you with a smile.

But it is difficult for ordinary people to think of this. They think that they are not good enough (so they go to re-train ), they think that the people around them have not learned it before, so they are very cold (so they recruit newcomers ), and even think that there is really a big problem in the outside world, and only the LGAT course is a warm harbor (so they may quit, break up, and devote themselves to the course).

"Inspiration"

On the fourth day, the coach began to transform from a strict and domineering supervisor to a charming and caring parent. They looked forward to you paying for advanced courses. Whether the coach can be promoted or even keep his job depends on how many people buy advanced courses after taking their class.

The fifth day is a relaxing and pleasant day. There is lunch and dancing. The coach will work hard to persuade you to sign up for more expensive advanced courses. All students are told to participate in a post-training meeting, and someone will continue to sell you follow-up courses. At the end of the day, students will receive a "surprise" and family and friends will unexpectedly appear to congratulate students on their "graduation".

——Singer, 2003

After being scolded for "bastard" for three days, the trainees were allowed to rediscover their beauty and strength.

Being accepted by the group and gaining a new personal and social identity is obviously a kind of "rebirth".

The 23 students were dancing, smiling happily, unable to suppress their excitement. They hugged each other, shed tears of joy, lined up to hug and thank the coach, and everyone signed up for the advanced course in 2 weeks .

——Hunt, 2015

Singh found that cults and brainwashing courses all use a "love bombing" influence technique.

The old members surround the newcomers, flatter the newcomers, praise the newcomers, and make the newcomers feel safe, loved, accepted, and welcomed. In this process, the newcomers' brains will create a lot of oxytocin, which makes people feel good and attached.

This is another use of "operational constraints".

It is often chosen at this time to promote the next stage of courses or ask to "inspire" newcomers.

The coach tells the students that you are that "little girl" and your relatives and friends are your "starfish". They are "straveling" in real life and urgently need your "save". The only way to "save" is to "inspire" them to read this course too !

Every student must declare how many "3C" they need to achieve every week (the "3 certification standards" that inspire success: the person being inspired is willing to improve, complete his homework, and pay tuition fees ). Otherwise, he can only "get out".

The coach will equate members' rejection with "you have no confidence", "you don't care about your friends", etc. , and tell "What you resist is exactly what you want to break through, and what you want to exercise is exactly how to do what you don't want to do."

——Shi Xiyuan, 2010

Bring your relatives and friends to take this high-priced course. If you can't bring it, you can't continue to study by yourself !

This is a proposal that “if you first make it, you will definitely be rejected”. But in the later stages of the LGAT course, there are still a large number of students who will do this.

First, because the students are in a mood of emotion of happiness and collective excitement at this time . According to the concept indoctrinated by the course, the students will really feel that they have gained something they have never seen before.

Secondly, Shi Xiyuan observed that the course has actually cultivated a state similar to "obsessive-compulsive disorder" in the students.

First, compulsive cognition (information and thinking control), then compulsive actions (control of behaviors such as games), and finally lead to compulsive delusions (hiring relatives and friends to buy this high-priced course is "immeasurable" matter, and even "concerns the rise and fall of the country and nation, and whether the world will be better").

The result of "inspiration" is that the students are getting deeper and deeper in this course.

The more you give to this course, the more you agree with it and the more you cannot live without it.

LGAT training,

Promote or cause harm?

Simply put, a few people can be seriously injured .

Most people experience euphoria and omnipotence similar to mania, which lasts for weeks or months. During mania, they may make decisions that have a huge impact on their lives , such as spending a lot of money to buy the next stage of courses, promising to recruit newcomers, volunteer, start a business, invest, or break up with a divorce.

In the long run, this course has not achieved the "significant improvement of life" it promises.

The founder of the LGAT course was Werner Erhard, a salesman and a genius in business and brainwashing. The Erhard Seminars Training (EST) he established in 1971 is the source of all LGAT courses. Subsequent course changes are just fine-tuning.

Back then, this type of course actually caused some criticism, including:

① Students do not know in advance that they will be instilled with new beliefs and philosophy (brainwashing);

② The students do not know in advance that they will be subject to strong psychological attacks during the course;

③ A few students suffered psychological collapse;

④It is not very useful to the students' work and career.

A few people may suffer serious damage. Huge pressure may harm the body and mind.

辛格曾作为专家证人参与了一些对LGAT 课程的起诉案件。她写道，“损害包括溺水身亡、自杀、短期或长期住进精神病院。我参与了将近60 起诉讼，一直在跟踪这些诉讼里涉及的个人，他们中有些已经重新开始生活，但在回忆起那种精神和情感完全失控的感觉时还是很害怕。有些人在培训中或培训结束后就精神崩溃，十年后依然在住院……这和心理咨询有很大的不同。在心理咨询师那里，进度是缓慢可控的，患者以自己可控的速度去处理他想要处理的课题。许多人告诉我，如果他们事先知道那些培训的强度和心理深度，他们就不会购买或参与这项培训，他们并不了解会有多高强度，同伴压力的影响，以及培训令他们多么精疲力竭。”

1977 年，《美国精神病学杂志》上就发表了两篇论文，讨论参与爱海德训练课程后发生精神病症状的5 个案例，患者出现了偏执、妄想和无法控制的情绪波动。

1983 年，心理学家哈克恩还亲眼见证了一次培训中的学员精神失常。

培训的第五天，一个积极参与者帕特里克跳上讲台，站在了教练的位置上。起先，帕特里克看上去好像是在跟教练做对，无视规则并嘲笑教练。但大家很快明显看出，帕特里克不正常——他讲话语无伦次，与现实脱节，而且似乎产生了幻觉。教练靠近警告他。但帕特里克只是茫然地盯着教练，继续咕哝着培训教的行话。其他学员开始鼓励帕特里克“释放出来”。但帕特里克其实已经“释放了太多”。教练一再攻击他脆弱的防御，经常指责他“胡说八道”。

在发现帕特里克无法恢复正常后，其他学员被要求离开房间。学员们在外面先是感到震惊，然后几个学员发起了一个“爱的圈子”，宣称要“把我们的能量传给帕特里克”，“我们将治愈帕特里克”，“他正在接触自己的感受”，“无论他选择什么，都是对他最好的”。

最后，帕特里克不知被带去了哪里，而其他学员继续受训。

——哈克恩和亚当斯，1983

哈克恩惊讶地发现，学员们不但否认就发生在眼前的精神失常，而且硬是把这个负面案例转为了对培训的正面评价。没有人提出教练是不是过于粗暴，没有人讨论培训是不是对帕特里克造成了负面影响。这个事件激起的负面情感没有指向教练，反而指向了一个一直在质疑教练的人（他其实是研究团队里的一员）。学员们指责那个人“过度分析”“不给出自己的爱”“令人讨厌”“刻板”“不去感觉”，还愤怒地对他喊，“你又在用你的头脑了，别分析了，用你的心！”

帕特里克的失常显然给学员们造成了焦虑，但培训已经进行到第五天，学员们已经习惯将教练奉为权威，也习惯了将世界进行黑白分明的好坏划分。要么“好”，要么“坏”，没有灰色和模糊的部分。教练是“好”的，所以糟糕的事情显然跟教练无关。最终，学员们将恐惧焦虑化为怒气，发泄在“坏人”身上。

LGAT 课程不是没有出过事，而是即使出过事，也会被认为“不是课程的错”。

甚至连学员死亡，LGAT 课程都能推卸责任。据成都商报报道，2005 年6 月10 日，43 岁男子何友城在堂弟何小忠的“感召”下参与了这类培训课程，缴纳了一二阶段的万元学费。13 日，何友成情绪不稳定并提出退学，被感召人和学员劝阻。15 日，何友城强行退了二阶段的学费。16 日凌晨，火车站职工发现何友城在铁轨上行为异常，疑似精神出了问题，不久后，何友城被火车撞击身亡。这事之后，培训公司没有付一分钱的经济赔偿，理由是“一起上课的人只有他出了事，说明是他的原因。”

提倡“无限责任”的LGAT 课程，却不打算为课程可能造成的负面后果负任何责任。

比如说，程碑教育也提到，有些人对他们的培训反应很糟糕，但这是因为那些人“不愿意勇敢诚实地面对自己”，还声称“本课程是为那些清楚地认识到他们在课程前后和期间对自己的健康和福祉负有完全责任的人而设计的”。

问题是，LGAT 课程在要求学员“无限负责”时，却故意忽略了一点——在伦理上，同意必须伴随着“知情” 。唯有知情之下的同意，才是真的“同意”。任何诈骗都伴随着“同意”，但这种“同意”是无效的，诈骗依然是刑事罪行。

LGAT 的刻意隐瞒，使得新学员根本不知道自己同意了什么。LGAT 本身采取的手段对身心都是巨大消耗，身心比较脆弱的人完全可能在这种压力下崩溃。

以何友城为例，他当时单位刚破产，处在失业状态，正是心理脆弱期。LGAT 的课程前三天里充斥着辱骂虐待，何友城此前没有出过精神问题，却在上课3天后言行异常乃至死亡……这个时间点是巧合吗？这类课程教导学员要“对生活里遇到的一切事情负责”。按照课程宣扬的理论，课程难道不该承认“遇到的所有学员问题，都是课程的责任”吗？面对学员的死亡却推说自己毫无责任，说得过去吗？

多数人，会体验到轻躁狂。当然，大多数人在培训后并不会有那么极端的后果，他们会感到一种欣快，但这种欣快会在几周内下降。

1978 年，纽约林肯心理治疗研究所的主任评论说，“许多（LGAT）培训后又来我们诊所的人，都经历了糟糕的反应，他们在困惑不快中一遍遍重复着同样的模式——兴高采烈，沮丧低落，觉得自己无所不能，觉得自己无助无力。 ”

这其实很类似狂躁-抑郁的双相循环。

狂躁的典型症状包括情绪高涨，欣快感，幸福感，自尊膨胀，说话多而快，睡眠需求减少，觉得精力充沛，过度自信，对自己的社交和经济情况过度乐观，果断而冲动，感知和创造力增强，情感反应更大。

这正是LGAT 课程参与者的普遍感受。

参与过这类课程的GloriaG 在网上写，“我感觉怪异，尽管是一种快乐的怪异。我觉得自己是超人，但我知道自己不是。我感到无比自信，又不知这自信从何而来。我的生活仍然和我参加培训前一样。我的自信感并非源于培训中获得了新的才能，而是一种来自我身体的生理感觉。”

另一个网友Baruch 则描述说，“尽管欣快愉悦感很好，但它会在（培训结束后）几天内消失，最多也就几周，我没有从中得到任何持久的好处。”

网友Fehlberg 说，“我情绪高涨，那就是他们说的'体验'或者'悟了'。有三个月我处于轻度狂躁状态——我以为我感觉很好，但其实不然。我非常紧张……我做了一些非常奇怪的事。我看上去很快乐，但是其实也很痛苦，因为我一直处于压力之下，想着'现在我可以解决世界上所有的问题……我必须给首相打电话……告诉他，我有办法解决人类的所有问题！'”

在轻躁狂下，人很容易做出乐观但冲动的决策，比如继续在LGAT 课程上花大钱，有人草率地与伴侣分手，有人鲁莽地开始创业，这可能让他们的生活陷入长久的麻烦中。

哈克恩也认为，虽然LGAT 学员的确在培训后有高度的幸福感，但这种幸福感不是健康的状态，更接近病态。因为培训系统性地破坏了学员原本的自我和观念，告诉学员不要用理性分析，不是让学员更成熟，而是让学员退行，变得更像孩子……最终结果是，学员在现实里的应对能力并不会提升，反而有可能下降。

1990 年，康奈尔大学的研究者做了一个针对LGAT 学员的长期追踪研究。为了找到合适的对照组，研究者要求参与这项研究的学员们提名一个没培训过、但同性别、年龄接近、来自同一社区、跟自己很像的人。

这两组人的确在各方面都非常像，研究者只找到2条区别：① LGAT 学员一开始就更“负责”，也就是更认同“我可以控制自己的人生”，② LGAT 学员在培训前就经历了更多的工作和生活压力。

在参与培训五年后，LGAT 学员有没有发生翻天覆地的变化呢？

The answer is no.

生活满意度、主观幸福感、自我价值、生活里的麻烦、自我提升、人际关系、睡眠质量、近期的情感体验、日常应对……所有这些被测量的东西，LGAT 学员和没有去培训的人都没有显著区别。

唯一的区别是，本来就更“负责”的LGAT 学员，变得更加“负责”了。这也可以理解，毕竟正因为认同“我可以改变自己，控制自己的人生”，才会去参加“自我提升的课程”。而LGAT 课程又再度强化了“无限负责，你可以控制一切”的观念。

没有万灵丹。培训过的学员们在五年后，过着和其他人差不多的日子。

正常教育vs洗脑培训

如何辨认？

说到底，人之所以会被洗脑，会被精神控制，不是因为“太过脆弱”“不够聪明”。

而是因为人会信任拉他们来的亲友，会信任看上去自信的教练。

因为人在做出承诺（我要上课，坚持到底）后，就希望能遵守承诺。

因为人到了新环境里就会试着适应环境。

因为人会环顾四周，模仿其他人的言行举止，相信大多数人的行为是对的。

因为人会尊重权威，服从上级。

因为人会想要帮助同伴，不拖团队后腿。

因为人在感觉被爱被接纳的时候，就会想要报答对方。

因为人会害怕错过，在听说“如果不上这个课程，将错失非常重要的提升人生的机会”后，会想要“试一试”……

人皆如此。

以色列心理学家艾里尔·梅拉里（Ariel Merari）在研究普通人是怎么变成恐怖分子时，曾打过一个“隧道”的比喻。

“隧道”具备两个特点：①阻隔外界；②视野狭窄。

在隧道里，外界的信息、反馈、支持都消失了。人只能随着大流，朝着同一个方向前进。眼前是有限的视野。出口是唯一的光。训练是唯一的任务。同伴是唯一的反馈。教练是唯一的榜样。只能前进，不能中途退出。退出就是背叛自己最初的承诺，也是背叛了一起行走的同伴。

最后走出隧道的人，再也不是进去时的模样。

世界上，存在着很多这样的隧道。

不要踏入。不要踏入。不要踏入。

References

[1]史溪源. 仪式与精神控制——对某培训组织课程对其成员态度影响的研究[D].山东大学,2012.

[2]汤万杰,郭成.传销组织精神控制模式探析[J].江西公安专科学校学报,2007(01):64-67.

[3]Milgram, S., & Gudehus, C. (1978). Obedience to authority.

[4]Fisher, J., Silver, R., Chinsky, J., Goff, B. & Klar, Y. (1990). Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training : a Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects. New York, NY: Springer New York.

[5]Singer, M. (2003). Cults in our midst. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

[6]岡田尊司，當「洗腦」統治了我們，遠流，2020

[7]Hunter, J. (2015). Brainwashing in a large group awareness training?: the classical conditioning hypothesis of brainwashing (Doctoral dissertation).

[8]Brewer, M. (1975). Were Gonna Tear You Down and Put You Back Together. Psychology Today, 9(3), 35. https://culteducation.com/group/908-est/6150-were-gonna-tear-you-down-and-put-you-back-together.html

[9]Barlow, DH, Durand, VM, & Hofmann, SG (2016). Abnormal psychology: An integrative approach. Cengage learning.

[10]Erhard, W., Jensen, MC, & Granger, KL (2013). Creating leaders: An ontological/phenomenological model. The handbook for teaching leadership, 11-037.

[11]Haaken, J., & Adams, R. (1983). Pathology as “Personal Growth” A ParticipantObservation Study of Lifespring Training. Psychiatry, 46(3), 270-280. https://culteducation.com/group/1026-lifespring/12660-pathology-as-personal-growth-a-participant-observation-study-of-lifespring-training.html

[12]Payne, JD, Schacter, DL, Propper, RE, Huang, LW, Wamsley, EJ, Tucker, MA, ... & Stickgold, R. (2009). The role of sleep in false memory formation. Neurobiology of learning and memory, 92(3), 327-334.

[13]Frenda, SJ, Patihis, L., Loftus, EF, Lewis, HC, & Fenn, KM (2014). Sleep deprivation and false memories. Psychological Science, 25(9), 1674-1681.

[14]Diekelmann, S., Landolt, HP, Lahl, O., Born, J., & Wagner, U. (2008). Sleep loss produces false memories. PloS one, 3(10), e3512.

[15]Kopp, D., Hyde, B. & Zimmerman, M. (2019). Speaking being : Werner Erhard, Martin Heidegger, and a new possibility of being human. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.

[16]Häusser, JA, Leder, J., Ketturat, C., Dresler, M., & Faber, NS (2016). Sleep deprivation and advice taking. Scientific reports, 6(1), 1-8.

[17]S. Diekelmann et al., “Sleep Loss Produces False Memories,” PLoS One 3, no. 10 (2008): e3512.

[18]S. Frenda et al., “Sleep Deprivation and False Memories,” Psychological Science 25, no. 9 (2014): 1674–81; JC Lo et al., “Sleep Deprivation Increases Formation of False Memory,” Journal of Sleep Research 25 (2016): 673–82.

[19]Kirsch, MA, & Glass, LL (1977). Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training: II. Additional cases and theoretical considerations. The American journal of psychiatry.

[20]Glass, LL, Kirsch, MA, & Parris, FN (1977). Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training: I. A report of cases. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134(3), 245-247.

[21]（美）斯蒂文·哈桑（Steven Hassan）著；杨善录，杨菲译. 走出邪教摆脱邪教的控制. 合肥：安徽文艺出版社, 2001.04.

[22]Large-group awareness training - Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large-group_awareness_training

[23]李亚玲,管理40亿美元的32岁美女精英，在PUA课上被“骂”死？独家揭秘PUA课程内幕

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_j94PIAMDWFHGgZ0AsmWcQ

[24]男子上所谓精英课后精神异常撞上火车身亡_新闻中心_新浪网. (2021, September 07). Retrieved from http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2007-06-18/065112041458s.shtml

Planning and production

Source: Guokr

作者丨游识猷科普创作者

Editor: Cui Yinghao

The cover image of this article is from the copyright library

Reprinting may lead to copyright disputes

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