Last Weekend, I got bitten by the PSI Philosophy bug.
PSI stands for People Synergistically Involved (PSI) Leadership Success Seminar. “The seminar is based on the fundamental principle that each individual possesses unlimited untapped potential. Unlocking this allows a person to achieve greater results and abundance. What hinder us from achieving what we want are self-limiting beliefs about who we are and what we can do. These act as barriers between our goals and us. The PSI Leadership Success Seminar provides the opportunity for us to examine these beliefs as well as experience new ways to overcome them.”
I know that it is a bit vague and that was my first reaction too. At first, I don’t understand why I need to pay P10,080 for leadership principles and strategies that I thought I already learned in P&G. I was dead wrong. The 4-day PSI Basic seminar blew my mind away and woke me up from my degrading and doomed life. I became aware of what life is all about and how to live life to its fullest.
So what is PSI Basic Course all about?
– It is a lesson about life and provides a formula for achieving peace of mind.
– It simplifies complex ideas into basic guiding principles through experiential learning environment.
– It is based on universal Christian values and the Laws of Attraction and Fairness.
I cannot share beyond this point because we have an agreement on confidentiality. Majority of the seminar is based on experiential exercises and heart-felt sharing from the participants. I would like to respect that confidentiality because if I share some of the concepts, it might be taken out of context.
Thanks to Kokoy Reonisto for waking me up from my doomed life. Keep up the great work!!
How much will you pay for peace of mind? How much will you pay for getting the secrets to a life of abundance and wealth?
Thank you to the PSI Family for the warm welcome! My journey to a life of wealth and abundance starts now.
I am a proud member of PSI Basic Batch 222! Thank you to Ka Edong for inviting me to this life changing seminar.
If you would like to attend, the next batch is on:
PSI Leadership Success Batch 223: August 7-10, 2008
August 7, Thursday – 6pm to 12mn
August 8, Friday – 6pm to 12mn
August 9, Saturday – 9am to 7pm
August 10, Sunday – 9am to 8pm
PSI Leadership Success Website
Purposeful Stewardship InstituteUnit 604 Metropolitan Terraces, Metropolitan Ave., Makati City
Mobile: +63 (918) 578 5981Mobile: +63 (927) 221 2460
Text and Photos by Anton Diaz. Copyright 2008.
PS. Congratulations to Ateneo for winning last Sunday’s game against La Salle! Babawi kami sa second round.
Wow… congratulations Anton! So batch 222 ka? Guess what… Batch 79 ako! That was yeeeears ago. Memorable ito kasi ka-batch ko ang boss ko. Kaming dalawa yung “guinea pigs”, and then other employees were subsequently enrolled as well.
Congrats! I remember the agape sunday lunch. I attended PSI back in 1995. Fun! Fun! Fun!
i have a handful of friends who are PSI graduates. I guess the success of sessions or groups like these highly take into account the willingness of the person to dig deep into himself. so it may work for some while it may not be as effective for others.
what i didn’t like about it was that some of the graduates made me feel inadequate as a person because i wasn’t part of PSI, sort of implying a “clique” *shrug*. i had to politely tell them that i was happy where i am with my life and was not interested. i also told them that if my conscience did bother me one day, then maybe i would give it a try.
please don’t get me wrong. they’re a great bunch of people. what they made me realize was that not all people are lucky enough to be brought up with a good moral compass and it is groups like PSI that can radically change your outlook if you only let them.
interesting topic anton!
PSI is back na pala.
About 5 years ago, there was a big infighting in the leadership. I thought that was the end of PSI Philippines. I always wondered who won the power struggle — looks like its Kokoy.
And the source of the fight? What else — money. I guess not everyone believed in what they preached–givers gain.
Most of these LGAT trainings use brainwashing techniques – hence Anton’s giddy feelings about it. Please do yourselves a favor and research thoroughly before deciding to join PSI or EST or Landmark Forum or any other organization claiming miraculous life changing results. I’ve read a lot about the damage done by trainings like these to family members. These pseudo psychiatry/psychology like workshops are unsupervised and are done by con artists.
How much will you pay for peace of mind? How much will you pay for getting the secrets to a life of abundance and wealth? – To answer your question, Anton, I would pay a lot. But I believe that there is no magic bullet to happiness. The same way there is no shortcut to good health – Just exercise and don’t eat too much. Taking the shortcut by popping a pill results to side effects.
Judging from the photos and the resulting giddiness with which you write, there must be some sort of “brainwashing” involved here. And it all looks just a little too “senti” for me; saying “I love you” before feeding someone??? Mimicking a choo-choo train during the so-called “embraso” tradition?! No, thanks.
I’m batch 90 something (so bad I forgot). But I was the last batch before the “issue” of closing PSI Philippines. It was my brother who introduced me to PSI (he finished all PSI courses and coaches sometimes) and I decided to join because I saw how much it changed him. He’s a much better person. And true enough the seminar was life changing. I enjoyed it and well, learned from it. 🙂
So far all the people I know who joined PSI are normal and doesn’t seem to be brainwashed. They just have much more positive outlook in life. Is that too bad?
a couple of months ago,
i went on a date with a nice girl
who’d just gone through the Landmark Forum;
she spent practically the night raving about it,
and i felt that she was giving me a sales pitch.
hahaha!
LGATs… very interesting.
now it makes me wonder if “Days With the Lord”
can be considered as a Catholic version?
i’m not sure how that goes these days,
but a bunch of my Ateneo HS classmates
were part of the very first batch,
and what i distinctly recall that
the dawning of self-awareness,
the discovery of Agapē,
and yes,
the aura of secrecy and confidentiality,
were very apparent in them.
looking back now,
their reactions were
very much like those of my friends
who have gone through PSI and Landmark Forum.
food for thought. hmmmm….
p.s.
Meg’s cute!
What I like about PSI is that it is founded upon Christian Values and Teachings. They are complimentary to Bo Sanchez’s teachings and even that of Catholic Church. I like the way PSI packaged the learning experiences to hit you at your core to wake you up from your sleep.
It uses Nuero Linguistic Programming techniques to make you the best person that you can be.
I’m asking permission from PSI if I can share some of the modules or concepts. I know that this cloud of secrecy is a bit of turn off for some. But I also understand why PSI need to do it because it might be taken out of context.
Also, I think the network marketing-type of marketing tactics they use is out of date and needs to change.
I plan to share with you as much information as I can so that you will be more informed when you make your decision.
It is true that we should be careful with Large Group Awareness Training. In Manila, the two biggest are PSI and Landmark Forum. There is an OCCI group but I’ve never heard of them. I plan to take all of them (haha) to share my own review and perspective about all of these LGAT’s.
But see, the key in evaluating all these LGAT’s is by the results of their graduates.
I think to live an awesome life, you need to be at peace with yourself. The LGAT’s are techniques to achieve that and you can only resonate with one approach.
Thanks for your response, Anton.
I googled “People Synergistically Involved + Christian” your website came up first. I don’t see any other info claiming their allegiance to christian values. Could it be another marketing sham?
I also googled “nlp + People Synergistically Involved + PSI”. check out the results for yourself.
If the key in evaluating all these LGAT’s is by the results of their graduates, then how about there results of these graduates: http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/1/19772.html?1092876515&bcsi_scan_D4A612CF62FE9576=Xvctk4O7nHymZiIDWvwj0QgAAAC/HQYK&bcsi_scan_filename=19772.html
All I’m saying is that organizations can make a lot of claims. Iridology claims to be able to detect diseases by looking at the eyes, Ernie Baron claims to charge batteries with a plastic triangle. Heck, I’ve seen preachers asking you to touch the television screen to be healed. I applaud people who attend these seminars with desires to live a better and more fulfilled life. I also think it’s fair to investigate these claims and make sure that they are indeed true. More importantly, we need to know if they are safe. Yes, some people might encounter life changing realizations from attending these seminars — But if also a significant number of attendees also encounter negative effects, people need to be aware of this also.
Anton, thank you for keeping this forum open to comments. I believe, in the end, when people know all the sides, they can make an informed decision.
PS. Landmark forum has been banned in France. You might also want to watch the expose documentary and read up before spending your hard earned cash and going.
PPS. Personally, I think Dan Gilbert makes more sense when you talk about happiness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTO_dZUvbJA
I took up all the PSI seminars a while back.
First things first. PSI Asia actually closed down before, well, due to money. All of the facilitators promised to not continue PSI due to legal reasons. All of them went off to set their own program (Joey has PALS, Mon and Rene focused more on corporate, Beth went back to ECCP)… except for Kokoy. He seems to have broken the promise (Anton go ahead and ask him about PSI Asia & what Beth MacDonald’s last words were).
Having said that, the philosophy is simply what you’ve seen in the Secret, as well as in many behaviorial science programs. The problem is not with the philosophy itself, but how it can be used. Some people cling to the philosophy as another religion, some people do act as if in a cult…
And there are many people, like myself, who were able to think critically about it. There are some concepts there that are useful for everyday life. There are some that are just totally bullshit. I can honestly say I’ve used the useful concepts and made my life better because of it.
Just like any teaching, learn to look at it critically. Whether it’s religion, a movement, a lecture, find what is helpful and what is not. Don’t blindly buy everything you hear, and you’ll do fine.
As they always say, “prove it right, prove it wrong”. What works for one, may not work for another person.
Be totally responsible for your life and your results.
Richard, brainwashing is a very iffy thing when it comes to responsibility. The very essence of these LGATs is to try and convince you that what they’re doing is good for you. Yes some people like Watchman can critically think about what to take in and what not to. How about all the people who are duped and shell out the cash? Or worse, get sucked up to attend more training and or do volunteer work for the organization? Afterall, if they just read Anton’s article and not the comments, they would think that it’s a double thumbs up course. I just think there should be a warning beside the heading.
Interesting: http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Warning_signs_of_dysfunctional_cults.html
* Craving for followers; seductive recruiting strategies or heavy-handed tactics of proselytizing or conversion (including “love bombing,” that is, showering prospective recruits with friendly, but strategic, attention).
* Expensive entry fees or initiations.
@ Cultaware,
Thanks for the interesting link above and I buy the LGAT argument for the like of Landmark Forum. I have a lot of P&G friends who attended the landmark forum. They were literally just listening to the speaker all day long.
On PSI, the philosophy is very sound and one could argue– common sense. But the experiential sessions and sharing helped. I can understand the comment on the cult-like behaviors and thanks for pointing out the watchouts.
@ Watchman,
I will ask Kokoy about PSI Asia and Beth Macdonald’s last words. I’m digging up the history and can someone share the story and history of PSI in Manila?
In the end, this is a very healthy discussion because LGAT’s are intensifying their efforts in Manila. I have not seen any discussion of this kind in the local scene. Most of the links by @cultaware points to old posts and discussions in the US.
As for PSI, I aim to “prove it right,or prove it wrong.”
Thanks, the P&G comment also brings out the question: 1. Should companies (like P&G) pay for these kinds of controversial training and 2. Should their managers recommend/encourage (recruit may be the more accurate term) their subordinates to attend? Food for thought for the HR/Training Managers.
Yes, a closer look is indeed what we need to do. I’m glad that the internet houses old, new, foreign and now local discussions about LGATs. This way, we can learn from the experience of others.
….are any of these commentators belongs to any foreign countries besides philippines and are they related to any organizations associations like inteligence agencies of any kinds? because if they do that is where all these back & forth confusions questionings arguments exchanges are all about….meaning ‘conflict’ of interests….of course everyone must pay attentions to any verbal physical relationship emotional aspects of ‘danger’ to protect one’s self just like i do and finfing out the world are full of people from around the world who are ‘victims’ of bad selfish greedy racists incompetent souless one sided power hungry international political ‘policies’ that messes up so many people’s beautiful lives security & agendas like some neighborhoods conflicts like some family affairs or some spouses like mine or this present u.s. president who refused to use international diplomacies american president refused to used united nations diplomatic corps as in ’round table’ to discuss international issues ‘critical’ to lives of united nations members initially he didnt want to use even courts to sue the bad guys for illegal activities ‘instead’ he took the whole american nation to wars not to endanger americans but to ‘severely’ divide the world initially republicans downing democrats independents positive world wide activities{excluding criminals of course}by him going base to bases in every different countries telling different stories at different years to alarmed chaotic in nature a particular subjects when convenient at that time so americans foreigners alike around the world can be angry and fear everytime they raised international ‘security’ issues….reason i decided not to be impartial i cannot take sides coz both parties are involved in some kind of ‘illegal’ activities in a way so why bother going to them but there is no justice in america….american honesty are for sale in the past coz ‘damaged’ are already DONE so americans in general do not want to get involved so g.bush uses the europeans so he can get under the rug their sides initially by basically making europeans feel they are also americans coz they are caucasians or white people decade ago and now when damaged is done to the world he goes to asia….asia who learned to mind their own business and MOVED FORWARD now are suddenly surprised shocked that this present american president’s white men allies knew everything from the beginning but didnt sent the right foreign envoy decade ago but just now coz damaged to the world is done so now he goes around wanting HUMAN RIGHTS but american administrations are the one that called for WAR IN TERRORISM but people said american government are the terrorists coz they let it{tragedies} openly happened they waited for it to happened{all tragedies}so as an american i ignored the chaotic international political policies of the american president i embraced without any choice coz he is in charge….so i go to philippines thru writings giving them many ideas that for worked for white americans past decade while depriving asians & filipinos in particular the wealth that should have gone to filipinos first before anyone but it didnt happened that way i always wish i am NOT limited to throw away great ideas ‘publicly’ coz i know filipinos are in general friendly good happy creative talented people unless they needed money badly then they are one of the weakest humans in this world just like other needy foreign countries like americas europe asia africa latin america etc. etc…..meaning i was affected greatly by bad political judgements of his policies i am now NOT free as i used to meaning what happened to ‘individuals’ RESULTS anywhere is not always 100% because of GROUP AWARENESS PROGRAMS LIKE THE ONES YOU MENTIONED HERE that you guys are arguing about here in anton’s our awesome planet bloggers corner IT CAN BE THAT THEY ARE an accidental associations to money launderings drug related human illegal traffickers or was in a political paths or corruptions cases so pressures tensions around are mounting if false informations are ‘spread’ on those individuals including politicians pastors etc…..meaning they are cases of several multi chaotic events-enviromental affairs mixed with all the unknown surprises in it….just like what happened to me i am 100% sure i am only a housewife NO bad associations whatever but when i was harrassed decades ago i found out i have no HUMAN RIGHTS i am an american by name only that was scarry and it made me angry out of human decency of course….so i fought back but if the law enforcements are involved in bad activities just like if our own american’s president have something different beliefs-agendas than mine then if i have a problem they can caused havocs and bad things to happened especially if they do not listen on good advanced warning like HELLO you white people up there in the govt. are doing something bad….means nothing to them….then they go around ‘messing’ entire universe instead of a simple ‘awareness’ program like WE ARE ALL DOING THE SAME THINGS SO BE CAREFUL WE DONT HURT EACH OTHER….meaning those political warnings of words could wiped out all the tragedies of this planet a decade ago but NO he must go around base to bases for many years instead of those simple warnings so the world know they are all in it but too late now coz damaged to the world had been done and he has 6 months left to go so make sure our future american president ‘will not play international games’ again ever….make them truthful right there right now NOT decade later so just he can ‘blame’ someone else….if GOD will forgive even the bad things that pres bush his men did behind our backs i will carry them and make it good & better for the rest of the world coz i am only a housewife with no manpowers no resources no negative attachements of anykind except for one thing ‘but’ i can listen to positive opinions i can write about good healthy things i can inspire the passive the lazy i can talk about dreams i can make people laughed about things that depresses anger and feared by others….meaning i have been i was i am and still now helping cleansing painting the world with good thoughts good memories laughters happiness instead of CHAOS that should be for any law enforcements govt. militay to do NOT MINE….so group awareness or religions cult or not cannot be possibly the only reasons why bad things happened to people what people should be aware is NOT TO BECOME MEAN AND JUDGEMENTAL do not attack other people if their opinions are different than yours remember we are all ‘raised’ by different people races communities religions different family enviroments beliefs & traditions….so that is common senses that we will have different opinions BUT MUST STAY AWAY FROM those who physically mentally socially harm us ‘intentionally’ coz of conflicting self or economic interests thank you viewers thank you philippines…..
….are any of these commentators belongs to any foreign countries besides philippines and are they related to any organizations associations like inteligence agencies of any kinds? because if they do that is where all these back & forth confusions questionings arguments exchanges are all about….meaning ‘conflict’ of interests….of course everyone must pay attentions to any verbal physical relationship emotional aspects of ‘danger’ to protect one’s self just like i do and finfing out the world are full of people from around the world who are ‘victims’ of bad selfish greedy racists incompetent souless one sided power hungry international political ‘policies’ that messes up so many people’s beautiful lives security & agendas like some neighborhoods conflicts like some family affairs or some spouses like mine or this present u.s. president who refused to use international diplomacies american president refused to used united nations diplomatic corps as in ’round table’ to discuss international issues ‘critical’ to lives of united nations members initially he didnt want to use even courts to sue the bad guys for illegal activities ‘instead’ he took the whole american nation to wars not to endanger americans but to ‘severely’ divide the world initially republicans downing democrats independents positive world wide activities{excluding criminals of course}by him going base to bases in every different countries telling different stories at different years to alarmed chaotic in nature a particular subjects when convenient at that time so americans foreigners alike around the world can be angry and fear everytime they raised international ‘security’ issues….reason i decided not to be impartial i cannot take sides coz both parties are involved in some kind of ‘illegal’ activities in a way so why bother going to them but there is no justice in america….american honesty are for sale in the past coz ‘damaged’ are already DONE so americans in general do not want to get involved so g.bush uses the europeans so he can get under the rug their sides initially by basically making europeans feel they are also americans coz they are caucasians or white people decade ago and now when damaged is done to the world he goes to asia….asia who learned to mind their own business and MOVED FORWARD now are suddenly surprised shocked that this present american president’s white men allies knew everything from the beginning but didnt sent the right foreign envoy decade ago but just now coz damaged to the world is done so now he goes around wanting HUMAN RIGHTS but american administrations are the one that called for WAR IN TERRORISM but people said american government are the terrorists coz they let it{tragedies} openly happened they waited for it to happened{all tragedies}so as an american i ignored the chaotic international political policies of the american president i embraced without any choice coz he is in charge….so i go to philippines thru writings giving them many ideas that for worked for white americans past decade while depriving asians & filipinos in particular the wealth that should have gone to filipinos first before anyone but it didnt happened that way i always wish i am NOT limited to throw away great ideas ‘publicly’ coz i know filipinos are in general friendly good happy creative talented people unless they needed money badly then they are one of the weakest humans in this world just like other needy foreign countries like americas europe asia africa latin america etc. etc…..meaning i was affected greatly by bad political judgements of his policies i am now NOT free as i used to meaning what happened to ‘individuals’ RESULTS anywhere is not always 100% because of GROUP AWARENESS PROGRAMS LIKE THE ONES YOU MENTIONED HERE that you guys are arguing about here in anton’s our awesome planet bloggers corner IT CAN BE THAT THEY ARE an accidental associations to money launderings drug related human illegal traffickers or was in a political paths or corruptions cases so pressures tensions around are mounting if false informations are ‘spread’ on those individuals including politicians pastors etc…..meaning they are cases of several multi chaotic events-enviromental affairs mixed with all the unknown surprises in it….just like what happened to me i am 100% sure i am only a housewife NO bad associations whatever but when i was harrassed decades ago i found out i have no HUMAN RIGHTS i am an american by name only that was scarry and it made me angry out of human decency of course….so i fought back but if the law enforcements are involved in bad activities just like if our own american’s president have something different beliefs-agendas than mine then if i have a problem they can caused havocs and bad things to happened especially if they do not listen on good advanced warning like HELLO you white people up there in the govt. are doing something bad….means nothing to them….then they go around ‘messing’ entire universe instead of a simple ‘awareness’ program like WE ARE ALL DOING THE SAME THINGS SO BE CAREFUL WE DONT HURT EACH OTHER….meaning those political warnings of words could wiped out all the tragedies of this planet a decade ago but NO he must go around base to bases for many years instead of those simple warnings so the world know they are all in it but too late now coz damaged to the world had been done and he has 6 months left to go so make sure our future american president ‘will not play international games’ again ever….make them truthful right there right now NOT decade later so just he can ‘blame’ someone else….if GOD will forgive even the bad things that pres bush his men did behind our backs i will carry them and make it good & better for the rest of the world coz i am only a housewife with no manpowers no resources no negative attachements of anykind except for one thing ‘but’ i can listen to positive opinions i can write about good healthy things i can inspire the passive the lazy i can talk about dreams i can make people laughed about things that depresses anger and feared by others….meaning i have been i was i am and still now helping cleansing painting the world with good thoughts good memories laughters happiness instead of CHAOS that should be for any law enforcements govt. militay to do NOT MINE….so group awareness or religions cult or not cannot be possibly the only reasons why bad things happened to people what people should be aware is NOT TO BECOME MEAN AND JUDGEMENTAL do not attack other people if their opinions are different than yours remember we are all ‘raised’ by different people races communities religions different family enviroments beliefs & traditions….so that is common senses that we will have different opinions BUT MUST STAY AWAY FROM those who physically mentally socially harm us ‘intentionally’ coz of conflicting self or economic interests thank you viewers thank you philippines…..
@Anton
— Why do you say you want to prove them right or wrong. Isn’t that against the principles of PSI to think only positive all the time?
@Watchman or anybody out there.
— I attended the PSI basic as well but didnt buy into the Shooting Star Cirle and the Heroic Eagle Thing. I hope you or anyone could help me.
There’s this seminar that I attended that was offered only once by PSI Asia. I forgot the name of the seminar and I want to know more about it now since it had a very big impact on me.
The facilitator was a visiting woman of french/vietnamese origin. She was teaching a course on how to solve problems by “positioning” people and assigning the people “elements” of the problem. The people, based on their feelings and what seems to be comfortable with them, would go around and try to be close or even stay away from other people. And based on the position of the elements (as represnted by the people), she will draw insights
I forgot the name of the technique. I remember Beth McDonald to be one of my classmates in that seminar.
I am trying desparately to google this but to no avail. So I was hoping that you would know anyone who could lead me to the answer.
Thanks.
….let me make some viewers problems easier than more complicated{could take million of years in thorough explanations are needed}prove it right prove it wrong are ‘both’ positive things to do{reason}coz of balance of nature{weighing cannot be only on left side}it s doesnt matter what any lady of asian european americas africas down under etc.etc will do will create will build will formed will equate will design will arranged or re arranged or draw insights never ending etc. etcwhatever whoever whenever human beings will ever decide it will all lead to one thing which are RESULTS….NOW everything in life depends on the results anyone have created{remember the world is huge not just philippines}….NOW you want bad good great best excellent etc. or wonderful results also depends on how anyone did well on what they DID! considering what was ‘present'{happenings} around them….NOW are we TALKING ABOUT the present results or the further later results from present results that will results later or middle later or later than later{based}on particular timeline from what ever that happened already in the past on what YOU wanted to achieved or dream about ahead{which is hopefully only positive wonderful events}i can spare one example:a man unfortunately was killed by his friends what do you think loved ones other people should do react? your{loved ones too}answers will bear a results meaning from there{actions}will create thousands millions of behavioral ARTERIES in the lives of others as others will also react in return so results is up to all the reactions that was also resulted from the human reactions when they first created human laws that allows or prevent those humans to take actions{accident or not has another relevance to human equations}other than POSITVE ones then the rest repeats by itself to flow to all other human arteries unless there are others or those arteries are from humans who can ‘distinguished’ & separate positive flows from negative flows the knowledge-know how to distinguish means another human arteries flowing to another maybe better best ones or could be worsts….about proving….there are exceptions to proving for example: would you selflessly carelessly doesnt care of consequences but wants to prove something but that could mean indirectly ‘trigger’ maybe an ending a lost of an enjoyable present better than nothing cultures even human civilizations along the line one example: dying wealthy american father told his ungrateful harsh looking son who is marrying an opportunistic but beautiful way younger woman not to tell he has cancer has only 1 month to live son wants to prove he can be a man ‘without’ him {under his}father so to prove{find out} his fiancee’s loyalty to him{keeping family secrets}he shared the info about his father’s i month to live the son attended a month business affairs in asia but his father died….at the funeral he found out his fiancee married his father few days he left and family lawyers handed him the will asking him to moved out of the house as properties division requested as it is in the will NOW if some intellectual foreigners locals wants this high tech savvy internet play tricked on me{play mind games}in all the things i say and do as a housewife to whatever ‘cover up’ ‘defense’ ‘political’ pride or economic reasons that they have and needed to do it….all i can say I DID what public services makes me whole AS one WOMAN….i am not a threat to anyone meaning maybe the joke[not knowing it}is with the joker….
@GMMAHONEY
What are you on? what LGAT did you attend before? You seem to be high.
hey anton,
i attended PSI Basic around 10 years ago, when it was just P6,000+ bucks! Talk about inflation 😀
anyways, i felt it was a good use of my time and there were things to learn.
But the thing with these type of seminars is that immediately aferwards, you feel all gungho believing you can change the world, etc.
then as time goes by (one week? one month?), it sort of fades away, and life goes back to normal….
But i wouldn’t call it “brainwashing”, like some of the people who commented above.
Bottomline, its up to the person how much or how little they get out of the thing….just approach it with no preconceived notions or no prejudgements (which if i recall correctly, is one of things PSI teaches!! :D)
GUS
P.S. i sent you an email a month ago, pls. check.
Thanks to everyone for your insights. For those who’ve attended PSI, thank you also for sharing first hand accounts.
Here’s what I’ve learned about PSI so far:
Iffy:
– Positive outlook on life (some say it works, some say back to normal)
– Brainwashing (some say there is, some say there isn’t)
– Christian Values (still to be determined)
– Secrecy (good organizations should be transparent – unless maybe if it’s KFC’s 7 herbs and spices or coca cola’s secret ingredients)
– Magic bullet approach
– Hypocrisy, Questionable moral standards of Organizers (history of squabbling over money)
Negative:
– aggressive marketing (hard sell)
– Controversy – google: PSI + Cult(not sure if it’s true. but there are definite concerns.)
….if you’ll check/wants to be critical of anything DOESNT HAVE to be just awareness programs take for example all presidents prime ministers foreign secretaries all ambassadors military officers senators congressmen hollywood brightest stars even royalties corporations even american religious pastors even the pope or anyone like me people can find negatives in all our normal past lives exactly how we have both of the positives & negative equations in things we all say & do….show me those who never made mistakes or sinned and i will show you a perfect world in return….human lives is exactly like the stock markets….one day up sometimes one week down sometimes a little higher sometimes the opposite….meaning you’ll never know what comes next lol….nothing wrong in ‘exploring’ more possibilities learning new methods of calculations keen observations or prolong analogy analysis coz why limit the ‘good’ things ‘good’ thoughts you want to explore to experience….
@gmmahoney – yes it’s true, we can find negatives at almost anything. But I do prefer to keep my comments relevant to the topic at hand. My criticisms about PSI are here so people are aware of its negative aspects.
About your “exploring” comment, there is both experiential and didactic learning. There are some experiences worth trying. I believe this is not one of those.
i think we can all agree on one thing about
the PSIs and Landmark Forums of this world:
they sure make a whole lot of money!!!
(now i want to start my own LGAT,
combining elements of PSI and El Shaddai)
Hi Anton, I was able to find this in my old emails.
Beth MacDonald sent this out when Kokoy and company set up PSMI (Purposeful Stewardship Management Inc), and start referring to it as “PSI”.This was in the old PSI_Grads Yahoogroup, circa July 2005. PSI Asia closed down around March 2005. Didn’t even take six months for Kokoy to break his promise.
———————————————————–
This is Beth mAcdonald with a request to the people who are currently running this site. PSI Asia has ceased to operate. The members of the management of that organization agreed to support each other by actually ceasing to run the company. This agreement was reached in order to protect the legal interests of the investors and to protect the seminar itself.
No former board member from PSI Asia would like to interfere with the teaching of the PSI philosophy. A significant part of the philosophy is living one’s values and engaging in behaviors that are win/win. In this regard, I am asking please for your consideration, support and active engagement in the following steps:
1) Please do not use Batch numbers that are continued from PSI Asia. This gives the impression that PSI Asia is still operational and could but the board members of PSI Asia at risk legally.
2) Please do not refer to seminars conducted using the content from PSI Seminars, Inc. or PSI Asia, Inc. as “PSI”. Please use your current company name. Please hold by this in text and email messages as well.
3) Please do not use materials like the PSI Asia Workbook or PSI Asia trigger mechanisms during the seminar. They are the legal property to PSI Asia and, if they are used, would represent the continuation of business activity of that company.
We wish everyone who is teaching the principles of the seminar the greatest of success. There is no doubt that especially in these trying times we need more people who support and uphold these ideas. Please apply those principles to conduct of your business.
Thanks in advance for your active support of my request.
Beth mAcdonald
So what happened kaya? BTW, who is Beth Macdonald?
Beth Macdonald is the previous grand matriarch of PSI Asia. Check her out here:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/05A/2B9
What a very interesting discussion. My purpose in visiting the comment section of this topic is to congratulate Anton for having attended the PSI seminar. I am also a graduate of this seminar, Basic Seminar batch 78 I think and Heroic Leadership Class 9. I believe it is not the intention of PSI or any other similar concept seminars like Landmark Forum and OCCI to brainwash people. The seminar is there to give awareness of the concepts of win/win, positive thinking and law of attraction, it is up to the participants if they will accept or reject these concepts. No one is forcing you to believe in their teachings.
@cultaware, I am just wondering why you have ill feelings about these seminars…
@Beth — wow, what cool web site. It has flash animation and all that. Other than wowing me with web design, can you also impress me with educational background and professional qualifications?
@wilbert — it’s plain and simple, really. I have an aversion against people/organizations preying on other people. And as discussed previously, stated claims and goals from the company itself can be totally bogus.
Let’s look at this issue objectively. Could anyone from PSI address the issues above? I’d really prefer factual/objective answers rather than goody-goody feelings. Sorry love bombs don’t work on me.
….well it is not because i am not ‘blurting’ out publicly what you meant or why some viewers are agaisnt this kind of forums & programs means i do not know what it is with you but maybe because it is better that i do not know what was your secret about this particular social forums{they do have ‘few’ particular areas that needs to be corrected but in the past}but again i already explained some reasons above my few comments here why are some awareness programs for second or third world countries sometimes can be a threat to some wealthy nations….coz if they learned to be courageous & smarter on their own as independent individuals means ‘economic’ freedoms….if it becomes nationwide entrepreneurial activities means following a nation’s economic ‘rising’ so to put some ‘fast’ alternatives to this forums sites to lessened further ‘rising’ conflicting questionable but ‘unanswered’ clear exchanges i am encouraging inviting everyone filipinos americans europeans hispanics blacks asian who are legally staying to join the 2008 open ‘flea’ markets in salcedo street makati in velasquez park or anywhere in philippines like quezon city rizal bulacan ilocos laguna quezon negros etc. something for filipinos to ‘explore’ experience to be ‘open’ about income wise to also help the effects of wasteful but needy healthy ‘enviroments’ & it is family super ‘fun filled entreprenurial affairs lol meaning making extra money while having fun socializing….and believe it or not most europeans love affairs happens in outdoors open flea markets lol!….
@Cultware
But you have to admit, these goody goody love bombs are entertaining to watch.
….viewer name wilbert….the viewer you’re asking question….worth asking? he just asked another name to ‘impress’ him…. IMPRESS HIM? he calls ‘NON’ COMPULSARY awareness programs & other social forums with VISITING 10,000,00 pesos paying individuals as preying on people to be educated on something yes common senses but ‘uninteresting’ social available approach if NOT done as social functions to learned or fun filled activities according to that ‘impress’ me viewer that social functions this kind that helps other people to have happiness something to look forward even for a day a week or years almost like wanting to deprived them others of that social kind of happiness meaning ‘impress’ me viewer kinda sounds-seems like a CRUEL self loving self serving insecure ‘like’ person coz it seems like he’s looking for confrontational trouble who knows but of course he can say the same thing to anyone and could be worst
….lol!….just listening to ‘impress’ ‘wowing’ me viewer made me in a way wanting to NOT EVEN A KINDERGARTEN GRADUATE lol! so i could GRANT HIS WHISH to IMPRESS him by talking to him directly and say the same thing like what i am saying now except that i have never step up to elementary level lol!….wowing him hhmmm? am i supposed to behave like a hooker while web designing lol!
@The Secret – yes, entertaining indeed.
@gmmahoney – let me rephrase that. These workshops are marketed as life changing events, not as a social function. I ask for credentials because there have been several accounts of damage done by LGATs including PSI to their participants. I’m simply implying that they are practicing psychology/psychiatry/hypnotherapy without proper training.
Let me be clear – I have nothing against the people who’ve joined PSI or any other LGATs. Most of these people are smart, honest and good individuals. The organizers on the other hand… http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l29.html
if people are happy excited about ‘something’ say an ideology or say some social awareness programs to help them ‘uplift’ their uninspirational no direction somehow almost lost lives then they found that happiness in a person who’s ideology makes them HAPPY PRODUCTIVE ENERGETIC INSPIRED etc. and they have no negative involvement social deseases type they believe in healthy lifestyles to becoming prosperous seeking better principles in life so they do not consider themselves lost somehow but for some reasons some foreign high powered political powers felt threatened by this new ideology economically socially politically jealousy-envy maybe and creates an international policies that will make other people’s healthy moving lives miserable in a way meaning why should NON PROBLEMATIC anybody be blamed be crucified coz of other envious non believer going around making questionable waves issues on non social ‘problematic’ attendees why not worked on those who has alcoholism gambling prostitutions family problems economic hardships physical violence & others who has criminal activities nationwide waiting needing intervention just wondering
….i take back my kinda HARSH semi descriptions-words back on ‘impress’ wowing me viewer….i now see your positive view{concerns}….you have every right to be concerned and thank you….i acknowledge i sense your need to wanting to help here….
Like any other pseudo psychiatry/psychology/religion, LGATs prey on the gullibility of people experiencing personality/domestic/social problems, people who need other people to cling to when in distress; they take advantage of the unstable state of these people’s mind, selling their questionable expertise in the field of psychology/psychiatry/counseling. There is nothing wrong with support groups and all, but when it starts to dig in to your pockets and charge for their service, then we start to question if these are truly legitimate or even registered business entities. They should also be scrutinized about the method they employ doing their trade, and should show expertise in the field of psychiatry/psychology/counseling, in which the practice of such is regulated in the Philippines. Unless they can show proof they are professional psychiatrists/psychologists/counselors, and are willing to take responsibility for whatever adverse results of their practice, then they are nothing more than scums of the earth!
@concern – yes, those are valid concerns and issues in our society that we also need to raise awareness and take action.
however, i also believe that the issue at hand is also worth noticing. as far as i know, it is not yet being discussed in the local scene and it would be a good service to its readers if they are aware of some of these LGAT concerns.
@gmmahoney – thank you for keeping me in check.
….’impress’ ‘wowing’ viewer RE-PHRASING of his words-messages was the reason i take back my semi like descriptions from his comments but i agree with concern name viewer ‘entirely’….i am more concern about social unrest ‘violences’
criminal activities even some ‘disturbing’ religious ‘extremisms’ fanaticisms but practicing religious believers that makes them socially ‘stubborn’ no ‘halfway’ efforts on their parts of anykind to understand that physical violences like verbal abusiveness behaviours are ‘way’ DAMAGING ‘way’ illogical {living your daily lives} than any educational fun filled social awareness or any non practicing but religious believer individuals who had not hurt nor harm anyone but simply ‘victims’ of a matter of life PREFERENCE A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONNAL CHOICES BUT BEING DEPRIVED COZ OF DIFFERENCES IN OPINIONS ON HOW HUMAN RIGHTS EQUALITY MUST BE OBSERVED NOT BY ONE BUT BY ALL HUMANITY….who’s powerless can argue publicly on that one i say very difficult if we want to survive….
i believed gmmahoney is not disqualifying nor denying that some social public functions like these forums ‘possibly’ had some not so great professionals and could probably ‘possibly’ be
overcharging clients but we should not ‘brainwash’ attendeez to file any complains on anybody who they honestly believed made them happy complete productive energetic excited even if just in one day or weeks few years participants if intelligent educated will surely know if it’s worth it or not if no customers are complaining then let’s not cause waves let them CAUSE WAVES by themselves so they cannot accused you of the same ‘brainwashing’ agendas right?
@concern
you dont call people clinging to psychology/psychiatry/counseling as customers or clients — they are called patients; but you just did, so it means that you know LGATs are indeed shams posing as legit counselors when in fact they are more into what they can take from your pocket than what they can give you (happiness, belongingness, direction in life, etc), which you can find sans psi and such.
i’d have to disagree on you on this one. i offer information so that people who have not attended may know the different facets of this seminar before deciding to attend. most of the info i offer are already available out there. just visit your favorite search engine.
for those who have attended, i would think that the truth matters even if were to sacrifice a temporary feeling of elation.
lol! anton & the rest was a mental patient when he they attended this social forums? lol! he doesnt need one{psychiatry}lol he has enough topics comments in his website to make him aware of almost anything UNLESS he has a problem sleeping coz of some comments here lol ALL what i am saying is that in a country like philippines it’ is nice to have professionals with all sorts of diplomas hanging in their offices walls but even diplomas are NOT proofs not an evidence NOT a guarantee etc. that they are ‘good’ best doctors great mental professionals.. TITLES HIGH END SALARIES OR ECONOMIC STATUS BY PROFESSIONS of DOCTORS or any kind of PROFESSIONALS DO NOT NEVER WAS A GUARANTEE THAT THEY ARE ALL GOOD BEST BETTER GREAT coz of diplomas{titles}some are some are not why did i say that coz in the news for centuries even not long ago may professional doctors were arrested ‘imprisoned’ because of professional misconducts or because of physical violences rapes slavery and many other sorts of social abuses MAYBE reasons why some filipinos find their short or temporary happiness excitements hopes new goals in these social forums worth their HARD EARNED MONEY is like where are the ‘guarantees’ that diplomas by professional degree holder professionals are the best better safest social public forums to spend your money after knowing all the facts they’re publicly aware even before surely filipinos will alsothank you for making them aware EARLIER so they can make a fair better assessments if it is the one or NOT..in filipino culture not knowing the best the truth {according to others}is not a crime ONLY if they felt ripped off or mislead then you’ll know coz they will surely COMPLAIN lol nothing personnal just my concerned opinions
@concern
and i am simply pointing out the fact that many people have raised concerns that PSI and other LGATs are ripping people off.
http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/1/19772.html?1092876515&bcsi_scan_D4A612CF62FE9576=ncBFnL1j/YKts2F9lTUagwkAAABfByoL&bcsi_scan_filename=19772.html
http://psi-seminars.pissedconsumer.com/psi-is-a-con-game-20080514120979.html
when people are aware of this, they can at least think twice.
anyone who is not smarter diplomatic or insensitive like americans like europeans does not should not automatically makes them a candidate ‘mental’ patients or has a need for psychiatric evaluations unless those particulars or some{filipinos}has problems with them why judgements observations has filipinos sensitivities only? depends on individual cases but critical to avoid further complications if misdiagnosed coz filipino cultures are or has practice cultures meaning filipino behaviours that are taught that are customary that are locally acceptable daily reactions behaviours that can be easily corrected in seconds by minutes{not an automatic assylum cases like in america}if filipinos are aware some of their cultural practices custumary expressions-reactions are not ‘normal’ to foreigners they behave differently to correct it but according to whose cultures….so not necessarily mental problems not an automatic mental cases but could be seen ‘disturbing’ can be seen as behaving abnormally by foreigners interpretations based on their observations meaning an constantly smiling-laughing probinsyana can be disturbing to non laughing customary foreigners but in some provinces to smile laugh at almost anything was told taught that it is a sign of femininity could happiness lively hosts or cheerfulness etc.
so cultures are often misinterpret as mental illnesses HERE IN UNITED STATES and that is also very sad ‘dangerous’ and could be deadly to some to those who are ’embarrassed’ felt shamed to be considered a mental case because of how they customarily reacted on their daily problems which was learned traditionally from their parents and was told it was the right ‘behaviours’ and false records can be used agaisnt them{morally-immorally} that may lead to further social embarrassments that could also lead to even more dangeous results to all involved so cultures is a BIG factors..nothing personnal just a GENERAL citizen’s opinions
@concern
yes, there may be cultural differences. but then again, when it comes to this, there may be not. best to put ourselves on the side of caution.
Interesting:
http://berto-meister.blogspot.com/2008/04/penn-teller-self-help-bullshit.html
hey! I received that email by beth mcdonald..
Yup I heard that PSI Asia is closed and PSI philippines is an independent “group”.
I don’t know if the teachings are still as they were when they were PSI Asia.. but I remember it having an impact in my life.
But whatever people think, I choose black 😀
Hi Abi, since you have first hand information, i think it would be really valuable to the readers if maybe you could elaborate on why and how it had an impact on you…
@Anton
Perhaps if you could request for Kokoy Reonisto’s professional qualification outside of PSI, it might give us more insight into the matter. I’m sure they would want their side of the story told as well. Perhaps Beth MacDonald could also post hers as well.
Hi Anton! Welcome to the PSI family, i was batch 29 and our facilitator was Mr. Dan Dor.
Congrats Anton! I went through their Star Shooters and Heroic, and did some staffing and coaching with them.
Great experience and made great friends too.
let filipinos learn in so many ways since philippines filipinos are one of the main victims of united states world arrogance political social POLICIES for decades american political system HAVE cheated deprived this friendly very creative sweet natured loving talented smiling country of filipinos..of their own gifted talented people from past decades that brought down south east asian countries philippines too & asia as a whole decade ago{mid & late 90’s} into a huge ‘financial crisis’ asia continent recovers years later recovers thru awareness programs like these psi like yours like what others or i am doing right now here talking about beware of america’s world political policies that set up-framed up individuals coz of some personnal ‘disguising’ or economic political social difference in ‘priorities’ or agendas{conflict of interets}of americas highest powerfuls by simply not using united nations organizations or by side tracking events thru united nations to benefit this few americas superpowers interests thru awareness programs people can built their positive fun filled happy lives back so allow small but fun filled country like philippines the NEW world model country to show the world that it is not a ‘stupid’ country but simply a new exploring helping friendly country NOTHING ‘huge’ to offer like america and other big superpowers but has ONLY a ‘big’ heart a sweet caring smiles like of lica de guzman when she sings warm heartfelt sincere messages from arnel pineda’s voices when he sings{american legendary new rock band lead singer}powerful but also sweet challenging heart wishes voice of charice and tunes of other filipinos like frenchie dy kyla aicelle santos regine kuh ledesma sarah geronimo rachelle ann go jonalyn viray etc. whose idea of the world is a world of caring happy families NOT perfect but one that is soon closer to perfections….that is what majorities of NO OPPORTUNITIES & DEPRIVED PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES wants to experience wants others the world to have EXPERIENCES so allow them to learned & learn to express the feelings of being ‘cheated’ of chances of success coz of america’s highest powers….let them by themselves learn see difficult things let them learn life’s challenges EVEN if PSI are ‘not’ all PSYCHICS lol
interesting
http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/40-why-smart-people-defend-bad-ideas/
in my opinion i do not believe that gmmahoney is defending anything bad but i believe gmmahoney wants to show that there are many sides of the coins{not just one sided}that way viewers can see the arguments on issues in may different ways-areas of concern not just “all agaisnt” or NOTHING AT ALL as if MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY which is not bad also if it will result to at least 70% of delivering AIM ‘success’ from anything unseen i do not believe for a minute that gmmahoney meant to take sides NOT AT ALL she already said she chosed not to be partial coz any sides could have been involved in something
questionable like conflicts of interests for example gmmahoney at one time was mind buggled from philippines news about govt.health reproductive bill that is opposed by many different group religions which i agree should not be lagislated but a matter of choices but choices must be available & not A SOCIAL TRAPPED where some impoverish passive irresponsible lazy individuals has habits of making babies believing many babies means many child laborers to take care of them which if that is some of the cases means rest assured those are babies in the streets in thousands that you see after dark hours selling sampaguitas or candies or juicy fruit gums or cold drinks or baluts or newspapers or sidewalk vendors who are mostly toddlers some minors who even run after vehicles buses to make money to support their drug addicts pushers sick parents or livelihood for their abusers these besides child sexual-physical emotional abuses prostitutions as extra incomes just go to dark market areas like bluementritt tondos divisoria in provinces etc where in the past these street children who run away from their abusive parents family members find themselves victimized again by those who pick them up in streets as new business child recruits for prostitutions or drug runners or organized crimes baby doll hookers or street sellers mostly ended up in jails committed suicides a mental case or new societies murderers abusers but not caught causing producing more human victims who in return will victimized again & again who knows..and how can a government like united states europe or philippines can functions without pressures without blackmails without injustices favors conflicts of interest or even just an independent institutions etc.etc. while surrounded by so many different religions who has many different GODS with many different interpretations as to what when where jehovah adam smith{the prophet}jesus buddha allah sheebah
kali holy father etc.etc.etc originated started defined initially etc.etc. which i all respect coz i am myself is a ‘deep’ catholic believer but what’s wrong if advanced civilized educated societies like the philippines gathers disscuss implement nationwide better social family human planning that gives not so perfect lives but decent enough secured life to human beings by giving awareness programs to those couples who wants to settle down which are great but are they ready at 15 or 18 years of ages do they have a place to live do they have means to feed cloth shelter medical educational means to pay bills too like water electric house rents and other necessities of decencies at least NOT NECESSARILY TO AFFORD LUXURIES just the basic minimum decent necessities of human daily needs
before exploring unwanted sets of children like some i heard they throw their babies out of taxi windows hotel windows in malacananang’s toilet KILLING their UNWANTED BABIES is unacceptable human behaviour we want to see these cruel mothers families who tolerated their acts in jails philippines must have a public private drop off baby homes where mothers can drop their unwanted babies safely without any questions BUT PLEASE DROP THEM SAFELY & ALIVE abortions are only for LIFE & DEATH situations not for conveniences or luxuries it might sound unfair twisted impractical injustice bias partial etc. that religions allow legal law enforcements police or military the use of deadly weapons guns in killings or past decades centuries of world-civil wars anywhere possible but not abortions when life is threatened for gmmahoney that is mind buggling.. NOT wanting to be righteous just expressing concerns by keeping it civil thru here in our awesome planet blog corner just personnal opinions nothing beyond that
if not satisfied by my explanations go find gmmahoney’s remarks public comments gmmahoney’s 70’s high school mates mini short novels short stories mini coffee table books & comiks i believe named FIRST LOVE:A HEALTHY WORLD PLANET PARADISE something like that coz those gmmahoney’s mini coffee table books comments are highly interesting surely mind buggling if not blow away some people coz it is definitely ‘very’ educational lol
….i make comments here so entire philippines will not be “deprived cheated” again just like decades ago filipinos must share what talents they have in thoughts or deeds to all filipino fil am or whatever mixes people & entire philippines not just strangers or foreigners….
@spelling police
i was referring people defending bad ideas in general – not at gmmahoney’s comments.
people are definitely free to disagree – i don’t think i have the right to manipulate the conversation here. i do wish there was more info from the other side — more than just testimonials — there are lots in youtube already: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=psi+seminar&search_type=&aq=f
I was kinda hoping they would answer questions found in:
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/responsibility/questions.htm
oh gush! gmmahoney doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry but seems like she just cut and paste her comments… no relevance, just a total space eater.
viewer name anna read & understand well your own comment again & again coz it is you who has NO relevance to the issue titled above..at least gmmahoney was gracious enough not to insult anyone but gmmahoney simply describe some filipinos traits & her opinions based on what she gathers in the past experiences..also she gave viewers some pictures that filipinos who needs eudcational social awareness programs are not necessarily a mental cases as other suggests
just a few days learning experiences that if these participants after are living non violent non critical of others non public nuisance but practices healthy living instead from what they have learned in these awareness programs gmmahoney means let them prove themselves wrong or right by what positive results it adds to their lives hours or years after..also gmmahoney may not be perfect as you expect her to be just like HOW you expect that only beautiful people perfect ideas are A MUST to blog TO posts here coz if they’re not YOU’LL CONFRONT & CRITIQUE THEM TOO for not appearing as beautiful as perfect based on your expectations on others strange way of critiquing someone lol
the law on separations of the church & the state [philippine government}is what i meant with what gmmahoney was stressing-talking about in the past issues about philippine government ‘surrounded’ by many different religions etc.
just wondering why some are intimidated in filipinos learning new things in life what’s wrong if filipinos will learnedto take care of themselves like for example: philippines government must not only plan in large scale operations how to ‘lift’ anything unhealthy or toxic under the oceanfloors by sunken ships from storms typhoons ships boats mishaps etc.BUT MUST ALSO ‘plan’ on how what to do if ‘lifting’ unhealthy nuisance or toxic anything under the sea DO NOT WORKED the way they planned in lifting them up for ex: if miss how much damage it will extend how long how wide what will be affected and up to where & when and how to contain them even ‘before’ cleaning or lifting them up any extra fresh water inland available as back up fresh waters etc. philippine government must plan any salvaging of under water garbages both ways how to remove and do they have back up plan if it fails..think of coin have 2 sides or 3{edges}lol public educational awreness like that will help minimize future typhoons storms damages better save money in being good govt. planners than wasted money for not thinking coin has many sides thank you
more awareness programs are needed
just wanted to bring people up to speed on the discussion here. Issue is not whether the seminar is ineffective or boring. It is not whether it has no production value or that nothing can be learned from attending this seminar.
It is about the issue of possible danger in attending this seminar. It is that there have been accusations raised about brainwashing and possible use of psychotherapy without training. It is about the secrecy by which they practice their methods. It is the issue that they seem to claim life changing results.
I hope that people who read this are more aware and are willing to do a little more research before attending PSI and other LGATS.
and again, just to be clear — i have nothing against people attending or wanting to attend the training with the intent to improve themselves — i applaud people who want to improve themselves.
it’s the organizers who i think are preying on ‘people’s basic desires to be better’ that i have a beef with.
i only believe that gmmahoney wanted to carry the bad effects of americans international-world foreign policies bad negative results and went public thru our awesome planet blog site corner to help philippines who she believed were deprived-cheated of their own filipino talents who has a different ‘state’ of the minds coz she sense filipinos are being victimized to fit america’s ‘misfits’or bad foreign policies so gmmahoney rather want to balance any negatives reason i believe she do not takes sides.. asian financial crisis in mid 90’s was not prevented coz talented filipinos was not allowed to help was intimidated was intercepted so gmmahoney is saying let filipino talents balance america’s bad negative results so by 2010 hopefully the remaining balancing of the negative effects will infect a positive results to europe americas and the rest of the world…but gmmahoney needs philippines to be open minded in fixing social deseases that way NO foreign influences or greed will grow and ruined asia’s financial stable system that might be ‘trapped’ to become the reason for another future financial messes so greed must be in check in asia by teaching honesty responsibility decency so to be used & abused by foreign entity to mess them up can be prevented minimized and what’s wrong with that since gmmahoney is a wordly international blood related to almost all races & continents and definitely NO conflict of interests except she wanted to balance the imbalances american govt. created by awareness like blog corner to minimize victims by unseen forces of circumstances that has conflicts of interests that could only bring negative one sided results so if we learned not to be victimize by being aware is a good thing who doesnt want that lol
i’m glad you agree.
….as a woman awareness programs are good if it is not done on ‘extremes’ like for example: since abortions is illegal in philippines why are there almost half a million ‘abortions’ this year{in phils.news}done in the philippines despite it’s illegalities meaning there must be another way to prevent this ‘hypocritical’ law abiding but also law breaking ‘citizens’ if sex & unwanted child bearing is concern..it is not all about ‘economics’ though ‘often’ it is one of the ‘main’ reasons but i believe it is more about minimizing-saving-preventing societies to NOT TO BECOME criminals not to be imprisoned{check national millions of filipino criminals-victims statistics more than the majority of them 99% came from ‘unwanted’ pregnancies abusive family backgrounds children of-from deprived childhoods parents in poverties} coz of unwanted unexpected babies unprepared pregnancies or thru having illegal abortions.. since love is supposed to bring happiness & legal sex with pleasures which also help releases normal healthy heightened individual stresses.. then what is happening in between that that turn these results upside down why a lot of them ended up turning so many young individuals into unnecessary criminals or to experience uncalled for ‘extreme’ sufferings or becoming abusive parents-families simply because of unprepared pregnancies….meaning everyone has responsibility to come up with some legal acceptable solutions sooner rather than later to stop the ‘not far’ from half a million annual illegal abortions in the philippines to set a permanent solutions for the world to realize their is a positive ‘solution’to this social world problems….also our biggest problem is nearly half of those who had an abortions will likely not have a chance to have babies again but i feel lucky for some cases coz of present day medical ‘miracles’ can help them beat their ‘irrational’abortion decisions from the past thank GOD….
@gmmahoney, i can see you’ve read Steven Levitt. He had an interesting bit about that in his ‘Freakonomics’ book. Might be better if we could discuss it further over at Carlos’ site: http://celdrantours.blogspot.com/2008/07/support-reproductive-health-bill.html#comments
….lol i do not read books i do not read newspapers{extremely rare if i did in the past}i only have read 14 short romance novels in my over all total readings in my entire life i only state-speak of what i believe which i gradually learned to believe thru the ‘values’ i saw learned from 70’s junior high school first love but he doesnt know that “it is how” i learned my life that is how i live my life so basically save my life without ‘him’ knowing-aware of it lol which he might be ‘annoyed’ with me now coz i still saw believe in that childhood days i was extremely but no ‘malice’ obsessed of him lol!….oh and viewer above & below my comments here thank you and i did searched support reproductive health bill by carlos celdran i will make comments to his websites later also in websites of pinoy lakwatsa coz both of them mitch guevara and carlos celdran has so many smart highly curious but bright audiences-viewers in his website topics WOW! lol they all have their own individual striking interesting highly ‘intelligent’ rationalizations but just like the entire catholic religion any medical pills-medicines has side effects sometimes good sometimes bad since i was born a roman catholic i always see to it i grew up a law abiding citizens in my best abilities to serve GOD of the catholic roman religion and according to my parents ‘it is a must’ i must abide forever….but i did saw a lot of problems caused by some of those ‘outdated’ A MUST FOREVER RULES CATHOLIC MEMBERS MUST FOLLOW THAT LEAD TO PAST ancient SEPARATIONS CREATION RISE OF THE PROTESTANT RELIGION….i saw so many tragic helpless ‘ignorant’ VICTIMS of my own catholic religious ‘beliefs’ coz of their own parents coz of their own families coz of their national neighborhoods coz of cultural beliefs coz of govt. political system and old{not now} philippines and other countries being a poor country….i heard learned saw around the world that almost everyone who was courageous enough exceptionally ‘intelligent’& charismatic erected build their own so called CHURCHES THEIR OWN PERSONNAL RELIGIONS THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL BELIEFS-UNDERSTANDING of what GODS SHOULD BE LIKE of what LIFE SHOULD BE LIKE of what should be ‘change’ ‘teach’ ‘directions’ human civilizations genuinely lead to etc.etc.etc. those actions are all human rights REASON why in america this country has an official legal religious-different churches registrations of more than 3,000,00 to 20,000,00 if i am not mistaken….yes so many different extremely ‘wealthy’ legal religions so many churches so many beliefs so many gods that made many americans and all other humans lives better
happy worthwhile productive inspired….the other side of the coin also it created so many complex lives who later turned agaisnt their own religions coz they cannot understand why humans has still here in there has unnecessary ‘misfortunes’ if not gruesome personnal family friends loved ones ‘tragedies’ why they couldnt find luck-wealths of their own but poverties if not miseries at all WHY happiness-fullfillments are found thru drug uses or illicit if not violent behaviours why ‘they’ humans just cannot be content nor practice “common sense” restraints instead they always searched for retributions-tragedies to end their meaningful if not memorable one of a kind happy lives etc….then their are those other sides of the coins where edges are either smooth sometimes rough that i will not dare explain coz it is better that way everything has limitations for a very good reasons but i suggests that let the philippine government create learned build their own will their own courage to grow independent moral ‘backbones’ coz anything unnatural can also caused very ‘unnatural’ consequences….another reason why believing having faith in GOD who offers salvations who offers churches as human sanctuaries if our experiences are too much to carry too much to handle a place to worships to express love to GOD who we ALL believe thankful created us….is necessary and part of human obligations….just my ‘nobody’personnal opinions nothing more than that lol….
many highly intelligent extremely charismatic individuals build created their own churches about more than 20,000,00 registered all over united states because it is the best way to go around the governement coz churches DO NOT PAY governement TAXES on anything thank GOD for that too lol
going back to topic… here’s some insight over the early origin of PSI… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Dynamics
i will prefer to have psi to help uplift the filipinos from poverties & engaging in terrorism activities i will prefer psi for filipinos if it will help them stir away from violences away from robberies from kidnappings away from illegal human traffickings that resulted to social human abuses like rapes molestations prostitutions framed set ups cases i will prefer psi as saviours if it will take away filipino minds the well trained retired renegade former policemen soldiers military gangs corrupt politicians & other law enforcements from taking stealing money away from victims if psi can make a ‘loose’ morals individual into a decent men then i will take that coz over charging fees from non so great professionals maybe illegal in nature but some people they would prefer to gamble on something positive with wonderful results coz for those victims & victims families of violences LIFE is priceless….not those technecalities….technicalities are for those who never experience tragedies those who were never been victims
Here is there about us page:
http://www.aboutus.org/PsiSeminars.com
my spelling is getting bad.
Here is *their* about page:
http://www.aboutus.org/PsiSeminars.com
again, no mention of *christian values* either.
wow, those are a lot of comments about psi…. both positive and negative. well, everyone has his/her right to express his/her opinion. as for me, psi made a huge POSITIVE impact on my life. i am a graduate of basic batch 199, starshooters team 62 and heroic class 26. the psi programs are wonderful experiences. in addition to the many things i’ve learned, i’ve met many amazing people and made many great friends. since psi has helped me so much, i have “staffed” basic seminars and “coached” starshooters once because i believe in paying it forward. i’ve also invited several friends to take the seminar/s and so far, they’re all happy they took it. for those who haven’t taken the seminar, why don’t you try attending the basic seminar? it won’t hurt. psi has a money-back guarantee so if you are not satisfied with the seminar, you can simply request for a refund. as far as i know, no one has ever asked for a refund. psi is a great venue to learn many things and gain a lot of friends. it is a terrific support group too. i really hope people stop writing so negatively about it but then again, right to one’s opinion. oh well, just thought i’d add to the already long list of comments… nakikigulo lang. hehe. by the way, it was nice meeting you anton! nice chatting with you and “ka edong…” =)
Hi Mishy, here’s an expert’s review (clinical psychologist and adjunct professor emeritus of psychology) of PSI and other LGATs:
http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm
It’s a long read, but I think it’s more credible than what I have to say.
Hi Anton, YOU ARE WELCOME!
I was honored when you accepted my invitation to join PSI.
****
I wasn’t surprised to read all the issues raised in previous comments.
I knew PSI went through its own share of rough times.
If anyone wants to believe that PSI creates bad results,
I’m sure they can find all the information they need to uphold this belief.
To quote my mother: “Hinahanap mo kasi, kaya nahahanap mo.”
I’d like to go beyond all the psycho-social, monetary, political, leadership, IP issues.
Beyond all these issues,
nothing can take away the positive impact PSI has on me. 🙂
****
I was a walking zombie for two years before taking the PSI seminar in August 2007.
I appeared normal, went to work,
laughed and joked around, met up with friends,
everything that a normal guy would do.
But inside I was ruined, broken, shattered.
For two years, I was enduring an extremely difficult breakup from a 12-year relationship.
The breakup adversely affected the way I saw myself, the way I treated myself.
I had very low self-esteem, was blaming myself and anything else I can find to blame.
There was a deep and dark sadness in me that weighed me down.
I had forgotten what it was like to be truly happy.
****
With the help of PSI,
I picked-up the pieces,
took responsibility for my share of shortcomings.
I found the good in the 12 years of my previous relationship as well as the good in the breakup.
During the seminar, I began to truly forgive my ex.
More importantly, I began to forgive myself.
Instead of being bitter, 🙁
I am now a better person, 🙂
a better son, brother, tito/ninong,
a better neighbor, friend,
and a better boyfriend. (Yes, I’m in a new and happy relationship, thank you 🙂 ).
After PSI …
… I developed closer relationships with my family,
… conquered a marathon (42 kms, 6hrs 49mins, Singapore, 2Dec’08)
… increased my passive income through blogs and real estate,
… travelled with family and dear friends to Puerto Princesa, Singapore, Chicago, Florida and Seattle,
… read/listened to 5-times more books on personal development, finance, investing, spirituality, Filipinos etc.
… developed my public speaking skills,
… interacted with dozens of brilliant and extra-ordinary PSI grads,
… given back more value to my family, friends and even strangers.
There is no monetary equivalent for all the good that I brought into my life with the help of PSI.
Joining PSI was truly life changing for me.
****
It has been a year since I took the PSI seminar.
My life is a continuing journey.
I still stumble … but I get up!
It is a beautiful world and a wonderful life.
I continue to invite my family, friends and loved ones to PSI
because I know the value that PSI brought to me
and I want to share PSI with more people.
PSI is one of the best gifts I can ever give to my loved ones 🙂 .
Take care, everybody!
Have a meaningful and happy life! 🙂
Edwin “ka edong” Soriano
Dear ka edong,
First off, let me say I am happy that you are living a happy and productive life. There have been several testimonials about successes including videos that you can find on youtube.
Yet, as i’m sure you have also read about the dangers and warnings posed by a number of people. What i’m curious about is that are the changes in your life actually a result of the seminar? could it be your desire to live a better life was actually the one that pushed you towards your own self improvement? I dare say you deserve more credit than you think…
On another note, it’s funny, I noticed that when I googled “John Maxwell + Cult” I didn’t exactly find similar accusations as compared to googling “PSI + Cult”.
I hope you get the chance to read Margaret Singer’s observations about PSI and other LGATs on http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm (there aren’t any testimonials but she is an expert on brainwashing)
***********
Expert opinion or testimonial? I personally prefer expert opinion.
….lol….here in united states life are more complex more painful more sinister more tragic more heartbreaking than any of your experiences in friendly philippines or non complex europe….you guys are way better when it comes to heartbreaks coz you have choices of ‘listening’ families relatives neighbors friends you can talk to without being turnover by tricks to psychiatrists for framed evaluations hidden drug induced forcible mental assylum police framed up families set ups coz of conflict of interests being sold to ‘pimps’social-political-economics maybe….most americans are not for real unless they will make money out of it{american life revolves in lawsuits as incomes}i was shocked myself when i heard saw that happening in this some beautiful huge american culture
so rich but bankcrupt in a way{check national u.s. debts}when people around you are not for real{fakes bitter or non responsive}then your problems are way harder extremely more ‘difficult’ to experience here than there LUCKY YOU lol!….but a good hearted rational individual can OVERCOME any hardships can carry all those ‘overwhelming’ burdens at anytime so i am glad you can recover next time recover faster coz your only hurting yourself not those who hurt you….remember we cannot physically restrain anybody to stay in a force inmates-prison like lifetime sentences ‘relationships’ ‘meaning he-she cannot also restrain you in return and oohhh if it is not true love just be thankful you got out alive{mental}lol! meaning just like those philippine olympic athletes should-must trained them all years some from as early as elementary in advanced{3x a week straight years}to earn gold medals{best solution}not just months before coz they alredy had trainings same thing how relationship should be nurtured if posssible lang naman kasi yung iba hindi kaya ng schedule nila lagot pa ako nyan lol!….may god bless us all lol….
I took PSI Basic and Star Shooters in year 2000. No, there was no subliminal music nor pendulums to brainwash us. We were just given tools on how to make the most out of life. Now, whether we shall use these tools, continuously sharpen them, is up to us. This is not a magic pill, your improvement is totally up to you.
Bottomline, PSI made me take a very honest and close look at myself — the bad and beautiful, and made me take full responsibility about what i have now in my life, get rid of my hidden baggages, and fly. Even after 8 years since PSI, I am grateful from what I learned. And most of all I am grateful to me — because I was the one who chose to use what i learned.
Hi Vanessa, I think most scientists agree that subliminal music or pendulums do not actually work. Can you confirm instead that PSI does not do the following:
* Craving for followers; seductive recruiting strategies or heavy-handed tactics of proselytizing or conversion (including “love bombing,” that is, showering prospective recruits with friendly, but strategic, attention).
* Intimidating indoctrination procedures that psychologically break a person down (suppressing old behaviors, attitudes, and relationships) so that s/he can be rebuilt according to the group’s ideal of a docile, unquestioning, compliant member.
* Expensive entry fees or initiations.
Also, have you read Margaret Singer’s observations? What are your thoughts on it?
can anybod help me im trying to contact psi and i want to know their phone number where can i contact them and their office where are they located right now
Congratulations Anton. Best to you.
Just read the long thread of comments today. I find it really interesting.
I attended PSI Basic Batch 107(August 7-10, 1997)/Advance Team 41(September 4-7, 1997). After exactly 11 years, I was able to finally re-audit Batch 223(August 7-10, 2008). Very happy to be home. 🙂
I’ll be dropping by the September Basic Batch. See you guys there!
….i am desperately hoping that PSI and the rest of these kind of public awareness will also push on total gun ban on total weapons ban in a loving caring talented creative smiling country of philippines coz that is trillions billions of pesos annual savings that could go to new highly modern advance infrastructures that could bring easily more than 10-12% GNP like like china & the rest of other successful countries antwhere…..weapons are for military & few police special tactic forces the rest of law enforcements should only used batons whistles that hurts criminals brain-hearing temporary restraining them like in england also smokeless electric bicycles are better for police security guards to used that way filipino law enforcements are way visible to the public needs public callings tell phils. pres. gloria arroyo to implement re enforced the total weapons ban the total gun ban nationwide doesnt matter what religions what social status what educational levels filipinos are it must be implemented nationwide coz philippines is one country under one flag so no one should have any other kinds of law enforcements except the dept.of defense & police depts…..thank you this way you will get that more than 10-12%GNP sooner than later….
May I propose the following better and *cheaper* alternatives: (you can find these on youtube)
Randy Pausch – the last lecture
TEDTalks: Dan Gilbert
Matt Harding Dance 2008
Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005
hhmmm.. lol
must be nice if majority filipinos are educated or aware enough thru more more more more awareness programs to teach common senses that philippines filipinos must ‘focus’ on counting on all their annual damages{in billions & trillions of pesos] natural or not but caused by foreign countries like the united states international policies of ‘tagging’ along the whole world in their FOREVER generated never ending extremely stressful ‘war on terrorisms’ knowing that favoritisms religions are the most sensitive most vulnerable most profitable never ending wordwide ‘businesses’ so every small non powerful but strategically socially economically useful countries like in asia like the philippines must be dealt must be handled by foreigners not decades before but only after wild wild west american policies of turning chaos into let’s control them after agenda’s.. by using the divisions of religions or by breaking base to bases american democrats & independent political parties into conflicts..thank god the world has many religions many gods many churches many beginnings many discoveries many stories to tell and luckily has also protestants as mediums so human beings may have choices of a close or open free religions to neutralize totalitarian sects of maybe could be a possible sects of a particular twisted even false religion religion so awareness programs are not at all bad if done ‘correctly’ meaning any religions or even schools colleges universities that supply or carry guns in their churches or school yards anywhere could be NOT really a religion but just a front so beware coz all minor filipino children must go to school high school at the least so keep the public aware of that thru more awareness programs thru philippines lady president pprograms to reach a certain GNP heights that will help uplift the needs of the hungry of the poorest of the disadvantage so good luck smiling happy very creative adventurous healthier talented filipinos
Dear PSI supporters, I think it would be a great service to readers if you could answer the following:
– What is it really that makes PSI effective?
– Who are its facilitators? What makes them qualified to do this training? Experts say that it is a form of psychotherapy, are they licensed psychotherapists?
– Why are there criticisms about PSI? Are they jealous or are there real concerns?
– Why are some experts (margaret singer)reluctant to recommend it?
– What is PSI’s history? What is Mind Dynamics and how did it influence PSI?
– What’s with all the secrecy?
– What’s this about money squabbling? (posts above)
I happen to attend the basic batch 101 seminar just by a twist of fate and my view of life had drastically changed for the better. Can anybody update me as to when and where the next seminar be held? Thanks
Clinical psychologist Philip Cushman expalins what’s wrong with LGATs, aka “mass marathon training.”
An excerpt from “The Politics of Transformation: Recruitment – Indoctrination Processes in a Mass Marathon Psychology Organization”
Published by St. Martin’s Press 1993
By Philip Cushman, Ph.D.
Mass marathon training is usually based on the belief that it is a universal truth that all human beings will have problems in life until they develop deep cathartic psychological insight, experience completely their every feeling, and live only in the present moment (see Brewer, 1975; Bry, 1976; Rhinehart, 1976). According to this ideology all defenses are bad and must be destroyed. They shape their group exercises in order to uncover and intensify the participants’ underlying conflicts and deficits. Everyone must be exposed to these exercises; there are no exceptions. When all defenses are destroyed, they claim there is literally no limit to what each individual can accomplish.
Yet there is research that contradicts this universal claim. Applebaum (1976) reported on the results of the Psychotherapy Research Project of the Henninger Foundation, which attempted to better understand the effects of psychological insight in the treatment of patients who had ego-function difficulties and severe characterological problems. After insight-oriented treatment. a substantial number of patients were found to have changed for the worse. The data confirmed that the “screened-off aspects of one’s self” are hidden for a reason; for some types of people the conflicts that necessitated the screening off should remain hidden. Psychology, Applebaum argued, has to recognize the factors, which impinge upon whether, when, how much, and what kind of insight a particular person in particular circumstances should be helped to achieve. We need to know . . . the patient’s capacities in order to design the best amount, kind, and timing of insight. (1976, pp. 205-206)
The data demonstrated Applebaum’s contention that differential diagnosis and a differential treatment plan is crucial in effective psychotherapy. This conclusion challenges the universal and absolutist claims of insight oriented mass marathon groups. Applebaum warned that
· “Until we give up the pipe dream of insight as a universal good or a universal bad, we and our patients will, at times, be injured by its dangerous edge.” (1976. p. 206)
Just as Applebaum criticized those who considered the indiscriminate use of insight a universal therapeutic panaceas so too did Hampden-Turner (1976) attack those who treat human growth like a consumer product, indiscriminately applying certain techniques to every customer who appears with a blank check. He vigorously disagreed with the ethics of
· “The pop supermarket, the idea that you can purchase a “peak” here and a “high” there, and go psycho-shopping for prepackaged experiences…in fact human growth is not like a product at all, and we vitiate it utterly by pandering to the consumer ethos.” (1976, p. 3)
His critique focused particularly upon the highly structured, authoritarian, insight-oriented marathon workshops. Some aspects of humanistic psychology, he argued, seem
· “…to have almost forgotten that our most precious human values are achieved by indirection as opposed to the means ends rationality of industrial production. . . I seriously question any high that has been programmed in advance.” (1976, pp. 1-2)
He voiced his disagreement with psychological ideologies that discount or deny the significance of the sociohistorical and economic realities of the situation in which the client lives. These ideologies instead argue for the grandiose delusion of the ultimate limitlessness of the individual. To the organizations that teach this ideology he posed a provoking question:
· “If we are not aware of what the economy does to us, are we self aware at all? Any genuine search for truth must remind us of the things we cannot change.” (1576, P. 3)
In this way Hampden-Turner raised an issue that Sampson (1981) expanded upon. Sampson criticized cognitive psychology (the single most prominent aspect of the ideology of many mass marathon organizations) for its “subjectivist reduction.” By this he meant the regressive tendency to discount the nonsubjective world by considering it to be either a hallucination or subject to the total control of the individual. According to some mass marathon organizations, human fetuses choose their parents, female victims choose to be raped, and Vietnamese children chose to be bombed. The regressive aspects of this ideology seem to be readily apparent.
Sampson demonstrated how a regressive psychological doctrine can impact on political activity. He argued that an ideology both accurately expresses the “zeitgeist” of the era and may also inaccurately distort the facts in order to serve the ruling elite. He explained how cognitivism as an ideology serves the status quo of power and privilege in American society by teaching individuals to reinterpret their internal response to a painful experience rather than to work at rearranging the external situation so that it could better facilitate personal and communal well being.
Humanistic psychology owes much to Lewin’s “laboratory movement, ” which originally developed the encounter-group format at the Bethel Institute. Mass marathon psychotherapy organizations claim that they are within the legitimate tradition of this movement. They claim that their training techniques, which include severe milieu control and a rigid ideology, are taken directly from the encounter movement of years past. And yet Gottschalk and Pattison’s (1969) study of the history of T-groups and the laboratory movement appears to refute that claim. They found that the laboratory movement was originally an attempt to encourage democracy within community action groups. It was composed of three types of groups: T-groups, task-oriented groups dedicated to teaching about group process, and intervention labs whose goals were action-oriented community improvement programs. The authors found that the original unified effort diverged into an increasing number of activities, each with different philosophical foundations and agendas. The shift in the 1950s to “individual growth. . . . self knowledge, to actualization and maturation” (1969, p. 4) was a clear deviation from the founding philosophy.
They reported that T-group participants sometimes complained of the hidden. agendas, group norms, and covert values of charismatic group leaders and their loyal followers.
· They found that the trainer and various group members are calling upon them to stop certain ways of behaving, talking, thinking, and feeling, and that different ways of behaving are being prescribed. (p. 12)
Also the T-group was found to consciously evoke dramatic reactions in the participants, which often involved an exaggeration of impulsive traits and personality styles.
Gottschalk and Pattison isolated 13 liabilities of encounter groups, some of which are similar to characteristics of most current mass marathon psychotherapy training sessions:
1. They lack adequate participant-selection criteria.
2. They lack reliable norms, supervision, and adequate training for leaders.
3. They lack clearly defined responsibility.
4. They sometimes foster pseudoauthenticity and pseudoreality.
5. They sometimes foster inappropriate patterns of relationships.
6. They sometimes ignore the necessity and utility of ego defenses.
7. They sometimes teach the covert value of total exposure instead of valuing personal differences.
8. They sometimes foster impulsive personality styles and behavioral strategies.
9. They sometimes devalue critical thinking in favor of “experiencing” without self-analysis or reflection.
10. They sometimes ignore stated goals, misrepresent their actual techniques, and obfuscate their real agenda.
11. They sometimes focus too much on structural self-awareness techniques and misplace the goal of democratic education; as a result participants may learn more about themselves and less about group process.
12. They pay inadequate attention to decisions regarding time limitations. This may lead to increased pressure on some participants to unconsciously “fabricate” a cure.
13. They fail to adequately consider the “psychonoxious” or deleterious effects of group participation (or] adverse countertransference reactions. (1969, p. 13)
As a result, participants and leaders may unconsciously distort their feelings and responses when reporting to researchers about the group or recruiting for future groups. This might result in a deceptive “oversell” that could undermine informed consent and lead to unrealistic regressive expectations in new recruits, the specific type of problems that have been found to lead to psychological casualties (see Yalom & Lieberman, 1972, below). Since these liabilities are so similar to the techniques used in some mass marathon training’s, they may also cause psychological damage in that setting as well.
In a significant study with far-reaching consequences for the study of mass marathon training’s, Yalom and Lieberman (1972) observed in 209 undergraduate subjects the negative effects of participation in an encounter group. Over the course of 10 weeks, 18 groups met for 30 hours; there were also 150 fifty control subjects who did not attend any group.
Each group was run by a leader who was chosen because he was an excellent representative of one of 10 ideological schools of encounter (T-groups, Gestalt, Rogerian-marathon, psychodrama, psychoanalytic, Transactional Analysis, sensory awareness, Synanon, personal growth, black-white encounter, and leaderless). Each was given complete freedom.
Yalom and Lieberman’s primary interest was in assessing the types and causes of psychiatric “casualties.” The operational definition of a casualty was “an enduring, significant, negative outcome which . . . was caused by…participation in the group” (1972, p. 223). There is little doubt that the careful, conservative manner in which the study was conducted tended to minimize negative results and reduce the risk to subjects (1972, p. 228). The authors developed a system for identifying subjects who were harmed. Their definition of this subsample and their means of locating it were characteristically conservative. Subjects were included in the casualty subsample only when they had experienced “enduring” negative change and
· “…as a direct result of . . . [their] experience in the encounter group became more psychologically distressed and/or employed more maladaptive mechanisms of defense.” (1972. p. 228)
Also, the experience must have been proven to be the responsible element in the psychological decompensation. For example, one subject committed suicide during the study and was not counted as a casualty because the suicide could have been caused from past encounter group experiences.
In a startling finding, Yalom and Lieberman reported that 9.4% of the subjects met their stringent criteria and were therefore identified as casualties. The authors viewed this as a serious challenge to the entire movement.
The authors also determined that it was neither the psychological traits of the subjects (i.e., predispositional factors) nor the ideology of the leaders (i.e., doctrinal factors) that determined the casualty rate. Instead, surprisingly, it was the style of leadership that was primary. Leaders who were aggressive, stimulating, intrusive, confrontive, challenging, personally revealing, and authoritarian were the leaders who caused the casualties.
Specifically these leaders often unilaterally structured the group’s events. Their focus was on the individual rather than group process. They provided a comprehensive intellectual framework with which to understand one’s self and one’s world. They exercised firm control and were “ready, willing and able” to take over for participants and guide them to “enlightenment” (1972, p. 236). They were People who were charismatic leaders: they had a universal message to deliver, a foolproof technique to use, and a cause to recruit for. They were uninhibited in their attempts to convert all the participants in their group. These characteristics are clearly duplicated by many mass marathon trainers. The findings corroborated Gottschalk and Pattison’s 1969 conclusions and again call into question many tactics used by mass marathon organizations.
Of the categories that caused casualties, “rejection” was the most damaging. “Failure to achieve unrealistic goals” was the second most dangerous category. Each of these subjects reported being pressed for a breakthrough without being able to deliver. “Leader attack”-“group attack” tied for third. The fact that participants were restrained from leaving, that they had “no place to hide,” was thought to be a crucial element. “Group pressure to experience and express feelings” also caused casualties. When subjects couldn’t comply, they felt a “sense of hollowness” which led to a “deficient or empty self-image” (1972, p. 243).
Interestingly, many subjects who demographically resembled the casualty subsample didn’t have negative experiences. Yalom and Lieberman found that they had more realistic expectations for the experience, they were not lonely or depressed, they remained uninvolved (i.e. “…they did not enter into a public confessional and therefore maintained their objectivity and their ‘observing ego'”), they dropped out of the group, they depended on a positive self-concept when they were negatively criticized by the group, or they used an outside reference group to bolster their own beliefs when in conflict with a group norm.
The authors suggested that a questionnaire that detects unrealistic expectations would be a helpful counterindicator when attempting to predict which potential participants would be at risk. In summary, Yalom and Lieberman stressed that casualties were caused by the style and techniques of the leader, and by recruitment and selection practices.
The groups were determined to be dangerous when:
1. Leaders had rigid, unbending beliefs about what participants should experience and believe, how they should behave in the group. and when they should change.
2. Leaders had no sense of differential diagnosis and assessment skills, valued cathartic emotional breakthroughs as the ultimate therapeutic experience, and sadistically pressed to create or force a breakthrough in every participant.
3. Leaders had an evangelical system of belief that was the one single pathway to salvation.
4. Leaders were true believers and sealed their doctrine off from discomforting data or disquieting results and tended to discount a poor result by, “blaming the victim.”
Yalom and Lieberman concluded by again emphasizing the crucial importance of informed consent. “Our best means of prevention,” they maintained, remains the type of group the subject enters, and our best means for prevention is self-selection. If responsible public education can teach prospective encounter group members about what they can expect in terms of process, risks, and profits from a certain type of group, then and only then can they make an informed decision about membership. (p. 253)
It is instructive to note that many mass marathon organizations are conducting their training in the exact manner found by Yalom and Lieberman to cause the greatest number of psychiatric casualties
Note: For a day-by-day breakdown overview of the training process see Philip Cushman’s “Description of the Behavioral Structure of the Training.”
….RUDY named viewer:….thank you for ALL your concerns to whoever these professional suggestions-studies belongs to….i am busy but later i will comment further….but almost all professional studies outcomes you mentioned in this psi our awesome planet website
describes the ANATOMY OF YOURS OURS OTHERS FAMILY TREE….THIS IS HOW SOME PARENTS
ARE TO THEIR CHILDREN THEIR OWNED OR NOT…..PLEASE CHECK MY OWN ANALYSIS THANK YOU….salamat po….
same way same to all religion’s teaching systems..religion always reminds you’ll go to ‘impierno’ pag hindi mo sinusunod ang utos ng diyos what do you think happens to a child’s minds after hearung that thanks
It’s true. Religion and parents do the same thing. The question is — do you trust a for profit organization like PSI when they are not answerable to anyone?
When the qualifications of their leaders or even the workings of their organization is kept secret?
….maybe it is kept secret to protect their ‘intellectual property’ recipes just like american kentucky fried chicken o any european products like swiss products etc….also even united states of america do not like to be answerable to any foreign countries reason why there are chaos around the world coz without world chaos there will be no CHECKS written for them by asia o europe i just read in front of internet news lol….we’ll make psi the QUESTIONABLE ONES BUT THEY DIDNT KILL ANYBODY but those comapanies involved in killings around the world are making in billions of u.s. dollars or euros marks YET NO ONE DARED PREVENTED TO CHANGE THEIR WAY OF MAKING MONEY LIKE SAY HELP THE PHILPPINES BUILD HOUSING ROJECTS FOR THEIR POOR then charge philippines for the housing profits they needed but please without killing filipinos salamat po lol!….
….maybe it is kept secret to protect their ‘intellectual property’ recipes just like american kentucky fried chicken o any european products like swiss products etc….also even united states of america do not like to be answerable to any foreign countries reason why there are chaos around the world coz without world chaos there will be no CHECKS written for them by asia o europe i just read in front of internet news lol….we’ll make psi the QUESTIONABLE ONES BUT THEY DIDNT KILL ANYBODY but those comapanies involved in killings around the world are making in billions of u.s. dollars or euros marks YET NO ONE DARED PREVENTED TO CHANGE THEIR WAY OF MAKING MONEY LIKE SAY HELP THE PHILPPINES BUILD HOUSING ROJECTS FOR THEIR POOR then charge philippines for the housing profits they needed but please without killing filipinos salamat po lol!….
or what my younger sister gmmahoney is saying that in ASIA a lot of poor asians needed to be sheltered so why not make steels metals to used in building more shelters for the poor instead of gun battle tanks o weapons armories and mix cements to build condominiums instead of gun powders why not tropical flavor mix drinks to help the thirst of the thirsty citizens anywhere they might be it in africa asia america pacific middle east europe down under americas INSTEAD OF TOXIC CHEMICALS why not contracts to build more light railways like mrt lrt o more toll roads highways instead of BOMBS OR ANY WEAPONS an small amout of deadly weapons must be for the used of the military but for SOVEREIGNITY PURPOSES to prevent aggressive foreign entry but with the case for example of what i saw in internet news that afghanistan is a small very poor countries but a HAVEN for europeans illegal drugs plantations yet americans are there for what? those smallest poorest countries do not need MILITARY SOLDIERS only local police forces because smallest poorest countries ACTUALLY need a borderless entry because tourism is what will help them uplift its citizens from poverties ‘kahit ako naa-awa at naiiyak sa kalagayan nila kaso i am poor not a billionnaire not a politicians who has powers instead i have no manpowers & resources to JUST FLY and do magic for that magnitudes’ but philippines has pres. gloria arroyo who can do the job after arroyo ended her term in 2010 so she will come to rescue what is needed but she needed to prove first that philippines is the new future role model for any third world countries so those who will try to argue will have No arguments to make ‘hopefully’ daw sabi ni sister gmma lol!
what i was saying was that religions churches sermons are in general also either political in themes or follow the ten commandments{do good things only}like obeying elders parents & others but where are sermons to inspire to separate the ‘REALITY’ in presence in front of children{teens minors toddlers}in saying ‘stay away from bad-abusive-deadly elders parents’ coz they are no guarantees that they are not sometimes deadly where are the separate warnings given to children that sometimes it is o.k. to beat the craft out your elders parents if they rape sold you physically abuses you to nearly death but of course ‘only’ if situations are because of self defense must be last resort only in critical extremes situations meaning children RUN FOR YOUR LIFE o to your nearest safest relatives or ‘reputable respectable’ police departments it is o.k. to run away from homes from elders if you think they will extremely harmed-kill you coz believe it or not to die in the hands of strangers is not ‘as tragic’ as to die in the hands of the people you always believed you trusted who made raised you believe only that they loved you{accidents self defenses victims or lost of sanity-minds momentum cases but never-not intended to harm are exempted cases]i mentioned these coz of hundreds of thousands of children around the world annually SUFFERED AGONIZING HANDICAPPED o VICTIMS OR DEAD because of wrong or inadequate PREVENTIONS for CHILDREN IN PARTICULAR coz children minors believed only to respect elders BUT NOT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES if cases i mentioned arises meaning NO HUMAN RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN for minors they have NOWHERE TO GO FOR HELP coz they belong only to their parents NO separate LAWS for children in church masses-sermons o local civil laws impleneted for them reasons why in the philippines SO MANY children minor are slaves by organized elders parents as their personnal private prostitutes-hookers many children are beaten or drug to death some filipino children some toddlers committed suicides to end their uncomfortable miseries that they cannot express nor understand they do not know or understand but only feel the humiliations the pains the agonies they cannot bear they do not know how to handle so they jumped off the buildings or overdozed themselves hanged themselves to die some children just jumped off the bridges o train tracks coz ‘no’ separate laws awareness sermons for children for minors that it is o.k. to defend-run-find a better safest places when unavoidable extreme critical cases as i mentioned happened in their lives coz NOT ALL ELDERS PARENTS could be or was child abused victims too so sometimes they are NOT as good as they seem to be coz parents elders are not gods only part of families & communities to help raised-guide their own children until their own turned to do the same do the same good things they experienced to teach to inspire other new children.. WE NEED TO LOVE & PROTECT OUR CHILDREN coz they are who we are later for other children of the world so if we screwed them up they can screwed you all of us in life too so beware abusing the world’s children salamat po ng marami
Yes, yes, there are other evil organizations. That does not make PSI less evil. Rambling on about these other evil doers will not get any disagreements from me. Yet, I still hope we stay on topic — PSI, Landmark Education, and other LGATs…
be happy that some awareness programs in the philippines by the filipinos is not as GRUESOME deadly as american westeners{caucasians}does coz westeners even some scientific professionals from decade ago was involved inhuman slavery that involves filipinos without their knowledge so let us not be so harsh on their awareness programs who has voluntary willing applicants for a fee as least their clients applicants knows what’s going on their homes are not tapped
burglarized burned lured or beaten to stresses so let them by themselves learned how to prevent their own misgivings o carelessness
I’m sorry? Is your argument that they’re only quasi-evil? c’mon, i think that kind of mindset is the reason why our politicians get away with stealing so much money… because we are not outraged by these atrocities. *sigh*
outrage? we filipinos has that on our politicians whos rampant graft & corruptions practices are being investigated left & right but have you found any foreign countries who’s politicians corporations companies some individual citizens who never had graft & corruptions practices now or in the past? philippines politicians only made the biggest mistakes in mismanagements & weaknesses in judgements for centuries for decades coz of their own individual DIVISIONS SOCIALLY POLITICALLY SPIRITUALLY ECONOMICALLY EVEN DIVISIONS IN IDEOLOGIES that briberies by foreign countries are hard to resists coz of that political divisions filipinos made the biggest mistakes in philippines history when they themselves ignored deprived cheated their own selves their own government in NOT doubling-raising government public servants philippines all levels employees to a hundred percent raised to help them cover their expenses in raising families of with at least 5 children they did not think advanced of travel expenses shelters medical dental utilities bills transportations education bills of dependants or even a high end insurances to help protect cover their UNSEEN EXPENSES NECESSITIES that instead was conveniently provided by foreign dealings favors needs called graft & corruptions..i am personally outrage that these government negligences put filipinos at risk anywhere in the world made poor filipinos running out of the philippines looking for greener pastures just ended up victimized by some cruel civilizations filipinos are now just learning NOT to be deprived cheated of their own talents just NOT LONG AGO but now foreigners used filipinos agaisnt filipinos some foreigners in distant countries even pretended to be filipinos though of different race by going thru internet and spoke tagalog filipinos dialect just to create havocs among internet websites viewers but YES! filipinos are outrage with stealing offcials but because of awareness programs like bloggings like OUR AWESOME PLANET OF FILIPINO FAMILY OF ANTON RACHE AIDAN JOSHUA DIAZ filipinos will eventually learned from what YOU & me & others are talking about filipino politicians as public servants of philippines will learned from all our arguments here in this oap blog site
outrage? we filipinos has that on our politicians whos rampant graft & corruptions practices are being investigated left & right but have you found any foreign countries who’s politicians corporations companies some individual citizens who never had graft & corruptions practices now or in the past? philippines politicians only made the biggest mistakes in mismanagements & weaknesses in judgements for centuries for decades coz of their own individual DIVISIONS SOCIALLY POLITICALLY SPIRITUALLY ECONOMICALLY EVEN DIVISIONS IN IDEOLOGIES that briberies by foreign countries are hard to resists coz of that political divisions filipinos made the biggest mistakes in philippines history when they themselves ignored deprived cheated their own selves their own government in NOT doubling-raising government public servants philippines all levels employees to a hundred percent raised to help them cover their expenses in raising families of with at least 5 children they did not think advanced of travel expenses shelters medical dental utilities bills transportations education bills of dependants or even a high end insurances to help protect cover their UNSEEN EXPENSES NECESSITIES that instead was conveniently provided by foreign dealings favors needs called graft & corruptions..i am personally outrage that these government negligences put filipinos at risk anywhere in the world made poor filipinos running out of the philippines looking for greener pastures just ended up victimized by some cruel civilizations filipinos are now just learning NOT to be deprived cheated of their own talents just NOT LONG AGO but now foreigners used filipinos agaisnt filipinos some foreigners in distant countries even pretended to be filipinos though of different race by going thru internet and spoke tagalog filipinos dialect just to create havocs among internet websites viewers but YES! filipinos are outrage with stealing offcials but because of awareness programs like bloggings like OUR AWESOME PLANET OF FILIPINO FAMILY OF ANTON RACHE AIDAN JOSHUA DIAZ filipinos will eventually learned from what YOU & me & others are talking about filipino politicians as public servants of philippines will learned from all our arguments here in this oap blog site
Let’s not go into that. I disagree with you but that
s a different story altogether. Instead, let’s try to stick to the topic. Care to answer these questions instead?
– What is it really that makes PSI effective?
– Who are its facilitators? What makes them qualified to do this training? Experts say that it is a form of psychotherapy, are they licensed psychotherapists?
– Why are there criticisms about PSI? Are they jealous or are there real concerns?
– Why are some experts (margaret singer)reluctant to recommend it?
– What is PSI’s history? What is Mind Dynamics and how did it influence PSI?
– What’s with all the secrecy?
– What’s this about money squabbling? (posts above)
If i’m wrong, then why doesn’t straighten me up by answering the questions i just posted? Anton? Ka Edong? Beth? Any other PSI or Landmark Education supporter?
Surely, there must be more to the argument than testimonials and arguing that there are more evil organizations making LGATs like PSI less evil.
I think people are clouded by how they “feel” about LGATs.
People, it’s time to “think” objectively about LGATs. Do your research and ask questions. Be informed.
all your questions have been answered from the beginning to down below this comment sections but you refused to accept acknowledged individuals answers to your repititious same questions over & over again..if universal open minded awareness programs in the philippines with the not so greatest college degree experts on psycho therapy or not at all degree holders just savy smart employees but they have the same question to asked you as to why professional college degree holders psycho threrapists psychiatrist psychologist
DO NOT FORBID DO NOT PREVENT INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS BOOKS SOLD IN BOOKSTORES THAT CHILDREN MINORS TEENS VIRGINS HANDICAPS DISTURB INDIVIDUALS FREELY BUY AT ANY BOOKSTORE OR READ AT PUBLIC LIBRARIES? many university college professors who are not psycho threrapists do discuss almost the same awareness programs when explaining universal theories or past public discussions by still under graduates scollege students in any class symposiums debates arguments educational essays exchanges etc.
very well, re-type those answers and i’ll shut up.
and besides, college professors are assumed to have the moral high ground based on their academic background. for-profit companies do not have these assumptions, that is why they should explain themselves.
moral high grounds is not enough so is just an ‘assumptions’ colleges high schools elementaries professors teachers schools awareness programs just like any books in libraries bookstores school debates cd’s tapes etc…why because as you said may times these individuals are not an expert as psycho therapists as psychiatrists as psychologists as mental therapists etc…even family trees such as non descriminatory sometimes abusive uneducated parents elders are giving AWARENESS programs called ‘disciplines’ to members of their families but no one like your groups was ever present to certify their eligibilities nor prevent o discourage these kinds of non professional NON degree holders AWARENESS PROGRAMS yet you’re restless about philippines and america’s psi but filipinos do appreciate your concerns to a point
But it’s like saying we should allow organized crime because other crimes happen on an individual and isolated manner anyway. It’s like saying china can taint our milk with melamine because my local taho vendor uses harmful chemicals anyway. Let’s not fall into that trap.
Kokoy, if you believe what i’m saying is untrue, you are very welcome to post your response and let the readers decide.
Landmark was put on a list formed by a commission established by the French Parliament investigating cults/sects. The commission was dissolved before anyone on the list had an opportunty to dispute the claim. Good old french justice. Landmark’s rep was fried after that. If your reputation was falsely misrepresented in a mass media kind of way, what would you do? Believe what you want regardless of reality…don’t bother to research what the American Psychological Association has thought over the last 30 years….or anyone else that actually considered an expert in the field of psychology and training. But hey if the t.v. reporters say its true, it has to be true right? I mean the U.S. might still find weapons of mass destruction…right? Don’t forget to buy the products they show in the commercial. Grow up and Wake up!
I’m sorry, but it was the french who insisted that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Also, Please read Fowler’s letter. It starts with a disclaimer that he is not speaking on behalf of the APA, so it’s a personal opinion.
So let’s discuss Landmark Eduction (aka EST, The Forum)…
1. Who is Werner Erhard? What was his occupation before he founded this LGAT?
2. What did Erhard’s children accuse him of?
3. Why despite asking so much money for these seminars are you recruiting volunteers? why don’t you pay them?
4. What is the basis of your teachings?
5. Why such extremes when recruiting people?
6. How many people have they sued for speaking against your organization?
lol! be careful how you say things about french people coz lots of filipinos love most french cultures coz philippines believe it or not is growing more like european in culture but asian
in theme
let them{filipinos}be happy let them esplore life from all what YOU-we all was reminding them all about let filipinos learned life from their own 2 eyes 2 hands 2 feet and all what life has to offer..as for the french i-we filipinos do in a way admire their ‘sincerity’ in helping the filipinos to learned beautiful artistic life just filipino way of course.. although french history proves how many times they made mistakes historically i will not let that stop filipinos-me from liking what some good french man has to offer gmmahoney loves the british ‘gentleman and honorable’ culture{way of lives historical past}and her childhood hero is fond of the british{can’t ‘never’ beat that one}lol!
PSI is a CULT. BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Anton, the year is almost ending and I’m very happy that at least some of the people who’ve read these comments have done their research before considering to enroll at PSI or other LGATs like Landmark Education.
Perhaps when you have time, it would be great to revisit this topic. I’m sure your readers would greatly benefit if you shared any new learning or realizations about this and other similar organizations.
Happy Holidays!
Hi Anton, was reviewing your site and I remember commenting on this post.
Did you ever take up any follow up classes? Or anything else similar?
Hi Watchman, I had a few email discussions with Anton about this. After our brief exchanges, he agreed that there were some legitimate questions to ask PSI. So he wrote them an email with the clarifying questions (very well written questions, i might add). They promised to write back. He waited and waited and waited and waited. It’s been more than half a year and yet no answer. With that in mind, I guess we can make our own conclusions about this organization.
Whether he was convinced or not that PSI is a cult, I leave it to him to answer.
But hats off to Anton for at least keeping an open mind and asking the hard questions.
My opinion on the matter is that if they are not a cult and have nothing to hide, answering those questions would have clarified a lot. However I really didn’t think they could answer it without without jeopardizing their operations.
These are the questions I asked PSI Management. Kokoy promised me to answer
them but until now I only got silence. It would have been a great deal if
they answered the question if they got nothing to hide. But I still giving
them the benefit of the doubt that over time, they will answer it in our
lifetime.
1. Upon what principles is the program based? Where did it came from?
Is it religious or secular? Does it contain a spiritual component? Is it
confrontational and authoritarian or supportive and compassionate? Are
challenging questions about the program expected and encouraged? Are the
answers direct and responsive?
2. Who is the leader and what are his/her background and qualifications?
Background: Many personal growth program facilitators practice intensive
group psychotherapy, whether they call it that or not. If they use guided
meditations, experiential exercises, psycho-dramatic regression,
role-playing or other techniques that elicit strong emotional reactions,
they should be trained in group psychotherapy, with a firm background in
psychological theory. In general, the greater the emotional intensity of the
program, the more important the therapeutic background of the facilitators.
3. What is the history of the organization and why there have been a history
of fighting over money? What are the truths behind the controversy?
4. A good organization is transparent. Why is there secrecy around the
processes and techniques used? Can you share a bit more about the
methodology used during the seminar?
5. Why is it that “Hard-Sell” marketing tactics is used to recruit new
members?
6. Is this supported by the Catholic Church or other religious
organization?
7. Why is the seminar so expensive? If the idea is to help out people, why
not offer it for free?
8. Is there a structure in place to ensure that the effects of the seminars
are long lasting?
9. Is PSI a cult? There are some negative publicity in the US about the
seminar, what can you say about it?
10. Any testimonial on the effects of the seminars to individuals?
Landmark Education and/or Landmark Forum… most of these questions also apply to you…
PSI even has seminars for kids!
They’re aggressively marketing this thing!
Close to a year, still no answer Anton?
I reminded them already… we will see…
I think it’s safe to say that PSI is not going to answer your questions, Anton. If our elected officials can spend time talking about sex scandals, then I hope in time they can also investigate questionable organizations such as PSI and Landmark Forum/Education.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmark_Education_litigation
I did too about that time in Las Vegas. I also went to the teenager summer camp in California. If anyone reading this knows how to get in touch w/ other members please let me know as I’v lost touch. My name is Nick Oswald and my email is NicholasSheaOswald@yahoo.com. This was maybe 93-95 time period if anyone can help. Thank you and no PSI is not a cult!
Your a complete idiot if you think the P.S.I. Course good for you. They are scammers taking your money. They are selling you what they think is the proper fundamentalist point of view to have. The problem with all fundamental ideology is there is no room for some to have a open mind. Most religions and cults operate on this type belief structure. Brainwashing is very powerful for the weak minded. You my be one who fits this category if think giveing that much money to anyone for a whole new set of morality. Please don’t drink the cool aid and kill your self with these morons. They are dangerous and can ruin your life.