Large Group Awareness Training

The term "Large Group Awareness Training" (LGAT) refers to training offered by some groups in what some call the human potential movement. By using LGAT techniques, these providers claim to (among other things) increase self-awareness and bring about preferred personal changes in individuals' lives.cite book
last = Coon
first = Dennis
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Psychology: A Journey
publisher = Thomson Wadsworth
year=2004
location =
pages = 520, 528, 538
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0534632645] Some commentators have compared LGAT programs with group therapy Fact|date=June 2007 and/or with religious revival meetingsFact|date=June 2007. Michael Langone has referred to Large Group Awareness Training as "new age trainings" and Philip Cushman referred to them as "mass marathon trainings"Mass Marathon Trainings, excerpted, "The Politics of Transformation: Recruitment - Indoctrination Processes in a Mass Marathon Psychology Organization", St. Martin's Press 1993, Philip Cushman, Ph.D.]

Large Group Awareness Training programs often involve more than two hundred people at a time.Fact|date=November 2007 Though early definitions cited LGATs as featuring unusually long durations, more recent texts describe the trainings as lasting from a few hours to a few days. About a million Americans have attended LGAT seminars.

Definitions of LGAT

DuMerton described Large Group Awareness Training as "teaching simple, but often overlooked wisdom, which takes place over the period of a few days, in which individuals receive intense, emotionally-focused instruction."cite journal
last = DuMerton, M.A.
first = C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Tragic Optimism and Choices: The Life Attitudes Scale with a First Nations Sample
journal = (Master's Thesis)
volume =
issue = Master of Arts, Graduate Counseling Psychology Program
pages =
publisher = Trinity Western University (Hosted on University Web site)
month=July | year=2004
url = http://www.twu.ca/cpsy/Documents/Theses/Lynn%20Dumerton%20thesis.pdf
doi =
id =
accessdate = 2007-04-14
format = dead link|date=June 2008 – ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3ADuMerton%2C+%5B%5BMaster%27s+degree%7CM.A.%5D%5D+intitle%3ATragic+Optimism+and+Choices%3A+The+Life+Attitudes+Scale+with+a+First+Nations+Sample&as_publication=%28Master%27s+Thesis%29&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=Search Scholar search]} ] Rubinstein compared Large Group Awareness Training to certain principles of cognitive therapy, such as the idea that people can change their lives by interpreting the way they view external circumstances. [cite journal
last = Rubinstein
first = Gidi
authorlink = Gidi Rubinstein
coauthors =
title = Characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants: A comparative study
journal = Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
volume = 78
issue = 4
pages = 481–492
publisher = British Psychological Society
year=2005
url =
doi = 10.1348/147608305X42721
id = ISSN|1476-0835
accessdate = ] And in "Consumer Research: Postcards from the edge", when discussing behavioral and economic studies, the authors contrasted the "enclosed locations" used with Large Group Awareness Trainings with the "relatively open" environment of a "variety store". [cite book
last = Brown
first = Stephen I.
authorlink =
coauthors = Darach Turley
title = Consumer Research: Postcards from the edge
publisher = Routledge
year=1997
location =
pages = 279
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 041515684X]

The "Handbook of Group Psychotherapy" described Large Group Awareness Training as focusing on "philosophical, psychological and ethical issues", as related to a desire to increase personal effectiveness in people's lives.cite book
last = Burlingame
first = Gary M.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Handbook of Group Psychotherapy: An Empirical and Clinical Synthesis
publisher = John Wiley and Sons
year=1994
location =
pages = 528, 532, 535, 539, 549, 550, 555, 556, 581, 583.
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0471555924]

Psychologist Dennis Coon's textbook, "Psychology: A Journey", defined the term "LGAT" as referring to: "programs that claim to increase self-awareness and facilitate constructive personal change."Coon further defines Large Group Awareness Training in his book "Introduction to Psychology".cite book
last = Coon
first = Dennis
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior
publisher = Thomson Wadsworth
year=2003
location =
pages = Pp. 648, 649, 655.
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 053461227X]

The evolution of LGAT-providers

Lou Kilzer, in "The Rocky Mountain News", identified Leadership Dynamics as the first of the genre of what psychologists termed "Large Group Awareness Training" [cite news
last = Kilzer
first = Lou
coauthors =
title = Desperate Measures Network of Behavior Modification Compounds Known as Teen Help Has Straightened Out Hundreds of Defiant Adolescents, But Its Methods Aren't For the Faint-hearted.
work = Rocky Mountain News
pages =
language =
publisher = E. W. Scripps Company
date=July 18, 1999
url =
accessdate =
"The first of the genre psychologists call "large group awareness training" was the Leadership Dynamics Institute..."] .

In their self-published book, Navarro and Navarro identify Mind Dynamics as the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings.cite book
last = Navarro,
first = Espy M.
authorlink =
coauthors = Robert Navarro
title = Self Realization: The Est and Forum Phenomena in American Society
publisher = Xlibris Corporation
year=2002
location =
pages = 54
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1401042201
quote = "Mind Dynamics, founded by Alexander Everett, was the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings. Although Mind Dynamics was only in existence for a few years, it sparked an entire industry of similar trainings."] They write that, although Mind Dynamics itself existed only briefly, it sparked an industry of similar trainings.

Groups such as Lifespring, Erhard Seminars Training and The Forum claimed to have worked to improve people's overall level of satisfaction and interpersonal relations through group interaction.cite book
last = Brewer
first = Maryilyn B.
authorlink =
coauthors = Miles Hewstone
title = Applied Social Psychology
publisher = Blackwell Publishing
year=2004
location =
pages = Pp. 81.
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1405110678 ] cite book
last = Tindale
first = R. Scott
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Group Processes: Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology
publisher = Blackwell Publishing
year=2001
location =
pages = 630
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1405106530
"EST, FORUM and LIFESPRING are all examples of LGATs, for members seek to improve their overall level of satisfaction and interpersonal relations by carrying out such experiential exercises as role-playing, group singing and chanting, and guided group interaction."] cite book
last = Zeig
first = Jeffrey K.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Evolution of Psychotherapy: The Third Conference
publisher = Psychology Press
year=1997
location =
pages = Pp. 352, 357.
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0876308132
"Training or T-groups, sensitivity training, and encounter groups spread and were followed by commercially sold large group awareness training programs, such as est, Lifespring and other programs."]

Academic analyses, studies

"Large Group Awareness Training", a 1982 peer-reviewed article published in "Annual Review of Psychology", sought to summarize literature on the subject of LGATs and to examine their efficacy and their relationship with more standard psychology. This article became one of the firstFact|date=October 2007 academic works to analyze and describe large group awareness training from a psychological perspective. Influenced by the work of humanistic psychologists such as Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May and often considered part of the human potential movement, LGAT's areFact|date=October 2007 commercial trainings that took many techniques from encounter groups.Fact|date=October 2007 Existing alongside but "outside the domains of academic psychology or psychiatry. Their measure of performance was consumer satisfaction and formal research was seldom pursued."Fact|date=October 2007 The article describes an "est" training, and discusses the literature on the testimony of "est" graduates. It notes minor changes on psychological tests after the training and mentions anecdotal reports of psychiatric casualties among est trainees. The article considers how est compares to more standard psychotherapy techniques such as behavior therapy, group and existential psychotherapy before concluding with a call for "objective and rigorous research" and stating that unknown variables might have accounted for some of the positive accounts. Psychologists advised borderline or psychotic patients not to participate.

Psychological factors cited by academics include emotional "flooding", catharsis, universality (identification with others), the instillation of hope, identification and what Sartre called "uncontested authorship."cite journal
last = Finkelstein
first = P.
authorlink =
coauthors = Wenegrat, B.; Yalom, I.
title = Large Group Awareness Training
journal = Annual Review of Psychology
volume = 33
issue =
pages = 515–539
publisher = Calvin Perry Stone
year=1982
url =
doi =
id = ISSN|0066-4308
accessdate = ]

In 1989 researchers from the University of Connecticut received the "National Consultants to Management Award" from the American Psychological Association, for their study: "Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training".cite book
last = Fisher
first = Jeffrey D.
authorlink = Jeffrey D. Fisher
coauthors = Silver, Chinsky, Goff, Klar
title = Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
publisher = Springer-Verlag
year=1990
location =
pages = 142
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0387973206 , ISBN 978-0387973203
Page. vii. -- "The research reported in this volume was awarded the American Psychological Association, Division 13, National Consultants to Management Award, August 13, 1989."] The study concluded that participation in the LGAT studied had very little impact on participants.

Psychologist Chris Mathe has written in the interests of consumer-protection, encouraging potential attendees of LGATs to discuss such trainings with any current therapist or counselor, to examine the principles underlying the program, and to determine pre-screening methods, the training of facilitators, the full cost of the training and of any suggested follow-up care. [ [http://perso.orange.fr/eldon.braun/awareness/choosingx.htm Choosing a Personal Growth Program: Ten questions to help you make an informed decision] , Chris Mathe, Ph. D., 1999]

LGAT techniques

Finkelstein's 1982 article provides a detailed description of the structure and techniques of an Erhard Seminars Training event, noting an authoritarian demeanor of the trainer, physical strains of a long schedule on the participants and the similarity of many techniques to those used in some group therapy and encounter groups. The academic textbook, "Handbook of Group Psychotherapy" regards Large Group Awareness Training organizations as "less open to leader differences" , because they follow a "detailed written plan" that does not vary from one training to the next.

Specific techniques used in Large Group Awareness Trainings may include:

* meditation
* biofeedback
* self-hypnosis
* relaxation techniques
* visualization
* neuro-linguistic programming [cite book
last = Partridge
first = C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = New Religions: A Guide; New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities
publisher = Oxford University Press
year=2004
location =
pages = 407
url = http://skepdic.com/lgsap.html
id = ISBN 0-19-522042-0 ]
* mind-control [http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm "Intruding into the Workplace"] , Dr. Margaret Singer, excerpted from cite book
last = Singer
first = Margaret
authorlink = Margaret Singer
coauthors = Janja Lalich
title = Cults in our Midst
origyear =
origmonth =
url = http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm
accessdate = 2007-11-19
year = 1995
month =
publisher = Jossey-Bass Publishers
location = San Francisco
isbn = 0787900516
quote = Aside from complaining that they were being put through programs tantamount to a forced religious conversion, employees also objected to specific techniques being used: meditation, neurolinguistic programming, biofeedback, self-hypnosis, bizarre relaxation techniques, mind control, body touching, yoga, trance inductions, visualization, and in some cases, intense confrontational sessions akin to the "attack" therapy methods that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. ]
* yoga

LGATs utilize such techniques during long sessions, sometimes called a "marathon session" when lasting for eight hours or more. [cite journal
last = Paglia
first = Carmen
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s
journal = Arion
volume = 10
issue = 3
pages =
publisher = Boston University
date = Winter 2003
url = http://www.bu.edu/arion/paglia_cults.pdf
doi =
id =
accessdate = |format=PDF]

In his book "Life 102", LGAT participant and former trainer Peter McWilliams describes the basic technique of marathon trainings as "pressure/release" and asserts that advertising uses pressure/release "all the time", as do "good cop/bad cop" police-interrogations and revival meetings. By spending approximately half the time making a person feel bad and then suddenly reversing the feeling through effusive praise, the programs cause participants to experience a stress-reaction and an "endorphin high." McWilliams gives examples of various LGAT activities called "processes" with names such as "love bomb," "lifeboat", "cocktail party" and "cradling" which take place over many hours and days, physically exhausting the participants to make them more susceptible to the trainer's message, whether in the participants' best interests or not.Peter McWilliams, "Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You" (Prelude Press: Los Angeles, 1994). ISBN 0-931580-34-X., pp 6-7.]

Although extremely critical of some LGATs, McWilliams found positive value in others, asserting that they varied not in technique but in the application of technique.

Evaluations of LGATs

Finkelstein noted the many difficulties in evaluating LGATs, from proponents' explicit rejection of certain study models to difficulty in establishing a rigorous control group. In some cases, organizations under study have partially funded research into themselves.

Not all professional researchers view LGATs favorably. Researchers such as psychologist Philip Cushman, [Cushman, "Iron Fists/Velvet Gloves: A Study of A Mass Marathon Psychology Training", "Psychotherapy" vol 26, Spring 1989.] for example, found that the program he studied "consists of a pre-meditated attack on the self". A 1983 study on Lifespring [Haaken, J. and Adams, R., "Pathology as 'Personal Growth': A Participant-Observation Study of Lifespring Training", "Psychiatry", vol 46, August 1983. ] found that "although participants often experience a heightened sense of well-being as a consequence of the training, the phenomenon is essentially pathological", meaning that, in the program they studied, "the training systematically undermines ego functioning and promotes regression to the extent that reality testing is significantly impaired". Lieberman's 1987 study,Lieberman, "Effects of Large Group Awareness Training on Participants' Psychiatric Status", "American Journal of Psychiatry" v 144 p 460-464, April 1987. ] funded partially by Lifespring, noted that 5 out of a sample of 289 participants experienced "stress reactions" including one "transitory psychotic episode". He commented: "Whether [these five] would have experienced such stress under other conditions cannot be answered. The clinical evidence, however, is that the reactions were directly attributable to the large group awareness training."

In Coon's psychology textbook, "Introduction to Psychology", the author references many other studies, which postulate that many of the "claimed benefits" of Large Group Awareness Training actually take the form of "a kind of therapy placebo effect". DuMerton writes that "... there is a lack of scientific evidence to quantify the longer-term positive outcomes and changes objectively ..." Jarvis described Large Group Awareness Training as "educationally dubious" in the 2002 book "The Theory & Practice of Teaching". [cite book
last = Jarvis
first = Peter
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Theory & Practice of Teaching
publisher = Routledge
year=2002
location =
pages = 97
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0749434090]

Controversial tactics sometimes used by LGAT groups have included physical violence, isolation, entrapment, brainwashing, and sexual experiences. [Weir, D., "An Odyssey of Sexual/Gender Evolution: An Autoethnographical Study of the United States from the 1950s to the Present", April 2002, [http://www.esextherapy.com/dissertations/Weir%20dissertation%202002%5B1%5D.pdf (available online)] ] Tapper mentions that "some interp|unspecified large group-awareness training and psychotherapy groups" exemplify non-religious "cults".cite journal
last = Tapper
first = A
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Impact of Cults on Health
journal = Nursing Spectrum
volume =
issue =
pages =
publisher =
month=September | year=2002
url = http://www.reveal.org/library/psych/The%20Impact%20of%20Cults%20on%20Health.pdf
doi =
id =
accessdate = |format=PDF] Benjamin criticizes LGAT groups for their high prices and spiritual subtleties. [cite journal
last = Benjamin, Ph.D.
first = Elliot
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Spirituality and Cults
journal = Integral Science
volume =
issue =
pages =
publisher =
month=June | year=2005
url = http://www.integralscience.org/spiritualitycults.pdf
doi =
id =
accessdate = |format=PDF] In an academic research-paper on "Choices", a type of LGAT, researchers credited LGAT programs with having had perhaps a million American attendees, many of whom gave positive testimonials of "healing effects" and "positive outcomes in their lives".

LGATs in comparison with cults

Dawson

Lorne Dawson stated in his book on cults and new religious movements that both cults and Large Group Awareness Training use similar thought-reform techniques.cite book
last = Dawson
first = Lorne L.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =
publisher = Blackwell Publishing
year=2003
location =
pages = 149
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1405101814]

inger

The American Psychological Association bureaucracy commissioned and subsequently decided not to endorse [http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/cultsect/mdtaskforce/bserp_loomis.htm University of Virginia Library ] ] and strongly criticized a report by the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control, in which the so-called "anti-cult" psychologist Margaret Singer included large group awareness trainings as one example of what she called "coercive persuasion". The APA characterized Singer's hypotheses as "uninformed speculations based on skewed data" [http://www.cesnur.org/testi/APA.htm CESNUR - APA Memo of 1987 with Enclosures ] ] and stated that the report "lacked scientific rigor and an evenhanded critical approach to carry the imprimatur of the APA." The APA also claimed that "the specific methods by which Drs. Singer and Benson have arrived at their conclusions have also been rejected by all serious scholars in the field." [http://www.cesnur.org/testi/molko_brief.htm CESNUR - APA Brief in the Molko Case ] ] Singer sued the APA, and lost on June 17, 1994 [http://www.cesnur.org/testi/singer.htm Decision Against Margaret Singer (CESNUR) ] ] After the APA spurned the report, Singer remained in good standing in the psychological research community. [Blim, Andrew: 'Cult Experts Sue Lawyers, Others" in "National Law Journal", August 31, 1992, Vol 33, Issue 19: "Berkeley professors Margaret Singer and Richard Ofshe ... are viewed by even the lawyer-defendants as reputable scholars". ] She reworked much of the report material into the book "" (1995, second edition: 2003), which she co-authored with Janja Lalich.

Singer and Lalich claimed "large group awareness trainings" tend to last at least four days and usually five. The book mentions Erhard Seminars Training and its derivatives such as the Forum, "Lifespring, Actualizations, MSIA/Insight and PSI Seminars. [http://caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm Intruding into the Workplace] , Dr. Margaret Singer, excerpted from Cults in our Midst (book), 1995]

In her book, Singer differentiated between the usage of the terms "cult" and "Large Group Awareness Training". Singer also writes that employees taking part in a company-wide Large Group Awareness Training program not only complained about attempted religious conversion, but also objected to the specific techniques used.

Langone

An article in "Cult Observer" by Michael Langone Ph.D. analysed Large Group Awareness Training.cite journal
last = Langone
first = Michael
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Large Group Awareness Trainings
journal = Cult Observer
volume = 15
issue = 1
pages =
publisher =
year=1998
url = http://www.csj.org/rg/rgessays/rgessay_lgate.htm
doi =
id = ISSN|1539-0152
accessdate = ] Langone noted comparisons between Large Group Awareness Training and "brainwashing" and "cults", and posited that many LGAT groups have an implied or even explicit religious nature.Langone concluded by stating that he knew of no specific academic research which showed that Large Group Awareness Trainings have positive behavioral effects. Langone cited a study which showed no difference between the Large Group Awareness Training test-subjects and the control group. [Hosford, Ray, E., Moss, C. Scott, Cavior, Helene, & Kerish, Burton. "Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology", 1982, Manuscript #2419, American Psychological Association]

ICSA

The International Cultic Studies Association has grouped some Large Group Awareness Training organizations together with research about them.cite web
url=http://www.csj.org/infoserv_groups/grp_lgat/grp_lgat_index.htm
title=Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGAT)
publisher=Cultic Studies Journal, International Cultic Studies Association
accessdate=2006-01-18
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060128003714/http://csj.org/infoserv_groups/grp_lgat/grp_lgat_index.htm
archivedate=2006-01-28]

See also

* List of Large Group Awareness Training organizations

References

Further reading

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* cite journal|last=Klar|first=Yechiel|url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ412831
title=Characteristics of Participants in a Large Group Awareness Training|journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology|volume=58|issue=1|pages=99–108|month=February|year=1990 | accessdate = 2007-05-26
doi=10.1037/0022-006X.58.1.99
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* cite journal|last=Rubinstein|first=Gidi|title=Characteristics of participants in the Forum, psychotherapy clients, and control participants: A comparative study|journal=Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice|volume=78|issue=4|month=December|year=2005|pages=481–492
url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/landmark/landmark239.pdf|accessdate=2007-05-26|format=PDF|doi=10.1348/147608305X42721
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* Polaski, Mary. "The Mary Polaski "L" Series";Media/Press
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