Synanon

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Synanon is the name of the world's first drug addict self-help organization . It was founded as "Synanon Incorporated" in 1958 by Charles E. Dederich in Santa Monica , California . In the decades that followed, the Synanon concept became exemplary for drug aid facilities such as Daytop . In the USA Synanon developed into a sect around Dederich, declared itself the "Church of Synanon" in 1975, was involved in gang crime and in 1991 ceased all activities. The German Synanon subsidiary , which was founded in Berlin in 1971 , remained a large self-help organization that is officially recognized as a therapy facility.

Rise and fall

Dederich had gained experience in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) since 1956 , modified and radicalized their concept and applied it to drug addicts. The name Synanon originated from a mixture of the terms symposium and seminar and goes back to the slip of the tongue of a participant in one of the first group meetings. Dederich soon separated the new organization from Alcoholics Anonymous: “Although I will always be grateful to you for helping me personally, Synanon has nothing to do with Alcoholics Anonymous - any more than a rowboat with an airplane. What we have is a shared flat with a family character. What we value is self-confidence, not dependence on a higher being. "

In an old army building on Santa Monica Beach, over a hundred drug addicts were soon living voluntarily drug-free. The professional world became aware of Dederich's project through newspaper reports. Psychiatrist Daniel Casriel lived in the Synanon community for several months and published a book on the new concept in 1963 and began building Day Top Village in New York . The criminologist and psychotherapist Lewis Yablonsky also took part in Synanon life for a time and used his experiences as a journalist.

In 1975 at the latest, when the organization became the "Church of Synanon", Dederich dressed himself in priestly robes he had designed himself and rose to be the absolute ruler of the Synanon community, the decline began. According to Spiegel , the organization had turned into a “terrorist sect”, “whose shaven members do not shy away from assassination attempts on unpopular people .” The prominent Synanon opponent Paul Morantz was bitten by a rattlesnake , which after removing the warning rattle on the snake's tail had been deposited in his mailbox.

Synanon stopped all activities in the USA in 1991.

Synanon social structure

Yablonsky described Synanon as a “social movement” and a “model for constructive personality change and social change” and emphasized the integrative power of the group for people from all ages and walks of life, including those “who were never addicts and criminals.” Such a strong integrative power, Hilarion Petzold pointed out that it is not necessarily suitable for (re) integration into society. As a self-sufficient organization for the addict, Synanon represents "a total protection and sanctuary." Synanon has its own, clearly structured social reality, which presents itself as a consistent system of social order. Synanon is a "permanent island for the addict", other groups of addiction support, such as Daytop, are "islands for a time".

literature

  • Daniel Casriel: So fair a house: The Story of Synanon . Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York 1963.
  • Lewis Yablonsky: The Tunnel Back, Synanon . Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York 1965.
    • Synanon. Self-help of addicts and criminals , Klett-Verlag, Stuttgart 1975.
  • Guy Endore: Synanon . Doubleday & Company, New York 1967.
  • Rod Janzen: The Rise and Fall of Synanon . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MA 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lewis Yablonsky , Synanon, a new way in the treatment of drug addicts , in Hilarion Petzold (Ed.): Drug therapy. Models, methods, experiences , Junfermann, Paderborn 1974, pp. 96-104, here p. 96.
  2. ↑ Quoted from Lewis Yablonsky: Synanon. Self-help of addicts and criminals , Klett-Verlag, Stuttgart 1975; P. 65.
  3. ^ Daniel Casriel: So fair a house. The Story of Synanon , Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York 1961.
  4. ^ Lewis Yablonsky, The Tunnel Back. Synanon , Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York 1965; German translation: Synanon. Self-help of addicts and criminals , Stuttgart: Klett-Verlag, 1975.
  5. ↑ Lewis Yablonksy: The therapeutic community. A successful approach for treating substance abusers , Gardner Press, New York 1989, ISBN 089876145X ; German translation: The Therapeutic Community. A successful way out of drug addiction , Beltz, Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-407-55736-1 .
  6. ↑ a b c Beyond just into the water California - the American sect paradise , DER SPIEGEL 48/1978, accessed on August 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ Rod Janzen: The Rise and Fall of Synanon , Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2001.
  8. ↑ Lewis Yablonsky , Synanon, a new way in the treatment of drug addicts , in Hilarion Petzold (Ed.): Drug therapy. Models, methods, experiences , Junfermann, Paderborn 1974, pp. 96-104, here p. 97.
  9. ↑ Hilarion Petzold, Daytop. the 'concept' of a therapeutic community for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in which. (Ed.): Drug therapy. Models, methods, experiences , Junfermann, Paderborn 1974, pp. 62–95, here p. 62.
  10. ↑ Hilarion Petzold, Daytop. the 'concept' of a therapeutic community for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in which. (Ed.): Drug therapy. Models, methods, experiences , Junfermann, Paderborn 1974, pp. 62–95, here p. 63.