The Program is a powerful story of the abuse of troubled teens told by the victims.
But what is the Synanon model thats referenced?
Forget murders,Netflixs latesthot docis about schools.
They were ill fed, tortured, brainwashed and kept away from their families, often for years.
And the families paid thousands of dollars for the service.
Kubler reunites with other survivors to investigate and expose what happened to them.
Kubler attended the Academy at Ivy Ridge for 15 months from age 16.
And as the documentary points out, the root of many of these programs was something called Synanon.
What is Synanon?
Synanon (the origins of the word arent clear Syndication-Anonymous?
was residential, and Dederich developed his own program, which he insisted you could never complete.
Though it was disbanded in the 90s Synanon influenced tough love treatments ever after.
Breaking these rules resulted in a loss of points.
Seminars
The most obvious influence of Synanon on WWASP is the seminars.
The higher level you are, the more privileges you are allowed.
These seminars were group therapy sessions that were compulsory.
And by change we mean brainwashing.
Whats scary in The Program is that the parents of the pupils also took the seminars, willingly.
The difference is, of course, that they could go home at the end.
Milgram and Stanford Prison
Mentioned briefly inThe Programwere the infamous Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments.
Both indicated that in high stress situations people can behave absolutely out of character in ways they couldnt predict.
Its damning evidence of the long term damage of Synanons legacy.
The Program is available to stream on Netflix now.
