Have You Heard that Therapists and Self Development Workshops Can Cause Harm Instead of Help?

Brooklyn, NY, May 02, 2007 --(PR.com)-- How do you know if a therapist or workshop leader actually uses techniques to make you become dependant and depressed? “Knowledge is crucial. People can only avoid the dangers if they know what they are,” says Gena Dry, author of The Five Questions You Must Ask Your Therapist. “Conventional therapy techniques can be turned around and used to cause psychological harm, it is difficult to recognize a person who genuinely wants to help from someone who is skilled in making you believe that they have the answer to your questions about life or problems.

"The therapist I went to was a member of a professional organization and had certificates on his wall. It took a long time to recognize that he induced ‘depression’ by making his clients blame all their problems on other people and their past and he continually made his clients doubt themselves by disagreeing with their life choices. The more uncertain of themselves they felt, the more they needed to go back for more and more courses or therapy. I want to make information about what constitutes bad therapy more widely known,” says Gena Dry. “It is essential, we all have questions about our lives and whether it be the break up of a relationship, or the death of someone close to us, or for another reason, most people will seek help at some time in their lives. The experience of bad therapy is all too common but what is more alarming is that my ‘therapist’ wasn’t simply not very good at his job, he used techniques to deliberately harm his clients, he is running what is becoming known as a psychotherapy cult. Most people think of cults as religious groups but nowadays the term applies to the growing number of psychotherapy and self development workshops where emotional exercises and mind altering techniques are used to cause a negative emotional state and negative thinking pattern to keep people dependant and paying extortionate amounts of money. The harm they cause is not only to the individual but to their partners and families as well, but the dangers are not being covered by the media.

"The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) is holding their Annual International Conference in Brussels this summer, with 99 speakers from 22 countries, an indication that destructive cults are a world wide issue. The only recent media coverage on cults was the documentary about Jim Jones that was shown on TV, but that was an extreme situation that resulted in mass suicide in the 70’s. There are an estimated 2,500 cults operating the USA today, according to the Cult Information Centre, who are causing people psychological harm but the public don’t hear about them because they are not making it into the news by crossing that line," says Gena Dry.

www.TheFiveQuestionsYouMustAskYourTherapist.com aims to publicize the excellent resources and information that is available on where people can go to get help if they think they or someone they know is being affected by bad therapy. "This includes self development workshops or alternative health type ‘gurus’, any situation where the practitioner or leaders are seen as professionals with training and experience which means they are in a position to influence their client’s emotional state and thinking. Contributions to resources of help currently available are welcome. The site has a page where people can sign the list of people who have been affected negatively," says Gena Dry.

While considering making a formal complaint, Gena Dry discovered when she spoke to professional therapy organizations and cult centers that her story is not unusual. “The lack of regulations protecting the public and the inability of the professional organizations to prevent unethical practitioners continuing to operate after complaints have been made against them, means that best protection is knowledge. If this story is the tip of the iceberg it’s time the dangers are brought to the public’s attention,” says Gena Dry.

Gena Dry’s experience comes from her own life story of being drawn into a psychotherapy cult and research whilst writing her novel The Five Questions You Must Ask Your Therapist. She was the singer and songwriter in a critically acclaimed indie rock band in the UK in the early 90’s, Gena Dry used her writing skills to turn an extremely destructive experience into a story of survival and inspiration.

###