Hey, my friend. You know, we've known each other for so long now. Today, I want to recommend a course I attended. I know, it sounds a bit weird. And yeah, it's been ages since I last messaged you, but don't worry, OK? I really think this could change your life. After taking this course, I feel like I've completely transformed. I started to realize how wrong I was in so many things I did before. And now, I've gone through this huge transformation. Just last week, I even called my mom, who I hadn't talked to in forever. I told her I love her. And now, our relationship is amazing. So if you're free this Thursday, why not come with me to this guest seminar? It could really benefit your life too. Seriously. What? You wanna know what it's about? Oh, so I went too far and offended you? What do you mean? You asked me, so I answered SO I’M ASKING YOU WHAT YOU MEAN You want me to explain, but then... Shut the f**k up! It’s simple It’s about becoming a better person. You wanna know what happens inside? What part of this don’t you understand? Alright, fine. Are we good now? NO I can’t really say much about it. It’s an experiential course. As the name suggests, you have to experience it to see the results. If I tell you what happens, it’ll totally ruin the experience for you. right? So if you’re free, come with me this Thursday. This could truly change your life, just like it changed mine. These are exactly the kinds of things people who’ve attended LGAT tell their friends. That’s right, folks. Today, we’re diving into the world of large group awareness training (LGAT). I spent two months of my own time researching this topic. Because it’s way more massive than I originally thought. I read tons of books, pored over countless studies, and even reached out to psychologists who specialize in this field. I also interviewed participants of these courses for over 10 hours. And let me tell you— these LGATs are way worse than you could ever imagine. And this industry? It’s been around way longer than you’d think. Funny enough, this topic only started gaining traction in the Mandarin YouTube community because of a video by Miyueqi Popo. This channel used to be a couple channel Jia-Ning and Andy were the duo. But then, they broke up. Jia-Ning went solo and released a new video introducing her new channel. But in that video, she came across as super odd, and a lot of viewers watching were like, "Wow, Jia-Ning, what’s going on with you? This video feels so off." Then, internet detectives found evidence of her attending LGAT courses. After that... This whole thing caused a huge buzz online. Everyone was analyzing Jia-Ning's body language in that video. And those self-help courses she took— what were they all about? Soon, people started talking about the self-help program she attended. ASK Dynamics. Tons of people shared their own experiences, like— their friends dragged them to join these classes, and when they were convincing them to go— they acted super weird. Some friends even offered to lend them money just so they'd take the classes. A lot of people said their friends completely changed after attending these courses. It felt like their old friends were gone, replaced by someone totally different. They made me feel like they had completely become a different person At first, it seemed like fake positivity. I think the way you introduced the course to me actually left me a bit emotionally scarred Huh? A lot of people who finished these courses clearly became overly fake-positive types. Loving the world every day. Overflowing with compassion. But it was obvious they weren’t like this before the classes. Not only that, people even found— proof that other influencers had also taken these courses. For example, Zhan-Rui, and tons of other online personalities. When this came out— it clearly hit a nerve for a lot of people. One of them was Zhan-Rui. Not only did he make— a video expressing his thoughts on the self-help courses— he also went on other creators' channels and even reached out to Zhiqi, saying— he wanted to appear on his show to discuss this topic. So, after ZhanRui joined these shows and shared his experiences with the courses— a lot of viewers weren’t buying it. They felt that in his videos, ZhanRui’s opinions were just skimming the surface. He said a ton of words, but barely explained what actually happens in these courses. What actually happens every day? And he always circled back to saying things like, “You know— everyone’s experience is different. But I never felt brainwashed. My experience with this course— overall was positive. But not everyone feels the same.” Blah blah blah. A whole lot of yapping “I can only speak for myself” “I think I gained something from the course.” - “Yeah.” “And personally, I never felt like, hey— I was brainwashed.” “I made the wrong choice.” -I don’t feel that way. -Right. So a lot of people started questioning if ZhanRui was still stuck in it You know, ZhanRui’s statements— after two months of researching this topic, they still make me angry. I get it—if you join a self-help course and, by the end of it, you believe in their little philosophies, you love your teammates, you love everything about it, and you feel like it changed you— that’s not your fault. How these courses convinced ZhanRui and others? We’ll get into that later, but yea, that responsibility mainly lies with these programs. These courses use psychological tactics to pull people in deeper. But what I can’t stand is people like ZhanRui coming out, acting like they’re addressing the issue— to make things more transparent so more people have more choices but they obviously avoid addressing the bad stuff that becomes super clear once you take the course why doesn’t Zhanrui talk more in these videos about what exactly happens in the second stage of the course why doesn’t he say that in this stage as a participant, you’re not even allowed to go to the bathroom, and if you do the instructor will scold you. And it’s not just scolding; they call it "Drilling" "Drilling" means digging into your childhood, finding your most fragile spots and relentlessly attacking those things until you cry until you have a breakdown why doesn’t Zhanrui talk more about what the third stage of the course is actually about? For example, the main thing in stage three is getting you to recruit more people to join the course. And most people in stage three don’t even know beforehand that this part is all about recruiting. Why doesn’t he mention that in stage three if you fail to recruit people some participants will even show up at your home or your workplace and confront you like, "Hey, why didn’t you meet your recruitment goal this month?" "Why didn’t you bring in that ‘starfish’ you promised?" "You didn’t deliver. What’s up with that?" To me, it’s not just about Zhanrui being deeply caught up in this and thinking the course is helpful in some way. To me, it’s about him knowing that if he says these things out loud, the general public will react very differently to this whole thing. What I find most ironic is how Zhanrui keeps saying in these videos, "I think the biggest flaw of this course... is it’s not transparent enough." But then why, when given a total of approximately 90 minutes of air time can’t you explain the daily schedule of the course? What exactly happens? What makes me the angriest is that these videos have a total of 1-2 million views. So after watching these, a lot of people might think, "Hey, you know what? Zhanrui said everyone’s experience is different. So, uh, maybe I’m mentally stronger, so if I take the course, I might end up like Zhanrui, not thinking it’s a big deal, and maybe even gaining something from it." I think that’s a completely wrong way to interpret this. I believe anyone who knows exactly what happens in the course every day would not have this kind of mindset. And this way of dodging the details to talk about the course plays right into the hands of these LGAT courses. Because the reason these courses work... Their biggest tactic is exactly... uninformed consent The courses only work because you won’t know what actually happens in it. And that’s intentional. It’s done on purpose. Why do I say that? Because the course rules tell you you can’t discuss what happens in the course because of others in the class, so there are privacy concerns. Sure, that makes sense. But they also tell you you can’t say what the course is doing, because that would “ruin” other’s experience. People who’ve taken the course really believe in this rule. So when they reach the third stage, and it’s their turn to recruit others, they won't even tell their friends what actually happens in the course. These courses rely heavily on you not knowing what goes on if people actually said what happens in the course, I can confidently tell you, 99% of normal people wouldn’t sign up. No one would register for this or believe in it. Because if you could just say, “Here’s what happens in the course,” then the people promoting it would have to say, “Oh hey, you wanna join? The first stage is about the coaches using games to change how you see yourself. Then in the second stage, we scream at you, you scream at others, we will dig up all your childhood issues—for 12 hours straight. Oh, and no bathroom breaks. If you do ask to go, you’ll get yelled at. But don’t worry, by the last day of stage two, you’ll feel ‘relieved.’ Because the vibe totally shifts—suddenly the coaches get all emotional, and you think, ‘Wow, maybe they really care about us.’ Then you do a role-play exercise, and after that, you’ll feel a weight lifted because everyone lifts you up—literally. And in that moment, you’ll feel super confident, like all your stress just vanished. Then, while you’re riding that emotional high, they’ll push you into stage three. What’s stage three, you ask? Oh, great question. Stage three is… you pay us, and you help us recruit 3 people into the course! And if you don’t get three people within 100 days, you’ll be harassed endlessly. Now, do you think any normal person, after hearing this pitch, would take these LGAT courses? I don’t think so. Most people wouldn’t. So, if you’re going to talk about these LGAT courses, you need to lay out exactly what happens in them, day by day. If you can’t do that, then don’t make a video claiming, “This is just for transparency, so people can make their own choices.” That’s BS. That is BS. You don’t actually mean that, okay? Anyway, what Zhan Rui and his friends couldn’t do, I’m going to do in my video today. I’m not only going to talk about what happens in the course each day I'll also explain the psychological techniques these courses use to make people fully believe in them. Now, it's scary to get caught by these courses when you're mentally vulnerable, but do you know what's even scarier? It's... when your online security gets compromised. Guys, scams are everywhere these days. For example, there are scammers who set up fake online stores. They look super legit and even offer crazy discounts. It’s so tempting to click and buy, but if you enter your personal or banking info... Then you... ...got scammed. Oh no! If only there was an app that could protect me and keep me safe from falling for this! Wouldn’t that be amazing? Wait a second... Do you hear that phone ringing? Hello? It's NordVPN. Yep, you heard right. NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro feature warns you when you’re about to enter a fake website, keeping you safe. So, you can surf the web securely and become the ultimate online shopping king or queen. And of course, NordVPN does more. It's also a VPN. It changes your IP address and location, so you can access content from your home region while traveling. NordVPN’s got you covered. Download NordVPN using my link now, and you can get up to four months free. Plus, NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, be like me, and become the king of online safety. Check out the link in the description. Anyway, let’s get back to talking about LGAT. How do LGATs reel people in? I hope that after this video, when I’ve shared everything that happens in these courses, and explained all the manipulation theories behind them, people who haven’t joined won’t say, “Oh, this course sounds great! My friend recommended it, so I should go too.” But on the other hand, I need to clarify one thing: I’m not here trying to change the minds of those who have already participated in these courses or are deeply involved. Changing their perspective can be really tough because they’ve already taken the courses, experienced changes, and even pulled their friends into it. In such cases, expecting these people to watch this one video and have a completely different opinion is, honestly, unrealistic. At the same time, If you really want to change the minds of those who’ve taken these courses, you need patience and understanding. You need to talk to them calmly and listen to them a lot. If I were to do that, my tone throughout this video would have to change. I’d need to soften what I say so they don’t feel too bad, and so on. While those are good things to do, I don’t want to take that route. My main goal here is to make sure that people who haven’t joined these courses will feel more confident about not joining. And the ones who haven’t taken these courses? They’re the majority. So, I think that’s the main thing I want to achieve with this video. Now, if you’re someone who believes in these kinds of courses, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you, okay? I do care, alright? So if you want to learn more about this I’ll include a reading list at the end of the video. Feel free to check it out. I don’t expect you to completely change your perspective after watching just this video, but getting started is always a good thing. And the start doesn’t have to be today. It could even be next month. You might suddenly figure it out, have a new perspective. Come back and watch this video again—it’s totally fine. I guess some people watching this might have questions by now. Like, "Ceylan, you said the reason this course works is because of uninformed consent” Because people won’t have an idea about what’s going to happen in these courses. But then, why do those who attend end up believing in them? It’s because these courses gradually, step by step, change the way you think. If you knew from the start that the ultimate goal of the course was to turn you into one of their salespeople, PAYING them money to become one of their salesperson, you wouldn’t even bother joining. So, this gradual process wouldn’t even start Before we dive in, I want to share a theory with you. It’s from this book by Margaret Singer called "Cults in Our Midst." She outlines some characteristics of cults. Let me read a bit for you. This is Singer’s 6 Conditions of Thought Control 1. Keep the person unaware that there is an agenda to control or change the person 2. Control the person’s time and, if possible, physical environment. 3. Systematically create a sense of powerlessness in the person. 4. Suppress much of the person’s old behavior and attitudes 5. Instill new behavior and attitudes 6. Put forth a closed system of logic; allow no real input or criticism We’ve actually touched on some of this before— like the first point: keeping members unaware of how things will unfold. As we mentioned earlier, one of the key rules in these courses is that you’re not allowed to talk about the course process. And the way these organizations enforce this is through something called The Double Agenda. The Double Agenda means they tell you to do something for one apparent reason— but in reality, there’s a hidden reason behind it. For example, many participants are told they can’t share what happens in the course. They’re told this rule exists to protect others’ privacy or to avoid ruining someone else’s experience. But I think the real reason for this rule is if you told others what the process is like, what actually happens each day— Including the fact that at the third level you become a paying salesperson, no one would want to join. As Margaret Singer puts it, this is the Double Agenda. The process of keeping people unaware is key to a cult's double agenda: the leader slowly takes you through a series of events that on the surface look like one agenda, while on another level, the real agenda is to get you, the recruit or member, to obey and to give up your autonomy , your past affiliations, and your belief systems. The existence of the double agenda makes this process one of non-informed consent. Informed Consent is a very important concept It means that before you agree to something, you should have the capacity to comprehend and grant consent. For example, before you make a choice, you shouldn’t be manipulated or deceived. You shouldn’t be kept in the dark. Like, if you’re considering a medical treatment, you need to know what the side effects might be and why they’re recommending it to you. Similarly, informed consent is super important in therapy too. Oh, by the way— I almost forgot to mention, these LGAT courses? They don’t have licensed psychologists running them. Yeah, they’re not therapists. Have you seen their therapist licenses yet? They told me, because the way they operate is more like “master teaching apprentice.” That’s their business model. So yeah, they don’t have licenses, no therapist certifications—zero, nada. They’re literally just a bunch of people saying, “Let’s start a course and save the world!” But they have no professional mental health credentials. And these organizations, with their double agendas, are basically a violation of informed consent. You don’t know what’s going to happen after the course. You don’t know the real purpose behind the rules they make you follow. Just this alone makes these LGAT courses shady enough. But trust me, it gets way worse. Guys, do you know the kind of impact this lack of informed consent has? For starters, you wouldn’t know that these courses were actually created 50 years ago. And you wouldn’t know that the same courses—same structure, same games, same everything were already exposed in the US back then. Tons of disgusting practices, tons of victims, it all came to light ages ago. And after that—the original company went bankrupt. But because no one knows what these modern LGAT courses are about, people don’t connect the dots to the old ones. Next, we’re diving into the history of these LGATs Let me tell you— It’s going to blow your mind. The history of LGATs in today’s video, we’re talking about the courses that influencers like JiaNing and Zhanrui attended, which are also known as three-phase courses. In Taiwan alone, about five or six companies run these programs. And it’s not just influencers who take these courses—tons of big-name celebrities have done them too. And these courses aren’t exclusive to Taiwan. They’re in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and all over the world. In books and studies from other countries, these types of courses are also referred to as LGATs. And these LGATs? They’re basically identical to an LGAT course from 50 years ago. That LGAT is called Lifespring. It was founded by a former convict named John Hanley in the US. When I say “identical,” what do I mean? Well, here’s the thing—it’s been 50 years, so you’d think they’ve evolved a lot since then, right? So, I guess we need to take an extremely close look to see what is similar? But nope. When I say “identical,” I mean the course structure, the daily schedule, the games they play, when they play them, and all the philosophies they teach in class. What the second phase is about, that he third phase is all about recruiting people. It’s all the same stuff. Later I’ll show you plenty of examples to prove it. I was lucky—or maybe unlucky—enough to read Lifespring founder’s aotobiography A ridiculously long and boring autobiography, where he lays everything out—what the structure of the courses is, why certain activities are included, and what kind of games they involve. Plus, I found documents and news reports from decades ago, I’ll reference those, too, to show you just how identical these courses are across the board. First, let’s talk about the course structure. The basic course is five days long, focusing on self-discovery Basically, through games, you figure out how you see yourself and the world around you. Spoiler alert— these games always help you discover your flaws, and never the good stuff. But don’t worry—the instructors are there to save the day, okay? So, what’s this five-day basic course all about? John Hanley’s autobiography laid everything out. He even mentioned the games that are in it, like the Red Black Game. It’s called the Red Black Game. A game called Red & Black. Now it’s nine p.m. Friday. Bruce is splitting you into two teams for something called the Red Black Game If you search online for the Red Black Game, you’ll even find posts on PTT, and see that various LGATs in Taiwan all include this game. Another one is the Junkyard Game a game called Junkyard you're picturing yourself in a giant junkyard and as you look around you realize each piece of garbage in the junkyard is actually a broken agreement from your past with some eerie music playing, they start narrating how our parents lied to us again and again when we were kids. They list every single disappointment in your life, every hurt from all of your relationships, laying it all out in front of you. At the end people start bawling their eyes out “I’m sorry!” “I’m so sorry, Mom! I really messed up!” “I’m sorry!” Now, let’s talk about the ideas behind these courses. In 1983, there was a study where a psychologist and a sociologist attended a Lifespring course. And they said— in this course— They start by mentioning “submission” and “100% commitment” sounds pretty familiar, you know? They really emphasize two words: "100 percent" and "commitment." Are you being 100 percent? If you search these terms online, you'll see that different LGAT programs all use the same words. Now, let's talk about some rules within these programs. On day one, there’s a segment where the instructors lay down the rules you need to follow. These two articles from 1987 and 1988 also mention these rules from Lifespring Let’s compare them with this recording from the Taiwan LGAT Attend the entire program. No note-taking in class. No photos, videos, or recordings. Don’t sit next to people you already know before joining the program. Only speak during designated times or when prompted by the instructor. No side conversations with the person next to you. Students who commit to strictly following the rules, please stand up. Let’s begin. Next is the advanced course. It’s super intense, and they won’t even let you use the bathroom. This is actually documented in the founder's autobiography. The second stage is seriously high-pressure, where you just keep getting yelled at. Not being able to use the restroom is pure torture. I was too scared to even drink water! Some people said if you went, they’d drag you back. So me being loud equals I’m offending you? What do you mean?! -I was just answering your question... -SO I’M ASKING WHAT YOU MEAN! -You want me to answer, but then... -SHUT THE F*** UP! Then there’s the third stage: the recruitment phase. The founder shamelessly admitted in his autobiography that this phase is crucial to Lifespring’s success. But there’s a slight difference here. In the original Lifespring program, the third stage was free—you just had to recruit others. But in these modern LGAT programs, the third stage costs money. And you still have to recruit people. So it is a bit different now, huh? It’s like they’ve "evolved," but whether that’s good or bad, who knows? I’ll leave that one up to you. There are countless examples like this, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If I keep talking about how these LGATs are identical, I could go on for another hour. But I think this last example captures how these current Taiwan LGATs are so similar to Lifespring from 50 years ago. Like we mentioned earlier, there’s always a segment about rules. But there’s one rule I haven’t talked about yet. During the program, if you take a break or something, they say, sometimes they’ll play music, and you have to be seated before the music ends. Let’s listen to the original recording from Taiwan so you can hear what this music sounds like. At exactly 6:30, we’ll play a piece of music. Here it is: This piece is super famous. It’s called "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." it’s also that song from "2001: A Space Odyssey." And guess what? I found old news articles from 40 years ago, and Lifespring were using the exact same song. I find that kinda hilarious. Like, it’s been 40 or 50 years, and they didn’t even change the music. So yeah, this program has been around forever, and it’s spread far and wide. And those same news articles I mentioned? They are one of the main reasons why Lifespring shut down back then. But now? These identical LGATs are everywhere. There are so many in Taiwan alone. And nobody knows this stuff has been around for ages. And they already had scandals back then. It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it? This same business model, still here after 50 years. Scandals happened, they rebranded, and now they’re still going strong. And no one connects the dots or talks about it. What surprised me even more? I recently watched a Netflix documentary. It talked about these American teen rehabilitation camps where they abused kids. They made them take courses as a way to “reform” them. And it mentioned a lot of horrible stuff—assault, SA, you name it. While watching it... When the host talked about the kind of courses they took... this is the story of mind control. some of those engaged in that search have agreed to talk about it for the first time. they use time-tested brainwashing techniques to control to control us, to be honest. I blocked out a lot about the seminars, but there are a few things I’ll never forget. That song, the one from "2001: A Space Odyssey," was used repeatedly in the seminars. Once every six weeks, we were required to participate in these pseudopsychological, emotionally abusive, and humiliating seminars. So yeah, it’s not just in Taiwan that people aren’t making the connection. Even in the US—where Lifespring originated—people are not realizing that these unethical teen rehab camps are running courses based on Lifespring’s methods. It is f***ing insane, okay? Totally wild. The Origin of LGATs MLMs I guess now we need to ask—who is John Hanley? Why did he create these programs? To figure this out, we need to talk about the company John Hanley used to work for. One of the most notorious MLMs in the US, Holiday Magic. Speaking of people not connecting the dots Actually, there’s already a Taiwanese YouTuber who covered Holiday Magic. That’s JiuJiuXie In his video, he even mentioned Holiday Magic’s own LGAT courses So today, what we’re doing is connecting all these dots. The founder of Holiday Magic is this guy, William Penn Patrick. One day, he was walking down a street in California and saw a garage. Inside, some people were selling cosmetic products. He checked them out and thought they were decent. So, he spent over $16,000 to buy all the products and started his own multi-level marketing company, Holiday Magic. MLMs basically mean these companies don’t make money from selling their products directly. Instead, their profit mainly comes from recruiting people. They’d tell you, “Hey, do you wanna sell this product for me? You can become a distributor!” Then they’d promise you “financial freedom.” And those recruits would recruit more people, and so on. The reason these MLMs are regulated in many countries is that most of the recruits basically don’t make any money. They buy into the “financial freedom” dream, join the company, and become distributors. They spend tons of money, buy loads of products, but in the end, they can’t sell them. Holiday Magic was one of the most successful MLMs of its time. But in 1973, the US SEC fined them $250 million, saying they scammed 80,000 people. As for the founder William Penn Patrick? In 1973, he was flying his private plane for fun… and accidentally crashed. Let’s just say, a very legendary dude. But before the company went under, they launched their own courses. I mean, when your MLM recruits can’t sell the products, what’s the solution? Obviously, it’s to create an expensive course to get even more money from them! convince everyone to attend, and promise they’ll achieve success in life. Not only did many Holiday Magic distributors attend these courses, but even the management had to go through them, too. Including our protagonist, John Hanley. John Hanley, at the time, was also a trainer for another LGAT under Holiday Magic. This course was created by Alexander Everett and called Mind Dynamics. In the beginning, Mind Dynamics wasn’t so sketchy or extreme. It wasn’t that intense. It was basically a trainer using group hypnosis and meditation techniques to teach you how to reach what’s called the “alpha wave” state in your brain—slowing your brainwaves and focusing. It had some spiritual teachings and that kind of stuff. Not long after starting up, Mind Dynamics got an investment from William Penn Patrick. But the course William Penn Patrick personally ran? Completely different vibe. His course was called Leadership Dynamics Institute. It cost $1,000. And instead of brainwave alpha stuff, what happened there was... You might get strapped to a cross. You might get locked in a coffin. You might get shoved into a cage. And in there, you'd get yelled at. Maybe even beaten up. The list goes on. The goal of this course? To make you a "stronger" person through all that. Through basically mental (&physical) abuse So did it work? Were these people psychologists? Of course not. This was just someone going, "I'm a multi-level marketing king!" "Wow, what a cool idea!" And then boom, they made it a course. And John Hanley? He actually took this course. He even went through that whole locked-in-a-coffin-for-hours experience. According to John Hanley's autobiography, he said, he stayed in that coffin for hours as an act of defiance against the instructor. But then, in there, he started realizing some "truths" about himself. So let’s just assume— for argument's sake—that everything he wrote in his memoir is true, no hidden agenda to spin this as a good experience. Let’s take it at face value, okay? Of course, the most logical conclusion here would be: "I went through this tourture, and it felt great! So clearly, this must be helpful for others as well!" “I don’t see any problem in that flawless line of reasoning!” Well, apparently that’s exactly what he thought Because he admitted that when he later designed the courses, the second-level advanced course—the one people said wouldn’t let you use the restroom— was inspired by his experience in that course. We’ll talk more about that second-level course later but you’ll definitely see the similarities. Anyway, as we mentioned— in 1973, this MLM big shot, William Penn Patrick, was flying his private plane and accidentally crashed it. At the same time, his company was under investigation by the SEC. It was clearly a sinking ship. So John Hanley reached out to some of his old colleagues from Mind Dynamics and teamed up with them to create a new program. And the next year, they founded Lifespring. That’s the origin story of Lifespring. Back then, Lifespring was super popular in the US, along with another LGAT called est. The founder of est also came out of Mind Dynamics and Holiday Magic. But est is no longer around now, because of all the scandals back then. Many of its original members have since moved on to a new organization. It's called Landmark, and yes, it's still around today. These LGATs had tons of people joining back then, but more and more exposés came out about them. The biggest one was in 1987, published in The Washington Post. The article was titled, ‘I Cried Enough To Fill A Glass’ It was written by Marc Fisher, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. In the article, he detailed what exactly went on inside Lifespring. He also listed victims of Lifespring, including 6 participants who died and 35 others who filed lawsuits against Lifespring. For example, in 1980, a Seattle woman suffered an asthma attack during a basic training. Trainers told her the attack was self-induced; when she finally left the room, she wandered into a parking lot, collapsed and died after five days in a coma. Lifespring denied any responsibility and agreed to a $450,000 settlement of the family's suit. Many others sued Lifespring after experiencing psychosis following participation. In 1984, trainee Deborah Bingham won a verdict of $800,000 After completing the training, she came out of the training believing herself to be "a new person,” with new-found energy and zest. She called it a "Lifespring high." But a few weeks after completing the second Lifespring course, she woke up one morning feeling empty. For days, she couldn't stop crying. Over and over, she asked herself questions in Lifespring jargon: "What are you creating for yourself? Why am I doing this to myself?" Other victims included a woman who, driving home from the training, believed she could control the traffic lights a man who showed up for the last day of basic convinced that Lifespring wanted him to take over the training; and a man who, a few days after the training, thought God was telling him to sacrifice his baby son. Some even reported paranoia after attending Lifespring's basic training courses. One person threw away all the knives in his house for fear that he would hurt himself. They spent many months in the hospital and suffered a relapse later The article also revealed that John Hanley, the founder, only ever took one psychology class—and he got a D in it. On top of that, he was a convicted felon. These victim testimonies, combined with the journalist's in-depth account of what went on inside Lifespring, led to fewer and fewer people attending John Hanley's courses. Eventually, he shut the program down entirely. But how did this program make its way to Asia? Well, my guess is that in the early years of Lifespring, one of the co-founders, Robert White, left the company and started his own LGAT companies, including Life Dynamics and ARC. In his own YouTube video, you can see he’s brought this course to Hong Kong, to mainland China, and to Japan. So, were these courses in Taiwan introduced by Robert White? I’m not sure. Maybe someone brought them directly from the US, or perhaps after the courses launched in Hong Kong, they were brought to Taiwan. I don’t have concrete evidence on this. But what I do know is that many people, after taking the program, think, “Hey, running this kind of course seems pretty cool.” Maybe it’s to save the world, or maybe they realize it’s actually a great way to make money. So, a lot of people finish the program and then start their own. And these programs' structure, games, activities, teachings are basically identical to Lifespring. So, that’s the history of LGATs How People Initially Join LGATs Now, let’s talk about how people typically get involved in these courses. One thing these LGATs have in common is that most participants are brought in by someone they know. These people are usually friends or family members. This has one major advantage: the courses don’t need to spend much on marketing. But there’s another benefit—if you join the course and something feels off, you might still think to yourself, “Well, my friend took this course and recommended it to me. If it wasn’t a big deal to them, then it’s probably not a big deal.” Anyway, your friend might keep bugging you to join. They might explain that the first level is all about “awakening.” Or maybe you’re curious, so you check out their official website to see what their home pages say. Let’s take a look at the marketing page of a certain LGAT in Taiwan. This way, we can better understand at least what the first session is about from their marketing perspective. The basic course has one theme: you—a one-of-a-kind you. It’s all about your life. The basic course doesn’t teach life lessons or give you a bunch of advice on how to live. Because in this world, there’s no book or course that can tell you how to live your one-of-a-kind life. Wow, that’s so inspiring. I feel like swiping my credit card right now. The basic course is about exploring yourself—how to rewrite your life’s script with your own hands and start creating. Sounds like Minecraft. How satisfied are you with your life right now? Why not take a moment to reflect? Then you can fill out how satisfied you are in these different areas. So some people fill this out and realize— oh no. “My intimate relationships are only at 20%. Maybe I need to swipe my card.” Then what you will see is the biggest meme of these LGATs - The ICEBERG™. My dudes. Apparently, this iceberg theory is what those ‘I love reading psychology books’ types love to yap about nonstop. So, what exactly is the iceberg theory? At least according to this page, it’s basically saying— “There’s a ton of stuff in life controlling you, and guess what? You only know about 10% of it.” The other 90%? You can’t even see them. WHAT? NO WAY! Here’s an example they give: That 10% of you— your conscious mind says, “I want to get married.” But really? If you do, then why aren’t you married yet? Probably because that hidden 90% of you... actually doesn’t want to get married. Okay? Maybe staying single has its hidden perks. You just haven’t realized those hidden perks or beliefs. What are those perks, you ask? Marriage means no freedom, right? For instance, you’d have to take care of someone—ugh, exhausting. Not your vibe. You’re scared of the responsibility. You’re not sure you can handle it. Or maybe—what if they cheat? Right? If they cheat, all the emotional investment— poof, gone. Sounds familiar? Maybe like your parents’ relationship back in the day? Hmm? Why are you scared of that? What causes you to worry about that? Where do those beliefs come from? Hmm, maybe if you take this course, you’ll look inward and figure out why you have these beliefs. Then you can live a completely different life I really love reading this page Reading these sales pitches makes me feel like I could totally be a guru. But usually, we just say “the right person hasn’t come along yet.” Never realizing that 90% of what’s under your iceberg is holding you back. Oh my god, dude. This explains my entire life. In the basic course, we use exercises, games, sharing, and lectures to guide you to explore the real you beneath the surface. The hidden you. So you can become the boss of your life. Alright, like countless mirrors— on different levels, from different perspectives, and angles— angles... reflecting your true self. Wow it’s like you’re an archaeologist, digging, uncovering, studying— to figure out who you really are in this world. What matters most to you? How do you want to live the rest of your life? What beliefs are limiting the amazing life you could have? What’s stopping you from living 100% fulfilled? Prob the fact that I’m spending money buying this course That’s probably it... What are those untapped potentials? That would be my prostate, ok? I'm sorry, um Then you'll be like a building... How freaking long is this gonna take? OK, goals, dreams, alignment—take back your power, rebuild your life. OK Cool, cool, cool. Picture this: you’re at the final moment. The very last moment of your life. What kind of life would you be proud of? No regrets. look at your life right now... ok sign up now This button will then keep flashing Telling you: sign up, sign up! And to break through this 90% iceberg, to see what's limiting you. You will, swipe the card, and hand over $850 Alright, anyway—whether you attended the guest seminar or just looked through the page... Or maybe your friend told you, "If you don’t go, I’m not buying you dinner next time." And you’re like, "OK, OK, fine, let me just swipe my card." Now, congratulations, you’ve officially joined the program. Basic Level - The First Day All you have is your word. All you have is your integrity. If you make an agreement to me... With the other participants to be on time... and to participate fully and to not use drugs or drink for the course of the seminar and then you break that agreement what are you saying about the value of your integrity this is about you this is about the rest of your life what do you want to create it's simple if you're not here to do the work then it isn't going to work My friend, Mr. Z, warned me in advance to take care of everything beforehand... And clear my schedule for the sessions. Because you must attend every single session, or you’ll have to start over from scratch. And the chance to retake the course is limited to just once. They also invite you to let go—let go of all the things weighing on your mind... Let go of overanalyzing, evaluating, and judging. Dive in wholeheartedly to the experience, so you can get the most out of it. All of this made me super curious about the course... And determined to take it seriously. From Chinese journalist Li Yaling... In her 2007 article: Unveiling the LGAT "Lifespring"—a process of forced brainwashing. So, on the first day of the basic course, what do these instructors actually say? No joke... No joke... Honestly, it feels pretty much the same as the sales pitch I just read. For example, they’ll also talk about the iceberg theory. You’ve got 10% conscious awareness—you see what you’re doing. But the other 90% subconscious mind is holding you back. And you can’t see it. They’ll also throw in examples like: Have you ever ridden a bike? When you’re biking... You’re doing it automatically, right? You’re not consciously thinking, "OK, left foot down, right foot down." This all happens on autopilot. In life, we have a ton of automated patterns too. Sometimes these automatic patterns are good. But other times, they make you hit a wall, or lead you into a dead end. And you don’t even realize why you keep failing—it’s because of your thoughts. Your beliefs about things, about yourself. Most of them are automated. You’ve never really questioned them. These beliefs might come from your childhood, or maybe they stick around because they have hidden benefits. And what this course aims to do is help you uncover those automated patterns in your life. What beliefs are driving your thoughts and, in turn, your actions? Only by doing this— only by examining and breaking these limiting beliefs— can we really live life to the fullest. I’m sure everyone’s felt stuck in life at some point, right? You know what you need to do, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it. Like, some people say they want to make money, to be rich. But is that really true? Do you really want to be rich? What beliefs about money have you carried with you since childhood? When you see rich people, do you think their money must be dirty? Do you sometimes feel like the wealthy in this world— they’re all bad people? And if you want to make a lot of money, you’ll have to exploit or oppress others. So, you say you want to be rich, but do you really? When your subconscious is full of messages like— "Making money is bad." If you don’t examine these thoughts, aren’t you just going to keep hitting that wall? Or maybe you say, "I want a boyfriend." Or a girlfriend. But is that really what you want? When you look in the mirror every day, what kind of person do you see? Do you see someone who truly deserves love? Can you honestly look in the mirror and say to yourself, "You deserve love," without feeling any inner turmoil? You know, some people hold these beliefs— because of things that happened in their childhood. They live trapped by these limiting beliefs, unable to get the results they want. But life can be amazing. It can be smooth. It can be simple. But first, you need to confront those limiting thoughts in your mind. Once they’re gone, Once they’re gone, once your conscious and subconscious are aligned, you can achieve anything you want. Now, my friends, here’s a challenge for you— after all my rambling, tell me, where did I go wrong? It’s fine, okay? You can pause this video. Take a moment to think—did I really say anything wrong? I mean the fact that there’s so much we don’t know about ourselves. Isn’t that true? Our own subconscious, Our own subconscious, the beliefs we can’t even see, sometimes hold us back. Isn’t that true? Doesn’t that make sense? It’s not completely BS isn’t it? Or, if you think it’s all nonsense, can you imagine someone else hearing this and thinking, "Hey, this actually makes sense"? My dudes, this is how these LGATs hook you. And honestly, when people talk about these courses, A common mistake, or trap, people fall into is arguing about those theories with them. You know, debating whether they hold up, whether they’re right. Debating whether those theories could be used as a tool to change our lives. I mean, sure, you could be a total nerd about it— and say stuff like, “90% this, 10% that—those are just made-up numbers!” “How can you prove it? Is there empirical research?” “Where are the studies?” “I can’t find them! and just because Freud said something doesn’t make it true.” “Freud is Psychoanalysis, and Psychoanalysis has a lot of issues!” Sure, you could do that. But that doesn’t stop some people from thinking— “Well, actually… you know, it kinda makes sense. The subconscious does influence our behavior. Yeah.” “It’s true.” “Maybe I do need to take one of these LGAT courses.” Here’s how I see it. The most important thing about discussing these courses is understanding that their biggest problem is not about what they teach you. The real issue is— how they teach it, how they apply these ideas, and in what kind of environment. And most importantly, what else they achieve— by telling you these ideas, presenting them this way. The fact is— if all those theories I was rambling about— were just some YouTuber sharing their personal growth journey— that wouldn’t really be a big deal. Or if you read this stuff in some pop psychology book and applied it to your life. That wouldn’t be entirely wrong either. In fact, some of the things these courses talk about— are things a therapist might also say to you Depending on the context. They might guide you to think this way. Like, for example— sometimes, the real reason you’re not doing something is something you haven’t realized yet. Yeah, it makes sense. Overall, these ideas aren’t entirely nonsensical. But let’s not forget— what these LGAT courses turn into over the next few days. In the next stages— you’ll be yelled at by the instructors. You’ll have to yell at your classmates until they cry, until they break down. And even during class, if you have basic human needs—like needing to use the bathroom—you won’t be allowed. You’ll get scolded for it too. And then, by the third stage— you’ll become a paying salesperson for them. I found this article online— about someone’s mental shift before and after taking an LGAT course. It was wild. Let me read it to you. So, at the beginning of the article, this person talks about how much they doubted these courses. They even searched online for reviews and thought the whole thing was just dumb. But after his friends kept pushing him, his curiosity got the better of him. he decided to join. He even admitted that when he first joined this course, he was super resistant. But after finishing all the levels, he wrote this: "After the graduation ceremony, I realized I always analyze everything with my brain. This made me arrogant, cold, self-righteous, lacking empathy, and selfish. The final outcome I want is in my own hands, not others'. So, I decided to change my approach to life. Even if it risks making people think I’m some MLM salesperson, I’ll recommend this workshop to all my friends." Wave Dash. Exclamation mark. I mean, dude, this line— "I always analyze everything with my brain"— as if that’s a bad thing, like it’s not supposed to be a good thing. And he even knows that recommending the course to others makes him look like some MLM guy, but he still decided to bypass his brain’s criticism and analysis and just do it. So, my friends, how does this even happen? If all the stuff we’ve been yapping about makes sense, then how does someone go from this seemingly fine logic to ending up here, becoming a sales machine—or worse, paying to be one for these courses? What’s going on? Like, what? Basic Level – Day 1: Letting Go of Logic as a Virtue The first stage is basically about breaking down your defenses and getting you to trust them. As the instructors say, the first step is to “empty your cup.” The guidelines for participants in the third phase of a certain Taiwanese LGAT: "Let ideals and commitments dictate my actions, not emotions, feelings, or judgments." "The most relentless enemy to leraning is what you already know” —John Hanley, founder of Lifespring The theories we just discussed might be useful in some contexts, and they could even be tools for self-improvement. But in these courses, they serve another purpose— to make you believe that you don’t even know yourself. If all you see is that 10%, and the other 90% is invisible to you, then it means you have no idea who you really are. But don’t worry—the course will tell you exactly who you are. These courses rely on experiences to make you think you’re discovering your true self. Participant: Because these LGATs keep emphasizing “experiencing” as a way of learning Only if you open yourself to experience will you gain something real They market themselves as a non-mechanical form of teaching So you’ll have to “do, think and speak” yourself. Only in this way can you get the real stuff. The issues that determine the quality of adult life are not fully accessible intellectually; they also need to be experienced. Lifespring's method of education is experiential. These LGATs constantly tell you that only through direct experiences can you gain something valuable from the program. To make participants believe their own thoughts are useless, the instructors instill one concept: Feelings and experiences are what matter most. Rationality is not important—it’s even a roadblock. At this stage, the brainwashing process works hard to devalue rationality, experimentation, and analysis. For example, in this seminar the instructor told students: "Let go of everything in your head. Put aside all your analysis, evaluation, and judgment. “Participate fully, only then can you get the maximum benefit.” If you think about it, aren’t the courses simply telling you not to think? This paper mentions While telling participants not to think might seem like a transparent indicator that manipulation is imminent, LGAT trainers do exactly this, Participants are encouraged, with a range of positive-sounding phrases, to not question and to just “participate” They are urged to be “open to the possibilities”; to be “coachable” to come from their hearts, not their heads These experiences usually kick off through some games. And during these games, the instructor constantly makes you reflect on yourself— self-examine. At this point, it's highly likely you'll start noticing your flaws and start spiraling internally. Or the course might use other tactics to make you feel emotions— some touching moment that brings you to tears. In these situations, many people will unconsciously associate these experiences with the idea that ‘the course is good’ Basic Level – Day 1: Filtering Out Strong-Minded People But these games and activities come later. Before any of that happens, the course needs to set up one key thing first: establishing the framework, telling you who the boss is. Because this isn’t a course where students and teachers interact as equals. It’s not the kind of class where students can sometimes push back against the teacher, and the teacher responds, “Hey, you know what? You’ve got a point there.” no no no no no This is not that kind of course. To make it clear who’s the boss in this setup, the course has specific methods to reward "correct" behaviors and weed out those who are too independent. There is a instructor at the front, and sometimes, while you’re sharing, they’d bluntly tell you, “That’s your issue.” And the vibe they created in the class was that you had to obey 100%. Even if you disagreed with their accusations, the atmosphere in the room— with the assistants and everyone else—was so authoritarian that you felt like you couldn’t fight back. You just had to sit there and take the criticism. Now, there were always a few people in the course who were more strong-minded and questioned it. As you can imagine, they got slammed by the instructor and eventually left the room. Then the instructor would ask the class, “So, do we see any issues in them that they couldn’t see themselves but we can clearly identify?” Through this process, they filtered out the more strong-minded individuals early on. Next came the explanation of the rules. There were around 12 rules, and they’d read them out to you—over and over, drilling them in. And he spoke super slowly. Later, I realized he was deliberately using this process to filter out those who question things. People who think rationally. Those who analyze critically, and those brave enough to challenge him. During this process, any participant with these traits got eliminated. A woman raises her hand. She has to miss one night. The ground rule forbids that, Jim says. "Well, I have to miss that evening," the woman says. "Do you have a question about the ground rule?" Jim asks. "No, I just can't be here that night." "The ground rule says, Be here for the entire training. Do you have a question about the ground rule?" "No." "You're saying you don't agree to the ground rule," Jim says. "I have to ask you to leave." She gets up and goes. A murmur sweeps the room. For every question about the rules, the instructor would just repeat the rule. Repeat it over and over. Until you start thinking, "Ah, I guess that’s just the rule. I have to follow it, or get out." This sent a clear message to the other participants: this was not a place for open, equal dialogue. It was a place where you had to obey the instructors. And if you didn’t, if you refused to comply, the door was right there. They wouldn’t explain why a rule exist They’d just keep repeating it. Meanwhile, others felt the vibe was off too and wanted to quit. They left. But soon came back, tail between their legs. One male participant told me, he didn’t want to continue. He felt something was off. But his girlfriend had convinced him to join. When he tried to leave, she started crying. Then the group leader called her. Because the group leader had a list. A list of who brought who. So in this program, very few people actually leave. Less than 10%. Because you were dragged in by friends or family. Whenever something happens and the instructors can’t convince you, they’ll call the person who brought you. To persuade you instead. Basic Level, Day 1: The First Game So, after summoning your inner obedient child, we could finally start the fun part. The first game of the program. This game is pretty funny I call it the "Do I Trust You or Not?" game. In this game, you go up to a random participant and tell them how you really feel about them. You have four options to choose from: "I trust you." "I don’t trust you." "I don’t care whether I trust you or not." Or "I’m not sure if I trust you." The instructors ask you to reflect both when you say these things and when you hear them. Notice what you’re thinking in that moment. For example, if you tell someone, "I’m not sure if I trust you," are you being completely honest? Or are you just too scared to say out loud what you really think deep down? Why is that? Is it because, to some extent, you’ve got a bit of a people-pleaser personality? And after this game ends, the trainer will ask you to think about how many people told you they trust you and how many said they don’t. I found the homework that you have to do after the 1st day One of the prompts asks you, “What did you say to others during the game?” “What did you hear? How did you react?” They said: I felt good when I heard ‘I trust you.’ Hearing “I don’t trust you” or “I’m not sure” made me feel undervalued, as if my worth depended on others’ recognition. I also noticed they had a habit of being overly polite, which felt uncomfortable not doing. Maybe it’s about people-pleasing or wanting to come across as friendly, but it’s not always honest. Side note: At first, I wasn’t even sure if I was being honest. Then they underlined it and wrote, “Because I’ve been living dishonestly? So I’m fooling myself?” We can see that some participants, after going through this game, have started spiraling. I’m not saying that self-reflection is bad, but looking inward is something this course heavily emphasizes. I think they’re using these experiences to create a sense of powerlessness in you, making you feel like you don’t know yourself, so you’re more likely to accept whatever the course or the trainers tell you next. On the surface, this game seems like it's designed to start you on a journey of self-awareness. So now, you can begin to see what this iceberg is all about and discover who you truly are. But honestly, from my perspective, this feels more like a training in self-doubt. Especially when they tell you to pay attention to what you feel when someone says, “I don’t trust you.” When we’re rejected by the people around us, especially face-to-face, most normal people can’t help but self-reflect, wondering, “Did I do something wrong?” “Is there something on my face?” “Why would they think I’m untrustworthy?” “Is it my vibe? Do I look sketchy? Oh my gosh...” “What’s going on here?” Realizing we naturally react this way might make you feel a bit vulnerable, like there’s something wrong with you. That’s probably why you react this way. At this point, even those who were skeptical of the course might start thinking, “You know what? Maybe I do have some flaws. Maybe I need to reflect.” “I mean, I care so much about what others think of me.” “I need to work on fixing that.” Even on day one’s homework, there’s a question that asks, “Toward the trainers, others, or yourself, what automatic reactions did you have? What do your reactions reveal about your attitudes and beliefs?” One participant responded, “I resist high-energy states; it feels overwhelming, like I’m being pushed toward a certain mindset.” They also mentioned zoning out at certain moments, especially when the trainer seemed to guide the group into a specific state, particularly when things got overly intense. they feel like you don't want to participate. I think this question is just very evil. Normally, a healthy response might be, if someone crosses your boundaries, you could just say, "I don't want to be part of this." But what these courses do is, "Oh, you have those thoughts? Tell us, what does that say about your attitude?" What, you feel the instructor is pushing you too hard? Hmm. What does that reveal about you? And this same tactic keeps popping up in later sessions. Listen to this— in this second-stage recording, the instructor first berates a student, then makes them reflect on themselves. WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? -ok, we cool now? -NO! DID YOU FACE YOUR ATTITUDE? What triggered you? -The fact that you were yelling -And? Keeping going -That’s why I rolled my eyes at you Correct. so what triggered you? -I just didn’t want to be disrespected So where else in your life do you act like this? Anytime someone yells at you, you get mad? You start pushing back? -Yes -So where in your life do you act like? Miss, this isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last. -yea yea -So where else in your life are you opearing like this?! And this is just the first day From the very first class, they deliberately start building up this self-examination habit in you, so that in every situation, you turn the blame inward. Even if, in a normal context, you'd think the instructor's actions were wrong— too pushy or overbearing—you'd start to reflect and say, "Oh, me thinking this way about the instructor... maybe it says something about myself." To me, this is the double agenda. On the surface, these exercises and processes supposedly give you tools to discover your own flaws, but in reality, if you overdo this self-reflection, you get stuck in a spiral— and end up ignoring your own boundaries and limits. So, whatever the instructors say to you in this course becomes way easier for you to accept. And that is what makes this course so unsettling. First Level - Basic Course Day2: 100% Responsible And that is what makes this course so unsettling. On the second day, these LGAT sessions introduce their most important philosophy. They tell you the ultimate hack to change your life is to stop being a victim and take 100% responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Day two focuses on instilling the new philosophy the LGAT is teaching. The well-known LGATs claim that you have caused everything that ever happened to you, from choosing your parents to breaking your leg, rom getting yourself jilted to having been molested by your stepfather as a child. On this day, the instructors tell you that everything in your life has two versions: a victim version and a responsible version. And you’re supposed to take 100% responsibility for everything that has ever happened to you and everything that will happen in the future. Only that way could you become the King of Life now it's Thursday night and you're back in the ballroom you've pulled a chair in front of a partner for an exercise about personal responsibility you're gonna tell them a story where you felt like a victim you bury your soul you really lean into it nice and whiny all the ways you were wronged blow by blow but when you're done Bruce tells you to start from the beginning again this time tell the story like you were responsible for everything that happened this time maybe you start to notice huh I did play a role in that and maybe I have the power to make sure it doesn't happen again maybe life isn't something that happens to you it's something that happens from you actually, this idea of taking responsibility isn't that hard to get, and sometimes, it even has its merits. like, say, if you never have time to eat breakfast before heading to work, you could think like a victim: "ugh, what kind of garbage job is this? it's ruining my quality of life— I can't even have time to eat breakfast anymore. unbelievable!" but the responsible version might be realizing that your quality of life is your responsibility. so, if breakfast matters to you, you could just wake up 10 minutes earlier. if you think this way, whenever something happens, you first ask yourself what you can do, take responsibility first. then, the more control you have over your life, the more choices you'll have, and you can become a better person. wowzers so epic This concept sounds simple, and yeah, sometimes it can even be healthy. But of course, this concept has a lot of nuance. it takes some unpacking—it’s not black and white, and you can’t just apply it to every situation. Counseling Psychologist Chen: For small things, something really minor, sure, you can use it that way. but when it comes to something like trauma-related experiences, it’s just not appropriate. Reframing like this, in psychology, is called Cognitive Restructuring when used correctly, it’s a helpful tool. But it’s not something that works in every case. and if an untrained person tries to do this to you, it can backfire and seriously hurt others. Let me give you some examples. In class, the instructor might ask participants to stand up and share their struggles. then, they try to convince you that every tragedy in your life was a choice you made. sometimes, this even includes but isn’t limited to Sexual assault what you are implying is that in r*** somebody made you yes who made you do what you made it possible for somebody to r*** you that’s what you’re saying I didn’t say you choose to be r***d I didn’t say you chose to be raped. I said you have choices in being r***d I said you have choices in being raped. This post is from Si Ting she says these courses often says "Why did you create this result?" They use this phrase to manipulate us. Any bad outcome can be blamed on this, so we end up blaming ourselves. For example, "I was assaulted because my own ambition caused it." Or, "My family member passed away because my ambition caused their death." Then they bring in the "responsible version" of the story, like: "I wasn’t caring enough about my family." That’s why they took their own life. Or “I didn’t respect myself, so I kept getting sexually assaulted.” A girl dresses a bit provocatively, and she was sharing stories about being SAed in class And then [teacher’s name] [teacher’s name] response was totally not okay. He said, "Have you looked at what you’re wearing?" Holy s*** because in that class, there were actually quite a few of my friends. So they told me about it afterward. Yeah, super gross. Any counselor or rational person knows that blaming someone for their trauma, like SA, doesn’t solve anything. It only causes more harm. And let’s not forget, this harm is inflicted in front of a crowd. From a professional counseling perspective, I don’t know— could this be dangerous? Where participants are asked to recount their experiences of being SAed. Nope. Not okay. When I heard about this, alarm bells went off. Is this approach a "relief" to the victim? Or does it create more harm? Personally, I think it’s the latter. Think about it: The core of SA is about boundaries being violated. -Yes. -The victim’s autonomy is completely disrespected and trampled on. -Right. -So in these group settings, they’re reenacting this, and the victim isn’t even allowed to refuse. It’s like retraumatizing them over and over again. And there are just way too many examples of these classes pushing harmful narratives and backfiring. the leader had people stand up and share stories, which were heart breaking. One woman’s kid was run over by a car and as she sobbed people weren’t allowed to comfort her. This guy wasn’t a shrink and kept telling her that she was responsible for her pain due to the meaning she placed on the incident. One day, a 60-year-old woman dared to talk about having been SAed as a child the trainer that day, retorted that ‘not all children get themselves abused’. Faced with an argument, The trainer persisted: ‘Identity is formed at the age of two. We bring these things into our lives. It’s the way of being you adopt that determines whether things happen to you or not’” So why is it that tools that can sometimes be used for good end up being twisted like this? Where does this tool, this theory, even originate? that kind of pattern of, of taking something that is useful and worthwhile and distorting it also seems to be problematic. So you can say, well, it was influenced by this and this and this, but the way that it's, it's used is, is highly problematic. So for example, in large group awareness training, even though they don't acknowledge being influenced by psychology, you can see rational emotive behavior therapy, which is the sort of original form of cognitive therapy, by Albert Ellis and Albert Ellis had the process of A, B and C, He developed a process called A, B, C so you've got an activating event, you've got a belief about that event, and then you've got a consequence for A, B, C and it's not the activating event that causes the the consequence, it's the belief. And it was basically based on, Epictetus, the stoic philosopher who said, we’re not affected so much by what happens, but by our interpretations of what happens. And there's nothing wrong with saying that you need to be responsible for the way that you interpret things. And there's some agency there, and it can be more empowering to look at it in a in a different way. But if you see the way that they ask people to take responsibility for things and level of blame and shame and guilt and humiliation that is generated through those interactions in a high pressure environment. where you got a person who might be standing in front of hundreds of other people. It's not what you would see in psychology. And although it's, you know, it's on paper, they kind of doing the same thing. But if you actually look at it and you, you really evaluate it one is done in a controlled environment. It's done in a safe way where there's a relationship of trust. The other is I've been speaking to you for two minutes, and now I'm going to start unpacking how you sort of interpreted your r*** 20 years ago in front of 200 people, and you need to take responsibility for it. There is a very big difference, even though on paper they are all quite similar. yeah, that distortion of things that are useful. Seems to be something that runs through again, a lot of these, groups. What these self-help gurus are doing is like a kid reading one book on Stoic philosophy or finishing The Courage to Be Disliked and then telling people: Haha, you were r***d? And now you feel sad? Let me tell you, sadness is all in your head. It’s just your brain interpreting things. Change how you think, and boom, you won’t feel sad anymore. What, you can’t do that? Wow, what a pathetic victim. And then the course tells you the reason you’ve chosen the “victim mindset” is because being a victim has hidden perks, like avoiding responsibility or getting people’s sympathy— AKA playing the pity card. Because of these “hidden benefits,” you chose to be a victim. So in this course, not only are you told that your interpretation of your trauma is invalid, but also that your suffering is your own fault. And if you don’t accept this responsibility as the instructor says, you’ll get labeled as someone who “loves playing the victim” or “craves attention.” Some people might ask, Ceylan, isn’t this way too much? Do people actually buy into this? I think we can’t just hear this stuff, think it’s nonsense, and assume anyone who believes it is dumb. And leave it at that. After all, you weren’t in that course environment. It’s easy to dismiss it from the outside. But you don’t know the pressure in that setting. There’s a super authoritative instructor in front, a row of assistants behind, making you feel like every move you make is being watched. And for example, you’re forced to sit away from your friends, and you’re not allowed to casually chat with people around you during class. This sense of unease and tension, plus the fact that at this stage of the course, refunds are technically not allowed, and the fees are ridiculously high, means that if you don’t believe in the course or want to quit, it feels like you’re wasting your money. Many people, under financial pressure, might subconsciously choose to believe. Not to mention, a lot of people attend these courses because their friends dragged them into it. When your friend swears by it, and if they finish the course and seem fine, then maybe, the instructor’s words might actually make sense, right? So different psychological influences can make different people buy into this stuff, and then apply it to themselves. But Ceylan, this reasoning Does it really sound that bad? Believing in yourself, being in control of everything in your life. Doesn't that sound kinda based? Like, no matter what bad stuff happens to me, I’ll always have the final say. Nothing can really hurt me. Isn't that just peak Sigma grindset? Here’s my take: in day-to-day life, for a lot of the small stuff, we can approach it with this “take responsibility” mindset. Dropping complaints at the right moment to reflect on what we can do can definitely improve relationships and work efficiency. But it’s not for everyone, and it doesn’t work in every situation. For example— and this is the most ironic part, A lot of people, especially those raised in East Asian households, were already drilled with this lesson growing up: don’t blame others, take responsibility for yourself. A lot of people who grew up in these households were told, whenever they faced setbacks as kids, that their complaints weren’t worth mentioning, and what they should do next was what really mattered. But now, a lot of people take these LGAT courses and get told the exact same thing— just in different words, with different marketing, different packaging, and they’re like, “Wow, I’ve hit the jackpot!” But here’s the issue: for a lot of these people, the knot in their heart isn’t because they haven’t taken responsibility. Their problem might actually stem from the fact that, since they were kids, the grievances they’ve carried were never validated. In those cases, what you need isn’t some narcissist on stage telling you that if you don’t take responsibility, you’re just a little schemer looking for “hidden benefits.” What you need is to catch your emotions with self-respect, without blaming yourself, and to realize that some things weren’t your fault. Only after analyzing and acknowledging that can you move forward or pivot and do something completely different. Because it’s only from that point onward that you’ll learn how to respect yourself. And that might require a safe space, like one-on-one sessions with a counselor, to slowly figure out. Not in some high-pressure environment where you’re told, “What? You want to be a victim? Guess you’re just chasing those hidden benefits, huh?” Then shoved into “taking responsibility.” That’s one example. Another would be people with major trauma. They’re also told that all they need is to “take responsibility,” that their pain in life, their struggles, are all just products of how they interpret things. But advances in psychology show us that’s not true. Major traumas or repeated trauma can actually alter your brain. So for many trauma survivors, their long-term depression, anxiety, and shame aren’t things you can just cognitively fix with a single sentence or some black-and-white motto. If you tell them this method will change their lives, and they try it, only to realize it doesn’t work, they end up drowning in guilt again. Like, damn, I can’t even do something this simple! I'm such a loser. If you don't discuss these nuances and just apply these ideas in a black-and-white way, you're basically pushing people against a wall and letting them bang their heads into it. And when they're left bleeding, you point at them and say, "The reason you're bleeding is because you didn't listen to what I said." That's why, when different counselors meet different people, they use different tools and modalities to help different individuals. By the way, this is also why I absolutely hate that super popular pop psychology book, "The Courage to Be Disliked," which is all the rage in Japan and Taiwan. It's a book where a Japanese author references Adler's psychology and claims trauma doesn't exist. Seriously, this book—especially the first half— is just terrible. But we'll dive deeper into that some other time. A lot of people believe in the victim-versus-responsibility narrative in these LGATs because they think it gives them a sense of empowerment. At this point, I think we need to make a distinction. Because this feeling of empowerment might just be a fleeting illusion—like the "omnipotence fantasy" babies experience. During these courses, participants are told that how they interpret events is entirely up to them. This alone has so many layers to unpack, as we've discussed before. But later in the course, they're also told that everything that happens in their lives is also their own choice. For example, if there's trouble in their relationships or families, they're told to reflect on themselves and find their own faults. If a partner cheats on them, they're told to look inward. Find their own flaws. Whenever something goes wrong, they're told to reflect on themselves. Find their own flaws. The course tells them this is what responsibility looks like. This is "100% accountability." Only a baby would fail to see the complexity of the world and interpret everything in life as entirely their own fault. This point was also mentioned in a 1983 paper by two psychologists and sociologists who attended the Lifespring course. The paper is titled "Pathology as Personal Growth." the ideational or interpretive frame-work provided in the training was alsobased upon regressive modes of reasoning the use of all-or-nothing categories, absolutist logic and magical thinking, all of which are consistent with the egocentric thinking of young children. In Taiwan, counselors have noted that many students who take these courses eventually end up in their therapy offices, and the counselors have to help them untangle the damage caused by the courses. So, the concepts taught in these courses are they actually useful? or are they kind of like a form of "spiritual bypassing." I’ll leave that one up to you But should these LGATs keep teaching these concepts this way? My answer is— f*** no Which brings us to the question— Are these LGAT instructors just bad at using psychological tools because they’re unqualified, or is there something else going on behind the scenes? The idea that "everything in life is your choice" and you must take "100% responsibility" is constantly hammered into you during these courses. It’s their core philosophy. And they reinforce it step by step, getting more intense as you go deeper into the program. Especially in the third stage. This is the recruitment phase. When you start this stage, you have to promise— to recruit three people into the program. But later, if you can’t bring in people for whatever reason, the instructors will use those very same principles to guilt-trip you. During those 100 days, everything you did somehow became your problem. Because you didn’t hit the "starfish" goal. Looking through the lens of the first-phase course… Doesn’t that just mean you lack ambition? You’re not giving it 100%. You’re not even trying. You’re not putting in effort. You’re not contributing. The concepts all connects together. So yes, we could say these instructors misuse counseling tools because they’re unprofessional or careless. But there’s also the possibility that it’s intentional. Because while these ideas might help some people temporarily feel a sense of control later on, the instructors can take that same tool of "empowerment" and turn it against you, turning you into a more obedient sales machine. First Level - Basic Course Day 3: The Junkyard One big reason participants are so quick to believe all the philosophies taught in the program is, as we mentioned earlier— they’re encouraged to experience everything directly You’re told that you can’t just think your way through it; you have to directly experience it to understand. The trainees are told that they fail to truly experience events because of their beliefs to which they cling obstinately and which are the enemies of direct experience. So you’re constantly told to abandon your previous beliefs and perceptions. Pure, unfiltered experience— that’s the ultimate truth. So they tell you that experience is everything, then have you play some experience-based games. That’s how they ‘open you up’. And on the third day, there’s a classic exercise called the "Junkyard" The game is called Junkyard The instructor has everyone sit on the floor and turns off all the lights. In the darkness, with some ambient music playing, the rhythm starts to make you feel emotional. Then the instructor begins narrating. "Close your eyes," they say. "You’re standing in front of a... junkyard of some kind." They launch into this long series of rhetorical questions. "Who told you as a kid— ‘This weekend, I’ll take you to ride the carousel. This weekend, we’ll go to the amusement park?’ Who promised to love you forever?" They start describing how our parents lied to us over and over when we were kids. They list out every disappointment— every possible relational wound or letdown you’ve ever had. There’s something for everyone. Because no one’s life is perfect. In the end, some people started bawling their eyes out, while others were like this... You know, messing with their hair, doing all these random things. All kinds of stuff... When I saw this scene, it really felt like total chaos. I was honestly a bit freaked out. But what really got to me later was when they started talking about... filial duty Yeah, the idea of filial duty. For Chinese people, it’s like hitting a nerve, you know? Think about it—if you’re held to the highest standard of filial duty, How many people today can actually meet that standard? Almost none. Then they started talking about all the ways we neglect our parents and all the sacrifices they’ve made for us. Their graying hair... How they cook meals for us again and again, only for the food to go cold because we cancel plans with one phone call. They used these long, emotional sentences To make us feel guilty. About how much we’ve hurt our elders, making us feel like absolute villains, totally unfilial. Like we don’t care about them at all. At the time, my mother-in-law, who I was really close to, had just passed away from pancreatic cancer. And that hit me right in the feels. I completely broke down, crying until my eyes were swollen. I was sobbing uncontrollably, totally losing it. And then suddenly, when they stopped talking... The music... stopped their voice stopped, and after a pause, the lights snapped back on. Then the instructor said one last thing: No one is allowed to talk. No sounds, no conversations. Leave in silence. In a short amount of time, they stirred up all the pain, hurt, and trauma you’ve carried with you since childhood. They dredge it all up, and then... they just leave it there. No explanations. No comfort. Looking back now... The whole point was to make us doubt ourselves. And when you’re drowning in self-doubt and pain, With no help in sight, the only thing left is to put your hope in the course itself. You start depending on it, trusting it, and following whatever they tell you. Anyway, my friends, here I have a recording from a certain LGAT in Taiwan. It’s from the Junkyard game But this recording starts somewhere in the middle of the exercise. At the very beginning, you’ll hear students shouting, “I’m sorry, Mom!” Anyways, you’ll understand once you listen to it. The recording is a bit long, but I want you to hear more of it because it’s seriously wild. Don’t worry, though. I’ll pop back in halfway through, so you don’t have to miss me too much. Anyway... Let’s go. It’s time Stop suppressing yourself. When I say "go" later, I want you to give it your 100%. All the feelings inside you, The sadness, regret, guilt, and pain, Let it all out, completely and fully. Tell her loudly. 123, go I'm sorry I'm so sorry, Mom. I'm really sorry. I messed up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't know how much you had to endure because of me. I'm sorry. Mom, I'm sorry. I didn't know I hurt you this much. I'm really sorry. I really didn't mean for it to be like this. Every single day, I feel so scared. I'm so regretful. I'm so sad. Open your mouth. Let out all your feelings, everything you're holding inside. If you're in pain, then let yourself feel that pain. If there's hate, let yourself express that hate. Open your mouth. Let out every bit of your voice, release it all. Shout it out, scream it out, whatever you need to do. All you need to do is release yourself. Why? I'm sorry. So, this part about "apologizing to your parents" will go on for a few more minutes. It gets even more dramatic later. After this, the instructor will have you keep your eyes closed. They'll ask you to search for something in this so-called "junkyard," and then you'll find... Alright, I won't spoil it, okay? Just listen closely. Pay attention to how the instructor guides students to reflect on themselves. Now it's time to stretch out your hands and start moving them. Keep digging through the pile of trash. Go on, move your hands. Keep digging, keep digging. In the trash pile. Move your hands and dig. Move your hands and dig. As you keep digging... you'll see a mirror. Now, pick up that mirror. Once you pick it up and take a look, you'll start thinking about someone in your life... who has broken promises to you the most. Every single time, when they broke their promise to you, they'd say, "Next time, I'll do it. I promise, next time for sure." But by the next time, they'd break the promise again, acting like it didn't matter at all. Sometimes, they even pretended nothing happened. And who is this person? That's right. Look at the mirror. This person isn't anyone else. It's you. All along, you've broken your promises to yourself more than anyone else. You already have so much sadness and pain towards yourself. So much anger, so much regret, so much resentment. Now is the time. Give it your 100%. And release it. All those times you broke promises to yourself. What are your true feelings deep down? So, when I say "go" in a moment, just let it all out. Give it your 100%, release yourself. It's time. Let all your feelings out, just totally release them. 123, go! Stop holding back. Release all the stuff that's been making you break every promise to yourself. That resentment. That anger. That sadness. That disappointment. If it hurts— then scream, shout it out. If you're sad— then just cry it out. In short— just let yourself 100% release. Every feeling inside of you. I hate you! I'm so mad at you! Do you even know how much I wish I could slap some sense into you? You're useless. You always say things but never follow through. You’re always the first to give up. You keep saying the same things over and over, dragging it out, ignoring me. You're cowardly. You’re always running away. I’m so mad at you. You useless waste of space. You’ve disappointed me so much. I’m so angry at you. Why are you like this? Why? Why? Why? Keep going, keep going. Release yourself. Let out all your feelings. Scream, shout, curse it out. Just release yourself. Why are you so insecure? Why do you keep messing up? Why do you keep saying things but never doing them? Why? This is just too much. I’m so disappointed in you. I’m so heartbroken over you. Yeah, it’s basically like tearing yourself down to the point where you see yourself as total trash, then going off on yourself. and after this game... ...your heart opens up. That’s the usual trick of these LGAT courses. First, they tell you— —you don’t actually know yourself at all. Then, they say your understanding and logic don’t matter, and through games, they give you this intense experience. You start thinking, “Because I felt this, everything they’re teaching must be true.” Meanwhile... ...these games make you feel— —weak and vulnerable. You feel like you have no choice but to lean on and please the teachers. Now, these games I’m mentioning? They’re just a small part of it. These sessions last for several hours daily— sometimes even goes over 10 to 13 hours. So I can’t possibly cover everything But there’s one game where you act as your parents, mimicking how they spoke to you as a kid. Through this, they let you dig up all the resentment you’ve buried toward your parents. Other times, they make you do exercises like the one I mentioned earlier—those closed-eye, emotional games. And the games in these courses? They’re an emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes— —they pile on mental pressure and guilt. But other times, they make you feel love and release. It’s just up and down, up and down. The design of these courses— —it’s like dating a toxic ex. Total emotional whiplash. Some theories on mind control actually mention this tactic: breaking you down, then showing you kindness. Take that “Junkyard” game, for example. First, they shatter you... ...then they empower you again. They’ll say stuff like— —you see a treasure chest, and inside there’s a gem. This gem represents all your personal traits. You place the gem on your chest, and suddenly, you feel powerful. Until the gem fully merges into your body. At that moment, there’s a special feeling. You feel complete. Like you’re whole. Like nothing’s missing. But it’s weird. Weren’t you just hating yourself? Didn’t you just feel— —like a failure who can’t keep promises? That’s how these courses work. The logic doesn’t need to make sense. In fact, they tell you to ditch logic altogether. As long as it feels right... ...then it must be right. If the vibe checks out, it’s all good. So, after a game that leaves you feeling fragile— —like you need the course to survive— ...and after feeling a sense of release, love, and bonding with other students, like you’re one big family of pain— ...and after seeing the instructor as your one true savior— ...then, they hit you with another game. It’s called the Red-Black Game. And yep— —it’s another way to tear you down. Red & Black Game The goal of the Red-Black Game is to score the highest points. Before it starts, the entire class is split into two teams. Each team goes into separate rooms— —and decides whether to vote Red or Black. If both teams choose Red at the end... If both teams choose black cards, each loses 5 points. If both teams choose black they only gain 3 points each. If you pick a red card but the other team picks black, you gain 10 points, and they lose 10 points. If you pick black but they pick red, you lose 10 points, and they gain 10 points. Got it? Probably not. The rules of the red-black game are super confusing. And that’s intentional. Each team has dozens of people, and they somehow have to decide what card to play. Getting that many people to agree on one thing is chaos. So, naturally, arguments break out. Some people just sit back, not really participating. Now, those super smart viewers out there might be thinking, “Oh, I get it.” “I know this game. I know what it’s about.” “If I played it, I’d totally crush it. I’d show everyone how to win.” But if you actually went, you probably couldn’t play. Because the course would tell you, if you’ve heard of the game before, you can’t participate. If you’ve never heard of it, though, let me explain. This game is basically like the Prisoner’s Dilemma. You each get two choices. You can cooperate or you can defect. If you both cooperate, you each get three coins. If one of you cooperates but the other defects, then the one who defected gets five coins and the other gets nothing. And if you both defect, then you each get a coin. no matter what your opponent does, your best option is always to defect. Now, if your opponent is also rational, they will reach the same conclusion and therefore also defect. As a result, when you both act rationally, you both end up in the suboptimal situation, you end up in a suboptimal situation, each getting just 1 coin. getting one coin each when you could have gotten three instead. And you play multiple rounds, not just one. What happens in the course is, during the game, some teams will play defect card, And by the end, some teams will score higher than others. That team, they’ll be all hyped. But while they’re celebrating, The instructor would say, "Haha, you activated my trap card." He’d look super serious and then say, And he goes, what was the main objective of the game, Alec? I go, well, it was the test score, the highest points possible. And he goes say that again. What was the main objective of the game? And it was to score the highest points possible. And he goes, say it one more time. you know, it was to score the highest points possible. And my team and he goes, stop it right now. When I ever say you were on different teams? I still remember that moment I broke down into tears. He called me a bully, which for me, being bullied was like a radical slap in the face. what he did in that moment was pulled out. The truth. You see, I was so focused on winning that I was willing to burn it all down. the second we split into groups, I was like us, them, us, them. It's crazy. Then the instructor went on a rant—like a full-on roast—first scolding everyone for not collaborating. Then he zeroed in on specific people, calling out their actions in the game. Or even their inactions. The instructor said how you play this game reflects how you live your life. Whether it’s yelling like a bully or passively doing nothing. He used this one game—a game we barely understood, with rules we didn’t fully grasp— to judge our morals and character. After the rant, class ended immediately. People went home to reflect. And they had homework—to write about our thoughts and reflections. The next morning, they came back to share their feelings. From all the essays I’ve read, and from everyone I’ve interviewed, they all said the same thing: everyone felt miserable after that game. Even people who were skeptical about the course before suddenly opened up afterward. Then at the morning sharing session, people were super eager to get on stage, sharing what flaws they discovered while playing the red-black game and what they learned from the program. And how they planned to improve. The instructor would encourage everyone to applaud and cheer for the sharers. But here’s the mysterious part—based on all the essays I’ve read and the people I’ve interviewed, I never found a single group that succeeded in the red-black game. Not one group ever played it "right." There was even someone who used to be an assistant for this course who told me this: Did you ever see anyone “win”? -Let me think No -No? -I never saw anyone win this game yea no The game is actually about game theory, which is a super complex and fascinating field of study. For example, some people use game theory to explain why during the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union got stuck in a mutual destruction arms race, spending tons of money on nukes. It’s because they didn’t trust each other, so they couldn’t achieve a win-win situation. The logic they teach in class—“just choose win-win every time”—is oversimplified Sure, if all of humanity trusted each other, the earth would be a better place, and there’d be no wars. But for various reasons, the world doesn’t work that way. Sometimes, you’ve got to watch out for bad actors. If you always try to play the red card and aim for win-win, And if the person you’re dealing with is an “I don’t care about win-win” sociopath, are you still gonna play the win-win card? Why humans can't achieve win-win in every situation is actually a super interesting topic to discuss. But these courses take that concept and turn it into a tool to pressure you. That's basically how these courses operate—constant ups and downs. Ups and downs. On the surface, they say every activity is meant to teach you a new lesson. But in reality... if you analyze it carefully, these activities follow a pattern of pressure and relief. But honestly, analyzing this is not something most participants have the energy for. One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is how ridiculously long these courses are. The first three days are like five or six hours each day. Then the last two days? Ten to thirteen hours. Yeah, I know. It’s insane. And on top of that, you’ve got homework every day, so most people barely get any sleep. The food situation? Not great. And a lot of these venues don’t even have windows— the air’s totally stale. These absurdly long hours and the stressful environment really mess with your ability to think clearly. But after going through all these ups and downs, by the evening of day four, the course suddenly gets super chill. The instructor starts acting all nice. You feel like, "Wow, I finally made it!" Like you’ve achieved something. You’ll play these games where you hug each other, and it makes you feel like you’re one big family with your classmates and the instructors. Day four is chill, and day five? Even more chill. Everyone shares what they’ve learned during the course. Then on day five, the instructor pitches the second phase of the program, telling you that you’ve only just started— you’ve only scratched the surface of understanding yourself. But if you really want to break through and transform, you need to move on to phase two. Day five ends with a graduation ceremony. Everyone gathers in a room, and the instructor recaps what you’ve done over the past few days. The vibe is super emotional. At the end, they’ll ask you to close your eyes, and with the music swelling, they tell you to suddenly open them. And bam—you’ll see the friend who invited you to the course standing right in front of you. wow. much emotional. At least, that’s what I’ve been told Finally, the instructor tells you that in two days, you’ll need to attend a guest seminar. And for this guest seminar, you’ll need to invite two friends to join you. And surprise, surprise—the guest seminar is basically just a sales pitch. Yup, recruiting people starts from level one. It’s not just the guest seminar— after finishing phase one, you’re also required to attend a follow-up meeting. And yep, you guessed it— that’s also a sales event. This course will do whatever it takes to make you pay another $1300 to sign up for the second stage. I remember a friend told me before going in... He absolutely didn’t want to continue. And yet, somehow... What started as one-on-one turned into two-on-one, three-on-one, four-on-one... even the [instructor] joined in. Yeah, the basic course instructor himself showed up. All to persuade him. Once he finally agreed, they’d pull you aside and say, “Alright, let’s go.” And then... They’d walk you to the back to sign up and pay. The Second Level - The Advanced Course Folks, welcome to the advanced course. If you thought the basic course was rough... the advanced one will blow your mind. In this stage... the instructors tell you... their goal is to push you to your limits so you’ll experience a "transformation." And the way they push you... is something students would’ve never expected before signing up. The course lasts five days, and each day is 14 hours long. Yep, you heard that right—14 hours. On the first day... we sat in a U-shaped arrangement. The instructor was different too, but they just stayed offstage, refusing to come up. Our first session? We just stared at the instructor and each other for 40 minutes. Eventually, one classmate couldn’t take it anymore. She stood up on her own... went up to the front to share her experience from the first stage. She even tried to lighten the mood— got everyone to dance or something. And right then, the instructor finally stepped up. The first thing they did? Yelled at her. No joke, I was scared out of my mind. The instructor started with hardcore manipulation tactics, calling her arrogant and full of herself. And that’s when the course’s signature term, "Drilling," kicked in. The instructor just kept scolding until she broke down crying. After a relentless verbal attack, the student finally shared some heartbreaking details about her past. Why she became who she is today. Some classmates even cried along, feeling bad for her. Like, wow, her life’s been rough. Then, the instructor suddenly switched gears, gave her a reassuring pat, and praised her for being so caring and thoughtful. Said she was amazing. Super empathetic. And after tearing her down, they moved on to the next person’s wounds. For the first three days, it was endless scolding. That’s right If the first stage had some chill moments, the second stage was just constant scolding. Scold, then lift you back up. Over and over again. And this "drilling" wasn’t just the instructor scolding—your classmates joined in too. They made all of us... stand in a U-shape. A horseshoe shape. One by one, people took turns standing in the middle. Once you finished scolding, you’d go back. Everyone had to take a turn in the center. And everyone had to yell. You had to attack everyone. If your attack wasn’t on point... if you didn’t hit your classmates where it really hurt... the instructor would accuse you of betraying your classmates. Betraying your "buddy." If I yelled at someone like this—"You're despicable! You're shameless! You’re horrible!"—the instructor would immediately step in and say, "Stop." "Li Yaling, how can you be so fake? Do you know you're still betraying your friends right now?" "You're still turning your back on them. You don't want them to do well—you don't even point out their flaws." We were all required to do it. If we didn’t scold harshly enough— like if it wasn’t intense, emotional, or borderline hysterical— we couldn’t pass. So the person being yelled at? They’d just be trembling like this. Some of these people had massive businesses— millionaires driving luxury cars worth millions— and they’d be shaking where they stood. In that moment, I truly felt like I was witnessing a scene straight out of a political purge decades ago. It was that same feeling of being publicly criticized. And anything could be a reason to get yelled at. Even being the last one to get scolded, that could also be a reason Because there always has to be someone who’s last, right? Then, at that point, the instructor would step in and say, "What are you thinking?" "Is your life just meant to be at the bottom? Why do you let yourself be last?" And it just so happened that the student was a tough woman. She replied, "I don’t think I’m at the bottom at all." "I’m always raising my hand and speaking up. Can’t I just let others go first?" [Instructor] said, "Why can’t you accept that right now, at this moment, you are the last one!” "You’re the one nobody wants. You’re just picking up the leftovers!" It turned into a huge argument. After that, everyone was terrified of being the last one. People would rush to get on stage first. They’d fight for the "center" position. Because if you didn’t rush to speak first, you could end up in a situation like that. And trust me, you don’t need to worry about the instructors missing their marks when they scold you. They have tools you don’t even know about—they’ve already figured out your weak spots. I think it’s because, before the advanced courses, we all had to fill out those forms. We had to write down our goals, our fears, the things we wanted to improve. We wrote all of it. Yeah, I think they read those forms and used them to figure out how to handle us. This is reporter Li Yaling sharing how the instructor targeted her weak points. So when it was my turn, whoever was scolding at me, I’d stare at them. I’d use my eyes to say, "How am I despicable? What nonsense are you talking about?" I stared so much that the person scolding couldn’t keep going. But then the instructor noticed this. And this instructor happened to be someone I knew—a friend. We’d known each other for years; she was like an older sister to me. In real life, she was this intelligent, kind-hearted woman. She came up to me and said, "Yaling, do you know what your biggest flaw is?" "You pretend to be strong." She brought up some of the struggles I’ve faced as a reporter—things I don’t usually talk about. The pain of losing my mother-in-law, losing loved ones, and the way I’m tough on the outside but soft inside. She started criticizing me based on all that. I couldn’t take it, because every word hit me right where it hurt. So I broke down. At first, I kept staring at people. But then I couldn’t anymore. I just broke down and cried. And after that, when others scolded me... So I just went with it and started accepting it. These courses don’t just rely on what you wrote down yourself. Actually, that friend who pulled you in? They had already sold you out without even realizing it. They’ve spilled all your secrets—the person who pulled you in—like, literally everything. So honestly, they might know you better than you know yourself. That’s exactly how they dig into you—they know how to hit you where it hurts. The course keeps hammering on those theories we mentioned earlier, like "the responsible version." In the first stage, the instructor might still sometimes sound chill while explaining it. But at this stage, they’ll use this theory over and over to tell you all the bad stuff in your life is entirely your fault. For example, this recording of an instructor scolding at someone—it’s from stage two. Listen to how they use the "ambition theory" to humiliate this student who was late because of a car accident. So? Where’s your ambition of being late? Why don’t you leave earlier then? -okay -What’s 'okay' supposed to mean? Face your ambition for being late! So what now? Based on the result? -I’m not getting it no matter how much you yell. -So what? What does my volume have to do with anything? -What am I supposed to say then? -Just take responsibility! Is that a f***ing victim mindset or a responsible one? -Why are you overreacting like this? -What do you mean overreacting? First of all, miss, you broke your commitment. -ok -Yeah, you did. So you’re just gonna ignore that? -What the heck is this 'ambition for being late' thing? Like, wtf even is that?" -You f***ing went through the basic course, and you still don’t get what ambition of being late is? Every result is something you created! and your attitude sucks! -Why would my attitude be nice when you’re yelling at me? -You are late Why don’t you f***ing reflect on how you made someone yell at you like this? -So we’re picking me apart now? No one’s blaming you. Who has time for that? You’re playing the victim so hard. Just own up to being late! So in the first stage, the ideas you thought would help you are now, in stage two, turned into weapons to attack you. And don’t forget, this course runs 14 hours a day, and even after class, you’re not done. You still have homework, and if you don’t do enough of it, you’ll get yelled at during class too. Here’s the homework from the first day of the advanced course. Let’s take a look. First question: "What’s the most hurtful feedback you’ve ever received?" Write two full pages. Second question: "List 20 times you asked for love and got rejected." Bro, who even has 20 stories like that? That’s like the ultimate simp level, seriously. Third question: "List 20 times someone asked for your love, and you rejected them." Wow, what’s this? So now you’re not a simp, you’re a total player? And then blah blah blah, a ton more. Anyway, you have to finish all this homework. Write everything down, no exceptions. Otherwise, guess what? You’re next in line to get the “drilling”. But here's the thing—no one can actually write that much, no matter how hard they try. So, it's basically a trap. They're just setting up a reason to keep yelling at you. And on top of that, we barely get any sleep. Because after they review our homework the next morning... ...we realize... ...our next day's homework will be even worse. -Wait, so the homework made you sleep even less? -Yea. That stuff took forever to finish. And in this course... ...if you want to go to the bathroom whenever you feel like it, nope. Not happening. Not being allowed to go to the bathroom is pure torture. I stopped drinking water because of it. Some people even say that if you try to go, you’ll just get dragged back. Wait, how long couldn’t you go? How many hours? It varied. Like, sometimes it could be as long as five or six hours. Their reasoning? Wanting to go to the bathroom is just an excuse to avoid facing your problems. If you feel like going, it's because you're "avoiding something." I heard an example of this during an interview, and honestly, it really upset me. There was this girl who shared how, as a kid, her classmates used to call her names like "fatso" or worse. And there was this one phrase... ...it was in Taiwanese. Not sure if you've heard of it. Something like “Big Butt, Stir-Fried Greens” or whatever. The instructor, said this line, and then everyone else started repeating it. Maybe because it was the most hurtful thing she'd ever heard in her life. So the instructor kept saying it. And everyone just kept yelling it over and over. To provoke her. Until she cried. Something like that. And then? To make her cry. And face it. And then they wanted her to "accept it." Basically, they were pushing her to get over it. Once she broke down crying... ...she let it all out and was made to "accept" her flawed self. That kind of breakdown? I totally get it. I’ve seen grown men—guys in their 30s and 40s, managing thousands of employees... ...men worth millions—shaking in their boots here. Crying their eyes out. Even me—someone who's been spat on, slapped, and literally had a bounty on my head... ...I still ended up bawling my eyes out here. So, to those internet critics out there, if you haven’t gone through this, don’t judge too quickly. If you were in that environment, you’d probably break down faster than we did. Don’t think you’re invincible. Because everyone has... ...a vulnerable side, something they struggle with. The person who "recruited" you into this knows your weak spot—they know exactly where to hit you. And they’ll take you down. They’ll stab you right where it hurts the most. And when it happens, you'll break too. So, why are these courses designed this way? And why do the students put up with it? Of course, some don’t. Like Alisasa, On the first day of the second stage... ...they tried to "drill" her a little... ...and she was like, nope. And then she left. But not everyone is like Alisasa. Many participants stay because they believe the course is designed for their own good. To some extent, they trust the course, believing that being pushed and broken down like this is for the sake of being rebuilt later— to become a better version of themselves. After enduring several days of the basic course, they’ve come to accept that this is all fine. Even though, in the moment, it feels awful. And don’t forget, most people join these courses because their friends recommended them. Sometimes, participants even ask their friends, “What’s the deal with this stage?” But their friends just say, “Stick with it! The payoff will be huge.” Because later on, they’ll experience a “transformation.” So all they have to do is endure it. And that’s why many people keep going, enduring all this wild psychological abuse. Of course, the advanced courses have their own set of games and activities. For example, there’s a game called the Lifeboat Game. In this game, you’re told to pretend you’re on a sinking ship and need to save your classmates. But in the end, you realize you either “die” because no one wants to save you—what a loser— or you survive but fail to save everyone else. And if you can’t save everyone, what a failure you are. The course uses this game, once again, to make you feel terrible. Then there are other games where you’re forced to reveal your secrets. The instructor would have us close our eyes and raise our hands if, for example, we’d done drugs, committed murder, had an abortion, or been sexually assaulted. Stuff like that. Things like that. At the time, I was so curious— I secretly peeked to see who had committed murder. Anyway, that’s how it goes—everyone ends up knowing each other’s secrets. But if you do share, the instructor rewards you, saying, “Wow, you’re so brave for sharing!” And it encourages the next person to share their own sad experiences too. So after enduring a few days of these activities and psychological torment, the only way to gain the approval of the “savior” instructor is to bare your deepest secrets in front of everyone. So this one girl was sobbing, and during the session, she unknowingly exposed all her family’s private matters, including her abortion experience. She spilled everything. And I was sitting there thinking, “This isn’t right. These topics shouldn’t be discussed in a public setting like this.” That’s when I realized this course doesn’t protect anyone’s privacy at all. We can’t be this naive. But many people don’t see it. They vent everything, sharing what should and shouldn’t be said. And after that, who’s going to protect them? What if someone uses this information to blackmail them? This approach is nothing like, for example, therapy. A legit therapist would never force you to say anything. They let you share at your own pace. They won't manipulate you or create high-pressure situations. Unlike these courses, where they build a stressful, disoriented, guilt-ridden environment to pressure you into revealing your deepest secrets for their approval. And you have to do it in front of a group of people who can't guarantee your privacy. That's just not what happens in therapy. The primary rules for therapists are not to harm clients and to protect their privacy. So honestly, I think these LGAT courses are super unethical. They twist therapy theories and crank it up hundreds of levels with intense techniques. But in the end, there's no safety, no principles, and it costs way more than therapy. It's f***ing crazy, OK? But don’t worry. After all the scolding, on day three, the instructor suddenly flips. The first few days are like— attack mode. Then later, they act like a savior. They start saying, "You’re amazing, you’ve got to accept yourself," and stuff like that. At that moment, I really thought, wow, this course is incredible! It showed me how flawed I am, but I’m still worthy of love. So many people still accept me. And then, the instructor tells this story about a "starfish." It sets the stage for Phase Three’s "recruitment." The teacher told us the story about IMO and the starfish. She also shared why he wanted to become an advanced course instructor, saying she changed many lives. She wished there wouldn’t be advanced courses anymore because it was just too painful. Then everyone started crying. Wait, isn’t she the one causing the pain? What are you talking about. But it was super touching in the moment. So, what’s this starfish story about? Let me give you the short version. Once upon a time, there was a boy— He was on a beach, throwing starfish back into the ocean. An old man passing by was completely baffled. He said to the boy, “Haha, you dumb**s!” “Can’t you see there are millions of starfish here?” “What you’re doing is totally pointless.” I have no idea where this old man came from based on this accent. It’s a made-up story, okay? A fictional village, alright? The boy didn’t say a word. He just picked up another starfish— And threw it back into the sea. Then he said to the old man, “Look—” “At least for this one—” Then he said to the old man, “Look—” “At least for this one starfish, its fate—” “Has completely changed.” WOW. So inspiring, so touching! Spoiler alert: in the third phase of the course, they’ll tell you to recruit people. And the ones you recruit— are called “starfish.” Amazing, right? Guys, we’re all messiahs now—messiahs! Day four is the most crucial day of the advanced course. On this day, based on your personality— The teacher will assign you a “role.” Your task for the day? Rent a costume, and in the evening, you have to perform as that character. Now, I’d love to tell you about all the different roles, but honestly, every time I’ve interviewed people about this part— I was literally nodding off. Because all these character names are so cringy. For example, there’s this one character called “Red Underwear.” It’s assigned to the shy, quiet guys. You know, the reserved, introverted type. So when it’s your turn to perform, you first have to act out this shy, awkward version of yourself. Then suddenly, you’re supposed to transform—by stripping off all your clothes. Until you’re literally just in red underwear. Yeah, I don’t know, okay? Some people even took it too far. Like, performing it completely naked. I mean, look, I get it. Because it’s guys, so some people might hear this and think, Haha, kinda funny. But don’t forget the intense pressure of this course. You’re constantly getting yelled at, barely sleeping, totally out of it. Blah blah, a whole lot of stress. Now imagine if a woman, under these same conditions, was told to perform a role like that. And she ends up naked. Would we still find it funny? Or would we be horrified? We probably would start questioning the course. Like, is it even ethical to push people into doing things like this in such a high-pressure environment? But hold up—if you’re a woman, don’t worry, there are special roles for you too. One of them is called... “Landlady.” Some of the women in my class got assigned roles where they had to perform multiple orgasms. I mean, just saying that out loud feels so absurd. It’s such a private thing. Like, how do you even perform that in front of everyone? And “multiple orgasms” obviously means moaning, right? They couldn’t do it, and then everyone started saying, “Come on, just moan! Just try!” They’d say they didn’t know how, so we’d have to moan first, like, demonstrate, and then tell them to do it. Basically, they’d push them until they had to do it. I remember one girl started crying because she felt so humiliated or something... But she still did it. She moaned, and then cried after. Cried? She really didn’t want to, but if she didn’t, it wouldn’t end. You couldn’t move on. You had to do it. After she did, she broke down crying. Yeah, it’s very f***ed up. But honestly, that’s just a small part of it. Most people’s experiences were “good.” While these students are pouring their hearts out on stage, the lights suddenly turn off. That’s the sign you’ve passed. It means you’ve finally transformed. Then you just lay on the floor, and as the music plays, your classmates slowly lift you up. All the intense pressure from the past few days just... vanishes in that moment. And instead, you feel this overwhelming sense of achievement and satisfaction. After getting drilled for over ten hours a day, constantly blaming yourself, and being reminded in every way possible how worthless you are, in that moment, as your classmates lift you up, you finally feel like you’ve made it to the other side. You finally made it. You’ve shed all your armor and become a real person. You’ve become confident, you’ve become amazing, and you’re finally living your truest, most authentic self. The positive vibes after the course are like, “Oh, so this is what it means to truly live in the moment.” Something like that. You hear phrases you already know, but after the course, when paired with your new experiences, you’re like, “Oh, so this is what living in the moment means.” Now my happiness feels real, not just me pretending to smile like, “Haha, I’m happy.” I get what you mean. I know this lady, an entrepreneur, who finished the third-level course and decided to donate her family fortune. In the end, she gave away $1,000,000 These seminars promise participants a powerful experience they refer to as a transformation. And to achieve this transformation, they put people through days of psychological stress using exercises and interactions to generate high levels of guilt, shame, inadequacy, uncertainty, and fear. you are not listening! Because some of you are so stupid! I push the right button Don't worry I’ll get the same response everytime And then on the final day, when participants graduate, the stress is removed and replaced with love, acceptance, affirmation and renewal. in 1987 there was an article written by Morton Lieberman, and his comment was, you know, there's no reason to assume on the basis of the evidence we've so far been able to gather, that large group awareness training could not create psychiatric risk in some. What is clearly lacking, however, is a coherent theory to explain the relationship between what takes place in the trainings and these symptoms. So at the time, they had noticed that there were these things going on. they were kind of like, there's no way to really explain how they're related. He observed this phenomenon. He had me log into this forum where tons of people were seeking help. There were multiple cases of self-harm and suicide. One of the participants was actually a classmate of mine—an alumnus. Right after coming out of the course, they went straight to the North Train Station, to a place called Dongzikou, and threw themselves in front of a train. Many people who take this course say they feel completely transformed afterward. Not only do they become more confident, but they loosen up, become super extroverted, more energetic, decisive, loving, and happy. Some even say it’s the first time in their lives they’ve truly felt alive, the first time they’ve understood what life is really about, and the meaning of true happiness. Many people see this “amazing experience” as proof that the course works, and that they’ve successfully transformed. “I feel so good, so I must have improved. This transformation must be real, and this course must work. Otherwise, what else could explain how I’m feeling right now?” Well, maybe we can check the research. If there’s research showing that people’s lives really changed after joining these LGAT courses, then maybe you’ve actually transformed. Now, on this topic, the only peer-reviewed study ever published in a journal Is this one by Fisher et al., from 1989 They compared 135 participants of "The Forum," an LGAT program, to a control group of 73 people. Participants filled out detailed questionnaires 4-6 weeks before the course, 4-6 weeks after, and again 18 months later. Researchers evaluated multiple indicators, including perceived control, life satisfaction, daily coping, social functioning, positive and negative affect, self-esteem, and more. As for the results, the researchers said There was clearly no evidence of a dramatic shift on dimensions related to subjective well-being, perceived life satisfaction, or world view. In fact, with the exception of the short-term multivariate results for Perceived Control, there was no appreciable effect on any dimension which could reflect positive change. And “perceived control” only means the extent to which you believe outcomes in your life are due to external factors versus your own actions. Well, after attending one of those courses that constantly shout “Everything in life is your responsibility,” it’s not surprising that your perceived control increases. But what is surprising is that for all the other indicators— life satisfaction, daily coping, positive and negative affects— there was no significant difference 4-6 weeks after the course compared to before the course. So, did people just walk away from these courses with a temporary “high”? What exactly is this post-course “high”? That intense, happy, liberated feeling— is it really proof that the course works? Or maybe, could there be other explanations for this “high”? Other explanations do exist. Next, I’d like to introduce a psychological theory—a hypothesis. But before explaining the theory, we need to talk about a researcher, Dr. John Hunter, and how he stumbled upon these LGAT programs and started his research. In 2003, John Hunter experienced a manic episode. At the time, he didn’t know what mania was. He just felt an intense surge of energy, a newfound confidence and creativity, and he could go without sleep. Yet, he still felt so full of life. At one point, he even thought he’d had some sort of religious experience. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. Some Mandarin-speaking viewers tend to misunderstand the term “manic depression.” When they see the word “manic” they think the condition is all about anger, bad temper, or violence. But that interpretation is actually incorrect. The term "bipolar disorder" might feel more straightforward since the key trait of this condition is mood swings between extremes. There are two main cycles people experience: the manic phase and the depressive phase. During mania, the world feels amazing. You feel super energetic, your confidence skyrockets, and ideas just keep flowing. But during depression, it’s like you’re paralyzed—filled with self-loathing, emptiness, sadness, and despair, even to the point of having suicidal thoughts. These cycles don’t last just a minute of euphoria and then a minute of sadness. That’s a common misconception. For many people, manic and depressive phases can last weeks, or even months. Mania itself comes in two forms: mania and hypomania. The difference is just the severity. Mania can seriously disrupt daily life. People feel unstoppable, barely need sleep, and sometimes have delusions, like thinking they’re a god or receiving messages from the divine. Hypomania, though, isn’t as extreme. But you still get inflated self-esteem, high energy, and motivation, feeling hyped and confident. You might believe you’ve become super creative, start acting impulsively, feel euphoric, and so on. Some people with bipolar experience mania, while others only go through hypomania. Bipolar disorder also has a strong genetic link. After John Hunter was diagnosed with bipolar in 2003, he began researching what triggers manic episodes so he could prevent them. And the literature is quite clear. So, of the major triggers, environmental triggers for a manic episode are psychological stress, sleep disruption, which is actually a form of psychological stress. And then another one was goal attainment. So effectively reaching a goal or removing something stressful that you've been striving towards often leads to, manic or hypomanic episodes. Coincidentally, in 2010, John Hunter started a new job, where part of the onboarding process required attending a self-help seminar. My interpretation of what was going on over four days was that the exercise is, almost without exception, were designed to generate as much guilt, shame, inadequacy, humiliation as possible. And people were breaking down constantly So as somebody who knows that psychological stress and sleep disruption are major triggers. I was sitting there very, very cautious very much, watching what was going on. and my only goal was to not have a relapse, you know, I didn't want to lose this job. I had a home to pay off in Johannesburg. So was trying to kind of figure out how to manage this, but there's not really time kind of do that in that environment. So I just wanted to kind of get through it, try to be as stable as, as I could and then make any big decisions afterwards. so for three days I was like, this is massive psychological stress and then sleep disruption. And then on the final day, it was the clearest kind of case of goal attainment I'd ever seen. You know, the mood was switched from one of being incredibly oppressive to one of being love, acceptance, affirmation and joy. You've graduated. You're wonderful. You're one of us. But what I saw amongst almost without exception, the participants that were there was what I would describe as hypomanic symptoms. So not full mania, but really euphoric. Laughing, smiling, dancing, super confidence. People said to me afterwards that they had slept two hours the night before, and they felt amazingly energized, which is just very kind of clear. As someone with bipolar disorder and who studies this subject, John Hunter found these participants' changes really strange. Why did this big group of seemingly healthy people start acting hypomanic right after the course? and then I later went to read about, you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of examples of what people were explaining. They went through and it aligned perfectly with hypomania. hypomania has got a very specific fingerprints. It's not just feeling happy. So it's kind of a combination of things. So you see euphoria, you see like excessive confidence, impulsive behavior, sociability, increased energy, increased productivity, creativity. They may said, people, you know, you'll you'll be more decisive. They won't say you'll be impulsive, they'll say you'll be decisive. But if you actually look at the behavior of some people that are spending huge amounts of money immediately afterwards quite recklessly, I know this lady, an entrepreneur, who finished the third-level course and decided to donate her family fortune. In the end, she gave away $1,000,000 or getting divorced immediately afterwards, as a number of people that our organization did. That's incredibly impulsive, but they'll say you'll be more decisive. If you look it up online, you'll find tons of stories from friends of participants saying their friends became overly excited and ridiculously "positive" after taking the course. You’ll even find many people saying their partners asked for a divorce after attending the course. These kinds of impulsive actions are widely documented among LGAT participants. Margaret Singer also noted that Afterward, participants have attested to feeling “awesome” and experiencing an emotional high that lasted for days. Some say they had to use special “grounding” procedures just to carry on with normal life after this “transcending” experience. So, it seems that many participants’ reactions to these LGAT courses closely resemble hypomanic symptoms. This really caught John Hunter's attention, so he started digging deeper into the underlying connections. He went back to school and worked his way from a bachelor's in psychology to a PhD. In 2017, he completed his 500-page dissertation. By 2022, his findings were published in journals, and he released a book "Manufacturing Mania". This book explores how healthy individuals can exhibit hypomanic-like symptoms and how those emotions influence their interpretations, Including religious experiences. To summarize some of the key ideas, this compelling evidence that elevated dopamine signaling contribute significantly to hypomania and mania. This other research that shows that psychological stress followed by reward plausibly results in elevates dopamine activity. And these rewards would include social rewards like love, forgiveness, affirmation, renewal, and a sense of community. LGATs to use a process of psychological suffering followed by social reward, and they elicit transformations with indicators that align with hypomania and mania, or stated differently. Elevated dopamine signaling. Of course, this is a very simplified version of the argument. If you want the full details, you can check out his 500-page PhD dissertation, which dives deeper into the link between stress and dopamine. It explains what types of stress increase dopamine—or to phrase it more precisely, what kinds of situations arouse the SEEKING system under Panksepp’s ‘Emotional Systems’ theory. And what commonalities does this aroused state share with manic symptoms? He compiled hundreds of resources on LGAT. Through thematic analysis, he gathered data on different course experiences and participants' reactions. It explains how LGAT, through its course structure, applies pressure and then delivers huge rewards, resulting in participants experiencing a hypomanic-like state achieved through dopamine elevation. So, what do those dopamine elevated state look like? John Hunter identified the following emotional states in LGAT participants after completing the courses. These states overlap with those caused by dopamine elevation. First, a shift in perspective. Seeing the world as a better place. What dopamine does is dopamine really colors the subjective experience of an activity to make it more pleasureful. Many participants said after the course, their way of viewing the world completely changed. Not only did they feel more self-love, but they also developed a more positive and optimistic outlook on others and the future. One participant enthused: ‘I felt limitlessly free, all restrictions were gone. The world belonged to me, and everything was possible.” It’s worth noting that their external circumstances hadn’t changed. What changed was simply their way of seeing the world. Second, euphoria. This post-course positivity is like, you know, The positive vibes after the course are like, “Oh, so this is what it means to truly live in the moment.” Something like that. You hear phrases you already know, but after the course, when paired with your new experiences, you’re like, “Oh, so this is what living in the moment means.” I get you Many people feel euphoria after these courses. Euphoria is a bit tricky to define in Chinese, but in English, it’s this overwhelming joy. You can think of it as a huge sense of fulfillment and happiness. Like, when you finish your Gaokao. Assuming you didn’t totally bomb them. That feeling of relief and happiness after finishing? Maybe that’s euphoric. But don’t ask me— I never took Gaokao It’s that inner peace, the sense that everything in life is just right. You get what I mean, right? You’ve felt it before, haven’t you? I hope everyone has. If not, that’s a bummer. OK, I’m sorry. Maybe consider taking Gaokao. Third, increased energy and productivity. Many people feel like they have more energy and can get more done each day after the course. They approach everything with enthusiasm. Some even find they need less sleep. “Several trainees say that on just four or five hours’ sleep they awakened more alive and energetic than they normally do on eight- or nine-hours sleep.” Fourth, confidence. Some people who were originally shy and scared to share their thoughts became super confident. They started talking non-stop and weren’t afraid to express themselves. Others felt like they could accomplish anything they set their minds to. They felt ready to face anything, conquer the world, and become the champion of their own life. Fifth, decisiveness and impulsivity. During one part of the course called “"Gift of Giving",” some people got so euphoric they wrote $10,000 checks on the spot to donate to the program. We've heard stories like this before, for example, someone who finished the course and donated 30 million NTD. If you're not familiar with NTD, that's 1 million USD. Yeah, that's crazy. Or how some people would borrow money to help future participants pay for the courses. And as we mentioned earlier, there are people who said their partners decided to divorce them right after finishing the course. Which is super impulsive. Number six: inspiration and creativity I know this must all sound absurd,’ he went on. ‘I don’t ever remember in my whole life, not with alcohol or drugs or the simple gift of the muses, ever having my imagination flow out of control in the way it did last night Exactly. Many people feel that after taking the course, their artistic inspiration and creativity improve and they can see more connections in the world. They come up with original ideas they never thought of before. So, many believe these feelings stem from what they see as a "transformation." But based on what we just mentioned, another explanation is that the course creates this effect by putting participants under extreme stress, then providing rewards, thus elevating dopamine. And that "high" feeling participants experience is largely just the result of increased dopamine—not some magical power of the course itself. Not only is there no magic, but sometimes these courses can be dangerous. Number seven: (Occasionally) psychosis If you still remember about an hour ago in this video, we talked about people who experienced mental breakdowns after attending Lifespring, like thinking they could control traffic lights, believing they became course instructors, or thinking God told them to sacrifice their infant child. And as John Hunter pointed out, symptoms like these might also be linked to dopamine elevation. There’s also evidence showing that some LGAT participants don’t just feel high and then return to normal. Some people crash emotionally afterward, feeling even lower than before. This participant shared: I’m confused. I guess I was confused during most of the training and I’m confused now. I was feeling great Monday, really great, and yesterday I was more depressed than I’ve been in years This morning was great and this afternoon is horrible. I knew life was supposed to be a roller coaster but I mean really, since the program, it’s a bit too much. Another participant said, "My husband weirdly euphoric and animated Then he became very depressed” She added that he had panic attacks for a long time after. Lastly, different genetics, life experiences, and subjective feelings during the course can make some people unable to handle the stress of LGAT. Over the past 50 years, Cases of depression or suicide after participating in LGAT have been reported repeatedly over the past 50 years. So if the emotional outcomes caused by LGAT aren’t due to "transformation" but are simply a reaction to extreme stress followed by reward, leading to dopamine elevation, then why do so many participants interpret this state as a profound "transformation," as though they’ve truly changed? This is because... How we interpret an abnormal emotional state is linked to what we already know. If you don’t know how to explain a certain abnormal experience, you’ll look to your surroundings for clues. For example— In some places, people might not have heard of schizophrenia. So if one day they experience symptoms like hallucinations or hearing voices— They might interpret those symptoms as "possessed" because of cultural influences. Not as "schizophrenia." And instead of seeing a psychiatrist, they’ll go for rituals to banish spirits. Similarly, these LGAT courses create their own cultural environment. Right from the start, they guide you into interpreting that "high" feeling a certain way. For instance, they keep telling you that you have to fully commit to "transform." Your friends say— You have to stick with it to "break through," and it’ll feel amazing when it happens. So you endure the intense pressure of the process— All just to get to that so-called "victory" at the end. You’ve been primed from the very beginning— On how you’re supposed to interpret the experience. And then, when that pressure suddenly lifts, and your peers lift you up— You think to yourself, "Wow!" This feels incredible. Is this... wow, is this transformation? Wow, I feel so light, so confident. I feel like I’ve finally become my true self. Bro, I’ve never felt like this in my life. So my friends were right all along. Turns out, you really have to experience this course for yourself. This is insane. This course is too good to keep to myself. Everyone should feel what I’m feeling. Everyone should go through this transformation. The Third Stage The third stage is when the recruiting begins. Unlike stages one and two, which take five days each, the third stage is a 100-day program with three tasks. First, you do weekly community service. Like caring for the elderly or contributing to society in some way. Then, you set and complete three personal goals. Lastly, you commit to recruiting three people—aka creating three "starfish." After feeling that high and graduating from stage two— The instructors encourage you to move on to stage three, to keep leveling up and applying what you’ve learned to your life. And this one costs another $900 If you look at the marketing page— For stage three of a certain LGAT course, it’s all about contributing and giving back. In those 100 days, you have three tasks: do charity work, achieve personal goals, and recruit others. Wait, what? Recruiting people and doing charity work? Yep. Because if the course only focused on recruiting, it’d be way too obvious. But when they mix in other activities— At least you’ll think, "Wow— I’m doing charity and helping others. Looks like I really am changing the world. This course is amazing! How could there be anything wrong with it?" But that’s just my perspective. These courses charge you three stages, totaling over $3000. Are their intentions truly what they claim? Well, I’ll leave that one up to you. From the start, the course makes you commit to how many people you’ll recruit in those 100 days—usually at least three. And in stage three, it’s usually done in teams. Each week, every team— Must bring in at least one person to "win." And if you don’t recruit anyone— You’ll be criticized. But back then— I was already shaped by their mindset. At the time, I didn’t even think I was duped into becoming a salesperson. And how do they criticize you? They use principles you learned in earlier courses, then twist them to target you. During those 100 days, everything you did somehow became your problem. Because if you didn’t hit the "starfish" goal. Looking through the lens of the first-phase course… Doesn’t that just mean you lack ambition? You’re not giving it 100%. You’re not even trying. You’re not putting in effort. You’re not contributing. The concepts all connect together. The “starfish” thing is tied to how you live your life, how you treat people. Some people even go so far as to approach homeless folks for this. They’d literally shout on the streets, like, “Hey, anyone want a free class?” stuff like that. So it’s like they are buying “startfish”. Yea, people would do whatever it takes. If you manage to recruit people, fine. But if you can’t… or if you decide you don’t want to continue the program, someone might literally show up at your door. If someone tries to quit, everyone scrambles to pull them back. They’ll do whatever it takes to reel them in. They might even go to their house or workplace, doing everything they can to bring them back. Asking why they did that, stuff like that. Go to their workplace? Yeah, like, to "encourage" them. Visit them. Show up at their office? Maybe call them down. “I’m downstairs,” that kind of thing. Or they’d visit their house. It happens when they can’t recruit people. Then they’d start avoiding, hiding, not answering calls or messages. So their so-called “milestone family” (classmates) would come looking for you. Like, “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Checking in. If you still don’t respond, they might show up at your place. Some participants told me that if someone skips a session, they might even ask your security guards, neighbors, call the police, or bring locksmiths over. They’d also use the post-session “high” to get you to recruit more people. with large group awareness trainings I mean I think that they've they've kind of timed it quite nicely. They end on a Sunday. Their graduation slash recruitments is on the Tuesday. So that gives graduates enough time to go out and find as many people as they can, but also not too much time that the the wears off. Right after stage 2, that’s when energy’s at its peak. It’s the best time to recruit. During the first weekend of stage 3, there’s even this game called “Golden 18 hours” It happens on Saturday— like, class ends at 6 or 7 PM, and the next session is Sunday afternoon. You get 18 hours to see who can recruit the most starfish. Even bosses running companies often pull in their employees. A lot of the participants in these LGATs are business owners or entrepreneurs. For them, getting starfish is super easy. They just order their staff to join. It’s everywhere, seriously. I met so many, like, middle-class bosses here. Owners of Taiwan’s mid-sized chain restaurants would send their managers to the courses. Or people from aesthetic clinics. So many of them. After our group members started taking this course, it spread like wildfire. It basically became the birthplace of this LGAT program. One after another, staff members and group members joined in. From my perspective, recruiting people isn’t just about bringing in more customers for the course. No, in my view, it’s also a way for these courses to strengthen participants' beliefs. Cialdini’s psychology theory explains that when people take certain actions, it’s like they’re proving to themselves, “I believe in this thing.” To avoid cognitive dissonance, your mind resists changing its perception of the course after recruiting others. You start to subconsciously think, “I’ve brought people in—so I must really believe in this. This course can’t possibly be bad.” Cialdini also points out that people want to maintain a consistent image of themselves. They don’t want to appear “inconsistent” to others. So, if you’ve openly shown you recruited people, you subconsciously feel pressure to protect that image and start believing in the course even more. So recruiting, not only brings in more customers for the course, it also becomes a way for the course to completely lock you in with them. And many people who take the course end up pulling in their friends and family. At that point, if you wanted to break free from this philosophy, these theories, or this environment, it’d be even harder. Because now, your entire social circle is in it. You and your “comrades” share the same belief, working together, laughing together, crying together, creating memories together. In the end, you’ve strengthened these bonds. And these bonds might even be something you’ve never experienced before in your life. Because, for some people, their original lives didn’t have spaces where they could pour out their innermost feelings. Even in the course, those expressions eventually get exploited. But this might’ve been the first time they truly opened up. For some, in their entire lives, they rarely feel like their struggles have meaning. The daily grind of 9-to-5 jobs doesn’t make them feel like they’re contributing to their community or making any real difference in the world. They never feel like they matter. But this course, especially at this stage, makes them feel incredibly important. Even though, from an outsider’s perspective, it looks like they’re just unpaid salespeople for the course. But to them, the course has already convinced them that promoting it is helping change the world. They genuinely believe they’re taking steps to make the world a better place. So how could a program that makes you feel this important possibly be a bad thing? How could an environment, where you and your friends fight together for something, be problematic? And flipping that thought, what if the course is problematic? What if it’s built on uninformed consent, hidden agendas, and deception? Then what does it say about you if you brought your friends into it? Does it mean you’re a fool who can’t tell right from wrong? Someone who hurt their friends? Or a clueless idiot pouring your heart out, crying your eyes dry, and letting down all your defenses in this group? And what do those experiences mean? Were the tears you shed just fake? Was the confidence, joy, sudden bursts of energy, relaxation, and happiness you felt also fake? A lot of people look down on you for taking this course. They think you paid money just to get scammed. You used to scoff at them, thinking they just didn’t understand because they hadn’t experienced it. But if the course really is problematic, does that mean those people—the ones who criticized and mocked you—were actually right? Were they the ones who were right all along? And even if you left and told the world, “Yes, I was misled,” would anyone really sympathize with you? Or would you only hear "You totally deserved it." "Told you so." "Why didn't you listen?" And so on. Realizing you've been used and admitting to yourself that you were misled takes a lot of courage. And the ridicule from others makes it even harder. When the cost of waking up is so high, and waking up means being victim-blamed and laughed at, what reason do you have to wake up? How many of you watching this video right now still think the people scammed by these courses are just "idiots"? And that they're pathetic? I'll admit, even while making this video, I sometimes couldn't help but think that too—especially when I see people with massive public influence not only not staying quiet but rushing to make more videos, claiming they're being "transparent." Yet they can't say a single concrete thing about what actually happens in these courses. Some even spout nonsense like this: So if you were to spend that much money, why don’t you find a therapist? These kinds of courses, they're group-based. But I did a one-on-one session before. It felt kind of like therapy. So it's just a matter of choice. Like, why go to the gym for your health? -I could just take supplements. -Exactly. Before releasing this video, I even tried confronting these people directly on Threads. But by the time the video was out, I hadn't received a single response. Oh, except for this one: So yeah, sorry. I tried to dig deep within myself, but I couldn't find any empathy to give these people a pass. But the general public isn’t like public figures—they didn't use their platform to influence the audience that trusted them. They don't even have an audience. All they have is their personal experience of being dragged into these courses and maybe a sense of confusion after watching this video. Empathy matters here—not because everyone has to be some "saint," but because if we can't first open our minds, we won't see the things we really need to reflect on. Which is these courses. On the flip side, empathy doesn’t automatically mean pitying the weak or pitying "idiots." What empathy does is invite you to pause and think—if a trusted friend told you that a course changed their life, if you saw a course endorsed by your favorite influencer, or if your boss told you to attend a course, would you really find it so easy to say no? And are you so sure that if you did attend, you'd see through all their tricks? This video took me four months to research. Just compiling the history, uncovering the secrets, and explaining the tactics of LGAT took up two hours of runtime. And before this video, there were barely any detailed resources on this topic in the Chinese-speaking world. So expecting everyone to figure this out on their own is pretty unrealistic. That’s why, on this issue, instead of blaming the participants, it's so important to educate others. Most people are capable of rational thinking. They're not "idiots"; they're just missing the crucial information. And the reason this info doesn’t get out is because these courses, from start to finish, tell participants, “Don’t talk about what happens inside.” So if someone had watched this video before signing up for the course, do you really think they’d still go? I genuinely believe most people wouldn’t. Not many people are stubborn enough to willingly put themselves in that environment knowing all the details upfront. We have to keep in mind that it’s these courses that are intentionally keeping potential participants in the dark. It’s the course itself that creates this "uninformed consent" so the whole thing can keep running. from 50 years ago till today The course tells people not to share what happens inside. They only let you talk about your "experience." So in the end, most people who sign up have no clue what they’re walking into. Hardly anyone knows what kind of games are being played. No one can analyze what psychological techniques are being used. Hardly anyone knows what the second stage of the course is about. So they can’t know beforehand that the second stage is all about intense “drills” and shouting at each other until you mentally break down. And hardly anyone knows that the third stage is all about recruiting others for free. And if you fail to recruit people, they’ll keep harassing you—at your workplace, at your doorstep. These courses are designed to make raising awareness about them difficult, which is why so many people end up joining. So, the real issue here isn’t about some individuals and how they felt about their "final experience" after the course. The important issue is whether these courses, built on uninformed consent, are ethical. The real issue is sparking public discussion and having the legal system examine whether these courses, which use psychological tools without licensed therapists, are even legal. Some people who’ve completed the course might still stubbornly say, "But no, my experience was great! It really helped me! I can only speak for myself, and my experience was positive!" To that, I just want to say: I don't give a f*** You’re free to believe your experience was good. That’s your call. But that doesn’t make the course ethical. Your feelings in the course might be real, but that doesn’t mean the course is ethical. The vulnerable version of you, opening up to strangers, might be admirable, but that doesn’t make the course ethical. You crying your heart out during the sessions, feeling cleansed, feeling transformed— all of that can feel real and valid to you. But that still doesn’t make the course ethical. Just because it felt good to you doesn’t mean the course isn’t harming others. This whole thing operates on the foundation of "uninformed consent," and that’s inherently unethical. This is exactly what needs to be exposed and examined. Honestly, in my eyes, many of the people roped into these courses are victims themselves. But ironically, like we mentioned, the course drilled into them that they can't be victims. They have to take "responsibility" for everything in their lives. this notion that there’s no such thing as victimhood it takes away their ability to say “You lied to me. You manipulated me. I did not know this was gonna happen.” lack of informed consent—to use lawyer language Maybe only this example can truly show us the harm of these black-and-white teachings. Taking responsibility can be a virtue in some cases, but being a victim isn't a sin. And calling yourself a victim shouldn’t shameful either. Sometimes saying, "You hurt me," isn't about chasing some "hidden benefit." Sometimes, it might just be a cry for justice. If everyone's forced to take so-called "responsibility" and reflect only on themselves for all the injustices, instead of the perpetrator, it'll just let the abusers keep hurting more people without consequence. Maybe sometimes, it's worth asking: Who's the one loudly demanding you "take responsibility"? Because maybe, just maybe, the person yelling at you to "take responsibility" is the one stepping on you.