How are these abusive teen rehab centers still open? Why are parents still sending their kids there? Can’t they be shut down?

Maia Szalavitz is an award-winning author and journalist who covers addiction and neuroscience. Her book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, is the first comprehensive look at systemic abuse in “tough love” programs and helped spur Congressional hearings & GAO investigations.

In this episode, you’ll hear how the abusive teen rehab centers featured in Netflix’s The Program & Wayward (think Straight Inc., The Seed, Synanon & wilderness camps) began with tough love doctrine, why you can legally treat kids worse than prisoners, why parents aren’t suing & why regulations just don’t stick. We also weave in the perspective of struggling parents who feel that the anti-troubled teen industry is hurting their healing efforts.

If you like this episode, you’ll also like episode 248: SURVIVING THE TROUBLED TEEN INDUSTRY: SEPARATING IDENTITY FROM EXPERIENCE [REMASTERED]

Guest:

https://x.com/maiasz

https://maiasz.com/

Resources:

Boy who was raised as a dog https://a.co/d/0bA3dxmi

Pace Center for Girls Pensacola https://www.pacecenter.org/locations/florida/escambia-santa-rosa/

Gulf Coast Kids House https://www.gulfcoastkidshouse.org/

Greenhouse Counseling https://www.ghcpensacola.com/

Host:

https://www.meredithforreal.com/

https://www.instagram.com/meredithforreal/

meredith@meredithforreal.com

https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal

https://www.facebook.com/meredithforrealthecuriousintrovert

Sponsors:

https://www.jordanharbinger.com/starterpacks/

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/

02:00 — The cult origins: Synanon begins

04:00 — “I must have needed that” psychology

05:00 — The rattlesnake assassination attempt

07:00 — The Seed and brainwashing teens

08:00 — Straight Incorporated goes national

10:00 — Why parents don’t believe abuse reports

12:00 — Utah wilderness programs rise

13:00 — The death of Aaron Bacon

14:00 — Moral panic & religious fear

15:00 — Good parents, fatal decisions

16:00 — Why regulation keeps failing

17:00 — Regulatory capture in Utah

20:00 — Unannounced inspections change everything

22:00 — Why traumatized kids need gentleness

27:00 — Warehouses of neglect

28:00 — Should therapy have an FDA?

29:00 — Renaming punishment as treatment

32:00 — Exhausted parents & marketing fear

34:00 — How small power corrupts

42:00 — Why lawsuits rarely succeed

44:00 — Private right of action explained

45:00 — Does awareness help or hurt?

46:00 — Educational consultants & kickbacks

54:00 — Local resources for struggling families

55:00 — Undoing drugs & keeping people alive

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