Charles Dederich Sr.

Charles Dederich, born in Toledo, Ohio, was the founder and leader of Synanon, a controversial drug rehabilitation program, active 1958-1991. He moved to Santa Monica, Ca. and become a beach bum in and out of jobs, till he found his way to a local AA group. Inspired by reading "Self-Reliance: Change Your Life for the Better" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dederich gathered his own following in The Tender Loving Care Club. The original name that soon would be updated to Synanon, a mix of the concepts "Symposium" and "Seminar." The group survived on small donations, tried hard to stay sober and played the "Game" in which anyone was allowed to say anything, true or not, to someone to cause an effect. Dederich's version of attack therapy. Soon the local drug addicts found their way to the Synanon House which required a more elaborate structure of the operation. Control over members occurred through the "Game", which was presented as a therapeutic tool, and likened to a form of group therapy. In 1964 Columbia Pictures decided to make a feature film of the Synanon project, starring Edmond O'Brien, Eartha Kitt, Stella Stevens, Chuck Connors and Alex Cord. European Intertel TV produced the documentary "The House on the Beach" (1965) while the number of members and volunteers rapidly increased in number. The socially interested public were welcome to the Synanon House. Politicians and actors were frequent guests. Eventually the movement changed name to the Church of Synanon. After a long period in bad health, Charles Dederich died of cardiorespiratory failure, on Feb. 28, 1997. The bankrupted Synanon organization formally dissolved in 1991.