The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult? ambient background
CinebyCineby
The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult? backdrop

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?
★ 6.8/10•2024•1h 0m•TV-MA•Documentary
Similars

Explore the rise and fall of the Synanon organization — through the eyes of the members who lived it — from its early days as a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program to its later descent into what many consider a cult.

Rory Kennedy · Director

StatusEnded
Runtime1h 0m
LanguageEN
First Air DateApr 1, 2024

Episodes

Episode 1 - Here Come the DopefiendsE161m

Here Come the Dopefiends

Recovering alcoholic Chuck Dederich opens a storefront drug rehabilitation program that gains a following through its confrontational talk-therapy approach. As the program attracts non-addicts and celebrity followers, Synanon grows into a social movement that rapidly expands across the country.

Apr 1, 2024

Episode 2 - A War on ConventionE261m

A War on Convention

By the 1970s, Synanon boasts its own farm, a school, and multiple businesses, but Chuck’s utopian vision begins to crack. As members face more extreme edicts, including mandates to quit smoking, separate from their children, and shave their heads – many find themselves weighing the benefits and costs of the choices they’re forced to make.

Apr 8, 2024

Episode 3 - What in the Hell is Happening?E3

What in the Hell is Happening?

Chuck’s behavior becomes more belligerent and abusive. He forms a military-like boot camp for delinquent children where corporal punishment abounds. He mandates vasectomies and abortions and, when his wife dies, he quickly remarries and decrees that all current relationships must end so that everyone can find new partners. Many members divorce and remarry, which some of them later regret. TIME Magazine publishes “Swinging at Synanon” and Chuck sues for $76 million as his paranoia grows.

Apr 15, 2024

Episode 4 - Strap Yourself to the MastE4

Strap Yourself to the Mast

In 1977, the Los Angeles Times reports on the nine-day abduction of Frances Winn by Synanon. Lawyer Paul Morantz wins a settlement case in her favor. With media focus heating up, Chuck spends $62,000 on guns and ammunition, at the time the largest single firearms purchase in California history. Soon thereafter, he allegedly orchestrates an attempt on Morantz’s life. He is sentenced to five years probation. Drinking again and diagnosed with mental illness, Chuck loses everything and dies in a nursing home, leaving a troubled legacy as a creative, but unchecked genius. Many adherents are left to piece together their lives in the aftermath without Synanon.

Apr 22, 2024

Actors

Charles Dederich Sr.

Self

Elena Broslovsky

Self

Jady Dederich Montgomery

Self

Phil Ritter

Self

Bill Goodson

Self

Miriam Bourdette

Self

Phil Bourdette

Self

Bettye Coleman

Self

Recommendations

Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God
Hulk Hogan: Real American
Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult
Trust Me: The False Prophet
aka Charlie Sheen
How to Become a Cult Leader
I'll Be Gone in the Dark
TYSON
The Witcher: A Look Inside the Episodes
Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence
Wild Wild Country
Sean Combs: The Reckoning
Dark Side of the Ring
History 101
The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping
World War II with Tom Hanks
How to Change Your Mind
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV
Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult

Similars

Finding Yeezus
Children of the Cult
Secte, mode d'emploi
Twisted Yoga
DMX: Soul of a Man
The Witnesses
Exposed: The Church's Darkest Secret
Huume-Suomen historia
How I Escaped My Cult
The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin
The Red Empire
Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke
La belle vie
A Sinister Sect: Colonia Dignidad
The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez
Escaping Evil: My Life in a Cult
Dopamine
Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult
Suicide Cults
Shiny Happy People