Charles Dederich, founder of Synanon.Photo:Gordon Peters/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
Gordon Peters/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
Synanon was the brainchild of Charles “Chuck” Dederich.
The infamous cult leader died in 1997, but the story of his reformative-turned-destructive drug rehabilitation organization is now the center of a four-part docuseries on HBO.
TitledThe Synanon Fix: Did The Cure Become a Cult?, the series which premieres on April 1 analyzes how the organization’s potential to revolutionize healing spiraled into a catastrophic force. HBO’s retelling of the notorious group comes a few months after Paramount+ releasedBorn In Synanonin December 2023.
Founded in 1958, Dederich formed Synanon as an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous. It later became known as the “Church of Synanon" and attracted thousands of followers in the years following.
According to a 2018Los Angeles Magazineexaminationof the cult, “Synanon did much to convince the American public that addicts could be saved” using methods like “tough love” therapy. However, Dederich’s grasp on the group and its followers later became manipulative and violent.
Read on to learn more about Charles “Chuck” Dederich, including how he died in 1997.
Who is Charles Dederich?
Synanon founder Charles Dederich.Bettmann Archive/Getty
Bettmann Archive/Getty
When Dederich was four years old, his father — an alcoholic — died in an automobile accident, per Dederich’s obituary in theNew York Times. When Dederich was eight years old, his brother died. When he was 12, his mom married a man “he loathed.”
Dederich, who was drinking heavily before graduating high school, dropped out of the University of Notre Dame after 18 months due to addiction, per the outlet. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous at age 43 before turning his apartment into a “sanctuary” for alcoholics and drug addicts.
How did Charles Dederich start Synanon?
Synanon women shave their head as part of a liberation in 1975.Vince Maggiora/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
Vince Maggiora/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
In 1958, Dederich — a recovering alcoholic — opened a storefront drug rehabilitation program in Santa Monica, California. It was intended to offer a welcoming space for addicts to overcome challenges through emotional and verbal catharsis.
Dederich named it Synanon, a name that was “coined when an addict stumbled over the words ‘seminar’' and ‘symposium,'” reported theNew York Times. Eventually, the group drew notable names and non-addictswho donated their time and wealthto the program.
Dederich built a methodology around a therapeutic community — a tough, disciplined, drug-free environment with a dash of tender loving care, reported the outlet, in comparison to Alcoholics Anonymous’s emphasis on religion.
The leader had viewed drug addicts as child-like and therefore treated them with harsh discipline that ultimately became violent. Dederich would tell followers: “‘Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” according to theNew York Times,and believed that drug addiction could be treated — a core component of his recruitment campaign that enticed many of its followers.
What did Charles Dederich make Synanon’s followers do?
Synanon was initially viewed as a model society before its fall. By 1970, the community grew into a social movement across the country, with its many followers claimingthe program saved their lives.
As Synanon’s popularity increased, so did Dederich’s authoritative and dictatorial behavior. In addition to enforcing mandatory head-shaving and dressing in similar garb, he began to implement more extreme edicts.
“There were things that were not right,” Cassidy Arkin, a former member and subject ofBorn in Synanon, previously toldCBS News. “I didn’t realize until I was much older how bad things had gotten.”
Episode 3 of HBO’sThe Synanon Fixexplores much of Dederich’s abusive behavior. “He forms a military-like boot camp for delinquent children where corporal punishment abounds,” reads the official episode synopsis.
“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,” the synopsis continues.
By the mid-1980s, Dederich established “The Synanon Religion” and maintained their tax-exempt status. Among his most abusive behavior was telling his followers that if they should leave the group,they’d revert back to their addictions.
Did Charles Dederich get arrested?
Charles Dederich, founder of Synanon, March 27, 1964.Gordon Peters/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
According to theNew York Times, Dederich was arrested in Arizona on a California warrant in December 1978.
He was sentenced to five years probation after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit murder after he and other members placed a rattlesnake in the mailbox of lawyer Paul Morantz, who had filed a lawsuit against the group.
Morantz was bit and spent several days in the hospital, though he survived the snake attack. Eventually, Dederich was banned from leading Synanon.
Was Charles Dederich married?
Dederich wed four times, though little is known about his first two wives who left him due to his drinking,per theNew York Times. The leader’s third wife, Betty, died in 1977.
Later that year, Dederich married Ginny Schorin.They remained married until his death in 1997.
Additionally, he has two children. He welcomed his first child, a son named Chuck, with his first wife. His second child, daughter Jady Dederich Montgomery, was born during his second marriage.
Montgomery, an eventual Synanon leader, is speaking publicly for the first time about her experience in HBO’s documentary,The Synanon Fix.
How did Charles Dederich die?
Dederich died on Feb. 28, 1997 in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia, California. He was 83 years old.
The cause of death was cardiorespiratory failure, according to his wife Ginny perThe New York Times. Dederich had several strokes prior to his death, beginning in the late 1980s.
Where are Synanon members now?
Charles Chuck Dederich, founder of Synanon.Bruce Levine/HBO
Bruce Levine/HBO
The Internal Revenue Service later stepped in and led to the demise of Synanon, which officially disbanded in 1991. A federal district judgehad rejected the group’s claimto be a tax-exempt religion, ruling that the group engaged in fraud in an attempt to gain the tax benefit.
Former members of Synanon have spoken publicly of their experiences in the years that followed. Now, many are sharing their personal accounts in HBO’s docuseries — including Miriam Bourdette, Phil Bourdette, Elena Broslovsky, Marshall Carder, Ron Cook, Rebekah Crawford, Judi Ehrlich, Mike Gimbel, Bill Goodson, Terry Hurst, Norm Johnson, Buddy Jones, Lance Kenton, Lena Lindsey, Rod Mullen, Bob Navarro, Lynn Ritter, Phil Ritter and Josh Silvers.
source: people.com
