Charles Dederich, founder of Synanon, March 27, 1964. (Photo Credit: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images)
The new HBO docuseries The Synanon Fix has aired its first episode and viewers are unsurprisingly baffled by what they watched. Directed by Mark Bailey, this project takes a deep dive into the workings of the infamous now-defunct organization, Synanon. Furthermore, it is narrated from the point of view of its ex-members.
Founder by Charles Dederich in 1958, Synanon aimed to help individuals recover from their addiction issues. According to People Magazine, Dederich was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1913. Unfortunately, at the age of four, he lost his father, who was an alcoholic. Four years later, his brother died and when he turned twelve, his mother married a man who he strongly disliked.
Dederich soon began drinking heavily, which resulted in him dropping out of the University of Notre Dame just 18 months after admission. At the age of 43, his life returned to track after he joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Dederich felt blessed after his recovery and pledged to change the lives of other addicts. However, he believed that AA meetings were not enough for them to make a complete recovery. This led to Dederich founding Synanon because he wanted to take AA a step further.
According to HBO, the synopsis of The Synanon Fix reads, “Synanon, the brainchild of Charles “Chuck” Dederich, began in 1958 as a storefront rehab serving heroin addicts. Synanon quickly grew, evolving into a complex system of businesses and egalitarian communal living led by Chuck and his wife, Betty.
It further reads, “Over time, the therapies became increasingly extreme, devolving into paranoid behavior and cult-like mandates and culminating in charges of child abuse, assault, and even attempted murder. The four-part documentary series The Synanon Fix explores how the organization’s potential to revolutionize healing spiraled into a destructive force.”
When did Synanon’s founder Charles Dederich die?
Synanon thrived because a heroin epidemic plagued the USA in the 50s. Initially, Synanon offered never-before-thought drug rehabilitation programs. However, as time went by, it began shaping into a cult.
According to The New York Times, Charles Dederich died in 1997, at the age of 83, in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia, California. However, his organization’s decline began years before his passing. In 1977, after his wife’s death, Dederich turned to alcohol once again. Gradually, he remarried and concluded that other Synanon members needed to do what he did. He ordered them to swap wives, and this led to several divorces and remarriage.
According to Deadline, The Synanon Fix’s director Mark Bailey called Dederich a genius. He added that the organization’s story should be treated as a cautionary tale. Bailey stated, “[Synanon founder Chuck] Dederich, who was a complicated and brilliant guy, sort of changed along with [the movement]. And in that way, it kind of becomes the cautionary tale of unchecked power and a community that’s really built around the cult of personality and one individual. And when that individual sort of starts to drift, the community following with.”
Synanon ultimately disbanded in 1991 after years of negative press and countless lawsuits. Throughout his life, Charles Dederich married four times. He had a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.
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