The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?

16
2024
Trailer
Poster for The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?

Docuseries exploring the rise and fall of the Synanon organisation — through the eyes of the members who lived it... More

Where to watch The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult? is... More available to stream in New Zealand now on Neon.

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult? episodes

EPISODE 1.1

Here Come the Dopefiends

Recovering alcoholic Chuck Dederich opens a storefront drug rehabilitation program... More 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.

EPISODE 1.2

A War on Convention

By the 1970s, Synanon boasts its own farm, a school,... More 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.

EPISODE 1.3

What in the Hell is Happening?

Chuck’s behavior becomes more belligerent and abusive. He forms a... More 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.

EPISODE 1.4

Strap Yourself to the Mast

In 1977, the Los Angeles Times reports on the nine-day... More 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.

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult? | Details

Rating
16, Cruelty, drug use, offensive language, drug references, sexual themes, suicide themes, sexual violence themes
Genre
Documentary
Country of origin
USA
Studio
HBO

The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult? | Trailers