James P. Leone, PhD

Jeff P. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

IN his group, something about being taught to react too soon, rather than letting things be and not reacting at all at least in the immediate future, is what the group modelled - instant unboundaried offensively abusive and incorrect outbursts at people. That is what he modelled. In real life, you would never react so soon and so violating boundaries and so offensively like in his group. Another example of harmful inappropriate things he taught.  

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

Also what’s up with the repetitive jokes about providers abusing their power with patients. That joke where he said an elderly therapist died in her chair during a session, and she had an inappropriate unboundaried bonded relationship ship with a younger woman who did errands for her in exchange for therapy at the provider’s house. Or the joke where he said nurses get back at annoying patients by not helping them go to the bathroom. Then he said he is a sadistic person. Hmm.. almost like he joked about stuff he does in real ... read more

Hello! 

on Birdeye

a year ago

And I walked into his office and gave away all my power and just tested him like an authority figure who could not be dropped. You also decided you cannot drop him despite seeing logically he sucked. There was something similar but less formal called the Odyssey Study Group in Boston - you can look it up on YouTube. I think Leon may have been in cult groups in the 1970s, got brainwashed himself and then learned to be a parasite off of people by being a cult group leader himself. He mentioned being part of a Chair Attack Th... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

Come to think of it - his therapy approach is culty and then it makes his ridiculous statements about having an uncanny ability to read people’s minds and understand emotions unlike most people do and calling the group member who was in the mental health field who called him out on being bad and inappropriate and him calling that member “clueless about emotions” - the first culty approach if you accept it makes the ridiculous statements seem believable. If you let him dig in and say ridiculous Freudian like and psychopathic... read more

Jeff P. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

Yes. You made the correct discovery. I, and most people in the group, had noticed that something is off and bad. They could not quite explain it though. Some blamed it on them not having anxiety, others said the people in there are losers and not a good fit for them, others said the rat made them feel worse and broke their trust, others said the rat was dishonest, I said the guy was both a genius and inappropriate at the same time and that his methods seemed tempting but dont quite work which lead to an internal conflict.  Y... read more

Hello! 

on Birdeye

a year ago

My trust, openness, and tolerance for uncertainty went out the window once I joined the group. I came out of his group and started pacing the street, mad and angry and deciding to break off my relations with relatives for the rest of my life and live alone using my job, the group, etc. The guy is a psychopath with his words and manipulates his patients for his own gain - to have them adore him, be long term patients, validate his delusion that he is a great therapist and insightful person (which he isn't). What happened was... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

People got TERRIBLE career advice from Leon who 'could not do any other job and had a useless degree' - well duh, he may have some character flaw that makes him not understand and lose jobs, like low math/science/concrete thinking IQ. He may be kind of unintelligent, and just understand humanities language simple psychology concepts type of stuff - the blah blah blah concepts, then construe BS and pass it off as psychology. His explanations were believable and misleading, but missed the mark, illegitimate and were a form of ... read more

Claire H. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

he gets people to feel like they want to do what he recommends by playing onto their weaknesses, fears, insecurities, and ambitions and then promising them that he is the path toward what they want.. for example he is the father figure patient X and patient Y have to work through him.. he tells them they have father issues with their father, that they see him as their father and 'have to' work their supposed father issues through him..I thought it was him encouraging people to engage in therapy, but he crossed the line int... read more

Jeff P. 

on Birdeye

a year ago

He would foster unnecessary conflicts between clients and their friends or family by egging them on with, 'Your aunt said this to you, and you will give her a birthday gift after THIS?' - instructing people to over-react and create animosity between them and their family members that was mostly in their head (fostered by Leon) and telling them they should do something mean and nasty to that family member in return, which had the chain effect of that person being unnecessarily hurt and confused. The group member would get con... read more