Meg Applegate - Troubled Teen Industry Survivor Exposes Intermountain Hospital | SRS #296
Meg Applegate, a survivor of the troubled teen industry, discusses being abducted from her home at age 15 and held in abusive facilities for three and a half years. She shares her experiences of institutional abuse, forced medication, isolation, and psychological manipulation that she didn't recognize as abuse until her 30s when she had children of her own.
Summary
Meg Applegate, founder of Unsilenced nonprofit, shares her harrowing experience in the troubled teen industry after being abducted from her bed at age 15 by two off-duty police officers hired by her parents. Following a sexual assault incident that was mishandled by authorities and led to her expulsion from school, her parents sent her to Intermountain Hospital in Idaho without warning. There she was heavily medicated with antipsychotics, gained 60 pounds in 6 months, and subjected to isolation techniques including 'random draw' and 'desk space' designed to strip away autonomy. After 6 months, she was transferred to Chrysalis, a program in rural Montana run by a married couple acting as therapists, where 10 girls lived in a log cabin. The program used cult-like techniques including 'Circle' sessions lasting up to 4 hours where girls were psychologically torn down, inappropriate physical contact with male staff, and complete control over all aspects of life including approved relationships and activities. Applegate stayed until age 18.5, thoroughly brainwashed and believing the program had helped her. She didn't recognize the abuse until her 30s after having children and realizing she would never subject them to similar treatment. The realization triggered a 'trauma spiral' with severe panic attacks lasting two months. She founded Unsilenced in 2022 after her husband experienced institutional abuse, creating a database of 3,500 troubled teen programs, survivor testimonies, and connecting survivors with attorneys. The organization has been involved in approximately 200 lawsuits in 18 months and advocates for federal regulation of an industry that affects an estimated 150-200,000 children annually.
Key Insights
- Applegate explains how the troubled teen industry uses behavior modification techniques derived from Native American boarding schools from the 1800s, where children were stolen from families and stripped of their culture
- Applegate describes how Intermountain Hospital used 'random draw' and 'desk space' isolation techniques specifically designed to teach her that she had no control over her life and should stop advocating for herself
- Applegate reveals that she didn't recognize her experiences as abuse until age 33, explaining that when you have no self-confidence, you don't think things are abusive because you believe you deserve poor treatment
- Applegate states there is no federal oversight of troubled teen facilities, with everything left to states, and that Montana programs were overseen by the Department of Labor rather than Health Services until 2019
- Applegate estimates that 150-200,000 children find themselves in troubled teen facilities each year, but exact numbers are impossible to determine due to lack of federal data collection requirements
Topics
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