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by Scientology_net on September 25th, 2003

Scientology_net

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Why is Scientology opposed to psychiatric abuses?

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Answers. 3 helpful answers below.

  • by fredhetz on November 21st, 2006

    fredhetz

    I would first like to point out that the field of psychiatry is opposed to "psychiatric abuses." I'm going to hazard a guess that the question was intended to be about why Scientologists oppose psychiatry.

    The following is from a 2005 article on Salon.com about Scientology and psychiatry:

    The Church of Scientology's world war on psychiatry arose from its zealous founder. For reasons known only to Hubbard himself, the science fiction author and budding church leader conceived a violent hatred of psychiatry. Perhaps his animus took root when the American Psychological Association, following the 1950 publication of Hubbard's self-help treatise, "Dianetics," advised its members against using Hubbard's psychological techniques with their patients.

    In a 1969 article, "Today's Terrorism," published in a Scientology journal, Hubbard claimed that "the psychiatrist and his front groups operate straight out of the terrorist textbooks. The Mafia looks like a convention of Sunday school teachers compared to these terrorist groups." The psychiatrist, Hubbard went on, "kidnaps, tortures and murders without any slightest police interference or action by western security forces." Later, Hubbard wrote that, in society, "there's only one remedy for crime -- get rid of the psychs! They are causing it!"
    -end of article excerpt-

    I feel that I need to also comment on Scientology_net’s response.

    I consume material about WW I and WW II voraciously. In all the reading and viewing I have done on the topic, this is the first I’m reading that psychiatry was a catalyst for either war.

    The author of this piece says, “Scientology is a religion and recognizes that man is a spiritual being” and “Scientologists believe that one should find out for himself the source of his troubles since this gives him the ability to improve conditions.”

    There are two inherent problems with this. If an individual turns to a religion (Scientology or otherwise), psychiatrist or personal trainer for help, they’re not technically finding out for themselves what their problems are. Scientology offers a way to find a better life but one must rely on its materials, staff, etc., to get there.

    Seeing a mental health professional is no different.

    Additionally, there are many mental health practitioners who strive to offer help without fostering dependence on the mental health system. If a client’s presentation lends itself to brief therapy, for example, it would be irresponsible for a clinician to offer anything else. Skills for coping can be enhanced, new strategies can be taught without necessarily locking a person into treatment for life and sometimes without the use of medication.

    Regarding the use of “shock therapy,” aka “electroconvulsive therapy” (ECT) -- it is used in some cases for treatment-resistant depression and other problems but it is never used until other forms of treatment have failed. One should not think of ECT as something mental health professionals leap to eagerly for all clients/patients.

    It is also done very differently in present day than it was in decades gone by. General anesthesia is used to prevent the violent flailing of limbs seen in movies of the past.

    I was interested that the author said of psychiatry, “at worst, it causes severe damage, irreversible setbacks in a person’s life and even death.”

    I would encourage anyone reading this to do an internet search on “Elli Perkins” to see why the mention of “even death” in this context is ironic.

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  • by Unicorn Man on December 4th, 2011

    Unicorn Man

    That's funny I thought the Church was quite familiar with imposing mental abuses.

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  • by Scientology_net on September 25th, 2003

    Scientology_net

    As the stepchildren of the German dictator Bismarck and later Hitler and the Nazis, psychiatry and psychology formed the philosophical basis for the wholesale slaughter of human beings in World Wars I and II. Psychiatry uses electric shock, brain-mutilating psychosurgery and mind-damaging drugs to destroy a person and make him “docile and quiet” in the name of “treatment.”

    Psychiatric methods involving the butchering of human beings and their sanity are condemned by the Church. Scientologists are trying to create a world without war, insanity and criminality. Psychiatry is seeking to create a world where man is reduced to a robotized or drugged, vegetable-like state so that he can be controlled.

    Scientologists do not believe that psychiatrists should tell their patients what they think is wrong with them. This interjects lies or ideas which are not true for the individual himself, thereby violating his basic integrity. Scientologists believe that one should find out for himself the source of his troubles since this gives him the ability to improve conditions in his own life and environment.

    Scientology and psychiatry will always be working at cross-purposes. Scientology is a religion and recognizes that man is a spiritual being. Psychiatrists view man as an animal. Psychiatry is strongly opposed to all religions as it does not even recognize that man is a spiritual being.

    Scientologists disagree with the enforced and harmful psychiatric methods of involuntary commitment, forced and heavy drugging, electroconvulsive shock treatment, lobotomy and other psychosurgical operations.

    By the Creed of the Church of Scientology, the healing of mentally caused ills should not be condoned in nonreligious fields. The reason for this is that violent psychiatric therapies cause spiritual trauma. At best, psychiatry suppresses life’s problems; at worst, it causes severe damage, irreversible setbacks in a person’s life and even death.

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