Scientology and psychiatry

Scientology has often come into conflict with psychiatry since the foundation of Scientology in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both psychiatry and psychology. It offers itself as an alternative to psychiatry, which Scientologists believe to be a barbaric and corrupt profession. According to the Church of Scientology, this opposition is focused on what they say are the practices of psychiatry:

"'What the Church opposes are brutal, inhumane psychiatric treatments. It does so for three principal reasons: 1) procedures such as electro-shock, drugs and lobotomy injure, maim and destroy people in the guise of help; 2) psychiatry is not a science and has no proven methods to justify the billions of dollars of government funds that are poured into it; and 3) psychiatric theories that man is a mere animal have been used to rationalize, for example, the wholesale slaughter of human beings in World Wars I and II."

Hubbard and psychiatry
L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology's founder, was critical of both Freudian theory and biopsychiatry. Referring to psychiatrists as "psychs", Hubbard regarded psychiatrists as denying human spirituality and peddling fake cures. He was also convinced that psychiatrists were themselves deeply unethical individuals, committing "extortion, mayhem and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them."

Anti-psychiatric themes also appear in some of Hubbard's fictional works. In Hubbard's ten-volume series Mission Earth, various characters debate the methods and validity of psychology. In his novel Battlefield Earth, the evil Catrists (a pun on psychiatrists), are described as a group of charlatans claiming to be mental health experts, who rule the alien Psychlo species (whose name means "mental patient" in the Psychlo language). The vicious and degraded Psychlos of Battlefield Earth are often speculated to be Hubbard's personal indictment of what psychiatry will end up doing to humanity if left unchallenged by Scientology.

A number of psychiatrists have strongly spoken out against the Church of Scientology. After Hubbard's book, Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health was published, the American Psychological Association advised its members against using Hubbard's techniques with their patients. Hubbard came to believe that psychiatrists were behind a worldwide conspiracy to attack Scientology and create a "world government" run by psychiatrists on behalf of the USSR:

"'Our enemies are less than twelve men. They are members of the Bank of England and other higher financial circles. They own and control newspaper chains and they, oddly enough, run all the mental health groups in the world that had sprung up [...]. Their apparent programme was to use mental health, which is to say psychiatric electric shock and pre-frontal lobotomy, to remove from their path any political dissenters [...]. These fellows have gotten nearly every government in the world to owe them considerable quantities of money through various chicaneries and they control, of course, income tax, government finance — Wilson, for instance, the current Premier of England, is totally involved with these fellows and talks about nothing else actually.' (Hubbard, Ron's Journal 67)."

Hubbard also decided that psychiatrists were an ancient evil that had been a problem for billions of years. He cast them in the role of assisting Xenu's genocide 75 million years ago. In a 1982 bulletin entitled "Pain and Sex", Hubbard declares that "pain and sex were the INVENTED TOOLS of degradation", having been devised eons ago by psychiatrists "who have been on the [time] track a long time and are the sole cause of decline in this universe" (Hubbard, HCO Bulletin, 26 August 1982). Hubbard's efforts to cast the field of psychiatry as the source of all of humanity's problems are exemplified in a policy letter written in 1971, in which he attempted to redefine the word "psychiatrist" to mean "an antisocial enemy of the people":

"'Psychiatry and psychiatrist are easily redefined to mean 'an antisocial enemy of the people.' This takes the kill-crazy psychiatrist off the preferred list of professions. This is a good use of the technique as for a century the psychiatrist has been setting an all-time record for inhumanity to Man. (L. Ron Hubbard, 'Propaganda by Redefinition of Words,' October 5, 1971)."

The Church of Scientology and psychiatry


An October 2006 article in the Evening Standard underlines the strong opposition of Scientology toward the psychiatric profession:

"'Up front, David Miscavige is dramatically — and somewhat bizarrely — attacking psychiatrists, his words backed by clips from a Scientology-produced DVD are broadcast on four giant high-definition TV screens and sensationally called: Psychiatry: an industry of death [...]. A woman is safer in a park at midnight than on a psychiatrist's couch,' booms Miscavige, backed by savage graphics of psychiatrists — or 'psychs' as he calls them — being machine-gunned out of existence'."



Legal waivers
Following legal actions involving the Church of Scientology's relationship with its members, it has become standard practice within the church for members to sign lengthy legal contracts and waivers before engaging in Scientology services. In 2003, a series of media reports examined the legal contracts required by Scientology, which state that, among other things, Scientology followers deny any and all psychiatric care that their doctors may prescribe to them:

"'I do not believe in or subscribe to psychiatric labels for individuals. It is my strongly held religious belief that all mental problems are spiritual in nature and that there is no such thing as a mentally incompetent person — only those suffering from spiritual upset of one kind or another dramatized by an individual. I reject all psychiatric labels and intend for this Contract to clearly memorialize my desire to be helped exclusively through religious, spiritual means and not through any form of psychiatric treatment, specifically including involuntary commitment based on so-called lack of competence. Under no circumstances, at any time, do I wish to be denied my right to care from members of my religion to the exclusion of psychiatric care or psychiatric directed care, regardless of what any psychiatrist, medical person, designated member of the state or family member may assert supposedly on my behalf'. (Scientology release form for the Introspection Rundown)"

Citizens Commission on Human Rights
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an institution set up by Scientology, also claims that the real nature of psychiatry is that of human rights abuse.

In 1966 Hubbard declared all-out war on psychiatry, telling Scientologists that "We want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in England, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one." He committed the Church of Scientology to the goal of eradicating psychiatry in 1969, announcing that "Our war has been forced to become 'To take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.'" Not coincidentally, the Church of Scientology founded the Citizens Commission on Human Rights that same year as its primary vehicle for attacking psychiatry. CCHR still quotes Hubbard's statement that all psychiatrists are criminals: "There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who, by ordinary criminal law, could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them."

Like psychiatrist Peter Breggin, who has sought to distance himself from Scientology, CCHR has conducted campaigns against Prozac, against electroconvulsive therapy, against Ritalin (and the existence of ADHD) and against various health legislations. CCHR has also opened a permanent museum, "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death", in Hollywood, California.

Scientologists
Also without signing any waivers, Scientologists believe firmly in Hubbard's claims about psychiatrists. Scientologist Lisa McPherson left a psychiatric hospital because of her beliefs in Scientology, and later died in the care of Scientologists.

Tom Cruise has been extremely vocal in attacking the use of psychiatric medication (MSNBC June 25, 2005). His position has attracted considerable criticism from psychiatrists, physicians and individuals with mental illnesses (American Psychiatric Association, June 27, 2005; National Mental Health Association June 27, 2005 — Hausman 2005), and been defended and promoted by other Scientologists.

The Church says that they are near victory in their war against psychiatry. In their treatise Those Who Oppose Scientology, it is stated: "Today, there are 500 Dianeticists and Scientologists to every psychiatrist" and "while Scientology is more visible than ever, with churches dotting every continent on Earth and millions of parishioners around the world, one is hard pressed to find even a single psychiatrist with a shingle on his door."

The German Scientologists Thomas Roder and Volker Kubillus wrote a book on psychiatry and Hitler which has been published by Scientology's Freedom Publications.

Bruce Wiseman from CCHR published the book Psychiatry: The Ultimate Betrayal, also published by Scientology's Freedom Publications.

Space Opera
The Church teaches a "Space Opera" history of the universe to Scientologists graded at the level of Operating Thetan and above. Events are told of which allegedly happened billions and even trillions of years ago (contradicting science's estimated age of the universe), in which psychiatry was a tool of oppression used by evil alien civilizations. In a lecture called Aberration and the Fifth Dynamic, Hubbard stated:

take a sheet of glass and put it in front of the preclear — clear, very clear glass — which is supercooled, preferably about a -100 centigrade. You got that? Supercooled, you know? And then put the preclear right in front of this supercooled sheet of glass and suddenly shove his face into the glass. Now, that's pretty good. I mean, that was developed about five billion years ago by a whole-track psychiatrist [...]. The mechanism of brainwashing which I gave you, with supercold mechanisms and so forth, is very well known, was used very extensively in the Maw Confederation of the Sixty-third Galaxy. They had a total psychiatric control of all of their officers and executives, and when they got tired of them they used this specific method of brainwashing" (Hubbard, Aberration and The Sixth Dynamic transcript, catalog #5611C13 15ACC-22).

Jeremy Perkins
On 13 March 2003, Scientologist Jeremy Perkins killed his mother Elli Perkins by stabbing her 77 times. Jeremy, previously diagnosed with schizophrenia, never received treatment after previous incidents with violence and hallucinations. His mother, active in the Buffalo Church of Scientology, felt that vitamins and Scientology routines were better than psychological counseling and anti-psychotic medication.

Counterpositions
Critics of Scientology have pointed out that Hubbard asked in 1947 for psychiatric care, and that the coroner found after his death that Hubbard had been injected with the antihistamine tranquilizer Vistaril.

Mental health care professionals are not concerned that the public will take CCHR materials seriously, because of the organization's connection with the church; however, they argue that these materials can have a harmful impact when quoted without attribution (Barlas, 1996).

Except for court trials and media publications and public rallies, published materials have received little notice outside of Scientology and CCHR; of reviews available, few are positive. Psychology professor Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi's short review of Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler states:

Scientology has attracted much attention through its propaganda effort against what it calls psychiatry. This has involved great expense and organizational effort, carried out through a variety of fronts. If the book Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler (Roder, Kubillus, & Burwell, 1995) is a representative example, and I believe it is, it proves decisively that the campaign is rooted in total paranoia and pathetic ignorance. Reading this book, and I will urge you not to waste too much time doing it, makes clear that the authors simply have no idea what psychiatry is (Beit-Hallahmi, 2003).

John Kuzma from the University of Minnesota has this to say about Psychiatry, the Ultimate Betrayal:

This book from the Church of Scientology offers their prospective on Psychiatry and Psychology (hint: they aren't huge fans). The book itself is the literary equivalent of a MST3K episode (my favorite "revelation" — psychiatrists and psychologists are responsible for the rise in drug use in America since WW2). But it made me wish I could find a more even-handed and knowledgeable critique on the mental health professions.

The American Psychiatric Association's Lynn Schultz-Writsel adds:

We have not responded in any way, shape or form. There has not been a hue and cry from members to respond. And anyway, the publication speaks for itself (Barlas, 1996).

Anti-psychiatry: A parallel movement
Some anti-psychiatry websites and psychiatric survivors groups have sought to distance themselves from Scientology and the CCHR:

No Scientologists, please: Volunteers will be asked for assurance they are not affiliated with the "Church" of Scientology or its Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), which have publicized the harm done by psychiatry but which we want no affiliation with.

Mind Freedom attorney David Atkin has provided a letter to clarify and emphasize that MindFreedom has no connection to CCHR or Church of Scientology. This clarification is not to criticize any organization, but to just state the facts.

Despite sharing notable anti-psychiatrists' views on some issues, Scientology doctrine does differ in some respects. Scientology has promoted psychiatry-related conspiracy theories, including that September 11 was caused by psychiatrists Scientologists are religiously committed never to take psychiatric drugs and to reject psychology outright.

The socio-political roots of the movements have different origins. Advocates of the anti-psychiatric world view such as David Cooper, Ronald Laing and Michel Foucault had ties with the political left of the 1960s; Thomas Szasz, with the civil libertarians of the right, as well as an outspoken atheist. Many advocates of the anti-psychiatry movement have stated that they consider "madness" or "mental illness" as convenient and inaccurate labels assigned by society rather than objective states, rejecting such terms as schizophrenia. By contrast, Hubbard referred to insanity in his writings on Scientology theory and developed a Tone Scale, to, in part gauge the health of a person's mental state. Furthermore, in his Science of Survival, Hubbard suggested putting people very low on the scale into quarantine, a practice at odds with, for instance, the aim of the American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization, an organization co-founded by Szasz, in end involuntary commitment. Scientology has also consistently evidenced more vocal opposition to biopsychiatry and to psychiatric medication than to related civil rights issues.