Posted on 07/01/2005 9:47:55 AM PDT by quidnunc
It may be easy to dismiss Tom Cruise's recent outbursts against psychiatry as the ravings of an egomaniacal celebrity. Comedians have certainly had a field day with Cruise, a fervent disciple of the Church of Scientology, ever since he scolded Brooke Shields for taking prescribed medication to treat her postpartum depression and lectured Matt Lauer, host of the "Today" show, that psychiatry was a "pseudoscience" and antidepressant drugs were worthless because there is "no such thing as a chemical imbalance." "No?" wisecracked Lewis Black on "The Daily Show," watching a video clip of Cruise berating Lauer, "Then what do you call what's happening to you right now?"
But the Church of Scientology's war on psychiatry is no joke. For decades, Scientologists have maintained that the very notion of mental illness is a fraud. They base this belief on the views of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who proclaimed that psychiatry was an evil enterprise, a form of terrorism, and the cause of crime. Now, they're attempting to enshrine their contempt for psychiatry in laws across the country.
Recently, Scientologists have promoted legislation in Florida, Utah and New Hampshire that seeks to discredit psychiatry and drug therapies, especially for kids. The laws would penalize, even criminalize, schoolteachers who recommended mental health treatments to students or parents. At the same time, Scientologists have infiltrated the public schools, promoting a drug abuse program that presents information — that drugs like marijuana and LSD, for instance, accumulate in body fat and create constant cravings — roundly dismissed by medical experts.
In fact, physicians, psychiatrists and scientists have consistently said that Scientology's approaches to mental health have no basis in medical fact and can be dangerous to people who may need treatment. On June 27, following Cruise's "Today" show appearance, the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement to remind the nation's TV viewers that "science has proven that mental illnesses are real medical conditions" and that medications have been a lifesaving part of treatment plans for millions of people. "It is irresponsible for Mr. Cruise to use his movie publicity tour to promote his own ideological views and deter people with mental illness from getting the care they need," said Steven S. Sharfstein, president of the association. Scientology critics and former members of the church add that what lies behind the attacks on psychiatry and medicine is the church's drive to spread its religious teachings.
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.
-snip-
Most of us respond instinctively to "Dianetics." We glimpse the covers (for some reason, you only see this book in battalions of copies), with their lurid pictures of spouting volcanoes emblazoned with screaming, foil-stamp lettering, and as if by reflex, our steps quicken, our eyes avert and our faces compose themselves into the expression of someone who would never, ever have time to fill out a 500-question "personality assessment." But then, last week, under cover of darkness, a copy of "Dianetics" was delivered to my doorstep with the terse order, "Review this." It was time, as they say on bad TV shows, to face my fears.
The first thing you notice about "Dianetics" is that it is spectacularly dull. L. Ron Hubbard promises, in this seemingly endless treatise, that his "modern science of mental health" will cure everything from schizophrenia to arthritis, claims for which he presents no credible evidence whatsoever — unless you consider merely insisting that you've got evidence to be the same thing as offering it. But I am here to testify that "Dianetics" is a phenomenal remedy for at least one widespread affliction: insomnia.
"Dianetics" belongs to a category of books that will be instantly familiar to anyone who's done time reading the slush pile of unsolicited manuscripts for a book publisher. This kind of book is typically an explanation of life, the universe and everything written by a choleric gentleman (often a retired military officer) who has holed up in a converted basement or former kid's bedroom to hammer out his ideas about how the world works — ideas that have for too long been disregarded by the incompetents and assholes around him. (If you are not familiar with this sort of book, know that you have the slush pile readers of America to thank for that.)
In a way, it's impressive. Hubbard not only managed to get one of these books published, it actually became a bestseller and the founding text for Scientology. It's not your garden-variety crank who can take a crackpot rant, turn it into a creepy gazillion-dollar church with the scariest lawyers around, and set himself up as the "Commodore" of a small fleet of ships, waited on hand and foot by teenage girls in white hot pants. But, I digress.
-snip-
So what is this guy on about? The premise of "Dianetics" is that the brain remembers everything we experience and is "utterly incapable of error" except for an evolutionary holdover called the "reactive mind." This portion of the mind, usually inaccessible to the reasoning or "analytical" mind, takes over when we are "unconscious." By "unconscious," Hubbard means not just the conventional sense of the word, but any condition of pain or fear. When you are "unconscious" and also suffering some kind of pain or discomfort, the reactive mind seizes upon all your sensory impressions at that moment and melds them together into an "engram." The engram is then "soldered" into the circuitry of the mind and, when retriggered by a combination of factors, causes people to think and behave in irrational and destructive ways.
-snip-
Critics say the church hushes up this story — it involves an evil demiurge who, 75 million years ago, blew up 178 billion souls with hydrogen bombs planted in Earth's volcanoes, trapped them on "electrical strips," brainwashed them and packaged them into clusters that now cling to every human being and mess with our bodies and heads — for two reasons. One is that the church needs a sufficiently dramatic payoff after stringing members along through years of courses and trainings, all costing upward of a quarter of a million dollars. The other reason is fear that revealing this fantasia of kooky stories might turn off potential converts — but, hey, that never hurt the Old Testament.
-snip-
(Unattributed in Der Spiegel, July 1, 2005)
To Read This Article Click Here
I've never thought much of psychiatry myself. But I think even less of scientology. The fact that shit stinks doesn't mean that corpses smell like cologne.
==I've never thought much of psychiatry myself. But I think even less of scientology. The fact that shit stinks doesn't mean that corpses smell like cologne.
Ditto. I would only add that psychiatry has done far more harm.
The author just couldn't help herself, could she. Comparing Dianetics to the Old Testament, yeah right...
Far more harm then stupid Hollywood idiots?
Do you honestly believe that Scientology would attempt to assist a penniless schizophrenic or manic-depressive?
When I was in college, as a summer project for some sort of religion class, someone decided to infiltrate the Church of Scientology by posing as a runaway sleeping in an Atlantic City, NJ bus terminal. After three nights of that, he was picked up and brought to the NYC headquarters, which is a green row home type building. Supposedly they use various sorts of brain washing techniques on the initiates, like food and sleep deprivation. He got enough to do his report on them and left. The Scientology people tracked him down to school and harassed him for awhile until they were told in no uncertain terms by the school to stay away. These people are crazy.
==Far more harm then stupid Hollywood idiots?
If you read up on the subject you'll know what I mean. My comments don't in any way diminish the fact that Hollywood is full of blanking idiots.
Your tin foil is showing newbie
Here's a good place to start re: the dangers and societal harm inflicted by psychiatry:
Secular:
http://www.bigeye.com/szasz.htm
If you are a Christian, you might also want to take a look at the following book:
http://store.thebereancall.org/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=B00003
Let's try this again---please elaborate on the relativity of your comment in italics. Thanks.
Greta Van Sustern is also a member of the Church of Scientology, as well as Kirstie Alley.
See post #12
Ah
You left of the /joke :)
Lots of qualified
people have pointed to flaws
in psychology.
Indeed, the entire
behaviorist movement was
an attempt to put
psychology on
"scientific" foundations,
and get away from
"analysis" which
often is subjective and
often politics.
Thomas Szasz, M.D.
and
Absurd Medical Models of Human Behavior
This web page celebrates Thomas Szasz, M.D. whose steadfast intellectual courage in the face of institutionalized and state-sanctioned medical psychiatry has made him a hero to many, including this webmaster, for half a century.
Here is a prime example of how the Internet is helping to shine the light of truth on criminal acts legitimized by stipulating that "mental health professionals" in conjuntion with government evaluate and judge a broad range of human thought and behavior. German physicians of the Nazi era, Cuban physicians, and Soviet physicians have successfully used this ploy on behalf of the State which, by means of licensing, confers and legitimizes power to them. Today it is being used in China. Indeed, the psychiatry paradigm is valuable to any government desiring social and political control. Thomas Szasz was a true pioneer and we owe him an immeasurable debt of gratitude for the reforms now on the horizon.
This page is divided into two sections. The first provides links to selected sites pertaining to Thomas Szasz. The second provides links to sites in this new medium exposing the "emperor's lack of clothing" — a reactionary medical-state bureaucracy that supports and welcomes the power and greed of medical psychiatry.
Link:
http://www.bigeye.com/szasz.htm
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