Over recent months Channel 4 and the Sun have been running a series of features exposing secrets of the Church of Scientology. A Channel 4 documentary featured the behaviour of Scientology adherents towards those who rejected the "faith" and the revenge tactics employed against them.
In a similar format, the Sun ran a series of articles exposing "treatment" methods of the church. Having watched the Channel 4 programme I began to have a feeling of deja vu, in that I've seen this type of revenge mentality before, and the Sun's exposure of treatment methods s all too familiar.
Recently, the BBC's Panorama reporter, John Sweeney, has written a book on Scientology, "The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology", which reveals many of the methods of indoctrination employed by Scientology practitioners together with some of their extraordinary beliefs. Sweeney, in 2007, famously had a screaming match with Scientology's spokesman, Tommy Davis, during Panorama's first investigation into Scientology's oddities.
Scientology was established in the United States by a science fiction writer, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. In 1950, as L. Ron. Hubbard, he published his theories of the human mind in the book, "Dianetics". This described a system of psychotherapy he had developed to "cleanse the mind of harmful disorders".
By 1954, Hubbard had developed his form of psychotherapy into a religion, which he termed, Scientology. After the foundation of the Church of Scientology, Hubbard struggled for many years to gain recognition of it as a legitimate religion. Churches in the United States enjoy a tax free status, and U.S. tax authorities describe Scientology as a cult. Former members of the Scientology movement accuse it of fraud, harassment and brainwashing.
In contrast, psychology and psychoanalysis originated from the theories of Sigmund Freud who following a study of hysteria, extreme excitability, concluded that "mental disorders were caused by the disguised expression of unconscious wishes, particularly related to the complicated states of psycho-sexuality". In 1905, Freud published a book, "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality", which led critics to conclude that Freud, a cocaine addict, had an obsession about having sex with his mother.
Freud's close collaborator, Carl Gustav Jung broke with Freud over Freud's drug use and cocaine fuelled insistence on the sexual basis of all neuroses, and founded Analytical Psychology in response to Freud's Psychoanalysis. Jung, who famously said, "Show me a sane man and I'll cure him for you", went on to develop new psychotherapeutic techniques. These were designed "to re-acquaint an individual with his unique place in the collective unconscious as expressed in dream and imagination".
Jung's new psychotherapeutic techniques were heavily criticised as "merely disguised religion' and dismissed for its lack of proof or verification. In spite of these justified criticisms, both Freud and Jung are esteemed as founding fathers of modern psychology.
Most of the above facts were referenced from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in case you thought I was making it all up, but the parallels between Scientology and Psychology grow even more remarkable.
An initial interview process with Scientology begins with an "audit" of the potential recruits qualities and mental well-being. An initial interview process with prison psychologists begins with a "risk-assessment" of a prisoners qualities and mental well-being. The psychological testing of an audit or risk-assessment measures the skills, knowledge, intelligence, capacities, aptitudes of the subject, but most importantly, receptiveness to "treatment". This psychometric testing of subjects is not to establish if treatment is necessary. In Scientology treatment is a prerequisite of being accepted into the Church.
In prisons, psychologists already know a prisoner requires intervention, "for otherwise they wouldn't be in prison", would they?
Psychotherapeutic methods in both Scientology and psychology are very similar. In both cases, low level treatment takes place in the wider community by means of courses. A more intensive level of indoctrination or psychotherapy in Scientology takes place in "the Barn", in prison psychology, therapeutic communities serve as Barns.
Scientology backsliders or defectors have an extreme form of re-education in units known collectively as "the Hole". In prison psychology the units created for these "fallen angels" are known as Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder or Psychologically Informed Planned Environments (PIPEs) units.
In Scientology quasi-clerical terms are used to emphasise the religious aspect of the Church, terms such as Elder, Minister, Deacon, etc present an image of spiritual structure.
In psychology, quasi-scientific terms are used, Clinical Psychologist, Forensic Psychologist and so forth to present a scientific image for psychology.
Sadly, psychology is not fact based, so cannot be a true science. It is entirely opinion based and like Jung's psychotherapeutic techniques could be dismissed as faith or perhaps again, a belief based Proto-religion.
The Church of Scientology is always looking for new converts and once made an attempt to introduce a course of treatment for drug addicts into English prisons. Termed "Criminon", it was a distance learning course, however, when it was discovered that Scientology was the sponsor of the course, the project was shelved, due in part to Inside Time's refusal to advertise it.
Prison psychologists are always looking for new intervention candidates. New courses continually appear to replace old, tired ones, with meaningless names like "mindfulness". What is a mindfulness. course? No idea, but someone's making a fortune dreaming them up!
In writing this article, a thought occurred, given the similarities between psychology and Scientology how many psycho-babes could be Scientologists? Considering the evidence above, all of them. Perhaps there's even a Church of Psychology in the offing. Now there is a scary thought!
Having exposed the many links between Scientologists and psychology, I now live in daily fear of Tom Cruise coming round to head-butt me in the nadgers.
Keith Rose
A7780AG
HMP Whitemoor
Longhill Road
March
PE15 0PR
End of Bulletin
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