Dianetics

In Scientology, Dianetics is put forward as a methodology to alleviate unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears and psychosomatic illnesses. Developed by L. Ron Hubbard in the late 1940s, Dianetics was coined from the Greek words dia, meaning "through" and nous, meaning "soul". Hubbard's interpretation is "what the soul is doing to the body."

Independent scientific views

There are only two known independent scientific studies on Dianetics:

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• Harvey Jay Fisher tested Dianetics therapy against three claims made by proponents and found it does not effect any significant changes on intellectual functioning, mathematical ability, or upon the degree of personality conflicts. (Fisher, 1953).
• Jack Fox tested Hubbard's thesis regarding recall of engrams and could not substantiate it (Fox, 1959).

Apart from studies, there have been several evaluations of Dianetics written by scientists and academics from various fields:

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Professor S. I. Hayakawa, in one of the first published reviews of Dianetics, wrote a blistering attack in 1951. He said that Hubbard had gone from science-fiction to "fiction-science."

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Martin Gardner discussed Dianetics in his controversial 1957 book on pseudoscience, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science.

Related Topics:
Martin Gardner - Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

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J.A. Winter, M.D., originally an associate of Hubbard and an early adopter of Dianetics, gives an account of his personal positive experiences but has no scientific substantiation to offer:

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:"Several copies were made of the manual which Hubbard had sent: two of them were sent to colleagues of mine in Chicago. Both of them expressed interest in the ingenuity of the ideas, but they were strongly skeptical of the efficacy of the method. I concluded from their comments that neither of them planned to make any further investigation."

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:"By October, 1950, I had come to the conclusion that I could not agree with all the tenets of dianetics as set forth by the Foundation. I could not, as previously mentioned, support Hubbard's claims regarding the state of "clear." I no longer felt, as I once had, that any intelligent person could (and presumably should) practice dianetics. ... Moreover, there was a poorly concealed attitude of disparagement of the medical profession and of the efforts of previous workers in the field of mental illness. Finally, the avowed purpose of the Foundation -- the accomplishment of precise scientific research into the functioning of the mind -- was conspicuously absent." (Winter, 1950)

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Professor John A. Lee states in his evaluation of Dianetics (Lee, 1970):

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:"Objective experimental verification of Hubbard's physiological and psychological doctrines is lacking. To date, no regular scientific agency has established the validity of his theories of prenatal perception and engrams, or cellular memory, or Dianetic reverie, or the effects of Scientology auditing routines. Existing knowledge contradicts Hubbard's theory of recording of perceptions during periods of unconsciousness."

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Philosophy professor Robert Carroll article on Dianetics gives a rather scathing critique of Hubbards claims to scientific work, calls Dianetics a pseudoscience and concludes:

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:"What Hubbard touts as a science of mind lacks one key element that is expected of a science: empirical testing of claims. The key elements of Hubbard's so-called science don't seem testable, yet he repeatedly claims that he is asserting only scientific facts and data from many experiments. It isn't even clear what such "data" would look like. Most of his data is in the form of anecdotes and speculations ... Such speculation is appropriate in fiction, but not in science."

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Frank A. Gerbode, a former Scientologist, developed in 1984 a method called Traumatic Incident Reduction, which is a minor but accepted psychotherapy for eliminating negative effects of past traumatic incidents. Unlike Dianetics, TIR has demonstrated results in independent scientific studies. http://www.tir.org/metapsy/researc.htm

Related Topics:
Frank A. Gerbode - Traumatic Incident Reduction - Psychotherapy

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