Dianetics

Dianetics (from Greek dia, meaning "through", and nous, meaning "mind") is a set of pseudoscientific ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body created by science fiction writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics is practiced by followers of Scientology and the Nation of Islam (as of 2010). Dianetics was originally conceived as a branch of psychiatry, which Hubbard would come to despise when various psychoanalysts dismissed it as unscientific. Though it is presented as a form of psychological treatment, Dianetics and its core concepts have been rejected by psychologists and other scientists from the outset and are not supported by credible evidence. Dianetics divides the mind into three parts: the conscious "analytical mind", the subconscious "reactive mind", and the somatic mind. The goal of Dianetics is to erase the content of the "reactive mind", which practitioners believe interferes with a person's ethics, awareness, happiness, and sanity. The Dianetics procedure to achieve this erasure is called "auditing". In auditing, the Dianetic auditor asks a series of questions (or commands) which are intended to help a person locate and deal with painful past experiences. Practitioners of Dianetics believe that "the basic principle of existence is to survive" and that the basic personality of humans is sincere, intelligent, and good. The drive for goodness and survival is distorted and inhibited by aberrations. Hubbard proposed this model, and then developed Dianetics with the claim that it could eradicate these aberrations. When Hubbard formulated Dianetics, he described it as "a mix of Western technology and Oriental philosophy". Hubbard claimed that Dianetics could increase intelligence, eliminate unwanted emotions and alleviate a wide range of illnesses he believed to be psychosomatic. Among the conditions purportedly treated were arthritis, allergies, asthma, some coronary difficulties, eye trouble, ulcers, migraine headaches, sexual deviation (which for Hubbard included homosexuality), and even death.