The Church of Scientology officially denies that it uses hypnosis as part of its beliefs and practices. Individuals admitting to having had hypnosis, as either a participant or practitioner, are not permitted to undergo training due to the possibility of harm caused by the prior exposure to hypnosis. Scientology has, nonetheless, been subject throughout its history to accusations that it covertly uses hypnosis to gain control over its members.
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Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was known to his associates in the late 1940s as a talented hypnotist.[1] During this period, he worked in Hollywood posing as a swami.[2] The Church says that Hubbard's experience with hypnosis led him to create Dianetics as an alternative means to solve man's problems.[3]
Some researchers believe that Scientology uses a form of what is called authoritative hypnosis. In much of his Scientology and Dianetics writings, Hubbard often redefined common words and invented new words. According to The Anderson Report, Hubbard has done this with hypnotic phenomena also. It is also believed that Hubbard has attributed spiritual significance to the results of the hypnosis. Among the terms that Hubbard has used for documented stages of unconsciousness experiences in hypnosis are:
The Church of Scientology's official position on hypnosis is that it is a dangerous and undesirable practice. Whereas hypnotism's goal is to place a person in "a state of lessened awareness (i.e. trance)", Scientology's stated goal is to put people into the opposite state - one of higher awareness.[4]
Margery Wakefield, in her book Understanding Scientology, noted the hypnotic nature of the extremely repetitive questioning done during drills in Scientology auditing. These drills are sometimes done for several hours at a time, "until the preclear can do it without delay, without protest, without apathy, but with cheerfulness." [5] This however is a confusion on her part since drills are only used during the training of auditors. At these times no "preclears" are present.
In his book The Creation of Human Ability, Hubbard denied the hypnotic nature of the processes and drills. He stated: "(They) induce no trances. People who think so simply don't know much about hypnotism." [6]
A 2005 article in the Miami Herald quoted Scientology critic David Touretzky as saying "It's very clear that what they're doing is putting people into a light trance". This article also included comments from a man named Peter Alexander who said that after spending years undergoing the "hypnotic repetition" of Scientology, they began training him to communicate with "dead space aliens called Body Thetans." [7]
A 2010 article in Ynet quoted Dr. Alex Aviv, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Law of Hypnosis to the Israeli Ministry of Health as saying (in reference to Scientology) "they restore early memories, usually of traumas, when in some cases this is a false memory. When a patient 'remembers' a false event like that via a hypnotic process - the event can become real for him".[8]
Volney Mathison, an early collaborator with Hubbard who designed the precursor machine to the e-meter, remarked in 1964, "I decry the doings of trivial fakers, such as scientologists and the like, who glibly denounce hypnosis and then try covertly to use it in their phony systems".[9]