scientology and psychiatry scientology and psychiatry since the founding of the church of scientology in 1954 by l. ron hubbard, the relationship between scientology and psychiatry has been dominated by strong opposition by the organization against the medical specialty of psychiatry, and of psychology, with themes relating to this opposition occurring repeatedly throughout scientology literature and doctrine. according to the church of scientology, psychiatry has a long history of improper and abusive care. the group's views have been disputed, criticized and condemned by experts in the medical and scientific community and been a source of public controversy. scientologist lisa mcpherson died in 1995 after refusing psychiatric treatment. l. ron hubbard had a complex and changing relationship with psychiatry; he recalled positive experiences with psychiatrists in his youth and requested psychiatric treatment in adulthood. by 1948, hubbard claimed to volunteer in a psychiatric clinic and two years later published "dianetics: the modern science of mental health". in 1951, however, hubbard's wife sara northrup hollister reportedly consulted psychiatrists who recommended hubbard be institutionalized; thereafter, hubbard was increasingly hostile towards psychiatry. in 1995, scientologist lisa mcpherson died at "flag land base" after leaving a hospital where she refused psychiatric treatment. in 2003, a man with untreated schizophrenia murdered his mother after his paranoid delusions caused him to become convinced the scientology-approved vitamins she was giving him in lieu of effective medication were poisonous. in 2005, celebrity scientologist tom cruise achieved notoriety for his public opposition to psychiatry. l. ron hubbard and psychiatry hubbard's beliefs and practices, drawn from a diverse set of sources, influenced numerous offshoots, splinter-groups, and new movements. l. ron hubbard was an american author of science fiction and fantasy stories. hubbard reported many encounters with psychiatrists, from the age of 12 onward. during world war ii, hubbard was hospitalized; in 1947, hubbard requested psychiatric treatment and the following year moved with his wife to savannah, georgia, where he was reportedly associated with a psychiatric clinic. in 1950, hubbard published dianetics: the modern science of mental health. in 1951, it was publicly reported that hubbard's wife sara had been advised by a psychiatrist that hubbard should be institutionalized for treatment of paranoid schizophrenia. they divorced, and the following year, hubbard founded scientology, an anti-psychiatry religious movement. overview hubbard's views on psychiatry evolved over time. hubbard spoke positively of his childhood and teen encounters with psychiatrists in the 1920s and 30s. at the age of 12, hubbard was accompanied by navy psychiatrist joseph thompson on an ocean trip from seattle to washington, d.c. hubbard likewise wrote positively of teenage/young-adult encounters with d.c.-based psychiatrist william alanson white. some of hubbard's later works included acknowledgements to both thompson and white, and hubbard would later claim to have received clinical training from thompson and white. in contrast, hubbard spoke more critically of his later encounters with psychiatrists and psychiatric institutions—hubbard had written positively of psychiatric hospital superintendent william alanson white, but white's successor (winfred overholser) was singled out for criticism. hubbard likewise spoke critically of his encounters with a washington, d.c., institution for the treatment of schizophrenia called "walnut lodge" (presumably chestnut lodge). during the second world war, hubbard was hospitalized at oak knoll military hospital. in 1947, hubbard wrote a letter to the va requesting psychiatric treatment. the following year, hubbard and his wife sara moved to savannah, georgia, where hubbard would later recall having been associated with a charity mental health clinic. according to hubbard, he worked as a volunteer helping to treat charity patients during his time in savannah. while in savannah, hubbard began working on a "book of psychology" about "the cause and cure of nervous tension"; the next year, he published dianetics: the modern science of mental health. in 1951, hubbard's wife sara reportedly consulted a psychiatrist who recommended hubbard be institutionalized. hubbard initially responded by kidnapping sara. thereafter, he took their daughter and fled to havana. after sara went public with her story, hubbard returned her daughter. in his final known encounter with a psychiatrist, hubbard consulted a practitioner in order to rebut public claims of his own mental illness. thereafter, hubbard was increasingly hostile towards psychiatry. in the 50s, hubbard sought to identify "subversive" psychiatrists or other "potential subversives". by the early 70s, hubbard wrote of having redefined the word "psychiatrist" to mean "an antisocial enemy of the people". hubbard's early encounters with psychiatry joseph thompson, 1917 hubbard claimed to have personal encounters with several named psychiatrists beginning in his childhood. some, like thompson and white, would later be remembered favorably—hubbard explicitly cited both as sources for his work. others, such as overholser and center, were the subject of scorn. joseph cheesman thompson in 1923, navy medical doctor and psychoanalyst joseph "snake" thompson accompanied hubbard on a voyage. hubbard recalled "i traveled with commander thompson from seattle, washington through the panama canal to washington, d.c. when i was about twelve and knew him during all that time that i was in washington and later." hubbard recalled that " friends called him 'snake' and his enemies called him 'crazy'. he had lots of both." in another recording of hubbard sharing anecdotes from his life, he considered thompson to be a "very great man" who sparked hubbard's interest in "the human mind". hubbard said that thompson told him, "if it's not true for you, it's not true." in 1952, hubbard recalled that "i was just a kid and commander thompson didn't have any boy of his own, and he and i just got along fine." hubbard continued "why he took it into his head to start beating freud into my head, i don't know. but he did." in 1953, hubbard argued "it's very odd to realize, as i did one day, that in subsequent years i have approximated to a very remarkable degree the career of commander thompson - to show you what an impressed - impressionable boy can have handed to him suddenly." in 1954, hubbard described an encounter with psychiatrists in which playing sports was seen as a positive indicator: "i knew people, and the people who were trained by these people. and, if there was anything they were in awe of, it was somebody who engaged in sports. so this fellow was phenomenal to them. they knew this was very good somehow or another, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on it. and to this day it is enough to tell a psychiatrist that, and prove to him, that you are very energetic and engaged in sports, to have him dismiss you immediately as being completely sane. only that’s just, bing. he just says, "well, i…" he just goes into apathy right at that point. that’s the truth. "the… it was an interesting thing, for instance, to william allen white. and commander thompson. both of them, where i was concerned, that i wasn’t very interested in sitting around figuring about this stuff and didn’t seem to be terribly interested in the insane." hubbard described later encounters with thompson: "in 1930 i knew a fellow by the name of commander thompson. i had known him before, actually". in 1958, hubbard told an audience: "i have made people feel better by using straight freudian analysis the way i got it from commander thompson who imported it to the us navy, not via catherine horney". thompson died in 1943, seven years before the publication of dianetics. thompson was included in the acknowledgements section of 1951's science of survival, as was william a. white. william alanson white the center building at st. elizabeths, one of the oldest on the campus, as it appeared in the early 20th century william alanson white was an american neurologist and psychiatrist who served as superintendent of st. elizabeths hospital. a letter from the hubbard association of scientologists international to the fbi, dated june 12, 1954, claims that hubbard was trained by both joseph thompson and william alanson white. hubbard recalled "dr. william alanson white, a very fine man. he was head of the big st. elizabeth’s, the big mental institution there in washington, d.c., and he had been a friend of mine for quite a while. i had met him through other friends of dr. thompson's". in a lecture, hubbard described consulting white about a theoretical calculation of human memory capacity, apparently during hubbard's university days. hubbard recalled that "he used to see me every once in a while". in a 1951 lecture, hubbard described st. elizabeth's as "where they sent the naval officers after they had received their fifth contradiction from the navy department". for two years in the 1920s, white had opened the doors of st. elizabeths to alfred korzybski, enabling korzybski to directly study mental illness, research that contributed heavily to korzybski's 1933 science and sanity: an introduction to non-aristotelian systems and general semantics. hubbard cited the relationship between korzybski and white in his lectures. white died in 1937, thirteen years before the publication of dianetics. white was included in the acknowledgements section of 1951's science of survival, as was joseph thompson. "walnut lodge" hand coloured photographic postcard of chestnut lodge sanitorium postmarked 1909 for much of the 1920s and 30s, l. ron hubbard lived in washington d.c. in 1932, hubbard listed the us naval hospital in washington as his address; in 1933, hubbard listed a p.o. box in beallsville, maryland. in a 1952 lecture, hubbard recalls his interaction with staff and patients at a facility specializing in schizophrenia which he calls "walnut lodge" (presumably chestnut lodge): there’s a place by the name of walnut lodge. i… i… they don’t see anything humorous in that, by the way; it’s walnut lodge. they… they… they sent three people to see, to… to see me and every one of them was under treatment. and this was their staff. but anyway, very good people there, i’m sure, didn’t happen to meet any. have some fine patients though. anyway, they… they treat only schizophrenia. and so they take only schizophrenics. now how do they get only schizophrenics? well, anybody sent to walnut lodge is a classified schizophrenic. and they take somebody who is a dementia praecox unclassified or a more modern definition, a mania-depressive and they take him from saint elizabeth’s and they take him over to walnut lodge and he goes onto the books as a schizophrenic. why? because walnut lodge takes only schizophrenics. hubbard would return to "walnut lodge" in future writings. a 1970 bulletin states that "$2,000 a month for board only is the price at walnut lodge in washington dc, an average place." in his work mission earth, hubbard writes "arginal p. pauper was today committed to walnut lodge nut house". hubbard as patient naval hospital, oak knoll circa 1946 during world war two, hubbard was hospitalized at a california military hospital. after his release, he wrote to the veterans administration to request further treatment. thereafter, he and his wife moved to savannah, georgia, where he was reportedly associated with a charity mental health clinic. oak knoll military hospital in 1945, hubbard was a patient at oak knoll military hospital. hubbard's estranged son, l. ron hubbard, jr., later known as ron dewolf, would later state that hubbard received psychiatric treatment during his hospitalization. hubbard would later cite his time with psychiatric patients at oak knoll "using a park bench as a consulting room" as a major influence on his development of dianetics. request for psychiatric treatment after his discharge, hubbard sought out psychiatric help to treat his "long periods of moroseness and suicidal inclinations" but reported that he could not afford it. a letter dated october 15, 1947, which hubbard wrote to the veterans administration (va) begins: "this is a request for treatment". the letter continues: after trying and failing for two years to regain my equilibrium in civil life, i am utterly unable to approach anything like my own competence. my last physician informed me that it might be very helpful if i were to be examined and perhaps treated psychiatrically or even by a psychoanalyst. toward the end of my service i avoided out of pride any mental examinations, hoping that time would balance a mind which i had every reason to suppose was seriously affected. i cannot account for nor rise above long periods of moroseness and suicidal inclinations, and have newly come to realize that