this has become necessary am i persuaded to tread upon the toes of the "grandfather" to dianetics and scientology." in the essay, hubbard admits that from "the earliest beginnings of dianetics it is possible to trace a considerable psychoanalytic influence." hubbard makes a distinction between dianetics and scientology writing that "scientology, unlike dianetics, is not a psychotherapy. it is therefore from the dominance of scientology rather than from the viewpoint of dianetics that one can understand the failings of psychoanalysis, its dangers and the reasons why it did not produce what it should have produced." we discover psychoanalysis to have been superseded by tyrannous sadism, practiced by unprincipled men, themselves evidently in the last stages of dementia. this, then, is the end of the trail for psychoanalysis—a world of failure and brutality. today men who call themselves analysts are merrily sawing out patients’ brains, shocking them with murderous drugs, striking them with high voltages, burying them underneath mounds of ice, placing them in restraints, “sterilizing” them sexually and generally conducting themselves much as their patients would were they given the chance. it is up to us to realize, then, that psychoanalysis in its pure practice is dead the moment the spirit of humanity in which freud developed the work is betrayed by the handing over of a patient to the merciless misconduct which passes today for treatment. in 1957, hubbard founded the "national academy of american psychology" which sought to issue a "loyalty oath" to psychologists and psychiatrists. those who opposed the oath were to be labelled "subversive" psychiatrists, while those who merely refused to sign the oath would be labelled "potentially subversive". in 1958, hubbard wrote that "destroy is the same as help to a psychiatrist". his 1958 writings cited "psychiatry: the greatest flub of the russian civilization" by tom esterbrook; hubbard's son would later reveal that tom eastebrook was one of hubbard's many pen-names. in 1966 hubbard declared all-out war on psychiatry, telling scientologists that "we want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in england, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one." he committed the church of scientology to the goal of eradicating psychiatry in 1969, announcing that "our war has been forced to become 'to take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.'" by 1967, hubbard claimed that psychiatrists were behind a worldwide conspiracy to attack scientology and create a "world government" run by psychiatrists on behalf of the ussr: our enemies are less than twelve men. they are members of the bank of england and other higher financial circles. they own and control newspaper chains and they, oddly enough, run all the mental health groups in the world that had sprung up . their apparent programme was to use mental health, which is to say psychiatric electric shock and pre-frontal lobotomy, to remove from their path any political dissenters . these fellows have gotten nearly every government in the world to owe them considerable quantities of money through various chicaneries and they control, of course, income tax, government finance — wilson, for instance, the current premier of england, is totally involved with these fellows and talks about nothing else actually. referring to psychiatrists as "psychs", hubbard wrote of psychiatrists as denying human spirituality and peddling fake cures. he taught that psychiatrists were themselves deeply unethical individuals, committing "extortion, mayhem and murder. our files are full of evidence on them." hubbard's efforts to cast the field of psychiatry as the source of all of humanity's problems are exemplified in a policy letter written in 1971, in which he attempted to redefine the word "psychiatrist" to mean "an antisocial enemy of the people": psychiatry and psychiatrist are easily redefined to mean 'an antisocial enemy of the people.' this takes the kill-crazy psychiatrist off the preferred list of professions. this is a good use of the technique as for a century the psychiatrist has been setting an all-time record for inhumanity to man. anti-psychiatric themes also appear in some of hubbard's later fictional works. in hubbard's ten-volume series mission earth, various characters debate the methods and validity of psychology. in his novel battlefield earth, the evil catrists (a pun on psychiatrists), are described as a group of charlatans claiming to be mental health experts. the church of scientology and psychiatry scientologists often hold anti-psychiatry demonstrations a 1969 book, believe what you like, described an attempt by scientologists to secretly infiltrate the national association of mental health in britain and turn official policy against mental health treatment. though they were expelled from the organization after their identity and mission were revealed, the church of scientology then filed a number of suits against the namh. when operation snow white, a church of scientology campaign to purge unfavorable records about scientology and its founder l. ron hubbard, was revealed in 1980, it came to light that scientology agents of the guardian's office had also conducted a similar campaign against the world federation for mental health and the national association of mental health. scientology's views are expressed by its president in the following quote: what the church opposes are brutal, inhumane psychiatric treatments. it does so for three principal reasons: 1) procedures such as electro-shock, drugs and lobotomy injure, maim and destroy people in the guise of help; 2) psychiatry is not a science and has no proven methods to justify the billions of dollars of government funds that are poured into it; and 3) psychiatric theories that man is a mere animal have been used to rationalize, for example, the wholesale slaughter of human beings in world wars i and ii. an october 2006 article in the evening standard underlines the strong opposition of scientology toward the psychiatric profession: up front, david miscavige is dramatically — and somewhat bizarrely — attacking psychiatrists, his words backed by clips from a scientology-produced dvd are broadcast on four giant high-definition tv screens and sensationally called: psychiatry: an industry of death . 'a woman is safer in a park at midnight than on a psychiatrist's couch', booms miscavige, backed by savage graphics of psychiatrists — or 'psychs' as he calls them — being machine-gunned out of existence. warning sign at psychiatry: an industry of death, a scientology-run museum in los angeles the group says that they are near victory in their war against psychiatry. in their treatise those who oppose scientology, it is stated: today, there are 500 dianeticists and scientologists to every psychiatrist while scientology is more visible than ever, with churches dotting every continent on earth and millions of parishioners around the world, one is hard pressed to find even a single psychiatrist with a shingle on his door. scientology claims a worldwide membership of more than 8 million, the total of people who have taken the scientology introductory course. the church of scientology claims 3.5 million members in the united states, though an independent survey has found the number of people in the united states would state their religion as 'scientology' is close to 55,000. by comparison, the american psychiatric association and the american psychological association, which are composed of psychiatrists and psychologists, have 38,000 and 148,000 members respectively. mental health care professionals are not concerned that the public will take citizens commission on human rights (cchr) materials seriously, because of the organization's connection with the church; however, they argue that these materials can have a harmful impact when quoted without attribution. except for court trials and media publications and public rallies, published materials have received little notice outside of scientology and cchr; of reviews available, few are positive. psychology professor benjamin beit-hallahmi's short review of psychiatrists: the men behind hitler states: scientology has attracted much attention through its propaganda effort against what it calls psychiatry. this has involved great expense and organizational effort, carried out through a variety of fronts. if the book psychiatrists: the men behind hitler (roder, kubillus, & burwell, 1995) is a representative example, and i believe it is, it proves decisively that the campaign is rooted in total paranoia and pathetic ignorance. reading this book, and i will urge you not to waste too much time doing it, makes clear that the authors simply have no idea what psychiatry is. the american psychiatric association's lynn schultz-writsel adds: we have not responded in any way, shape or form. there has not been a hue and cry from members to respond. and anyway, the publication speaks for itself. michael burke, the president of the kansas psychiatric association, said regarding scientology, "they aren't really able to support their position with any scientific data, which they tend to ignore. … the public seems to be able to look right past the scientology hoopla." the commercial motivation of scientology in questioning psychiatry, with their alternative practice, dianetics, has been questioned by peter w. huber. according to susan raine in scientology in popular culture (2017), the church of scientology's programs against psychiatry "complicates the movement's quest for religious legitimacy." this is because of "the way in which hubbard tried to replace psychiatry, psychology and other forms of counseling and therapy with scientology." in a 2017 article in the humanistic psychologist, john h. wolfe notes that scientology has been widely discredited, and describes the ways in which scientology differs from mainstream psychotherapy. he mentions that scientology counseling is systematically thorough, meaning it considers a client’s issue individually and thoroughly before moving on to the next one. wolfe also compares scientology auditing to the “nondirective therapy” of carl rogers, “who stressed the importance of having the client find the client’s own answers, while the counselor refrains from interpretation, but listens with empathic understanding.” unlike roger’s technique however, scientology’s auditors ask leading questions, instead of letting them independently stumble upon answers on their own. legal waivers following legal actions involving the church of scientology's relationship with its members, it has become standard practice within the group for members to sign lengthy legal contracts and waivers before engaging in scientology services. in 2003, a series of media reports examined the legal contracts required by scientology, which require that, among other things, scientology followers deny any and all psychiatric care that their doctors may prescribe to them: i do not believe in or subscribe to psychiatric labels for individuals. it is my strongly held religious belief that all mental problems are spiritual in nature and that there is no such thing as a mentally incompetent person — only those suffering from spiritual upset of one kind or another dramatized by an individual. i reject all psychiatric labels and intend for this contract to clearly memorialize my desire to be helped exclusively through religious, spiritual means and not through any form of psychiatric treatment, specifically including involuntary commitment based on so-called lack of competence. under no circumstances, at any time, do i wish to be denied my right to care from members of my religion to the exclusion of psychiatric care or psychiatric directed care, regardless of what any psychiatrist, medical person, designated member of the state or family member may assert supposedly on my behalf. citizens commission on human rights the citizens commission on human rights (cchr), an institution set up by scientology and thomas szasz, also claims that the real nature of psychiatry is that of human rights abuse. in 1966, hubbard declared all-out war on psychiatry, telling scientologists that "we want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in england, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one." he committed the church of scientology to the goal of eradicating psychiatry in 1969, announcing that "our war has been forced to become 'to take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.'" not coincidentally, the church of scientology founded the citizens commission on human rights that same year as its primary vehicle for attacking psychiatry. cchr still quotes hubbard's above-cited statement that all psychiatrists are criminals: "there is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who, by ordinary criminal law, could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder. our files are full of evidence on them." cchr has conducted campaigns against prozac, against electroconvulsive therapy, against ritalin (and the existence of adhd) and against various health legislations. cchr has also opened a permanent museum,