WHAT IS THE CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS?

 

In 1969 the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) was formed as an arm of Scientology to expose what Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard considered the evils of psychiatry.  Hubbard hadn’t always opposed psychiatry; he had sought psychiatric help himself and had initially promoted Dianetics as a mental health treatment.  But Dianetics was rejected by the psychiatric community, and Hubbard became increasingly bitter toward the profession.

 

By 1955 Hubbard was vowing that his theories would supplant psychiatry:

 

"We are not even vaguely propitiative toward medicine or psychiatry, and we are overtly intent upon assimilating every function they are now performing."

- L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard, Professional Auditor's Bulletin no. 53, 27 May 1955, "Ownership"
 

Hubbard claimed that psychiatry was responsible for all of society’s ills, and by 1964 he was accusing psychiatrists of being murderers:

 

"Psychiatrists...murdered several million people - so it's no light matter...33 1/3 percent of all psycho-analytic patients are said to have committed suicide in their first three months of treatment."

- L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Bulletin, 11 December 1964, "Processes"

 

By 1966 he was accusing psychiatrists of sexual deviancy and rape:

 

"A psychiatrist today has the power to (1) take a fancy to a woman (2) lead her to take wild treatment as a joke (3) drug and shock her to temporary insanity (4) incarnate [sic] her (5) use her sexually (6) sterilise her to prevent conception (7) kill her by a brain operation to prevent disclosure. And all with no fear of reprisal. Yet it is rape and murder... We want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in England, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one... This is Project Psychiatry. We will remove them."

- L. Ron Hubbard, Sec ED, Office of LRH, Confidential, 22 February 1966, "Project Psychiatry"

 

In 1970 Hubbard blamed the Holocaust on psychiatry:

 

"Leipzig University's school of psychology and psychiatry opened the door to death camps in Hitler's Germany.  Using drugs these men apparently gave Hitler to the world as their puppet."

- L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 26 November 1970, "More Outpoints"
 

He accused psychiatrists of causing insanity:

 

"Thus, psychiatry is MAKING insane people."

- L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Bulletin, 16 July 1970, "The Psychiatrist at Work"
 

He ordered that "we assign any...upset in Scientology to past damage and interference with the person by medicine and psychiatry." (Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 29 June 1971, "CONFIDENTIAL") and called for the complete eradication of the profession:

 

"’Psychiatry’ and ‘psychiatrist’ are easily redefined to mean ‘an anti-social enemy of the people‘. This takes the kill crazy psychiatrist off the preferred list of professions...The redefinition of words is done be associating different emotions and symbols with the word than were intended...Scientologists are redefining ‘doctor‘, ‘Psychiatry’ and ‘psychology’ to mean ‘undesirable antisocial elements‘...The way to redefine a word is to get the new definition repeated as often as possible. Thus it is necessary to redefine medicine, psychiatry and psychology downward and define Dianetics and Scientology upwards. This, so far as words are concerned, is the public opinion battle for belief in your definitions, and not those of the opposition. A consistent, repeated effort is the key to any success with this technique of propaganda."

- L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, 5 Oct 1971, PR Series 12, "Propaganda by Redefinition of Words"

 

Following Hubbard’s death in 1986, the Church of Scientology and the CCHR have continued his campaign to destroy psychiatry:

 

"Be part of the team that is taking out psychiatry!"

- CCHR mailer 7 December 1993, signed Don Gershbock

"Psychs are the major source of planetary suppression; they and this program must be stopped."

- CCHR mailer 15 Sept. 1993, signed Steve Manuels

"We know psychiatrists create insanity, war and crime."

- CCHR mailer April 1995, signed Jan Eastgate

"...the psych industry has been bleeding the life and sanity from our country."

- CCHR mailer June 1995

"It is obvious that psychiatry as an industry has fully infested English-speaking countries and a good portion of the rest of the world...We need to exploit the lawsuits and all psychiatric criminality to maximum advantage...making psychiatry the most unpopular and ridiculed group of the day."

-  CCHR newsletter copyright 2000

"The time to put an end to psychiatry and its criminal practices is NOW!"

- CCHR mailer, copyright 1998

"Get rid of the psychs! That is just what CCHR is doing."

- CCHR mailer "Stop Psych Experiments on schoolchildren!" copyright 1997

"Psych Buster t-shirts with the infamous ‘Psychiatry Kills’ message written clearly for all psychs to see are available from the Office of Special Affairs for $10.00. Send your size and check to the address listed below."

- OSA Newsletter, July 9, 1986 (the OSA is the Church of Scientology’s own investigative and security agency)
 

The CCHR’s anti-psychiatry efforts are international in scope, as CCHR units operate under Scientology's umbrella throughout the world. Though overstating its successes, the CCHR has had some impact on the psychiatric profession, occasionally exposing instances of substandard care or outright abuse.  It has been somewhat more successful in warning people off psychotropic drugs, particularly antidepressants, which have been the targets of highly publicized CCHR attacks.  Its campaign against Prozac in the early 1990s helped spur damage suits against Eli Lilly and prescribing psychiatrists, and some patients became so convinced of Prozac’s alleged dangers that they stopped taking their medication.  A Harvard psychiatry professor concluded that "the public's fear of Prozac as a result of this campaign has itself become a potentially serious public health problem as people stay away from treatment." (1)

 

Church of Scientology members are now required to sign release forms pledging to forgo psychiatric treatment and absolving the church of any responsibility for harm resulting from the lack of such treatment. (2)

 

Some people think that psychotropic drugs are over-prescribed today.  Maybe you think so, too.  However, the CCHR’s anti-psychiatry message is spread widely and may well persuade people who genuinely need medical help to stop listening to their doctors or stop taking prescribed medications, even though the CCHR has no medical standing to support its claims.  The Citizens Commission on Human Rights attacks an entire profession with unsubstantiated allegations and is busy in Washington with Scientology’s celebrity spokespeople, promoting anti-psychiatry legislation and policies.

 

A partial list of other groups allied with, supported by and/or operated by the Church of Scientology can be found online at: http://tinyurl.com/2gmhw and http://tinyurl.com/3ggpt

 

NOTES:

1.         Stephen A. Kent, "The Globalization of Scientology: Influence, Control and Opposition in Transnational Markets." RELIGION, Vol. 29, April 1999, pp. 147-169. http://tinyurl.com/3b4hm

2.         The Church of Scientology’s release of liability agreement. http://tinyurl.com/35lws

 

ONLINE REFERENCES:

CCHR official websites:

http://www.cchr.org/

http://www.psychassault.org/cchr.html

 

Alternate views on CCHR:

http://tinyurl.com/2debh

 

A PIECE OF BLUE SKY: SCIENTOLOGY, DIANETICS AND L. RON HUBBARD EXPOSED, by Jon Atack  http://tinyurl.com/25rov

 

BARE-FACED MESSIAH: THE TRUE STORY OF L. RON HUBBARD, by Russell Miller http://tinyurl.com/3d2sk

 

"Group is front organization for Church of Scientology" by Bill Thibeault THE CANTON JOURNAL, October 17, 2002  http://tinyurl.com/yu5to

 

L. RON HUBBARD: MESSIAH OR MADMAN?, by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf.  http://tinyurl.com/2jh3g

 

"Psychiatric Profession Current Target of Citizens Commission on Human Rights," by Stephen Barlas and PSYCHIATRIC TIMES staff, PSYCHIATRIC TIMES, Vol. XIII, Issue 11, November 1996. http://tinyurl.com/39pd7

 

"Scientology II: CCHR and Narconon" by L. J. West, M.D.  THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PSYCHIATRIST, May 1991, pp. 6-13. http://tinyurl.com/2ohjr

 

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES:

The official Church of Scientology website:

www.scientology.org

 

Websites for the Freezone, practicing Scientology outside the CoS:

www.fzaoint.net    

www.fza.org    

www.freezone.org

 

Alternate views:

www.xenu.net

www.factnet.org

www.scientologywatch.org

www.suppressiveperson.org/

www.spaink.net

www.snafu.de/~tilman/

www.narconon-exposed.org

www.studytech.org

www.modemac.com

www.truthaboutscientology.com

www.scientology-lies.com

www.lermanet.com

www.freedomofmind.com

www.altreligionscientology.org

www.xenutv.com

 

 

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