Editing Auditing (Scientology) (section)

== Controversies ==

=== Claimed benefits ===

L. Ron Hubbard claimed benefits from auditing including improved [[IQ]], improved ability to communicate, enhanced memory and alleviation of issues such as [[psychosis]], [[dyslexia]] and [[attention deficit disorder]].<ref name="IQ etc">{{Cite web |url=http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/02/08/archives/scientology-expose-new-yorker.html |title=The Original Scientology Exposé |publisher=[[The Saturday Evening Post]] |date=February 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=2016-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220144327/http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/02/08/archives/scientology-expose-new-yorker.html |archive-date=December 20, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/have-you-ever-been-a-boo-hoo-by-hames-phelan-saturday-evening-post.pdf |title=Have You Ever Been a Boo-Hoo? |access-date=2016-12-13}}</ref> Some people have alleged that auditing amounts to medical treatment without a license, and in the 1950s, some auditors were arrested on the charge.{{r|urban|page=62}} The Church of Scientology disputes that it is practicing medicine, and it has successfully established in United States courts of law that auditing addresses only spiritual relief.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|last1 = Wright|first1 = Skelley|title = Opinion|url = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=18407779340802616532|publisher = United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia|access-date = 10 April 2015|location = Washington, DC|date = February 5, 1969|page = 1154}}</ref> According to the Church,{{Efn|Use of "Church" or "the Church" is a common shortened form of "Church of Scientology"; see [[The Church (Scientology)]].}} the psychotherapist treats mental health and the Church treats the spiritual being. Hubbard clarified the difference between the two:

{{quotation|If we processed a specific type of aberration, we of course would be in the field of mental healing, and so forth. But long ago we actually discovered that we must not process specific aberrations, which takes us out of the field of mental healing.
It is quite fatal to do this because in the first place it's an evaluation for the case. In the second place, it's a negative type process; you're condemning the individual for hitting girls. Doesn't validate the individual at all. Do you follow? And if carried on very long, does not result in the betterment of an individual. All we're interested in is the spiritual betterment of the individual[.]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hubbard|first=L Ron|title=Scientology Definitions II|journal=Tape 6612C06|date=6 Dec 1966|series=SHSBC 83(446)}}</ref> }}

In 1971, a ruling of the United States District Court, District of Columbia (333 F. Supp. 357), specifically stated that the [[E-meter]] "has no proven usefulness in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease, nor is it medically or scientifically capable of improving any bodily function."<ref name="www-2.cs.cmu.edu">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/Mark-VII/|title=Secrets of Scientology: The E-Meter|website=www.cs.cmu.edu}}</ref> As a result of this ruling, Scientology now publishes disclaimers in its books and publications declaring that the E-meter "by itself does nothing" and that it is used specifically for spiritual purposes.<ref name="www-2.cs.cmu.edu" />

=== Misuse of confidential information ===

Auditing sessions are permanently recorded in the form of handwritten notes stored in folders called ''preclear folders'', which are supposed to be kept private and confidential. Judge Paul Breckenridge, in ''[[Church of Scientology of California v. Armstrong]]'', noted that [[Mary Sue Hubbard]] (the plaintiff in that case) "authored the infamous order '[[Guardian's Office|GO]] 121669', which directed culling of supposedly confidential P.C. files/folder for the purposes of internal security".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/legal/a1/breckenridge-decision.html |title=Memorandum of Intended Decision, case No. C 420153 |date=June 20, 1984}}</ref> This directive was later canceled because it was not part of Scientology as written by L. Ron Hubbard. Bruce Hines has noted in an interview with [[Hoda Kotb]] that Scientology's collecting of personal and private information through auditing can possibly leave an adherent vulnerable to potential "blackmail" should they ever consider disaffecting from the cult.<ref>{{cite interview |first=Bruce |last=Hines |interviewer=Hoda Kotb |title=Inside Scientology |work=Countdown with Keith Olbermann |publisher=CNBC}}</ref> A number of sources have claimed that information gleaned from preclear folders have indeed been used for intimidation and harassment.<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven |last=Girardi |title=Witnesses Tell of Break-ins, Conspiracy |work=Clearwater Sun |date=1982-05-09 |quote=Commissioners heard also from a former Guardian Office worker who said she used the sect's "confessional files" during several campaigns to discredit defected Scientologists |pages=1A}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=John |last=Barnes |title=Sinking the Master Mariner |journal=Sunday Times Magazine |date=1984-10-28}}</ref><ref name=Wakefield09>{{cite book|last=Wakefield|first=Margery |author-link=Margery Wakefield |title=The Road to Xenu : Life Inside Scientology|date=2009 |publisher=Lulu |isbn=9780557090402 |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_kkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA188|access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref>{{r|atack|pages=254,276,277,332,333,340,393}}

=== Hypnosis ===
{{Main|Scientology and hypnosis}}

Auditing has been described by some scholars and government inquiries as involving hypnotic elements. Hassan and Scheflin (2024) states that Hubbard incorporated [[hypnosis|hypnotic]] techniques into auditing practice and that these techniques can induce a light hypnotic state and create dependency and obedience in the subject.{{r|HaSc24}} In 1965 the [[Anderson Report]], an official inquiry conducted for the state of Victoria, Australia, found that auditing involved a form of "authoritative" or "command" [[hypnosis]], in which the hypnotist assumes "positive authoritative control" over the subject. The report stated: "It is the firm conclusion of this Board that most scientology and dianetic techniques are those of authoritative hypnosis and as such are dangerous [...] it is only in name that there is any difference between authoritative hypnosis and most of the techniques of scientology."{{r|andersonreport|p=115}}

=== Child labor ===

Dutch investigative reporter Rinke Verkerk reported that she was given an auditing session by an 11-year-old in the Netherlands.<ref name="Verkerk15">{{cite news|last1=Verkerk|first1=Rinke|title=Vier maanden undercover bij de Scientologykerk |url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/media/vier-maanden-undercover-bij-de-scientologykerk~a4034490/|access-date=21 January 2017|work=[[de Volkskrant]]|date=20 May 2015|language=nl-NL |trans-title=Four months undercover at the Church of Scientology}}</ref> This has been criticized by clinical psychologists and child psychologists, on the grounds that [[secondary trauma]] can affect children more strongly than adults.<ref name="Kuiper15">{{cite news|last1=Kuiper|first1=Rik|title=Scientologykerk laat kinderen therapieën volwassenen leiden|url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/scientologykerk-laat-kinderen-therapieen-volwassenen-leiden~a4034261/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923183704/http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/scientologykerk-laat-kinderen-therapieen-volwassenen-leiden~a4034261/ |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |access-date=21 January 2017|work=[[de Volkskrant]]|date=19 May 2015|language=nl-NL |trans-title=Church of Scientology Lets Children Lead Adult Therapy |quote=(translated quote) "Absolutely unhealthy," says Jan Hendriks, clinical psychologist at De Waag and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. "Children can't handle this. You shouldn't burden little people with big problems." "If this is true, it's emotional neglect," says child and adolescent psychiatrist Ramón Lindauer of AMC-de Bascule. "That 11-year-old boy is then deliberately exposed to the bad stories of others. Even for professional caregivers, this can cause secondary traumatic stress, which manifests as anxiety and tension complaints. The impact on children can be even greater."}}</ref> The fact that the child was working full days for a whole weekend was also considered to be problematic.<ref name=Kuiper15 />