Editing Scientology controversies (section)

==Scientology and psychiatry==
{{Main|Scientology and psychiatry}}
There have been a number of controversies between Scientology and psychiatry since the founding of the [[Church of Scientology]] in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both [[psychiatry]] and [[psychology]].<ref>{{Cite book | first=Paulette | last=Cooper | author-link=Paulette Cooper | title=Scientology Versus Medicine in Scandal of Scientology | publisher=Web Edition | year=1997 | url=http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/tsos/sos-16.html | archive-date=January 9, 2022 | access-date=February 9, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109235915/http://www.xenu.net/archive/books/tsos/sos-16.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mieszkowski |first=Katharine |title=Scientology's War on Psychiatry |journal=[[Salon.com]] |year=2005 |url=https://www.salon.com/2005/07/01/sci_psy/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508151857/https://www.salon.com/2005/07/01/sci_psy/ |archive-date=May 8, 2012 |access-date=2016-02-09 }}</ref> Scientologists view psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and encourage alternative care based on [[spiritual healing]]. 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.

The Church of Scientology's objection to secular ideas about mental health are religious in nature, based on the conviction that humans are essentially divine beings who have been marred by negative experiences acquired over several lifetimes. Scientology also purports that the secular perception of what is mentally normal is not based on science, a contradiction to the claims of psychiatry and psychology.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Neusner |first1=Jacob |title=World Religions in America |edition=4 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=2009 }}</ref>

The Church founded an [[anti-psychiatry]] organization called [[Citizens Commission on Human Rights]] (CCHR), which operates a public exhibit in Los Angeles, California, called [[Psychiatry: An Industry of Death]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scientology vs. Science : Psychiatry, says L. Ron Hubbard's church, is responsible for Nazism, school shootings, and even 9/11 |first=Andrew |last=Gumbel |work=Los Angeles City Beat |url=http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3137&IssueNum=136 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427102908/http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3137&IssueNum=136 |archive-date=April 27, 2006}}</ref>