This is an excerpt from Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families and Providers,
by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. and Michael B. Knable, D.O.
(Basic Books, 2002)

One reason for the limited advocacy efforts on behalf of individuals with severe psychiatric disorders in the United States is the presence of countervailing forces--a small but vocal coalition of Scientologists, antipsychiatrists, and "consumer survivors." These disparate and often interdependent groups are united by their hatred of psychiatry in general and their opposition to any form of assisted treatment in particular. Many of their members are intellectual descendents of Thomas Szasz, who taught that mental illnesses do not really exist, and Ronald Laing, who claimed that psychosis is a growth experience. These groups often attempt to intimidate individuals and organizations that provide advocacy for individuals with manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric disorders.

The Scientologists channel their opposition to psychiatry through their Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), which proclaims on its letterhead that it was "established by the Church of Scientology in 1969 to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights. " Not known for its subtlety, CCHR also disseminates publications with titles such as "Betraying Women: Psychiatric Rape," "Psychiatry: Victimizing the Elderly," "Psychiatry's Role in the Creation of Crime," and "Psychiatry: Destroying Religion."

The efforts of CCHR are based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, whose main book was entitled Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Scientologists see psychiatry as a rival that must be destroyed. According to one published account, "Hubbard taught that the psychotic person is a 'potential trouble source' who is connected to forces opposed to Scientology. People who behave as psychotics are 'unethical' and 'immoral.'" Hubbard also taught that the "forces" behind psychiatry are extraterrestrial, claiming that "Earthlings are the pawns of aliens" and that "the psychiatric establishment--which always looked askance at his theories--was not just a present-day evil but a timeless one. In a distant galaxy, alien 'psychs' [as Hubbard called them] devised implants that would ultimately wreck the spiritual progress of human beings.'" In effect, psychiatrists were the Darth Vaders of Hubbard's universe.

All of this sounds like harmless nonsense until one realizes that many Scientologists actually believe it. Even more unsettling is the fact that, by making financial demands on members and recruiting celebrities such as John Travolta and Tom Cruise, the Scientologists have assembled enormous monetary resources to finance their antipsychiatry crusades and provide support to other groups and individuals who oppose psychiatry. The Scientologists' opposition to psychiatric treatment also has occasional fatal consequences. For example, in 1995, when a woman Scientologist in Clearwater, Florida, developed acute mania, other Scientologists confined her and failed to seek psychiatric care; she died seventeen days later. A civil wrongful-death suit filed against Scientology by the woman's estate is pending.

One prominent antipsychiatrist who has been linked to Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights is Thomas Szasz. The CCHR website lists Szasz as a "founder," and its letterhead lists him as a "Founding Commissioner," although Szasz himself has disavowed this relationship. Another anitpsychiatrist who has been linked to Scientology is Peter Breggin, author of The Psychology of Freedom and Toxic Psychiatry. According to a published account, "Breggin admits that he was once an ally of the group [Scientologists] and that his wife was a member." Breggin, who trained under Szasz, has also written, in the context of mental illness, that "the difference in believing in the divinity of Christ and believing in oneself as Christ is merely a difference in religious point of view." In place of psychiatric medications, which Breggin has labeled "the worst plague of brain damage in medical history," he advocates the use of "therapy, empathy and love." Breggin's methods for promoting good mental health early in life are equally questionable; he has written that "permitting children to have sex among themselves would go a long way toward liberating them from oppressive parental authority."

Szasz and Breggin are revered by the "consumer survivors," a small group of former psychiatric patients opposed to psychiatric medications and any form of assisted psychiatric treatment. Much of their rhetoric has a Scientology ring to it. "MadNation" proclaims itself to be "People Working Together for Social Justice and Human Rights in Mental Health." Another such group is the Support Coalition. One of its co-directors, Janet Foner, is also the "main leader for Mental Health Liberation in the Re-Evaluation Counseling Communities." Re-Evaluation Counseling was founded by an ex-scientologist and, like Scientology, presents its teachings as an alternative to psychiatry. Much of the "consumer survivor" movement is funded by the federal Center for Mental Health Services, which certainly qualifies as one of the strangest cases of misuse of federal money in existence today.

It is important for advocates of individuals with manic-depressive illness to understand the position of Scientologists, antipsychiatrists, and "consumer survivors" because these groups frequently oppose efforts to improve services or to provide treatment for those who need it most. Organized psychiatric advocacy groups are too often silent when confronted by the distortions and misinformation of the Scientologists and other antipsychiatry groups. Some people are also reluctant to counter erroneous public statements by "consumer survivors," because of a misplaced belief that it is politically incorrect to argue with ex-patients. This, of course, is nonsense; for every "consumer survivor," there are a hundred individuals with manic-depressive illness or schizophrenia who are quietly working to provide support for others so afflicted and to improve psychiatric services. The "consumer survivors" speak for no one but themselves.

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. and Michael B. Knable, D.O., "Scientologists, Antipsychiatrists, and "Consumer Survivors," an excerpt from Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families and Providers (Basic Books, 2002, pp. 295-297). (Used with permission of Basic Books). This material is copyrighted and may not be reprinted without permission of the publisher.