Departure in Dianetics

The cult of dianetics, which was going strong a year ago (TIME, July 24, 1950), has sonic of the features of a new religion. It, founder,' Science-Fictioneer L. Ron Hubbard, claimed that his "science of the mind" could cure all mental and most bodily ills, mike supermen of truly devoted converts. Today, dianetics is suffering the standard fate of the cult one of it's earliest adherents bas broken away and is accusing Hubbard of having strayed from the true faith.

Joseph Augustus Winter is an M.D. who got into dianetics in its early, science- fiction days. Physician Wintcr, a Man-hattan psychosomaticist, was impressed by Hubbard's theory that the mind can register impressions ("engrams") even during unconsciousness. And he was soon convinced that the dianetics technique of relieving emotional upsets by reliving them before another dianetics devotee ("auditing") was an improvement on psychoanal- ysis. An auditing session, saps Dr. Winter,

research, more interested in spreading the word. Last winter' Winter flounced out, He was finding orthodox dianetics "ritualistic and sterile."

In his hook, Physician Winter tries to filter Hubbard's strange mixture and pick out the scraps fit for human consumption. lie rejects such gimmicks as the mental "file clerk," invented by Hubbard to chase about in the mind in search of mislaid impressions. and scoffs al the Hubbardians "Guk" program. "Guk" was a mixture of vitamins and glutamic acid which was supposed to make dianetics subjects "run better."

Dr. Winter believes that psychiatrists should do what he is now doing in his Manhattan practice: use the auditing technique of dianetics as one more tool in their kits, along with parts of psychoanalysis and general semantics. In any case, Winter is convinced that it is dangerous for laymen to try to audit each other (he cites patients at Hubbard's foundation who went insane); treatment should be by experts only.

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