The Evening Standard reports that the Labour Party has accepted money from the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), a group connected to the Church of Scientology. I have particular concerns about this - I see a psychiatrist regularly.
The conflict between Scientology and psychiatry is relatively well known, but Wikipedia provides a good summary. I have a few issues here. Scientology is, to say the least, intemperate about psychiatry. The Church of Scientology’s website says that

 

“procedures such as electro-shock, drugs and lobotomy injure, maim and destroy people in the guise of help”

 

Hmmm. Lumping electro-shock therapy, lobotomy and drugs into one category is misleading. As I understand it, lobotomy isn’t practiced and EST is used in exceptional circumstances and only where other therapies have failed. Equally, putting drugs into one group together doesn’t work – I’ve taken three classes of prescription drugs for psychiatric reasons and they’re all very different. None of them have injured, maimed or destroyed me. Quite the opposite, in fact; because of medication, amongst other things, I’m much better across the board than I was a year ago. It’s not perfect, but drug therapy works for most people, most of the time without excessive side-effects.

 

L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, said:

“Our enemies are less than twelve men. They are members of the Bank of England and other higher financial circles. They own and control newspaper chains and they, oddly enough, [run?] all the mental health groups in the world that had sprung up …

Their apparent programme was to use mental health, which is to say psychiatric electric shock and pre-frontal lobotomy, to remove from their path any political dissenters … These fellows have gotten nearly every government in the world to owe them considerable quantities of money through various chicaneries and they control, of course, income tax, government finance — [Harold] Wilson, for instance, the current Premier of England, is totally involved with these fellows and talks about nothing else actually. They organise these mental health groups which sprung up simultaneously all over the world and anything that has mental health in it — in its name — or mental hygiene or other things of that character — such names as that — are part of the organisation which stems from these from these less than a dozen greedy men. “

Huh? If that’s so, why is mental health in the NHS underfunded?

 

Scientology’s response is disproportionate. Yes, they contend that it’s unhealthy, but the same contention is made about Scientology without going off the deep end. Equally, the attack people strongly – OK – but are not prepared to accept similar attacks on themselves. Scientologists should be allowed to practice and proselytise their faith, but I am really not happy about Labour taking money from them or organisations closely related to them.

 

xD.