Chapter 17

Summary: PSYCHIATRY

    People have asked if Aum was truly a religion. Obviously while it practiced psychiatry, of course it could not be. The result of Aum practicing psychiatry is self evident. Thus the next question begs to be asked. Is psychiatry truly a science?

    Psychiatry is not really a science. It does not pass the rigorous tests that scientific tests usually demand. What happened at Aum was predictable when seeing that psychiatric techniques were being used by the group's doctors. It is possible that Aum members went and sought psychiatry itself, and that it did not seek them. Perhaps the reason for this was because Aum wanted to claim some form of scientific legitimacy. Such a mistake can be understood when one knows how psychiatry has used propaganda to remain where it is today.

    Since the end of the world war, a massive public relations campaign by the World Federation for Mental health (WFMH), psychiatric and psychological associations, and affiliated groups around the world had elevated "mental health practitioners" to the status of a modern-day priesthood.

    Part of their ceaseless propaganda has been the propagation of an essential illusion their scientific credentials. The tragic success of this deceit is reflected in the readiness with which church hierarchies welcomed mental health ideology into the religious mainstream.

    What constitutes a true science? Ed Bukley, in Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology, emphasizes the need to first of all define science. Science is the systematically arranged knowledge of the material world which has been gathered in a four step process:

    1. Observation of phenomena. ;

    2. Collection of data. ;

    3. Creation of a hypothesis or theory by deductive reasoning;

    4. Testing of the hypothesis by repeated observation and controlled experiments. And it should be workable and invariably right for the body of knowledge in which it lies.

    Do psychiatry and psychology pass the test? The answer is categorically, "NO."

    Professor of psychiatry Emeritus of State University of New York, Thomas Szaaz says that psychotherapy "... is not merely a religion that pretends to be a science, it is actually a fake religion that seeks to destroy true religion." In his book, The Myth of Psychotherapy, Szasz said that his primary purpose for writing the book was, "... to show how, with the decline of religion and the growth of science in the eighteenth century, the cure of (sinful) souls, which had been an integral part of the Christian religions, was recast as the cure of (sick) minds, and became an integral part of medical science."

    Television has given psychiatry and psychology tremendous legitimacy. Television media "grovels at the alter of psychiatry," Szasz says. "from entertainment to news, television is enthralled, awe-struck and dazzled by the mysteries of virtually anything that smacks of psychiatry or psychology." The statistics and statements poured out on major talk shows, morning news and magazine talk shows by these "experts," who "...present as scientific'fact' what might well be only scientific fiction."

    Psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey is attributed to having bluntly stated: "The techniques used by Western psychiatrists are, with few exceptions, on exactly the same scientific plane as techniques used by witch doctors."

    Psychologist Roger Mills, in his 1980 article, "Psychology Goes Insane, Botches Role as Science," says: "The field of psychology today is literally a mess. There are as many techniques, methods and theories around as there are researchers and therapists .... With over 250 separate systems of psychotherapy, each claiming superiority over the rest, it is hard to view such diverse opinions as scientific or factual."

    The other vital illusion that psychiatrists and psychologists have crafted is that "mental illness" is no different from a heart condition, gangrene of a leg or the common cold. But Szazs and others point out, "If we are to consider mental disease, we ought to have biochemical or pathological evidence." And if an "illness" is to be "scientifically meaningful, it must somehow be capable of being approached, measured or tested in a scientific fashion, as through a blood test or an electroencephalograph. If it cannot be so measured - as is the case (with)... 'mental illness" - then the phrase 'mental illness' is at

    best a metaphor and at worst myth, and that therefore 'treating' these 'illnesses' is an equally amorphous and unscientific enterprise."

    It is not to say that real physical illness cannot impact on a person's mind and behavior. Brain tumors, mercury poisoning, poor nutrition, fatigue, pain and many other physical disorders can result in aberrant thinking. Considerable medical documentation verifies this. Correct medical diagnosis must therefore be the very first procedure for any person exhibiting unusual behavior. Studies have shown that as many as 83 percent of people referred to psychiatric treatment had an undiagnosed physical illness; 42 percent of those who were diagnosed with "psychoses" were in fact suffering from medical illness; and 29 percent of psychiatric patients studied actually were suffering from an endocrine disease.

AUM

    It can be said with certainty that without LSD there would have been less crime at Aum. Without the PSI headgear it is possible that there would be less irrational behavior. Possibly the members would be more social. Without the widespread mental implanting, the pain-drug-hypnosis, the drug hypnosis, the subliminal videos, the electro convulsive therapy, it is predictable that many of those who died would be alive today. It is also likely that those who left, and could not resist returning, would have stayed away.

    What was seen at Aum Supreme Truth was not a true religious phenomena. Unfortunately, the Aum phenomena could have been averted by making certain forms of psychiatric mind altering techniques illegal. In the main, the problems with Aum derived from psychiatric methods being used on people who were looking for spiritual experiences. The Aum members could not distinguish the difference between a psychiatric biological-chemical experience and a religiousspiritual experience. Instead of finding spiritual answers to life they were given psychiatric substitutes. Aum was then not entitled to call itself a religion any more than the Klu Klux Klan could ever lay claim to be. Perhaps there was a religious element in its beginnings, but it was forfeit by the misuse of medical science and by simply using psychiatry, the subject itself a pseudo science. Hayashi in court claimed that Chizuo Matsumoto, Asahara, had no right and was not qualified to speak about religion. 227 We can understand why. Psychiatry has a long history of killing, maiming and harming people. There is no place for psychiatry in any religion under any pretext.

    There are no criminal laws preventing the above psychiatric practices from being used. There are no specific criminal laws preventing drug hypnosis, or the even worse, paindrug-hypnosis from being used today. It does not matter whether it is called "depatterning", "new narco", "psychic driving", "Baldo", or any other similar treatment names, it is still perfectly legal under the current Japanese laws. And that is the problem. And that is what is wrong. There were dozens of doctors in Aum, including many psychiatrists. There were additional interns and nurses. As a psychiatric experiment it was huge, and it went horribly wrong. Such techniques should be made illegal.

End

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