Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices invented in 1950 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard regarding the human mind. Dianetics was originally conceived as a form of psychological treatment, but was rejected by the psychological and medical establishments as pseudoscientific. Dianetics was the precursor to Scientology and has since been incorporated into it.
Netherlands 2022
Germany 2009
Hubbard demonstrating Dianetics technique at a seminar in Los Angeles in 1950
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was an American author and the founder of Scientology. A prolific writer of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels in his early career, in 1950 he authored Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and established organizations to promote and practice Dianetics techniques. Hubbard created Scientology in 1952 after losing the intellectual rights to his literature on Dianetics in bankruptcy. He would lead the Church of Scientology, variously described as a cult, a new religious movement, or a business, until his death in 1986.
Hubbard in 1950
Hubbard's adventure story "Yukon Madness" which was published in 1935.
Museum recreation of a 1930s dentist office; the setting where Hubbard reported having a "near-death experience".
Parsons in 1943.
