Dianetics Published: Hubbard Launches a Mental Revolution
L. Ron Hubbard published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health on May 9, 1950, presenting a self-help system that claimed to cure psychosomatic illnesses through a process called "auditing," where a practitioner guides a subject to re-experience traumatic memories stored in a "reactive mind." The book spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The American Psychological Association condemned it as scientifically unfounded. Dianetics groups sprang up across the United States, but interest waned by 1952. Hubbard then repackaged the concepts as a religion, founding the Church of Scientology in 1953. The organization claimed tax-exempt status, which the IRS initially denied, then granted in 1993 after years of litigation. Scientology now claims millions of members, though independent estimates put the number far lower.
May 9, 1950
76 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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