TRANSCRIPT OF AN AUDITING SESSION

The following is an extract from the chapter on Dianetics in Martin
Gardner's excellent "Fads and Fallacies" ("A study in human gullibility"
says the front cover). It was written in 1952, when Dianetics was very new,
but was already taking sane people and driving them psychotic.

Gardner includes some quotes from "A Doctor's Report on Dianetics",
published in 1951 by Dr Joseph Augustus Winter.

"Perhaps the most revealing parts of Dr Winter's book are the records of
his own dianetic sessions-revealing because they indicate with
unmistakeable starkness the manner in which the auditor suggests to a
patient what sort of things he is supposed to recall. The patient, it must
be remembered, in the vast majority of cases, is already familiar with
dianetic theory. With this in mind, let us examine one of Dr Winter's cases.

(Therapist) What sensation do you have now?
(Patient) My eyes feel as if I want to rub them.
(T) What do you suppose could cause that feeling?
(P) Having something in my eye-a cinder maybe.
(T) Anything else?
(P) Having "pink eye"
(T) Anything else?
(P) I can't think of anything.
(T) There are some possibilities I can think of; you don't have to accept
them, of course. Could your eyes feel like this if you were crying?
(P) Yes, I guess so.
(T) Could your eyes feel like this if someone puts drops in them?
(P) Certainly.
(T) All right, let's try to recall the first time your eyes felt this way.

	"Notice the way in which the cinder and pink eye explanations are
ignored. After the patient is unable to think of anything else, the
therapist suggests crying and eye drops. In a few moments the patient will
be back along his time track to the time of his birth, imagining the
delivery scene and connecting it with the present sensation in his eyes.
	Here is another of Winter's cases. The patient has reported a
head-ache and stuffy nose:

(T) What else do you suppose that you'd feel?
(P) I don't know. Say, I can't take this much longer.
(T) Do you suppose that someone might have used the phrase, "Take this,"
during your birth?
(P) Yes, I suppose that the doctor might have said it.
(T) What might he be doing at the time?
(P) I guess he'd be handing me over to the nurse.
(T) And what would the doctor be saying?
(P) "Here, you can take this now." No, that doesn't seem quite right.
(T) Change the words to suit yourself.
(P) "Here, you take him now." That's it.
(T) Repeat the phrase, please, and notice how your head feels.
(P) (repeats phrase 5 or 6 times)
(T) Notice how your nose feels as you go over these words. Repeat them again.
(P) (More repetitions)
(T) How's the headache now?
(P) It's getting worse. (Rubs his eyes)
(T) How about your eyes-what sensation do you suppose they'd have?
(P) They're stinging; it must be those damn drops he put in.
(T) How do you feel about the doctor putting drops in your eyes?
(P) I'm mad at him; that's a dirty trick.
(T) Supposing that you could get even with the doctor; what would you like
to do to him?
(P) I'd like to hit him. (Words are spoken in a resentful tone.)
(T) All right-imagine that the doctor's face is on the couch beside you.
Now hit it!
(P) (Clenches jaws and strikes at the couch with closed fist; makes about
ten blows.)
(T) Go ahead-get good and mad at him. Hit him again!
(P) (Laughs.) I can't-it's too silly.
(T) How's the headache now?
(P) Better.
(T) Now let's put all these associations together in a pattern. Notice
your headache... notice how your eyes feel... your nose... the feeling of
anger. Anything else?
(P) (Scratches at ribs along left auxiliary line.) Funny-I was just
thinking about the way my sister used to tickle me. I haven't thought
about that in years.
(T) What sensation might you have had in birth that would remind you of
being tickled?
(P) I don't know. (Scratches chest again.)
(T) How would you suppose the doctor picked you up?
(P) He could have picked me up with his hand under my chest there.
(T) Imagine how it would feel to have someone pick you up. What would the
temperature of his hand be?
(P) Warm, I guess.
(T) And what does he say?
(P) "Here, you can take him now."
(T) Where is "now"?
(P) Why, *now*-present time.
(T) Are you being born in 1951?
(P) No-of course not.
(T) You can differentiate between "now," if it was said at the time of
your birth, and "now" in 1951, can't you?
(P) Sure.
(T) Supposing that your headache obeyed the command, "Take him now." What
might happen?
(P) I don't know-I can't seem to figure that one out.
(T) What does "take" mean?
(P) It means to carry... to steal... to grasp...to attract.
(T) And where is now?
(P) Oh, I see-that could mean that my headache would be taken to present time.
(T) Do you have to bring you birth-headache up to present time just
because the doctor said, "Take him now"?
(P) No, that's silly.
(T) How'w the headache now?
(P) Much better-practically gone.

	Nothing could be clearer from the above dialogue than the fact
that the dianetic explanation for the headache existed only in the mind of
the therapist, and that it was only with considerable difficulty that the
patient was maneuvered into accepting it." [end of quote from Martin
Gardner. the ISBN of the book is 486-20394-8. The LOC catalog card number
is 57-14907. Published in the US by Dover Publications Ltd of NY, in
Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd and in the UK by Constable and
Company, Ltd. Read it!]