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March 30, 1951
Zilboorg Denounces 'Dianetics' at Forum
The practice of "dianetics," a theory for the treatment of
psychosomatic and other ills, was attacked as "dangerous" last night
by Dr. Gregory Zilboorg, psychiatrist, at a meeting held under the
auspices of the Physicians' Forum at the New York Academy of
Medicine, 2 East 103d Street.
The attack on "dianetics," the theories
of which are expounded in a best-selling book of that name by L. Ron
Hubbard, was said by a spokesman for the Physicians' Forum to
have been the first by a physician at a public meeting in New York.
Dr. Zilboorg declared the book was "unfair to human beings" in
promising the hope of cures by persons without scientific or medical
training. He said the theory advanced that all illnesses stemmed from
a single source, engrams, was a dangerous one, and that its
application would cause megalomaniacal fantasies.
According to
Mr. Hubbard, engrams are fixed in the reactive (subconscious) mind
by unpleasant experiences, and when eradicated the cure or
"clearing" of the patient results. The author declares that one who
has mastered his book can act as an "auditor" for another person
and get rid of the engrams by helping the patient to relive the
unpleasant experience. Dr. Zilboorg said many of theories set forth in
the book were Freudian and other well-known theories that had been
given the terminology of the electronic age.
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