South Park, silent births and Nicole Kidman: The top 10 stories from the Church of Scientology 107955067.jpg

Mental illness is a spiritual problem

Mental illness, it’s all in the mind! Well, according to Scientology it is. Controversies regarding the organisation and the welfare of its members, including a 1995 suicide and the 2003 death of a mother at the hands of her schizophrenic son who refused treatment have led to Scientology producing a legal waiver for all who enter it. One such, the Agreement and General Release Regarding Spiritual Assistance, contains clauses such as “I do not believe in or subscribe to psychiatric labels for individuals. It is my strongly held religious belief that all mental problems are spiritual in nature and that there is no such thing as a mentally incompetent person”.

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