Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health

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Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health; A Handbook of Dianetic Therapy

Cover of the first edition
Author	L. Ron Hubbard
Language	English
Subject	Dianetics
Publisher	Hermitage House
Publication date	May 9, 1950
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hard and paperback)
Pages	452

Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, sometimes abbreviated as DMSMH, is a book by L. Ron Hubbard about Dianetics, a pseudoscientific system that he claimed to have developed from a combination of personal experience, basic principles of Eastern philosophy and the work of Sigmund Freud.^[1]: 87 The book is considered part of Scientology's canon.^[2]: 21 It is colloquially referred to by Scientologists as Book One.^[3] The book launched the movement, which later defined itself as a religion, in 1950. As of 2013, New Era Publications, the international publishing company of Hubbard's works, sells the book in English and in 50 other languages.

In this book,^[4][5] Hubbard wrote that he had isolated the "dynamic principle of existence", which he states as the basic command Survive!, and presents his description of the human mind. He identified the source of human aberration as the "reactive mind", a normally hidden but always conscious area of the mind, and certain traumatic memories (engrams) stored in it. Dianetics describes counseling (or auditing) techniques which Hubbard claimed would get rid of engrams and bring major therapeutic benefits.^[6]

The work was criticized by scientists and medical professionals, who note the work is pseudoscientific and observe that the claims presented in the book are written in superficially scientific language but without evidence. Despite this, Dianetics proved a major commercial success on its publication, although B. Dalton employees have stated these figures were inflated by Hubbard's Scientologist-controlled publisher, who had groups of Scientologists each purchase dozens or even hundreds of copies of Hubbard's books and who sold these back to the same retailers.^[7] Adam Clymer, a New York Times executive and journalist, said the newspaper examined the sales patterns of Hubbard's books and uncovered no instances in which vast quantities of books were being sold to single individuals.^[7]