Introduction by Webmaster: When I was in Hubbard's the 'Sea Organization', in 1971, Hana Eltringham was known to me as Deputy Commodore... appearing on many Flag Order's ( Official Policy Directives of the Sea Organization) as D/Commodore Hana Eltringham. Hubbard was "Commodore", Hana was D/Commodore. She was the Highest ranking Sea Org member...in the history of Scientology...
The Psychiatric Times
Volume VIII, No. 6 $9.00
The Newspaper of American Psychiatry
June 1991
Prozac Frees Ex-Scientology Leader from Depression
A personal aide to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard for eight of her nearly 20 years with the group says that fluoxetine (Prozac) and therapy have finally stopped the depression and suicidal ideation she had suffered since 1976. "I have to speak out" Hana (Eltringham) Whitfield told The Psychiatric Times, "The Scientologists choose the most prominent psychiatrists and the most successful drugs to attack, That's why they attacked Ritalin, and that's why they are now attacking Prozac."
Although trained as a nurse in South Africa. Hana said she didn't realize that she had a mental block toward seeking therapy because of the hatred for psychiatry taught by Hubbard and maintained by his followers. "It took me five years to get over the fear of going to a counselor. therapist, or anyone connected with the psychiatric field.- she said. Then, in 1989, she and her husband, Jerry, also a former Scientologist read 'Combating Cult Mind Control' by Steven Hassan. "Suddenly we realized that there was such a thing as mind control, that it was practiced by Scientologists and that we had been subjected to it." she said.
It was only then that the "cult personality" began to fracture, once it did, Hana said she gained some frightening insights:
• "Scientology makes people into clones of Hubbard. You can't think except within the parameters he has set.
• "Auditors (Scientology counselors! are unlicensed practitioners who don't know that they are putting people into trance states and using desensitization techniques that appear to work for a time but then the problem recurs or is replaced by another one."
It was physical illness, depression, and suicidal ideation that finally pushed Hana out of Scientology. "I got a terrible headache during an auditing session in 1974 and from then on for 10 years I was almost never without a migraine." she said. According to Scientology. Hana is "Clear #60" - she was the 60th person to reach Hubbard's nirvana state." Therefore, it was embarrassing to Hubbard that she was having the headaches since "clears" are not supposed to have physical or emotional problems. He even supervised her auditing personally for two years, but the headaches didn't improve. In fact. Hana said, "she was constantly depressed and the last five years constantly suicidal. The headaches were so bad I1 couldn't work two or three days a week, and even the vibration of a person walking in the hall outside my room made the pain excruciating. I am five feet nine Inches tall and I weighed only 125 pounds."
Looking back, Hana said the trance state of the auditing process, which heightens awareness accounts for the headaches she suffered. Hubbard was hypersensitive, too. Particularly to smells, she said. "He would fly into rages it he could smell soap in his shirts or if the cleaning girl used a product whose smell irritated him." The trance state also makes people more suggestible and easier to control. Hana said. She and others she knew experienced leaving their bodies and other altered states. "This was what Hubbard wanted us all to attain permanently;" she said. "Now I'm aghast to think about it."
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http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/psychiatric-times-1991.htm
