Random thoughts…
I have experience with both auditing and therapy from psychotherapists and a psychologist. The therapists I have worked with have all been highly trained, strictly supervised and regularly update themselves with training, etc. Modern therapy is very fluid and workable. That has been my experience.
The coal-face differences between auditing and professional therapy as I have experienced them include:
Auditing has very few similarities to modern methods being used at the coal-face of therapy. Auditing has pre-determined outcomes (the end phenomena’s - EPs). These EPs are part of the scientology system, what is called the bridge to total freedom. A person receiving auditing is highly controlled by exact questions to look at certain areas, directly related to the level/type of auditing they are receiving. Auditing is very controlled, very structured. It is rote questions being fired at the person which lowers the persons critical thinking skills, creativeness, etc, etc. Auditing is designed to make a compliant scientologist, heavily attached (& devoted) to the agenda of scientology and its aims (world domination). True healing therapy does not require devotion or perpetual attachment to the therapist or a group.
The different types of professional therapy I have received have been very unstructured compared to auditing. I bring to the table the issues troubling me, and the therapist listens and discusses these with me. I can cry, I can laugh, I can be spontaneous and experience my own emotions, change my habits/behaviours, at my own rate, in my own way. I work my way through the trauma, grief, etc, it is an authentic process, unique, very fluid and in the moment. They may suggest something useful I might try (in my life) but they have left it optional for me to do this. All have been very non-directional with me. This has the effect of being very self-empowering.
Auditing creates a type of dependency. You complete auditing level ABC, to line up for auditing step DEF. You are sold the idea that if you keep at it, get to "XYZ" you'll be a super type of being, with amazing powers, perceptions, etc. With regular therapy you know you are doing great when you don’t feel like going any longer, tell your therapist, she smiles and wishes you well in life. You feel strong, standing on your own two feet in the world, resilient, mastering your own emotions and your own life. Good therapy leaves you seeing the world through your own eyes, not filtering everything through the ideas of another.
True healing therapy leaves you very flexible, curious about ALL of life and attached to no one system of belief. True freedom is about being free to explore all and any aspects of self one wishes to, in one's own time, at one's own pace, without having to sign up for a life-time commitment to any one set of ideas.
Auditing has the individual heavily focused on certain issues, pre-determined by the questions the auditor is asking. The individual has to “find something” if the meter is reading there is something “charged” on the question. It is intensive stuff. Professional therapy is nothing like this. It is gentle and all about the individual, not some pre-determined ideas/outcome the therapist may have. A true therapeutic relationship is based on equality, not the therapist holding all the answers. The power is equally positioned – balanced.
Auditing does not take into account modern research on neuro-plasticity. Modern therapy does. Auditing completely ignores brain function, in fact Hubbard was very “anti-brain”. The research coming in the past few decades kinda makes Hubbard look like an ignorant mid-20th century wannabe guru. The research on brain function of long-term meditating monks is fascinating to explore. Mindfulness practises have way more value than auditing as does cognitive behaviour therapy, both of which are able to be learned at minimal cost and are under the volition of the individual.
Auditing causes dissociation. It disconnects the person from their own core values/beliefs and installs scientology concepts. It numbs the persons full range of emotions and trains the individual to have "uniform" feelings to perceived external situations. What is so vicious and devious about this is the individual is repeatedly told that what is being done to them (via scientology auditing and training) is making them “spiritually free”. I swear to you, I swear, that I have seen way more spiritually aware people outside of scientology than I ever ever saw within the confines of scientology. I have had masters read me like a book and know exactly what I was feeling, experiencing, without a single word being exchanged. They did it in a kind, loving way and wanted NOTHING from me.
Scientology is not even kindergarten level when it comes to spirituality or true healing therapy. It creates broken individuals who fake being “aware” and act superior. Some people break down completely when they can’t fake the façade any longer or cope with the constant repetitive questions that are the foundation of auditing. Poke in someone’s head long enough, keep feeding them how they should see the world, how they should feel, how they should conduct their lives and you are playing with fire. There is zero room for genuine personal growth, personal exploration (except within the very limited scientology confines). All you get is a cult identity – a person who see themselves and the world with scientology definitions. It is a very synthetic identity.
Scientologists are not realists. To be really aware of life, to be in tune with the cut and thrust of life, those that are realists do best. Scientologists live life in a bubble of la-la-Hubbard ideas. It is a dangerous way to live because bubbles burst or tragedy erupts and the idealist has no idea how to function effectively. Good therapy helps an individual get real with themselves and life. Something that scientology has zero need for.