E-meter

The E-meter (also electropsychometer and Hubbard Electrometer) is an electronic device used by the Church of Scientology during a counseling practice known as auditing. It consists of a low-voltage circuit, a pair of handheld electrodes, and an analog meter that displays changes in the electrical resistance of the subject's skin. Scientology teaches that needle movements on the meter's dial reflect changes in the subject's mental state, including helping identify which topics contain emotional or spiritual distress, and when a procedure is completed. Outside Scientology, the device is regarded as a type of skin galvanometer that measures variations in skin resistance. It is not considered a scientific instrument, and its use and interpretation are not supported by evidence in psychology or medicine. The E-meter became the subject of legal and regulatory actions in the United States, most notably a 1963 Food and Drug Administration raid and subsequent court case that restricted its use to religious counseling and required specific labeling indicating it is not useful for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease.

The E-meter (also electropsychometer and Hubbard Electrometer) is an electronic device used by the Church of Scientology during a counseling practice known as auditing. It consists of a low-voltage circuit, a pair of handheld electrodes, and an analog meter that displays changes in the electrical resistance of the subject's skin. Scientology teaches that needle movements on the meter's dial reflect changes in the subject's mental state, including helping identify which topics contain emotional or spiritual distress, and when a procedure is completed. Outside Scientology, the device is regarded as a type of skin galvanometer that measures variations in skin resistance. It is not considered a scientific instrument, and its use and interpretation are not supported by evidence in psychology or medicine. The E-meter became the subject of legal and regulatory actions in the United States, most notably a 1963 Food and Drug Administration raid and subsequent court case that restricted its use to religious counseling and required specific labeling indicating it is not useful for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of any disease. ==History== ==Scientology beliefs and theories== Within the Church of Scientology, the early psychoanalysts are credited with first use of the E-meter. Hubbard credited Mathison with recreating the E-meter and bringing him the first model for use in Dianetics. Hubbard set out his theory of how the E-meter works in his book Understanding the E-Meter: Hubbard claimed that this "mental mass" has the same physical characteristics, including weight, as mass as commonly understood by lay persons: This text in Understanding the E-Meter is accompanied by three drawings. The first shows a man standing on a weighing scale, which reflects a weight of "150" (the units are not given). The next shows the man on the same scale, weighed down under a burden of "Mental Image Pictures", and the scale indicates a weight of "180". The last picture shows the man standing upright on the scale, now unburdened by "Mental Image Pictures" and with a smile on his face, while the scale again indicates a weight of "148". Bob Thomas, senior executive of the church in the early 1970s, gave a prosaic description. === United States === The medical establishment had been watching Hubbard's enterprises since 1951, when the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners filed a case against the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Elizabeth, New Jersey for practicing medicine without a license. In 1958, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized and destroyed 21,000 Dianazene tablets from Hubbard's Distribution Center Inc., charging that they were falsely labeled as a treatment for radiation sickness. On January 4, 1963, acting on a complaint by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US marshals raided the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C., and seized E-meters and Scientology literature. The FDA alleged that the Church was making false medical claims about the device and that the E-meters were misbranded under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Church sued to get the property back, and years of litigation ensued. At trial in 1967, a jury found that the Church misrepresented the E-meter, and the judge ordered the confiscated materials destroyed. However, in 1969 the US Court of Appeals for D.C. reversed the verdict and ordered a new trial, holding that courts could not evaluate Scientology's religious claims about the E-meter as "false labeling", and that only secular claims could be considered. At the second trial in 1971, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the E-meter was a misbranded device under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The court condemned the seized meters and Scientology literature, but allowed the Church to reclaim them on the condition that the E-meter be used only for bona fide religious counseling and that all meters and related literature carry a prominent warning stating that the device has no medical or scientific utility. In 1973, the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the misbranding finding but modified the order, removing provisions that required users to file affidavits with the FDA and eliminating mandatory labeling that the device had been "condemned" by a federal court, holding that these requirements created excessive entanglement with religion. The remaining restrictions were upheld, including the mandatory non-medical disclaimer and limitation to religious use. In his 1973 judgment, District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that: Unable to do more under the mandate from the Court of Appeals, Judge Gesell ordered all the property to be returned to the Church, and thereafter, the E-meter may be used only in "bona fide religious counseling". All meters and referring literature must include a label disclaiming any medical benefits: The church adopted a modified version of that statement, which it still invokes in connection with the E-meter. The modified statement reads: Judge Gesell also ordered the Church to pay all the government's legal fees and warehousing costs for the confiscated property for the nine years of litigation. He also required the church to pay the salaries and travel expenses of FDA agents who might, from time to time, inspect for compliance with the court's order. ===Australia=== In 1964, the government of Victoria, Australia, held a Board of Inquiry into Scientology which returned its findings in a document commonly referred to as the Anderson Report. Psychiatrist Ian Holland Martin, honorary federal secretary of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, gave evidence that the E-Meter "used for Scientology" was a "psycho-galvano-meter" and was "dangerous in unqualified hands". He said that if the E-meter "was suggested to possess mysterious powers" to someone who did not understand that it had "been thoroughly discredited as a lie detector" then "that person would be suggestible to ideas foisted on him by the operator". The final report of the inquiry stated that the E-meter enabled Scientology, in his own words, In 1965, Victoria banned the use of the E-meter without a license, with Western Australia and South Australia following suit. In 1969, the High Court of Western Australia ruled the ban illegal. South Australia repealed its law in 1973, and Victoria repealed it in 1982. In 1983, the High Court of Australia ruled that Scientology was a religion and as such had the same rights and protections. ===Sweden=== In 1979, a court forbade calling the E-meter "an invaluable aid to measuring man's mental state and changes in it" in an advertisement. The prohibition was upheld by the European Commission of Human Rights in case X. and Church of Scientology v. Sweden. ==See also== Auditing (Scientology) Biofeedback Ohmmeter Thought identification ==References==

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376194572 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.