If scientologists believe that people should not take any type of RX, why is it ok to use an epidural?
361667
I'm confused ,as a Scientologist for the past 35 years, where this\nidea that medication or medical treatment is against our "beliefs", comes from.\nIsn't this Christian Scientists that have this practice or doctrine?\nThere is definitely nothing in Scientology. If you need medical treatment you go to a Dr. If you need surgery you go to hospital.\nIf the length and pain of labour is too long or too much for the mother she gets what help she  needs to get  through it.\nYou are right ,it would be confusing ,if it were actually the case.\nThe only thing that Tom Cruise spoke against was medicating a non medical problem, which Scientologist are against. Specifically in the area of Psychiatric drugs, which solve nothing, cure nothing, are very addictive, and create gruesome side effects including homicidal and suicidal impulses. But this is not medical science.It's a whole other practice.\n\nI hope this helps to clear up the confusion here.
499790
Just cause it's "natural" doesn't mean it's safe.\n\nIn nature, there are drugs that cna cause just as much, or more damage as the "chemically-made" drugs.\n\nWhere do you think they get most of the ideas in the first place?\n\nSo, NO.
312683
I definately think it should be legalised for medical use but it really can mess up your head if you use it all the time....it totally slows down you reactions, can make you paranoid and so on....i don't think once in a while hurts but if it is legalised in needs seriously regulating so people dont go too far.\n\nHope yr good now
417948
There's a lot of disinformation about Scientology.  Just think about it, big psycho-pharma has a lot to loose if people find theres a way to improve the conditions in their life without drugs -- by soothing the soul rather than drugging the brain.  The information you have presented is not to be found in any Scientology org.  Instead, there are many books you can read, courses you can take, and auditing which you can have and I'll explain auditing later.  Scientology is an applied religious philosophy that goes a step beyond what previous research into mental health was able to accomplish -- rather than just getting you to accept your life as it is, Scientology enables you to improve the conditions in your life.\n\nLiterally, Scientology means the study of truth. Scientologists believe that man is an immortal spiritual being whose experiences extend far beyond just this lifetime. According to Scientology, man's capabilities are unlimited, even if they are not presently realized.\n\nScientologists believe that painful memories from our past can hinder our ability to realize our limitless potential. For this, Scientologists offer auditing which enables people to remove the painful effects of these bad memories. Practically, auditing is a type of counseling using a lie detetector called an E-meter. In auditing, the auditor never invalidates what the pre-clear says. The ultimate aim of auditing is so people can attain the state of "Clear," or a state of freedom from painful past memories. Clears are free from psychosomoatic illnesses, self determined, vigorous and persistent.\n\nScientology's aims are a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without wars. Where the able can prosper, where honest beings can have rights and where man is free to rise to greater heights.\n\nFor this purpose, Scientologists run many humanitarian organizations including Narconon and Criminon, helping people get off drugs, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, which fights psychiatric abuse, the Applied Scholastics educational system and the Way to Happiness Foundation.\n\nGo to the links below and learn about the charitable work done by Scientologists and go to the church's own website to learn about getting involved in the church. One site that has an awesome resource for how you can handle many of your problems is scientologyhandbook.org. Check it out, see what Scientology offers.
94097
That's quite a bit to sort through. I'll do my best.\n\nI believe that individual doctors almost always have the best interests of their patients in mind. Medicine as a whole, however, is far more interested in the bottom line. This applies especially to the drug companies. From what I understand certain diseases don't have enough people suffering from them to make it profitable to research treatments for them. Or, if the research has been done, there is not enough profit in manufacturing drugs to treat these people. I've even read that there are boutique chemists who make, by hand, very small runs of certain drugs at no profit to themselves, simply to help out.\n\nAs far as I'm concerned, this is inexcusable. Do I have a solution? No. Are alternative treatments viable? I'm sure that sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. Again, the problem comes down to making a buck. People who are suffering are, unfortunately, easy marks and snake-oil-salesmen have known this since the dawn of civilization.\n\nThe problem becomes sorting the con-men from the well-meaning, but dangerously untrained, from the people with actual remedies. This is very difficult and requires a tremendous amount of work on the part of people who often lack the time and energy to do the necessary legwork because they are sick.\n\nCoretta Scott King died seeking medical help from a quack. It is awful that she suffered such an undignified end, but as long as there are people to be taken advantage of, others will do their best to part them from their money. \n\nObviously not all alternative treatments are quackery, but they often get lumped together because of the actions of a few (many, actually) bad apples. I would suggest that the alternative-therapy industry engage in harsher self-policing as a way to remove the undeserved black-mark.\n\nAs for you responding to questions which are specifically targeted at individuals, I welcome this. The thing that I like most about Yahoo Answers is that it is a place that encourages the free exchange of ideas between anybody. I don't think that anyone can, or should, get upset when a targeted question receives several answers. That's the best thing about this place. So, feel free to throw your two cents in anytime. I really appreciate your response about Bush and Christians. I'd be very curious to hear what this man, who presumes to speak for all Christian Americans would have to say about that. Thanks for your input.
279713
Scientology is most certainly practiced by millions of everyday people.It was started by L ron Hubbard and has chapters all over.It is also most certainly a cult,although members will argue that point.Scientologists do not believe in conventional medicine.Not even asprin.What if you are a diabetic,and need insulin?A friend of mine(ex friend)has become a minister in the church of scientology,here in Boston.She devotes most of her time and money to it.
105375
You're not supposed to take any mind altering drugs, even pain prescriptions. After medical treatment you're supposed to go to a session to heal your emotional body from the memory or trauma or something ( read: extra brainwashing ).
9506
Because they are afraid that the beliefs of scientologists will get twisted if they are spread to people who don't know about it. Obviously it's already been twisted a whole bunch of times.
929786
Because they LIE and MISLEAD and MANIPULATE people into joining.  That is what CULTS do.\n\nI would NEVER join that cult.  I'll tell you why... This is what Scientologists ACTUALLY believe:\n\nXenu was an alien ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in spacecrafts resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. The alien souls continue to do this today, causing a variety of physical ill-effects in modern-day humans. L. Ron Hubbard (a science-fiction writer and the creator of Scientology) called these clustered spirits "Body Thetans," and the advanced levels in Scientology place considerable emphasis on isolating them and neutralizing their ill effects.\n\nTo rid ourselves of "Body Thetans" and also “engrams” (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind) so that we can become “clear”, we have to go through "auditing" with a member of the “church” who uses an "e-meter" to measure our “reactive mind”...... and we have to pay lots and lots and lots of money for “auditing” (purchased in 12.5-hour blocks, costing anywhere from $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 and $9,000 for advanced sessions) and to take courses on Scientology to advance to higher “levels” in the “church”.  The “church” has also taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry and psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional in everyday life.  They deny the reality of chemical imbalance and profound mental disturbance and accordingly do NOTHING to effectively stablize the dangerously unstable.  The “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from member (with deadly results).\n\nScientology is undeniably a cult. Every cult can be defined as a group having all of the following five characteristics:\n\n(1) It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain its members [convincing potential members that they are unhappy and Scientology is the only means of helping themselves]. (2) It forms an elitist totalitarian society. [they label everyone who disagrees or questions as a “Suppressive Person” and requires members to “disconnect” from them] (3) Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable and has charisma. [this would accurately describe Hubbard] (4) It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds & recruit people. (5) Its wealth does not benefit its members or society. [self evident proof for 4 & 5 as it does milk members for virtually everything they have and it’s wealth doesn’t find it’s way back to it’s members or society at all]\n\nCults are extremely harmful. To remain within the strict mental and social confines of a cult for even a short time can have the following disastrous effects:\n\nLoss of choice and free will. Diminished intellectual ability, vocabulary and sense of humor. Reduced use of irony, abstractions and metaphors. Reduced capacity to form flexible and intimate relationships. Poor judgment. Physical deterioration. Malnutrition. Hallucinations, panic, dissociation, guilt, identity diffusion and paranoia. Neurotic, psychotic or suicidal tendencies.
46544
If a doctor EVER gets upset at you questioning them, they are automatically in the wrong. Part of their job is KNOWING. Whether or not it was dangerous isn't really the issue, but if they cannot give you a scientific reason that it is safe, then why should you listen to them? Because they have a piece of paper that says so? Please! \n\nI'm highly allergic to a specific antibiotic, which a doctor at one point prescribed to me due to a brain fart. If I didn't challenge that decision, I could be seriously harmed. Was I wrong for doing so? Of course not.\n\nAny good doctor will have faith in his answer, and a foundation for giving it, and would gladly have you seek a second opinion if you were in doubt, even after his explination.\n\nRemember, just because someone is educated does not make them automatically intelligent. Now if the answer is too complex for a patient to understand or comprehend, the doctor surely can't be condemned for that. But being uppity just because he was questioned is ridiculous.
30879
Wow, I posed that very question in relation to physician-assisted suicide on a paper I wrote a few weeks ago...\n\nit doesn't make any sense to me. i mean, physician -assisted suicide is when the patient is terminally ill with no chance of recovery, only has a few months or even weeks to live, is suffering intolerable pain, and really just wants to put an end to their own suffering... yet this is illegal in most of the world, and all of the US states except for Oregon(and Bush is trying to get it taken away from there too...) I don't understand why this is illegal, yet a women is allowed to kill her unborn child who has a full life ahead of them.  It seems that abortion is more "wrong" than suicide, because it's dealing with someone else's life, and with abortion you have other options like adoption. regardless of whether abortion is right or wrong, it seems more wrong than physician-assisted suicide(PAS), so why is PAS illegal and abortion legal? it makes no sense at all.  i can understand regular suicide, because the person could just be temporarily depressed and end up having a fine life later on, or be thankful that their suicide was prevented... however, there really is no legal deterant for people committing suicide since if they succeed, they won't have to worry about any legal ramifications anyway. even with drugs, i think people who use drugs are just stupid and if they are stupid enough to use drugs then we really don't need their genes in the gene pool anyway... it's their choice, and i agree that there shouldnt be a law against it, under our democracy, people should be able to make that decision for themselves.
101036
If you are trying to write a report the best source of this data would be the book called "What is Scientology?".\nTo answer in short, sometimes you need to take medicines, but these days it is by far overweighted, meaning the handling with medicines.
823550
Because parents don't want to hear that news.  If they take their kids off Ritalin and/or antidepressants, they would actually need to PARENT their children rather than pump some pills into them.
1111972
Obviously, it is the material response that patients first seek from us, hoping a pill or procedure can restore them to good health. But it is also clear that natural science cannot be the only form of help we bring the sick—even when our interventions cure them, and especially when the body’s incurable ailments afflict the soul. It would be the very opposite of wisdom to believe that doctors alone can heal the souls of their patients. Yet to conceive of the patient as materiality alone is a kind of degradation, even if that is what the patient wants.
289611
If you don't agree with contraception don't use it.  If you don't agree with abortion don't have one.  What I don't understand is why you want the government to impose your beliefs on other people.
613311
I definitely prefer the eastern mentality towards healthcare: prevention and not treatment of the symptoms. I have not needed much healthcare, but have had acupuncture on several occasions, and it has definitely worked on me. Of course western medicine has also it's advantages and in emergency cases, medicines and invasive operation have saved many lives.  I only wish more emphasis were given on a healthy lifestyle, less stress, better eating habits, more excercise, to prevent many diseases from starting in the first place.  And I find it shameful of the Pharmaceutical Companies that they invent pills for every conceivable ill under the sun. This dependence on pills is just disastrous. Who knows what all these chemicals will do to our bodies in the long run.
595679
because they figure since they are natural that they are not "medicine" and therefore feel better about taking it.  some of the things i think are ok but some people fall for a bunch of crap.  some of the commercials and things you see out there i honestly dont know how anyone would buy them.  im a pharmacy student and work at the hospital and you always hear the docs ask where some patients find some of these meds that they are on, some arent even legal here in the us, they buy them from canada and other places and its ridiculous, most of the junk they buy is from the internet and we just sigh.