Scientology's Secrets: The TRs

The TRs (Training Routines) are part of the most basic Scientology training, and are repeated to increasingly stringent standards at higher levels. They are billed as a way to improve communication skills, but their real purpose is to plant the seeds for thought control.

A critique of the TRs, by Perry Scott, describes each of the TRs, what it's supposed to do for the student, and what it really does. It makes extensive hyperlink references to Sutphen's essay below.
The Battle For Your Mind, by Dick Sutphen, describes the cognitive manipulations practiced in certain charismatic Christian sects; his analysis also seems to fit Scientology's indoctrination methods quite well. It's interesting but a bit over the top; read this critique by Martin Poulter for a well-reasoned, skeptical assessment of Sutphen's claims.
Illustration of TR 4
The Success Through Communications course is an entry-level Scientology course covering TR 0-4, and is many people's first introduction to cult practices. It appears at the bottom of the big chart of The Bridge on display in every Scientology org. Here you can read an analysis of one of the illustrations of TR 4. The Hubbard Qualified Scientologist course is a follow-on course that covers the upper-level TRs.
The Professional TR Course is part of beginning auditor training. Unlike the Success Through Communications course, which is watered down for beginners, this is a serious, full-blown Scientology course. The ``course pack'' is a collection of dense typewritten bulletins rather than a bunch of cartoons and junior high school-level text. It covers the theory and policy of TRs, and students are supposed to show a higher level of proficiency than in the beginning level courses. As they progress in their training, students will have to maintain good TRs while simultaneously operating an e-meter. Here we give a summary of the various policy letters and bulletins that make up the course pack.
Chapter 4 (on TR0) and Chapter 5 (on TR1-9) of Margery Wakefield's book The Road to Xenu describe her experience undergoing the TRs at the Los Angeles Celebrity Center.
Chapter 7 of Cyril Vosper's book The Mind Benders includes a summary of the TRs as part of a more general look at Scientology training.
Satan's Power by William Sims Bainbridge (University of California Press, 1978) profiles a Scientology splinter group called The Process Church. In this excerpt, culled by Ron Newman, Bainbridge describes the hallucinations and feelings of dissociation he experienced while doing the lower level TRs.
Chapter 1 of Bob Penny's book Social Control in Scientology contains a brief analysis of how participating in the TRs serves to mold the victim's perceptions so as to bring them further into ``the group'' (Scientology).
Chapter 17 of Paulette Cooper's book The Scandal of Scientology also gives a summary of the TRs, and a quote from the Anderson report on how these techniques are hypnotic in nature and potentially dangerous to mental health.
HCO PL 16 April 1965 RA, ``All Divisions Handling the Public Individual,'' shows that it is Hubbard's intent that raw meat who enter Scientology be controlled from the outset. They must not be allowed to act on their own determination. ``The moral is very plain. Never ask anyone in the public or field to Decide or Choose.'' In this HCO PL excerpt he justifies his policy as necessary to prevent the pre-clear from becoming overwhelmed or confused.
Scientology markets special courses to owners of professional practices such as dentists, veterinarians, and physical therapists. The courses are supposed to improve the morale and effectiveness of office staff, but actually they are Scientology training, beginning with the TRs. As detailed here, some people have been fired for refusing to submit to what they felt was ``a brainwashing process''.
Two students at Narconon, a Scientology front group that promotes a quack therapy for substance abuse based on ideas by L. Ron Hubbard (see Narconon Exposed), practicing TR 0 as part of their treatment program.
The use of the TRs in Narconon is discussed here.
The Washington Post on cults and mind control. Inspired by the 1997 Heaven's Gate suicide, but quite relevant to Scientology as well.
Stare Down Sally, a web page to let you try practicing your TR 0.

Illustration of TR0 Bullbait from the Hubbard Qualified Scientologist Course book, reviewed elsewhere on this web site. The pre-clear must not react in any way to the antics of the coach. Illustration copyright © 1988 by the L. Ron Hubbard Library. Reproduced under the "fair use" provision of the US copyright code.

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Scientology's Secrets: The TRs

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