Auditing (Scientology)

Auditing, also called processing, is a central practice in Scientology in which a trained "auditor" asks structured questions intended to help a participant identify and address past experiences and emotional difficulties. Most auditing uses an E-meter, a device the Church of Scientology describes as a spiritual tool for detecting areas of mental or spiritual trauma, though courts and scientists have found it to have no medical or scientific validity. Auditing is presented as the primary method for advancing up Scientology's Bridge to Total Freedom, a graded series of levels involving procedures and rundowns, using concepts such as the reactive mind, engrams, and past‑life incidents and implants. Scholars and critics have variously described auditing as a form of psychological conditioning, hypnosis, or pseudotherapy, and have raised concerns about its methods, the misuse of confidential session records, and its space‑opera cosmology. There have been legal, regulatory, and ethical controversies related to its unproven medical claims, misuse of private information, the use of child labor, and the death of some participants.