Mostly agree, but doesn't Scientology's core beliefs make them harmful to their own members, especially those with serious medical issues?

I'm halfway through 'Going Clear', Hubbard had some pretty brutal punishments for children committing minor offenses, and his justification is that all children are really adults in children's bodies so they can take the abuse (fellow book readers, correct me if I'm wrong).

The whole disconnecting from your friends and families thing, isn't that also part of their core beliefs? If you think they're "Potential Trouble Source" or "Suppressive Persons", why wouldn't you want to distance yourself from them, if you've been brainwashed into thinking they're harmful to you?

And let's say someone buys a Dianetics book and an e-meter, never even talks to any Scientology person or steps foot in their fortress. They start treating their own asthma or PTSD or whatever, while not dangerous to society, it sounds dangerous to the person doing this to him/herself no?

Maybe it's because I keep associating Scientology with its origins (Hubbard wrote to the Psychiatry Association saying his methodology to cure all kinds of physical and mental illness), his insistence on his books replacing medical and mental science, that I have a hard time separating their beliefs from their practices. If the ONLY way to get a person to believe their BS is to brainwash them and break them down, their beliefs and practices are inextricably linked aren't they? Especially since he wrote this in the 1950s/60s (where almost all scientists denounced him and his work) and not thousands of years ago.

But yes I agree all that imprisonment, harassment, and litigation stuff isn't in the original 'scripture' (for lack of better term), that's definitely the craziest aspect of it all.