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== Sources and doctrines ==
Hubbard has been described as an "eclectic and ingenious" religious innovator who cobbled together ideas from a diverse array of sources and traditions. Hubbard explicitly cited Freud's psychoanalysis as a source for Dianetics and Scientology, renaming some terms. Hubbard's wife Sara recalled him discussing biologist Richard Semon, who had coined the term "engram" which became a centerpiece of Dianetics. Hubbard incorporated the 1920s psychoanalytic theory of birth trauma and taught his followers to maintain total silence during the birth process. Hubbard explicitly credited Social Darwinism pioneer Herbert Spencer who coined the phrase "survival of the fittest", and taught that the 'one command' given to all life is to "survive" and later authored a book called Science of Survival.
Hubbard cited author Alfred Korzybski as an influence; after two years observing patients at St. Elizabeths Hospital in D.C. in collaboration with superintendent William Alanson White, Korzybski published a tome titled Science and Sanity outlining a doctrine he called "General Semantics". After Korzybski founded an "Institute" to promote his teachings and began offering seminars, his ideas were incorporated into the science-fiction of Hubbard-associates Van Vogt and Heinlein, who envisioned futures where research into General Semantics had transformed some individuals into superhumans; Hubbard cited this fiction in a letter announcing the central principles of Dianetics: a book that promises to "make supermen".
Through his exposure to both psychoanalysts and occultists, Hubbard drew inspiration from Eastern religions. Hubbard cited psychiatrist Joseph Thompson as teaching him the adage "If it's not true for you, it's not true", a purportedly-Buddhist maxim which was later incorporated into Scientology. Reincarnation, originally a dharmic doctrine, entered Western occultism through the works of Blavatsky and numerous others. Fifteen years after Blavatsky followers unveiled "The Bridge to Freedom", Hubbard announced "The Bridge to Total Freedom".
Hubbard's son Nibs said that Aleister Crowley was his father's most important source of inspiration, and scholar Hugh Urban has written extensively about the occult roots of Scientology. Nibs Hubbard said in an interview in 1983: What a lot of people don't realize is that Scientology is black magic that is just spread out over a long time period. To perform black magic generally takes a few hours or, at most, a few weeks. But in Scientology it's stretched out over a lifetime, and so you don't see it. Like Crowley, Hubbard identified himself with diabolical figures from the Book of Revelation. Just as Aleister Crowley taught a soul could temporarily leave its body through astral projection, Hubbard taught a thetan could journey outside the body by "going exterior".
Hubbard also taught extensively about hypnosis and recommended a 1949 book on the subject. Hubbard told of hypnotic implants, privately teaching human religions are the product of such implants. The use of hypnosis or trance to remember past lives was an extant practice in occult circles prior to Dianetics. Hubbard incorporated a range of hypnotic techniques into Scientology auditing and courses. They are employed as a means to create dependency and obedience in his followers. Crowley and Hubbard both placed emphasis on a Goddess figure, variously called Babalon, Hathor, or Diana—a name Hubbard gave to a ship and a daughter; the term Dianetics may have been inspired by the Goddess. Crowley taught a sex magic ritual called karezza or Dianism which Hubbard is believed to have practiced.
The e-meter was constructed by inventor Volney Mathison, who introduced it to Hubbard. Similar devices had been in use by psychiatrists and law enforcement for decades. Hubbard likened his own teachings about interstellar empires and invader forces to the early 20th-century fiction genre Space Opera. Hubbard drew upon US Navy traditions in creating the Sea Org, and he once said the Commodore's Messenger Organization had been inspired by the Hitler Youth.
== Hubbard and psychiatry ==
Hubbard's views on psychiatry evolved over time.
Hubbard reported many encounters with psychiatrists from the age of 12 onward. Hubbard spoke positively of his childhood and teen encounters with psychiatrists in the 1920s and 30s. At the age of 12, Hubbard, his father, and his mother were accompanied by Navy psychiatrist Joseph Cheesman Thompson on an ocean trip from Seattle to Washington, D.C. Hubbard likewise wrote positively of teenage/young-adult encounters with D.C.-based psychiatrist William Alanson White.Some of Hubbard's later works included acknowledgements of both Thompson and White, and Hubbard would later claim to have received clinical training from both Thompson and White.
In contrast, Hubbard spoke more critically of his later encounters with psychiatrists and psychiatric institutions. Although Hubbard had written positively of psychiatric hospital superintendent William Alanson White, White's successor Winfred Overholser was singled out for criticism. Hubbard likewise spoke critically of his encounters with a Washington, D.C., institution for the treatment of schizophrenia called "Walnut Lodge" (presumably Chestnut Lodge). :