Dealing with scientologists is like dealing with mentally ill people.
The different levels of scientology are designed to dismantle a person mentally, and reconstuct them in a way that will be conducive to furthering the aims of L. Ron Hubbard (scientology). This is not unique to scientology - all cults operate in a similar fashion - but scientology has been said to be one of the most difficult cult experiences to get over once the practices are given up.
From the beginning, with the first simple courses, one is being taught not to think, not to question. This trains a person to follow orders without question. The next courses give the orders to be followed, but in subtle ways so they are not seen as orders, but as steps toward an improved self. With the hypnotic TRs, the scientology way to act and think becomes more ingrained, and more so with each additional course taken, until the person no longer resembles who they were originally.
Emotion is removed, as well as the positive attributes that go along with emotion - empathy, kindness, sorrow, love, compassion are all seen as weaknesses to be overcome. They are taught to "eliminate their reactive mind," in other words, their emotions that make them human. The "Auditor's Code," a set of directives for the "counselors" of scientology, even prohibits auditors from feeling sympathy for the negative experiences that the counseled person dredges up during a session.
The ego of the group, which is that of L. Ron Hubbard, replaces that of the individual. The most important thing becomes the survival of the group - it becomes more important than even the individual's own life. The further along "the Bridge" one goes, the worse they seem to get about robotic responses to perceived threats. Part of that may be due to their financial investment into scientology, but certainly the majority of it is that Hubbard designed it that way to be so he could keep the control over people that kept (and keeps) the money coming in.
Hubbard was a nasty piece of work. He tormented others with his self-centered, narcissistic personality, his conviction that he had all the answers, and at the same time, was himself tormented by paranoia, and the fear that someone was always out to get him. Had he not been charismatic, he would have been dismissed as someone who had severe "issues," or been committed to a mental institution, but his charisma and desire for control (and money) allowed him to gain followers, and he wrote quite a bit of instruction for those followers to become every bit as much the tormentor and the tormented as he was.
Many ex-members have described the negative consequences of being interrogated, of being torn down, being "reverse processed" or of having "black dianetics" used on them, and of having "psychotic breaks." Here is one such article:
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/4921709-when-scientology-fails but others can be found with the search terms "scientology and psychotic" or any of the terms in the previous sentence.
Repressing one's emotions, denying one's feelings, is not mentally (or physically) healthy. Eventually they will come out. The treatment people receive in scientology - constantly being forced to produce, to give money, to increase their "stats," being sent to the "ethics officer" or put in "conditions" they must work their way out of for the slightest of infractions, essentially being pushed into a state of anger - in combination with being taught that according to scientology principles that they are supposed to eliminate their reactive mind (their emotions), produces an induced form of mental illness, and sometimes psychosis.
In my opinion, this is why so many scientologists, when challenged, respond in a way that appears psychotic and potentially violent to those who are not scientologists. They are victims of imposed mental illness, and should be treated with just as much caution as anyone you might see acting erratically or dangerously. They
are dangerous. You don't know when they might snap.
They should also be treated with compassion, because even though they may think they are better than you or any "wog," they are human too.
