Helen O'Brian was a housewife in Philadelphia who became involved in Scientology after reading an article about it in the New York Times. She attended a local presentation about Scientology and soon began auditing sessions. O'Brian reports that it helped her immensely and she felt clearer and more focused than ever in her life. O'Brian and her husband soon opened their own branch of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists and in letters she received from Hubbard, he informed her that he was moving the organization in a religious direction, in order to gain tax exempt status. O'Brian, as a result, began to see the holes in the fabric of Scientology and began to see that the theories of Dianetics she held so dear were being sold out for cash profit. In addition, Hubbard himself had become volatile and suspicious about everyone he know. O'Brian officially left the organization in 1953.