The telephone is ringing, the dog is barking and the television is blaring reruns of old cartoons. Painfully unaware of her surroundings, a young girl lies severely beaten and unconscious on the floor. Is she really unaware, or can these memories come back to haunt her?

Dianetics, a way of studying the mind, might be able to provide the answer to this question.

Members from the Church of Scientology of Kansas City, Mo., will be hosting a free dianetics workshop Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Ramada Inn, 1206 S. Duff Ave. Organizers of the event expect more than 100 people to attend.

During the workshop, counselors Jeff Kittenger, Wendy Keene and Liz Carr will provide and explanation of dianetics and answer questions about the method of healing.

Maggie Kittenger, executive director of the Church of Scientology, described dianetics as simply “bringing out what is best in a person.”

“Dianetics is not a religion,” Kittenger said. “It’s not believing in something; it’s believing in yourself.”

A sufferer of a psychosomatic illness, an illness caused by the mind, has to confront their “reactive,” or unconscious, mind, she said. The process of healing involves a counselor talking to the person through the painful memories until he or she is able to live free of the negative effects of the incident, Kittenger said.

Put in a situation with a telephone, television and barking dog, for example, the young girl could subconsciously remember and experience physical pain, Kittenger said. Dianetics helps sufferers pinpoint their memories and relieve themselves from the trauma caused by their memories, she said.

Dianetics founder L. Ron Hubbard’s goal was to create a workable means to resolve mental problems.

He also wanted to find a way to release sufferers of traumatic experiences from their nightmares, according to a dianetics Web site, www.dianetics.org.

Before the foundation was formed, Hubbard’s book, “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health,” published in 1950, defined dianetics as “what the body is doing to the soul through the mind.”

The Hubbard Dianetics Foundation was started as a place to answer questions and to fund further research of dianetics, according to the web site. The Church of Scientology got its start through the foundation.