An interview with two Catholic priests trained as exorcists

[turzovka]

This article I believe is quite interesting. It is only a casual conversation with two exorcist priests who reveal nothing all that new about the practice, yet, confirming. Here is what I do not grasp. There are so many out there who will dismiss this as rubbish, just because they do not want to believe it. And by dismissing it, they are essentially saying that these two priests are lying. Because if what the priests say are true, then that is clearly evidence for the supernatural. And the demonic.

So read on if you have any interest. I could have posted other accounts far more disturbing and hard to deny, but maybe sometime later. What happened in Indiana a couple of years ago still remains one of the most unsettling and undeniable presence of demonic activity. Recall, where the social worker and the policeman ran out of the house in utter terror by what they witnessed? Even those who dared make a movie of that episode --- I do not think they had the stomach or the courage to complete it? The devil is very real. Halloween just masks the reality.

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http://www.thechristianreview.com/battling-the-demonic-an-interview-with-americas-exorcists/


[Below is much of the article, not all.]

Is demonic activity on the rise?

Fr. Lampert: Yes, though the increase in demonic activity is not merely because the Devil has “upped his game,” but also because more people are willing to play his game today, through activities that are opening up doorways to evil in their lives.

Demonic influence is grouped into two categories: ordinary and extraordinary. While ordinary influence can be described as regular temptation, extraordinary influence is divided into four chief categories: infestation, vexation, obsession, and possession. Can you briefly describe characteristics of each?

Fr. Lampert: Infestation describes the presence of evil associated with a specific location or object. Demons can torment humans by unexplained noises which include: footsteps, knocking on walls, clattering of chains, mysterious voices, shouts, and laughter. Infestation can also include displacement of objects, pictures falling off the walls, furniture moving, levitation of objects, and so on.

Vexation is the action by which the devil and demons attack and harass humans physically through cuts or burns, scrapes, stings, bites, blows that leave bruises, swelling and bleeding sores, and incisions of letters in the skin using words or signs that persist for some time or suddenly disappear.

Obsession refers to mental attacks whereby demons assault someone’s external and internal senses. Demons affect the external senses through either horrifying or enticing visions, disturbing noises, chants that are both blasphemous and obscene, and by physical touch. On the internal senses, the imagination can be filled with thoughts or images that are both rationally absurd and terrifying. Because obsession ranges in degree, it is one of the most difficult to assess, more than that of vexation and even demonic possession.

During possession, the devil or evil spirit(s) takes control of a person’s body, during which the person feels powerless to act. The demons can control the entire body; causing the individual to speak, walk, and do obscene gestures. Those who suffer from demonic possession may lose all or part of their consciousness of what is taking place.

Can demons read our thoughts?

Fr. Lampert: Demons do not know what we are thinking. They are intelligent creatures who can use their reason to deduce what we might be thinking or how we might act. God alone knows a person’s mind.

A skeptic might assert that someone undergoing obsession or possession is really suffering mental issues. How do you distinguish?

Fr. Thomas: An exorcist is trained to be a skeptic first. I consult with professionals to rule out the natural causes before moving toward the preternatural ones. I have a medical doctor, psychiatrist, and clinical psychologist with whom I consult with on a case-by-case basis. Everything depends on the circumstances. There are key indicators of demonic involvement: aversion to the sacred, inordinate physical strength, knowledge of hidden things, proficiency in foreign languages previously unknown to the person (including Latin and Greek), foaming at the mouth, and epileptic type body movements without any kind of stimulation.

Fr. Lampert: Before confirming demonic involvement, an exorcist will rely on experts in the mental and medical health fields to assess the individual. They look for every possible physical or mental cause to explain what is taking place. This is the protocol that is followed before an exorcism takes place:

• Obtaining a thorough physical examination by a qualified physician with appropriate specialists consulted as needed.
• Obtaining a thorough psychological examination by a qualified clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.
• Taking a “life history” of contact with demons, Satanism, the occult, witchcraft, or any eastern religious practice which cultivates relationships with “gods” and “goddesses”.
• Normalizing the spiritual and sacramental life of the energumen.
• Inventory of the extraordinary signs of possession from the Rite of Exorcism.
• Careful compliance with diocesan legal and canonical processes.
• Composition of a letter to the bishop regarding the need for a major exorcism.

Can you describe the process of an exorcism?

Father Lampert: I will first prepare myself by going to confession, celebrating Mass, and spending time in prayer. I will then determine the location of where the exorcism will take place. It is always in a sacred space of my choosing. These are the steps:

The rite begins with the sprinkling of holy water, followed by recitation of the Litany of Saints, Psalms, Gospels, apostles Creed and renewal of baptismal vows. After several prayers, the troubled individual is shown a crucifix, which represents Christ’s victory over the Devil. Following additional exorcism prayers, the Devil, in the name of Christ, is directly commanded to withdraw from the troubled person.

What are some of the most extreme manifestations of possession that you’ve witnessed?

Fr. Lampert: I have witnessed such things as superhuman strength, eyes rolling back in the head, extreme laughter and roars, supernaturally loud or deep voices, foaming at the mouth, foul odors, dislocation of the jaw, and levitation.

Levitation?

Fr Lampert: Yes, during an exorcism in Rome, the demon became very agitated during the deliverance prayers. The violent thrashing and obscenities continued until everything went calm and the possessed person began to levitate in her chair. This manifestation was done by the demon as an attempt to interrupt the prayer and cause fear to those in the room.

Fr. Thomas: I’ve had individuals exhibiting foreign languages previously unknown to them, violent attacks physically with restraints, snake-like movement, serpent-like facial appearance during deliverance prayers, and violent rejection of the Eucharist.

Do demons believe in the Eucharist?

Fr. Thomas: Absolutely, demons believe in the Real Presence and will often show a dramatic, violent aversion to it.

What brings about demonic involvement? What should be avoided?

Fr. Thomas: Ouija boards, dark magic, séances, violent video games, the Charley Challenge, tarot cards, any devices that can muster some kind of spirit in any way that circumvents God

Fr. Lampert: People may think these things are just fun and entertaining but the truth is they are dabbling with evil and can get themselves into trouble.

Fr. Thomas: Pornography and drugs can also be open doorways to the demonic, especially certain drugs such as meth and cocaine. In some cases, curses can be placed on these in order to make them even more addictive.

Curses, spells, satanic rituals, and black magic: do these occur today or are they merely old superstitions?

Fr. Thomas: Yes, there are people who know how to perform spells and magic of this kind.

Fr. Lampert: These things are all real. I believe they are only effective if we are weak in our commitment to God. We can’t control what another person does even if they wish us ill will. We can render their actions meaningless by putting on the armor of God.

How long does a possession last? Does one exorcism get the job done?

Fr. Thomas: Possessions can last years or even entire lifetimes, depending on the individual’s situation and lifestyle condition. One exorcism rarely gets the “job done” because there are usually several demons in an organized hierarchy.

You mentioned earlier that the decline in morality of society accompanies an increase in demonic activity. In today’s society what are the key indicators of this? For instance, is there something diabolical about abortion?

Fr. Thomas: Abortion is a doorway to the demonic because it involves the destruction of an innocent human being. The new law in California which legalizes assisted suicide is also a doorway for the same reason. This decline in morality is growing rapidly and provides the opportunity for Satan to have a foothold in a family’s life. I do not believe that most people who are believers in “choice” realize this. That is part of the seduction of Satan who will disguise his presence in these choices.

Fr. Lampert: Anything that attacks human life has to be viewed as evil, for the human person is created in the image and likeness of God. With that said one must always distinguish between evil as an action of our own free will and evil that is the result of demonic activity.

Can other inanimate objects become infested?

Fr. Thomas: Absolutely. A couple of years ago, an acquaintance of mine purchased a statue figurine of a fairy at a New Age book store. After experiencing several strange disturbances at her home, I advised the family to dispose of everything they had purchased as that specific store. While throwing out this statue, it shattered, producing a miniature satanic charm of a headless priest with his hands glued to an altar. I had never seen something so creepy and grotesque. After the objects had been blessed and disposed of, the disturbances ceased.

Do you caution against Eastern meditation such as yoga?

Fr. Lampert: The benefit of yoga for purely exercising is not the issue. What is concerning is the calling upon of energies, spirits, or forces when doing these practices.

Fr. Thomas: When someone doing yoga acknowledges and calls upon spirits or energies attached to certain exercises, this creates serious problems. I know this for fact because I have had people who are fervent yoga users come to me with problems when they have given homage to the gods attached to the movements of the yoga.

Are you ever afraid?

Fr. Thomas: No, it must be a grace because I am never afraid. I am humble and very respectful of personified evil, because without Our Lord, I do not stand a chance but with Him, I have nothing to fear.

In closing, what is the best defense against the forces of evil?

Fr. Thomas: There are four ordinary means of protection against the Evil One: a prayer life, a faith life, a moral life, and a sacramental life. Do those and you will build up the armor of Faith against the forces of Hell.

Fr. Lampert: The best defense against evil is for us to devote ourselves to the things of God and to think about the positive aspects of life. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” [Philippians 4:8].

 

[Penelope]

The power of belief is a tremendous thing, and there are many lunatics and crazies out there.

 

[guno]

Very sad that people still believe in that stuff , I can understand when people didn't know about science and medicine and when people thought epileptic seizure and mental illness were caused by demons .

Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense

Belief in spirit possession flourishes in times and places where there is ignorance about mental states. Citing biblical examples, the medieval Church taught that demons were able to take control of an individual, and by the sixteenth century demonic behavior had become relatively stereotypical. It manifested itself by convulsions, prodigious strength, insensitivity to pain, temporary blindness or deafness, clairvoyance, and other abnormal characteristics. Some early notions of possession may have been fomented by three brain disorders: epilepsy, migraine, and Tourette’s syndrome (Beyerstein 1988). Psychiatric historians have long attributed demonic manifestations to such aberrant mental conditions as schizophrenia and hysteria, noting that-as mental illness began to be recognized as such after the seventeenth century-there was a consequent decline in demonic superstitions (Baker 1992, 192).

Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense - CSI

 

[turzovka]

Very sad that people still believe in that stuff , I can understand when people didn't know about science and medicine and when people thought epileptic seizure and mental illness were caused by demons .

Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense

Belief in spirit possession flourishes in times and places where there is ignorance about mental states. Citing biblical examples, the medieval Church taught that demons were able to take control of an individual, and by the sixteenth century demonic behavior had become relatively stereotypical. It manifested itself by convulsions, prodigious strength, insensitivity to pain, temporary blindness or deafness, clairvoyance, and other abnormal characteristics. Some early notions of possession may have been fomented by three brain disorders: epilepsy, migraine, and Tourette’s syndrome (Beyerstein 1988). Psychiatric historians have long attributed demonic manifestations to such aberrant mental conditions as schizophrenia and hysteria, noting that-as mental illness began to be recognized as such after the seventeenth century-there was a consequent decline in demonic superstitions (Baker 1992, 192).

Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense - CSI

You and your "experts" are absolute sorry fools. I do not know how else to put it? The evidence for the evil one is legion. In order for your position to be true, for starters, every saint and every exorcist priest has to be total liars about what they witnessed. That includes all others in the rooms. You can play your games and fool yourself until the end, but all I can say is I feel very sorry for you.

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A Case of Demonic Possession

February 2008 By Richard E. Gallagher

Richard E. Gallagher, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist in private practice in Hawthorne, New York, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at New YorkMedicalCollege. He is also on the faculties of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Institute and a Roman Catholic seminary. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of PrincetonUniversity, magna cum laude in Classics, and trained in Psychiatry at the YaleUniversitySchool of Medicine. Dr. Gallagher is the only American psychiatrist to have been a consistent U.S. delegate to the International Association of Exorcists, and has addressed its plenary session.

Amid widespread confusion and skepticism about the subject, the chief goal of this article is to document a contemporary and clear-cut case of demonic possession. Even those who doubt such a phenomenon exists may find the following example rather persuasive. For clergy, or indeed anyone involved in the spiritual or psychological care of others, it is equally critical, however, to recognize the many and infinitely more common "counterfeits" (i.e., false assignations) of demonic influence or attack as well.

This need for caution and precision is especially important at a time when untrained laymen or, worse, public ministries may unfortunately mislead or even exploit the faithful in this area. One has only to turn on a television to witness obvious abuses -- for instance, televangelists' dunning their audience for cash as they conduct exhibitionist ceremonies before large assemblies of the overly credulous. Sharp distinctions -- long known to traditional theologians, but now often ignored -- need to be drawn.

Possession is only one and not the most common type of demonic attack. Possession is very rare, though not as exceedingly so as many imagine. So-called "oppression," or "infestation," is less rare, though hardly frequent either, and sometimes more difficult to discern accurately.1 For our purposes here, a truly "possessed" individual exhibits so massive and unequivocal an assault that we will use it as the paradigmatic example of a genuine demonic attack. This case will be contrasted not to the many lesser degrees of demonic assault, but rather to the varied kinds of purported demonic involvement -- often psychotic conditions -- that turn out to have a purely natural explanation.2 These states should be more widely recognized as such by religious practitioners. This need is especially great among the many laymen now in deliverance ministries, a rapidly growing worldwide phenomenon.3

The Case of a Modern-Day Demoniac

To show, first, that the devil, however rarely, may indeed "attack" by possessing an individual, I present here a detailed summary of a present-day demonic possession. It is truly an obvious example of a genuine attack, at least to an objective observer.

Each case of possession (as well as oppression) is, in one sense, unique. What makes this example especially singular -- but also particularly and powerfully convincing -- is that the woman involved not only exhibited, in a highly dramatic fashion, the classic signs of possession but, having been an avowed and prominent Satanist in her life, also seemed to display "special occult powers" even outside her trance states, not infrequently in a quite open manner to anyone who came in close contact with her.

All the facts presented here are true and verifiable by the multiple and highly credible individuals involved in her care. For reasons of confidentiality, we will identify our subject with a pseudonym (she agreed to have her story published if she were not identified), and little incidental material is included.

"Julia" is a middle-aged, self-supporting Caucasian woman who lives in the U.S. She first approached her local clergy on her own, and was soon referred to an official priest-exorcist (who collaborated on this article) to explore getting help. She herself was quite convinced from the start that she was being "attacked" in some way by a demon or Satan. During the course of her lengthy and thorough evaluation, she was eventually seen by this writer, a board-certified academic psychiatrist, who was asked to provide a medical and psychiatric opinion.

Julia revealed a long, disturbing history of involvement with explicitly Satanic groups (an obvious, historical antecedent to her then-present condition and to her accompanying "psychic" abilities, as they might be characterized). Though raised a Catholic, she no longer practiced the Faith. But, with considerable ambivalence, she stated she might need the Catholic Rite of Exorcism.

Julia was not the typical type of individual who frequently importunes the Church for help but who is really in need of psychiatric or other medical intervention. She was in no way psychotic; in fact, she was consistently logical, highly intelligent, and even quite engaging at times, despite her obvious turmoil.

Periodically, in our presence, Julia would go into a trance state of a recurring nature. Mentally troubled individuals often "dissociate,"4 but Julia's trances were accompanied by an unusual phenomenon: Out of her mouth would come various threats, taunts, and scatological language, phrases like "Leave her alone, you idiot," "She's ours," "Leave, you imbecile priest," or just "Leave." The tone of this voice differed markedly from Julia's own, and it varied, sometimes sounding guttural and vaguely masculine, at other points high pitched. Most of her comments during these "trances," or at the subsequent exorcisms, displayed a marked contempt for anything religious or sacred.

When Julia came out of these trances, she strongly professed no recollection of these remarks or of having said anything at all. An experienced psychiatrist might well conclude that we were probably, therefore, dealing with a dissociated personality or, more precisely, even Dissociative Identity Disorder (elaborated on later). What quickly made this understandable hypothesis implausible, however, were several other peculiar though obviously related phenomena, but a sampling of which is covered here.

Because of the complexity of this case, we assembled a team to assist. At varying points, this group comprised several qualified mental-health personnel, at least four Catholic priests, a deacon and his wife, two nuns (both nurses, one psychiatric), and several lay volunteers. We made a number of phone calls to arrange gathering together to help Julia. Julia herself was not in on these phone discussions; she was far from the area at the time. Astonishingly, Julia's "other" voice -- again sometimes deep, sometimes high pitched -- would actually interrupt the telephone conversations and somehow come in over the phone line! The voice(s) would espouse the same messages: "Leave her alone," "Leave, you idiots," "Get away from her," "She's ours." Julia, again, said later that she was unaware of any such conversation. And yet this speech was heard distinctly by several of the team on a number of occasions.

As mentioned, even outside her trances, Julia unmistakably displayed "psychic" abilities; put another way, her presence was clearly associated with paranormal events. Sometimes objects around her would fly off the shelves, the rare phenomenon of psychokinesis known to parapsychologists. Julia was also in possession of knowledge of facts and occurrences beyond any possibility of their natural acquisition. She commonly reported information about the relatives, household composition, family deaths and illnesses, etc., of members of our team, without ever having observed or been informed about them. As an example, she knew the personality and precise manner of death (i.e., the exact type of cancer) of a relative of a team member that no one could conceivably have guessed. She once spoke about the strange behavior of some inexplicably frenzied animals beyond her direct observation: Though residing in another city, she commented, "So those cats really went berserk last night, didn't they?" the morning after two cats in a team member's house uncharacteristically had violently attacked each other at about 2 AM.

As another example, Julia once described not only the actual surroundings (including the décor of his room) but the exact state of mind (skeptical and dismissive) of a priest peripherally involved, whom she had never met. The facts were subsequently precisely confirmed. Julia could also consistently depict, from afar and with amazing detail, the activity of one of the principal priests involved. She would repeatedly report, from her distant vantage, whether and when he was in pain (he suffered from a recurring illness), often where he was (e.g., walking on a beach), and remarkably, even what he was wearing at the time (e.g., a windbreaker).

Rounding out the picture of this case, finally, were the happenings during the lengthy exorcism rituals, that Julia herself requested. There were two series of such sessions separated by a period of time. (Ultimately, due to her hesitations, these efforts were interrupted and may or may not be resumed. Exorcism per se, a worthy and complex topic in itself, is not the focus here. This article looks rather to the reality of the subject of possession and its counterfeits.)

The exorcism began on a warm day in June. Despite the weather, the room where the rite was being conducted grew distinctly cold. Later, however, as the entity in Julia began to spout vitriol and make strange noises, members of the team felt themselves profusely sweating due to a stifling emanation of heat. The participants all said they found the heat unbearable.

Julia at first had gone into a quiet trance-like state. After the prayers and invocations of the Roman Ritual had been going on for a while, however, multiple voices and sounds came out of her. One set consisted of loud growls and animal-like noises, which seemed to the group impossible for any human to mimic. At one point, the voices spoke in foreign languages, including recognizable Latin and Spanish. (Julia herself only speaks English, as she later verified to us.)

The voices were noticeably attacking in nature, and often insolent, blasphemous, and highly scatological. They cursed and insulted the participants in the crudest way. They were frequently threatening -- trying, it appeared, to fight back -- "Leave her alone," "Stop, you whores" (to the nuns), "You'll be sorry," and the like.

Julia also exhibited enormous strength. Despite the religious sisters and three others holding her down with all their might, they struggled to restrain her. Remarkably, for about 30 minutes, she actually levitated about half a foot in the air.5

The presumptive target of the exorcism, the entity (or entities) that was possessing Julia, could also distinguish between holy water and regular water. She would scream in pain when the blessed water was sprinkled upon her, but have no reaction to clandestine use of unblessed water. During the ceremonies, she also, as previously, revealed hidden or past events in the lives of the various attendees, including information about deceased relatives completely unknown to her.

While many other details could be added, the above sufficiently convey the general picture. As noted, the exorcisms were seen as helpful, but have not yet resolved the matter of the possession. It should again be noted that Julia herself had no recollection at all of what occurred during the ceremonies.

Summary of the Case

The case of Julia illustrates a number of the classic signs of possession. The venerable Roman Ritual (Rituale Romanum of Pope Paul IV, 1614) lists as strongly suggestive signs, prominent among others, hidden knowledge, the ability to speak an unknown language, and abnormal physical strength. Other elements traditionally associated with possession were evident as well, including, invariably, expressions of hatred of the sacred, blasphemous and vituperative language, the ability to discern (and recoil from) blessed objects, the phenomenon of levitation, and, most importantly, a trance-like state interrupted by the presence of what appears as an independent, intelligent entity (or entities), and the expressed desire of this intelligence not to leave the afflicted.

Many of these individual features, let alone the full constellation of this overall "syndrome," are, to state the obvious, simply inexplicable on psychiatric or medical grounds. From a psychiatric point of view, two major features distinguish this and other such cases from a mental disorder: (A) the clear presence of paranormal phenomena, and (B) an overall pattern of presentation that, while it may overlap with certain psychiatric symptoms, nevertheless constitutes a truly sui generis, distinct group of features. Therefore, we clearly felt, in this instance, that we were indeed dealing with a genuinely possessed individual, albeit one complicated even further by her Satanist history and "psychic" abilities presumed consequent to her cultic involvement and/or her possessed state.

The Medical/Psychiatric Perspective

Several principles of the relevant discernment and diagnosis require emphasis. First, it needs to be acknowledged that medical input (which, given the highly bizarre nature of these cases, for practical purposes in today's world almost invariably entails an appropriate psychiatric consultation), while indispensable, is not without its own risk. Unsurprisingly, physicians, and perhaps even more so psychiatrists as a group, are generally not very open to, or knowledgeable about, the possibility of demonic possession. They have been trained (and rightly so) to be skeptical and to base their diagnoses and interventions on more standard criteria of modern scientific canons of judgment -- e.g., typical symptom clusters, the ability to replicate data, lab results, blind clinical trials, etc.6 These criteria cannot apply to historical singularities, of course. In any case, physicians should not be expected to make discernments in matters of this sort -- it is not their trained task or area of expertise -- and more properly is the professional responsibility (one hopes with due caution, sobriety, and openness to medical consultation) of a suitable and knowledgeable member of the clergy.

What the physician/psychiatrist can properly offer, however, is certainly indispensable in its own right: the professional expertise to determine whether the case in question fits a medically recognizable, exclusionary syndrome. This critical role can save all parties an enormous amount of time and effort. The vast majority of such "cases," which could easily be misconstrued as possible attacks by a demon or the like, indeed turn out to have an obvious psychiatric explanation, or less often a neurological or other medical explanation.

Another important orienting perspective is, unfortunately, often not well understood by many non-medically trained people, lay and clerical alike. Lack of experience in medical pathology can serve as a great source of confusion in certain religious circles. Surprisingly to many people, psychiatrists are in the frequent habit of encountering and diagnosing an assortment of patients who claim to be experiencing demonic or occult attacks in some way or, conversely, who report conversations with God, mystical visions, etc. The typical psychiatrist, or other mental-health practitioner for that matter, commonly meets patients who claim all sorts of contact or special visitations from "God," the "devil," a "spirit," etc. Patients may complain on a regular basis that demons are harassing or berating them; telling them to perform shameful, grandiose, or destructive acts; even touching them (via tactile hallucinations). It is easy, therefore, for such professionals to draw the nearly obvious corollary that all such cases purporting to have a diabolic or occult aspect are simply a reflection of psychiatric pathology or the patient's imagination. Many doctors thus regard all talk of demonic possession as hopelessly ignorant and out of date, "medieval," superstitious, even psychotic per se.

The obvious danger is that such an opinion gets generalized to all cases indiscriminately, even those highly rare ones with manifestly inexplicable or preternatural features as well, such as a possibly genuine demonic possession or oppression. For this reason, the astute student of demonology and official exorcist of Paris from 1924-1962, Joseph de Tonquédec, S.J., wrote back in 1923 that the skepticism of physicians arises from "an unwarranted generalization of what they observe in mental institutions or in private practice" (Introduction à l'étude du merveilleux et du miracle). Sadly, this reflection is probably even truer today, when even fewer doctors have any sound, sophisticated theological knowledge.

While it is unfortunate, though understandable, that such a lack of discernment exists among most (but by no means all) members of the medical profession, the far more common danger is exactly the reverse. Clergy or laymen may be drawn, as noted, to the opposite reasoning and suspect demonic activity when no such conclusion is warranted. Again, de Tonquédec noted this problem early in the last century: "some of the faithful and certain priests" -- I would say more commonly today fundamentalist ministers or laymen in quasi-clerical or other helping roles -- "take the opposite stand and also end in error, because of their ignorance of mental and nervous pathology and their failure to follow the guidelines given by the Church. As a result, they attribute to the devil certain disturbances that are purely natural in origin" (ibid.). By contrast, the Roman Ritual stipulates recourse to medical expertise and the need for prudent caution before ruling out the naturalistic. St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century similarly warned clerics not to jump to a supernatural explanation when a purely natural one sufficed. Much harm can result from misdiagnosis either way.

Psychiatric Counterfeits of Possession

There are some common psychiatric conditions that are apt to mislead the clergy or an overly credulous public in this regard. I pinpoint "psychiatric" even though there are other medical conditions that may potentially confuse laymen. For instance, neurological and in particular seizure disorders of a complex nature come to mind. These disorders may well have prompted many in past eras to suspect wrongly a diabolic etiology. With the growth of medical knowledge and increased public sophistication about medical matters in recent centuries, however, it has become undoubtedly much less common to ascribe these neurological diseases to the actions of the devil. The most commonly confusing disorders, in my professional experience, are almost always psychiatric or quasi-psychiatric in nature.

In general, three broad types of psychiatric disorders seem especially apt to confuse observers and the suffering patients themselves.

(1) Various medical conditions, generally psychiatrically based and less often metabolic, substance-abuse related, or neurological in nature, present with hallucinations, most commonly auditory, and also visual, tactile, or even gustatory. These conditions are frequently associated with delusional material, often paranoid in nature. Taken at face value, these hallucinations or delusions, which often involve the idea that the devil, demons, angels, God, or other "spirits" are actively communicating with the patient in question, can certainly and quite naturally confuse the patient and other interested parties into believing that the patient is under some kind of demonic assault or other supernatural influence, when nothing of the sort is going on. The patient may say quite openly, "The devil is bothering me" or "The devil told me such-and-such." These symptoms are characteristic of such chronic psychotic diagnoses as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (or manic depression), as well as of various brief psychotic conditions or episodes caused by other medical etiologies, such as neurological impairments or drug/alcohol abuse and withdrawal states.

(2) Another common group of psychological impairments apt to mislead are the so-called personality or character disorders. Typical of these conditions are a struggle with deep-seated feelings of rage, low self-esteem, a need for attention, a strong sense of victimization or, as is most relevant here, a strong sense of inner "evil." Psychiatrists commonly encounter such troubled patients, paradigmatically as "borderlines" (who may also become briefly psychotic). These individuals often feel that their powerful inner feelings of being "bad" are due to some tenuously experienced "foreign" entity inside themselves. This entity is at times explicitly self-described as a "monster" inside, or an "evil presence," or even a "devil" or "evil spirit" per se. This strong sense of an internal "foreign body" seems generally a thinly veiled projection of one's own inner sense of badness that is felt to be outside one's control while still somehow contained "within" the personality. I have actually even heard such patients spontaneously describe their inner states precisely as dominated by a sort of "writhing serpent" or a "dark spirit" inside themselves, without any indication whatsoever of true diabolic involvement.

(3) A final category of patients who are frequently misunderstood, by themselves at least, as suffering from demonic attacks are the severely histrionic and/or dissociated individuals (again a spectrum of types being implied, not a single diagnosis). This class of patients, which may well overlap with the second category, typically displays highly overactive imaginations and strikingly poor insight or self-awareness. These individuals desperately seek the love and attention that they otherwise miss in their often unhappy lives. To come to believe that they are being attacked by unseen forces may give them a sense of excitement or self-importance that they otherwise lack. One such patient we saw, an emotionally disturbed woman of around 20, would actually slither like a snake on the floor of the church, and even claimed to experience a serpent's touch. She sought our help, but our eventual diagnosis was a classic case of histrionic personality disorder, a finding ultimately agreed upon by both the priest involved and the patient herself. This individual had sought repeatedly to enter a religious order, any religious order, but was wisely never allowed to do so, given her disturbed emotional condition.

Patients in this final class of cases frequently have some proclivity to dissociate. In the more severe variants of this group, these individuals (who have often been abused) may even manufacture or "elaborate" -- unwittingly or not -- separate "personalities" or "ego states" in what was originally called "multiple personality disorder," but which is now more properly known in psychiatric circles as "Dissociative Identity Disorder" or D.I.D. (DSM-IV). This disorder may well present one of the personalities (sometimes known as an "alter") as a "devilish," often seductive type, or even as a "demon" per se, one variant of the so-called pseudo-possession syndrome. Still not without controversy as a diagnostic entity, D.I.D., as many diagnoses formerly too broadly labeled "hysteric," is highly fluid.7 It is now generally better recognized as a condition that may sometimes be fabricated, may be expressive of a delusional frame of mind, or at times may even be partially caused by treatment. The disorder generally surfaces in an individual who is highly suggestible or, more rarely, frankly manipulative. One example of the latter tendency involved a young man who had punched a staff member of a psychiatric unit. He immediately attempted to exonerate himself by claiming the action was done by his "other personality," his "bad" one, although this self-serving use of the diagnosis is more the exception than the rule.

Any of these three categories of patients, but perhaps most easily this third group, may provide fertile ground for those invested in exploiting the subject of demonic influence, such as televangelists or poorly trained members of some deliverance ministries.8 Some of the individuals who fall prey to these groups are largely conscious of their tendency to exaggerate or distort; others are fully self-deluded and without any insight or self-knowledge. They can become fully caught up in their disorders and their supposed need for "spiritual" rather than psychiatric therapy. Frequently, it is a great chore for helping professionals to convince such individuals of their need for mental healthcare, not deliverance or an exorcism. All the above patients are highly vulnerable and may too readily be led to believe that they are being attacked by the devil or evil "spirits." If those around them are prone to jump to such conclusions too -- sadly sometimes for misguided reasons of their own -- delayed treatment and much consternation and damage can ensue.

Pastoral & Theological Reflections

There is no implication here that the case of Julia reflects a common occurrence, although it is not unique either. Her case though, with her Satanist background and several decidedly idiosyncratic features, represents an especially clear-cut example of possession from the start. Despite commonalities, each possession is different and, as a rule, initially less obvious. Because I have served as consultant to an unusually high number of possible cases, only a scant few of which turn out to involve a genuinely diabolical element, I might perhaps possess a unique vantage point. Although some studies that call into question the existence of the reality of such phenomena are well meaning in their desire to stem a certain fundamentalist, subcultural mania of exaggeration in this area,9 they are often marred by their lack of experience with the very few real cases, such as the one documented here.

However unusual, no case of possession or oppression -- or for that matter any of the many "counterfeit" versions -- is trivial. For any suffering individual, the responsibility of the clergy and healing professionals is to offer the proper, well-informed help, no matter how obscure or controversial the presenting problem.

The mystery of the phenomena of demonic activity, prominently referred to in the Gospels and Apostolic Age, but noted, as well, throughout the life of the Church, can profitably be compared with the history of miracles, also never absent from the history of Christian life. These two permitted eruptions, if you will, of the supernatural into our everyday world follow similar historical patterns. Despite many attempts, historically skeptical critics and "de-mythologizers" have never in any convincing manner successfully extricated the element of the miraculous or the demonic from our reports of Christ's activity while on earth. No less the same can be maintained of later ecclesiastical history -- every age of the Church has exhibited historically credible, indeed sometimes obviously verifiable miracles. So has our own era, as any serious student of, say, Lourdes, among other examples, must surely attest.

Attempts to explain away the activities of Satan or devils in the Gospels are analogous to irrational skepticism about miracles. Most argue that the inclusion of demonic elements reflects the outmoded and superstitious ideas of that age, which the Church should now disavow. There are several solid objections to this critique with a pedigree of several centuries. These attempts to reinterpret Gospel events end up implying that Jesus was either ignorant or disingenuous in His sharing of such beliefs. Such a notion is, of course, contrary to all genuinely orthodox understanding of His divine as well as His human nature. Also, this argument flies in the face of common sense, as if the world of first-century Palestine could not recognize the obvious intent of these episodes and Jesus' clear and forceful actions vis-à-vis the demonic.

In the Synoptic Gospels, Christ is portrayed quite unequivocally as dramatically commanding specific diabolic entities to leave certain individuals and be displaced elsewhere. Some commentators maintain that much manner of illness in that era was mistakenly ascribed to sin and the influence of the devil, a point true enough to a degree. Nevertheless, the Gospel record of Jesus' activity nowhere presupposes that fact. Indeed, Christ explicitly contradicts that traditional Jewish and more generally ancient viewpoint in His discourse about the effects of transgenerational sins (Jn. 9:2-3). Jesus repeatedly challenged and condemned in a straightforward manner many of the false beliefs and superstitions of His age.

Finally, as with miracles, credible and verified reports of the saints' and the Church's successful battles against demonic assaults exist, not just in the Apostolic Age, but throughout the whole of subsequent Church history, very much including the well-documented modern era.10 The contention, therefore, that such scriptural accounts are historically conditioned holds little weight.

Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century mathematical genius, was an ardent student of human nature and religious history. He had an interesting comment about the issues under consideration here. Recorded in the Pensées is his astute reflection that "there would be no false miracles were there not true miracles."

Much superstition, exaggeration, fakery, and sheer ignorance have accompanied the history of both purported miracles and suspected diabolic activity throughout the life of the Church. The harm to the faith and the harm to individuals can be great, a truism never more evident than today. Behind these false traditions, however, as Pascal well grasped, lay the real thing, the originals from which the Frenchman well knew the counterfeits drew their false legitimacy. In this and every age, going back to the Gospels themselves, we refer ultimately to the consistent record of the healing and freeing power of our Lord Himself, on body and soul, as manifested to the unbiased mind. My task here has been to provide some guidance in discerning the counterfeit, but also in acknowledging the very infrequent but legitimate cases of diabolic activity. Contrary to what secular opinion facilely asserts, an objective medical view can confidently conclude that assaults by the devil, like genuine miracles, are rare but quite real scientific facts, verifiable to all who are not afraid to confront the truth.

 

[guno]

Very sad that people still believe in that stuff , I can understand when people didn't know about science and medicine and when people thought epileptic seizure and mental illness were caused by demons .

Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense

Belief in spirit possession flourishes in times and places where there is ignorance about mental states. Citing biblical examples, the medieval Church taught that demons were able to take control of an individual, and by the sixteenth century demonic behavior had become relatively stereotypical. It manifested itself by convulsions, prodigious strength, insensitivity to pain, temporary blindness or deafness, clairvoyance, and other abnormal characteristics. Some early notions of possession may have been fomented by three brain disorders: epilepsy, migraine, and Tourette’s syndrome (Beyerstein 1988). Psychiatric historians have long attributed demonic manifestations to such aberrant mental conditions as schizophrenia and hysteria, noting that-as mental illness began to be recognized as such after the seventeenth century-there was a consequent decline in demonic superstitions (Baker 1992, 192).

Exorcism! Driving Out the Nonsense - CSI

You and your "experts" are absolute sorry fools. I do not know how else to put it? The evidence for the evil one is legion. In order for your position to be true, for starters, every saint and every exorcist priest has to be total liars about what they witnessed. That includes all others in the rooms. You can play your games and fool yourself until the end, but all I can say is I feel very sorry for you.

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A Case of Demonic Possession

February 2008 By Richard E. Gallagher

Richard E. Gallagher, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist in private practice in Hawthorne, New York, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at New YorkMedicalCollege. He is also on the faculties of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Institute and a Roman Catholic seminary. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of PrincetonUniversity, magna cum laude in Classics, and trained in Psychiatry at the YaleUniversitySchool of Medicine. Dr. Gallagher is the only American psychiatrist to have been a consistent U.S. delegate to the International Association of Exorcists, and has addressed its plenary session.

Amid widespread confusion and skepticism about the subject, the chief goal of this article is to document a contemporary and clear-cut case of demonic possession. Even those who doubt such a phenomenon exists may find the following example rather persuasive. For clergy, or indeed anyone involved in the spiritual or psychological care of others, it is equally critical, however, to recognize the many and infinitely more common "counterfeits" (i.e., false assignations) of demonic influence or attack as well.

This need for caution and precision is especially important at a time when untrained laymen or, worse, public ministries may unfortunately mislead or even exploit the faithful in this area. One has only to turn on a television to witness obvious abuses -- for instance, televangelists' dunning their audience for cash as they conduct exhibitionist ceremonies before large assemblies of the overly credulous. Sharp distinctions -- long known to traditional theologians, but now often ignored -- need to be drawn.

Possession is only one and not the most common type of demonic attack. Possession is very rare, though not as exceedingly so as many imagine. So-called "oppression," or "infestation," is less rare, though hardly frequent either, and sometimes more difficult to discern accurately.1 For our purposes here, a truly "possessed" individual exhibits so massive and unequivocal an assault that we will use it as the paradigmatic example of a genuine demonic attack. This case will be contrasted not to the many lesser degrees of demonic assault, but rather to the varied kinds of purported demonic involvement -- often psychotic conditions -- that turn out to have a purely natural explanation.2 These states should be more widely recognized as such by religious practitioners. This need is especially great among the many laymen now in deliverance ministries, a rapidly growing worldwide phenomenon.3

The Case of a Modern-Day Demoniac

To show, first, that the devil, however rarely, may indeed "attack" by possessing an individual, I present here a detailed summary of a present-day demonic possession. It is truly an obvious example of a genuine attack, at least to an objective observer.

Each case of possession (as well as oppression) is, in one sense, unique. What makes this example especially singular -- but also particularly and powerfully convincing -- is that the woman involved not only exhibited, in a highly dramatic fashion, the classic signs of possession but, having been an avowed and prominent Satanist in her life, also seemed to display "special occult powers" even outside her trance states, not infrequently in a quite open manner to anyone who came in close contact with her.

All the facts presented here are true and verifiable by the multiple and highly credible individuals involved in her care. For reasons of confidentiality, we will identify our subject with a pseudonym (she agreed to have her story published if she were not identified), and little incidental material is included.

"Julia" is a middle-aged, self-supporting Caucasian woman who lives in the U.S. She first approached her local clergy on her own, and was soon referred to an official priest-exorcist (who collaborated on this article) to explore getting help. She herself was quite convinced from the start that she was being "attacked" in some way by a demon or Satan. During the course of her lengthy and thorough evaluation, she was eventually seen by this writer, a board-certified academic psychiatrist, who was asked to provide a medical and psychiatric opinion.

Julia revealed a long, disturbing history of involvement with explicitly Satanic groups (an obvious, historical antecedent to her then-present condition and to her accompanying "psychic" abilities, as they might be characterized). Though raised a Catholic, she no longer practiced the Faith. But, with considerable ambivalence, she stated she might need the Catholic Rite of Exorcism.

Julia was not the typical type of individual who frequently importunes the Church for help but who is really in need of psychiatric or other medical intervention. She was in no way psychotic; in fact, she was consistently logical, highly intelligent, and even quite engaging at times, despite her obvious turmoil.

Periodically, in our presence, Julia would go into a trance state of a recurring nature. Mentally troubled individuals often "dissociate,"4 but Julia's trances were accompanied by an unusual phenomenon: Out of her mouth would come various threats, taunts, and scatological language, phrases like "Leave her alone, you idiot," "She's ours," "Leave, you imbecile priest," or just "Leave." The tone of this voice differed markedly from Julia's own, and it varied, sometimes sounding guttural and vaguely masculine, at other points high pitched. Most of her comments during these "trances," or at the subsequent exorcisms, displayed a marked contempt for anything religious or sacred.

When Julia came out of these trances, she strongly professed no recollection of these remarks or of having said anything at all. An experienced psychiatrist might well conclude that we were probably, therefore, dealing with a dissociated personality or, more precisely, even Dissociative Identity Disorder (elaborated on later). What quickly made this understandable hypothesis implausible, however, were several other peculiar though obviously related phenomena, but a sampling of which is covered here.

Because of the complexity of this case, we assembled a team to assist. At varying points, this group comprised several qualified mental-health personnel, at least four Catholic priests, a deacon and his wife, two nuns (both nurses, one psychiatric), and several lay volunteers. We made a number of phone calls to arrange gathering together to help Julia. Julia herself was not in on these phone discussions; she was far from the area at the time. Astonishingly, Julia's "other" voice -- again sometimes deep, sometimes high pitched -- would actually interrupt the telephone conversations and somehow come in over the phone line! The voice(s) would espouse the same messages: "Leave her alone," "Leave, you idiots," "Get away from her," "She's ours." Julia, again, said later that she was unaware of any such conversation. And yet this speech was heard distinctly by several of the team on a number of occasions.

As mentioned, even outside her trances, Julia unmistakably displayed "psychic" abilities; put another way, her presence was clearly associated with paranormal events. Sometimes objects around her would fly off the shelves, the rare phenomenon of psychokinesis known to parapsychologists. Julia was also in possession of knowledge of facts and occurrences beyond any possibility of their natural acquisition. She commonly reported information about the relatives, household composition, family deaths and illnesses, etc., of members of our team, without ever having observed or been informed about them. As an example, she knew the personality and precise manner of death (i.e., the exact type of cancer) of a relative of a team member that no one could conceivably have guessed. She once spoke about the strange behavior of some inexplicably frenzied animals beyond her direct observation: Though residing in another city, she commented, "So those cats really went berserk last night, didn't they?" the morning after two cats in a team member's house uncharacteristically had violently attacked each other at about 2 AM.

As another example, Julia once described not only the actual surroundings (including the décor of his room) but the exact state of mind (skeptical and dismissive) of a priest peripherally involved, whom she had never met. The facts were subsequently precisely confirmed. Julia could also consistently depict, from afar and with amazing detail, the activity of one of the principal priests involved. She would repeatedly report, from her distant vantage, whether and when he was in pain (he suffered from a recurring illness), often where he was (e.g., walking on a beach), and remarkably, even what he was wearing at the time (e.g., a windbreaker).

Rounding out the picture of this case, finally, were the happenings during the lengthy exorcism rituals, that Julia herself requested. There were two series of such sessions separated by a period of time. (Ultimately, due to her hesitations, these efforts were interrupted and may or may not be resumed. Exorcism per se, a worthy and complex topic in itself, is not the focus here. This article looks rather to the reality of the subject of possession and its counterfeits.)

The exorcism began on a warm day in June. Despite the weather, the room where the rite was being conducted grew distinctly cold. Later, however, as the entity in Julia began to spout vitriol and make strange noises, members of the team felt themselves profusely sweating due to a stifling emanation of heat. The participants all said they found the heat unbearable.

Julia at first had gone into a quiet trance-like state. After the prayers and invocations of the Roman Ritual had been going on for a while, however, multiple voices and sounds came out of her. One set consisted of loud growls and animal-like noises, which seemed to the group impossible for any human to mimic. At one point, the voices spoke in foreign languages, including recognizable Latin and Spanish. (Julia herself only speaks English, as she later verified to us.)

The voices were noticeably attacking in nature, and often insolent, blasphemous, and highly scatological. They cursed and insulted the participants in the crudest way. They were frequently threatening -- trying, it appeared, to fight back -- "Leave her alone," "Stop, you whores" (to the nuns), "You'll be sorry," and the like.

Julia also exhibited enormous strength. Despite the religious sisters and three others holding her down with all their might, they struggled to restrain her. Remarkably, for about 30 minutes, she actually levitated about half a foot in the air.5

The presumptive target of the exorcism, the entity (or entities) that was possessing Julia, could also distinguish between holy water and regular water. She would scream in pain when the blessed water was sprinkled upon her, but have no reaction to clandestine use of unblessed water. During the ceremonies, she also, as previously, revealed hidden or past events in the lives of the various attendees, including information about deceased relatives completely unknown to her.

While many other details could be added, the above sufficiently convey the general picture. As noted, the exorcisms were seen as helpful, but have not yet resolved the matter of the possession. It should again be noted that Julia herself had no recollection at all of what occurred during the ceremonies.

Summary of the Case

The case of Julia illustrates a number of the classic signs of possession. The venerable Roman Ritual (Rituale Romanum of Pope Paul IV, 1614) lists as strongly suggestive signs, prominent among others, hidden knowledge, the ability to speak an unknown language, and abnormal physical strength. Other elements traditionally associated with possession were evident as well, including, invariably, expressions of hatred of the sacred, blasphemous and vituperative language, the ability to discern (and recoil from) blessed objects, the phenomenon of levitation, and, most importantly, a trance-like state interrupted by the presence of what appears as an independent, intelligent entity (or entities), and the expressed desire of this intelligence not to leave the afflicted.

Many of these individual features, let alone the full constellation of this overall "syndrome," are, to state the obvious, simply inexplicable on psychiatric or medical grounds. From a psychiatric point of view, two major features distinguish this and other such cases from a mental disorder: (A) the clear presence of paranormal phenomena, and (B) an overall pattern of presentation that, while it may overlap with certain psychiatric symptoms, nevertheless constitutes a truly sui generis, distinct group of features. Therefore, we clearly felt, in this instance, that we were indeed dealing with a genuinely possessed individual, albeit one complicated even further by her Satanist history and "psychic" abilities presumed consequent to her cultic involvement and/or her possessed state.

The Medical/Psychiatric Perspective

Several principles of the relevant discernment and diagnosis require emphasis. First, it needs to be acknowledged that medical input (which, given the highly bizarre nature of these cases, for practical purposes in today's world almost invariably entails an appropriate psychiatric consultation), while indispensable, is not without its own risk. Unsurprisingly, physicians, and perhaps even more so psychiatrists as a group, are generally not very open to, or knowledgeable about, the possibility of demonic possession. They have been trained (and rightly so) to be skeptical and to base their diagnoses and interventions on more standard criteria of modern scientific canons of judgment -- e.g., typical symptom clusters, the ability to replicate data, lab results, blind clinical trials, etc.6 These criteria cannot apply to historical singularities, of course. In any case, physicians should not be expected to make discernments in matters of this sort -- it is not their trained task or area of expertise -- and more properly is the professional responsibility (one hopes with due caution, sobriety, and openness to medical consultation) of a suitable and knowledgeable member of the clergy.

What the physician/psychiatrist can properly offer, however, is certainly indispensable in its own right: the professional expertise to determine whether the case in question fits a medically recognizable, exclusionary syndrome. This critical role can save all parties an enormous amount of time and effort. The vast majority of such "cases," which could easily be misconstrued as possible attacks by a demon or the like, indeed turn out to have an obvious psychiatric explanation, or less often a neurological or other medical explanation.

Another important orienting perspective is, unfortunately, often not well understood by many non-medically trained people, lay and clerical alike. Lack of experience in medical pathology can serve as a great source of confusion in certain religious circles. Surprisingly to many people, psychiatrists are in the frequent habit of encountering and diagnosing an assortment of patients who claim to be experiencing demonic or occult attacks in some way or, conversely, who report conversations with God, mystical visions, etc. The typical psychiatrist, or other mental-health practitioner for that matter, commonly meets patients who claim all sorts of contact or special visitations from "God," the "devil," a "spirit," etc. Patients may complain on a regular basis that demons are harassing or berating them; telling them to perform shameful, grandiose, or destructive acts; even touching them (via tactile hallucinations). It is easy, therefore, for such professionals to draw the nearly obvious corollary that all such cases purporting to have a diabolic or occult aspect are simply a reflection of psychiatric pathology or the patient's imagination. Many doctors thus regard all talk of demonic possession as hopelessly ignorant and out of date, "medieval," superstitious, even psychotic per se.

The obvious danger is that such an opinion gets generalized to all cases indiscriminately, even those highly rare ones with manifestly inexplicable or preternatural features as well, such as a possibly genuine demonic possession or oppression. For this reason, the astute student of demonology and official exorcist of Paris from 1924-1962, Joseph de Tonquédec, S.J., wrote back in 1923 that the skepticism of physicians arises from "an unwarranted generalization of what they observe in mental institutions or in private practice" (Introduction à l'étude du merveilleux et du miracle). Sadly, this reflection is probably even truer today, when even fewer doctors have any sound, sophisticated theological knowledge.

While it is unfortunate, though understandable, that such a lack of discernment exists among most (but by no means all) members of the medical profession, the far more common danger is exactly the reverse. Clergy or laymen may be drawn, as noted, to the opposite reasoning and suspect demonic activity when no such conclusion is warranted. Again, de Tonquédec noted this problem early in the last century: "some of the faithful and certain priests" -- I would say more commonly today fundamentalist ministers or laymen in quasi-clerical or other helping roles -- "take the opposite stand and also end in error, because of their ignorance of mental and nervous pathology and their failure to follow the guidelines given by the Church. As a result, they attribute to the devil certain disturbances that are purely natural in origin" (ibid.). By contrast, the Roman Ritual stipulates recourse to medical expertise and the need for prudent caution before ruling out the naturalistic. St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century similarly warned clerics not to jump to a supernatural explanation when a purely natural one sufficed. Much harm can result from misdiagnosis either way.

Psychiatric Counterfeits of Possession

There are some common psychiatric conditions that are apt to mislead the clergy or an overly credulous public in this regard. I pinpoint "psychiatric" even though there are other medical conditions that may potentially confuse laymen. For instance, neurological and in particular seizure disorders of a complex nature come to mind. These disorders may well have prompted many in past eras to suspect wrongly a diabolic etiology. With the growth of medical knowledge and increased public sophistication about medical matters in recent centuries, however, it has become undoubtedly much less common to ascribe these neurological diseases to the actions of the devil. The most commonly confusing disorders, in my professional experience, are almost always psychiatric or quasi-psychiatric in nature.

In general, three broad types of psychiatric disorders seem especially apt to confuse observers and the suffering patients themselves.

(1) Various medical conditions, generally psychiatrically based and less often metabolic, substance-abuse related, or neurological in nature, present with hallucinations, most commonly auditory, and also visual, tactile, or even gustatory. These conditions are frequently associated with delusional material, often paranoid in nature. Taken at face value, these hallucinations or delusions, which often involve the idea that the devil, demons, angels, God, or other "spirits" are actively communicating with the patient in question, can certainly and quite naturally confuse the patient and other interested parties into believing that the patient is under some kind of demonic assault or other supernatural influence, when nothing of the sort is going on. The patient may say quite openly, "The devil is bothering me" or "The devil told me such-and-such." These symptoms are characteristic of such chronic psychotic diagnoses as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (or manic depression), as well as of various brief psychotic conditions or episodes caused by other medical etiologies, such as neurological impairments or drug/alcohol abuse and withdrawal states.

(2) Another common group of psychological impairments apt to mislead are the so-called personality or character disorders. Typical of these conditions are a struggle with deep-seated feelings of rage, low self-esteem, a need for attention, a strong sense of victimization or, as is most relevant here, a strong sense of inner "evil." Psychiatrists commonly encounter such troubled patients, paradigmatically as "borderlines" (who may also become briefly psychotic). These individuals often feel that their powerful inner feelings of being "bad" are due to some tenuously experienced "foreign" entity inside themselves. This entity is at times explicitly self-described as a "monster" inside, or an "evil presence," or even a "devil" or "evil spirit" per se. This strong sense of an internal "foreign body" seems generally a thinly veiled projection of one's own inner sense of badness that is felt to be outside one's control while still somehow contained "within" the personality. I have actually even heard such patients spontaneously describe their inner states precisely as dominated by a sort of "writhing serpent" or a "dark spirit" inside themselves, without any indication whatsoever of true diabolic involvement.

(3) A final category of patients who are frequently misunderstood, by themselves at least, as suffering from demonic attacks are the severely histrionic and/or dissociated individuals (again a spectrum of types being implied, not a single diagnosis). This class of patients, which may well overlap with the second category, typically displays highly overactive imaginations and strikingly poor insight or self-awareness. These individuals desperately seek the love and attention that they otherwise miss in their often unhappy lives. To come to believe that they are being attacked by unseen forces may give them a sense of excitement or self-importance that they otherwise lack. One such patient we saw, an emotionally disturbed woman of around 20, would actually slither like a snake on the floor of the church, and even claimed to experience a serpent's touch. She sought our help, but our eventual diagnosis was a classic case of histrionic personality disorder, a finding ultimately agreed upon by both the priest involved and the patient herself. This individual had sought repeatedly to enter a religious order, any religious order, but was wisely never allowed to do so, given her disturbed emotional condition.

Patients in this final class of cases frequently have some proclivity to dissociate. In the more severe variants of this group, these individuals (who have often been abused) may even manufacture or "elaborate" -- unwittingly or not -- separate "personalities" or "ego states" in what was originally called "multiple personality disorder," but which is now more properly known in psychiatric circles as "Dissociative Identity Disorder" or D.I.D. (DSM-IV). This disorder may well present one of the personalities (sometimes known as an "alter") as a "devilish," often seductive type, or even as a "demon" per se, one variant of the so-called pseudo-possession syndrome. Still not without controversy as a diagnostic entity, D.I.D., as many diagnoses formerly too broadly labeled "hysteric," is highly fluid.7 It is now generally better recognized as a condition that may sometimes be fabricated, may be expressive of a delusional frame of mind, or at times may even be partially caused by treatment. The disorder generally surfaces in an individual who is highly suggestible or, more rarely, frankly manipulative. One example of the latter tendency involved a young man who had punched a staff member of a psychiatric unit. He immediately attempted to exonerate himself by claiming the action was done by his "other personality," his "bad" one, although this self-serving use of the diagnosis is more the exception than the rule.

Any of these three categories of patients, but perhaps most easily this third group, may provide fertile ground for those invested in exploiting the subject of demonic influence, such as televangelists or poorly trained members of some deliverance ministries.8 Some of the individuals who fall prey to these groups are largely conscious of their tendency to exaggerate or distort; others are fully self-deluded and without any insight or self-knowledge. They can become fully caught up in their disorders and their supposed need for "spiritual" rather than psychiatric therapy. Frequently, it is a great chore for helping professionals to convince such individuals of their need for mental healthcare, not deliverance or an exorcism. All the above patients are highly vulnerable and may too readily be led to believe that they are being attacked by the devil or evil "spirits." If those around them are prone to jump to such conclusions too -- sadly sometimes for misguided reasons of their own -- delayed treatment and much consternation and damage can ensue.

Pastoral & Theological Reflections

There is no implication here that the case of Julia reflects a common occurrence, although it is not unique either. Her case though, with her Satanist background and several decidedly idiosyncratic features, represents an especially clear-cut example of possession from the start. Despite commonalities, each possession is different and, as a rule, initially less obvious. Because I have served as consultant to an unusually high number of possible cases, only a scant few of which turn out to involve a genuinely diabolical element, I might perhaps possess a unique vantage point. Although some studies that call into question the existence of the reality of such phenomena are well meaning in their desire to stem a certain fundamentalist, subcultural mania of exaggeration in this area,9 they are often marred by their lack of experience with the very few real cases, such as the one documented here.

However unusual, no case of possession or oppression -- or for that matter any of the many "counterfeit" versions -- is trivial. For any suffering individual, the responsibility of the clergy and healing professionals is to offer the proper, well-informed help, no matter how obscure or controversial the presenting problem.

The mystery of the phenomena of demonic activity, prominently referred to in the Gospels and Apostolic Age, but noted, as well, throughout the life of the Church, can profitably be compared with the history of miracles, also never absent from the history of Christian life. These two permitted eruptions, if you will, of the supernatural into our everyday world follow similar historical patterns. Despite many attempts, historically skeptical critics and "de-mythologizers" have never in any convincing manner successfully extricated the element of the miraculous or the demonic from our reports of Christ's activity while on earth. No less the same can be maintained of later ecclesiastical history -- every age of the Church has exhibited historically credible, indeed sometimes obviously verifiable miracles. So has our own era, as any serious student of, say, Lourdes, among other examples, must surely attest.

Attempts to explain away the activities of Satan or devils in the Gospels are analogous to irrational skepticism about miracles. Most argue that the inclusion of demonic elements reflects the outmoded and superstitious ideas of that age, which the Church should now disavow. There are several solid objections to this critique with a pedigree of several centuries. These attempts to reinterpret Gospel events end up implying that Jesus was either ignorant or disingenuous in His sharing of such beliefs. Such a notion is, of course, contrary to all genuinely orthodox understanding of His divine as well as His human nature. Also, this argument flies in the face of common sense, as if the world of first-century Palestine could not recognize the obvious intent of these episodes and Jesus' clear and forceful actions vis-à-vis the demonic.

In the Synoptic Gospels, Christ is portrayed quite unequivocally as dramatically commanding specific diabolic entities to leave certain individuals and be displaced elsewhere. Some commentators maintain that much manner of illness in that era was mistakenly ascribed to sin and the influence of the devil, a point true enough to a degree. Nevertheless, the Gospel record of Jesus' activity nowhere presupposes that fact. Indeed, Christ explicitly contradicts that traditional Jewish and more generally ancient viewpoint in His discourse about the effects of transgenerational sins (Jn. 9:2-3). Jesus repeatedly challenged and condemned in a straightforward manner many of the false beliefs and superstitions of His age.

Finally, as with miracles, credible and verified reports of the saints' and the Church's successful battles against demonic assaults exist, not just in the Apostolic Age, but throughout the whole of subsequent Church history, very much including the well-documented modern era.10 The contention, therefore, that such scriptural accounts are historically conditioned holds little weight.

Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century mathematical genius, was an ardent student of human nature and religious history. He had an interesting comment about the issues under consideration here. Recorded in the Pensées is his astute reflection that "there would be no false miracles were there not true miracles."

Much superstition, exaggeration, fakery, and sheer ignorance have accompanied the history of both purported miracles and suspected diabolic activity throughout the life of the Church. The harm to the faith and the harm to individuals can be great, a truism never more evident than today. Behind these false traditions, however, as Pascal well grasped, lay the real thing, the originals from which the Frenchman well knew the counterfeits drew their false legitimacy. In this and every age, going back to the Gospels themselves, we refer ultimately to the consistent record of the healing and freeing power of our Lord Himself, on body and soul, as manifested to the unbiased mind. My task here has been to provide some guidance in discerning the counterfeit, but also in acknowledging the very infrequent but legitimate cases of diabolic activity. Contrary to what secular opinion facilely asserts, an objective medical view can confidently conclude that assaults by the devil, like genuine miracles, are rare but quite real scientific facts, verifiable to all who are not afraid to confront the truth.

Imagine that! Priests who believe it to be real says its all real , yep no problem there!!

 

[guno]

Exorcism scam ruined by phone call

African preacher asks for a volunteer in order to cast out the demons from him.
The preacher begins by speaking in tongues and then begins hitting the man who begins to fall and starts screaming.
Then the man's phone goes off and the possessed man all of a sudden stops sits up answers his phone saying I will call you right back and then asks for the preacher to continue.

The preacher is left holding his head because his scam has been busted by an not aware accomplice.

 

[guno]

Fake exorcisms…

As opposed to what, exactly?

It’s all fraud. Some people are just gullible enough to fall for it.

In this case, though, Father Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi had his friends pretend to be possessed and he later “cured” them. Others then gave their money so they could get rid their demons as well.

More importantly, though, Bazzoffi didn’t have an exorcism license.

Apparently, if he was a “priest authorized by the diocese,” he could perform exorcisms and get away with it.



Exorcism Fraud

 

[guno]

Just to clarify the Christians aren't the only ones with this nuttiness

Channel 10's "Shomer Masach" aired a report Monday exposing the haredi exorcism fraud.
You may remember Rabbi Batzri – the same genius who assembled a group of 'kabbalists' to circle Israel in a plane while blowing shofars to drive away the Swine Flu (rates of influenza infection went up after Batzri's event, not down) – performed a well-publicized 'exorcism' on a Brazilian Jew in early January.

Channel 10 uncovered the scam that makes these 'exorcisms' 'work.' Batzri pays someone to play the role of the 'possessed' person.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/04/06/exorcism-fraud/

 

[turzovka]

Imagine that! Priests who believe it to be real says its all real , yep no problem there!!

A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.


Proverbs 17:10

 

[turzovka]

Fake exorcisms…

As opposed to what, exactly?

It’s all fraud. Some people are just gullible enough to fall for it.

In this case, though, Father Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi had his friends pretend to be possessed and he later “cured” them. Others then gave their money so they could get rid their demons as well.

More importantly, though, Bazzoffi didn’t have an exorcism license.

Apparently, if he was a “priest authorized by the diocese,” he could perform exorcisms and get away with it.



Exorcism Fraud

Yes, you surely do act like a rank amateur in almost all cases of religious discussions.

You want to prove you are right by searching out fakes. And why you have found a fake devil case or a hoax person tyring to make a weeping statue --- you trot that out as your evidence. Your case? --- Because I have shown you a fake that means they ALL have to be fake!

How stupid can one possibly be?

 

[September]

In one of humanity's earliest forms of "exorcism", the ancient Sumerians had this saying, "EDIN NA ZU!" ("Go to the desert!") which was spoken to banish what was perceived to be demons/ wicked spirits and negative energy...​