Description
In possession, the person enters an altered state
of conscious and feels taken over by a spirit, power,
deity, or other person who assumes control over his
or her mind and body. Generally, the person has no
recall of these experiences in the waking state. Such
experiences have a long human history and many religions
offer rituals and healings to protect participants
from unwanted possession. The oldest theories about
the etiology of mental disorders identifies spirit
possession as the causal agent. One of the signs of
Christ's divinity was his ability to cast out demons
from people who were possessed.
However, the deliberate induction of possession
states is part of valued religious rituals in many
cultures, and is probably the most popular form of
union with the divine throughout human history. Possession-oriented
rituals have been documented in accounts from ancient
Egypt, and in the earliest forms of Kabbalistic practice.
Possession was a recognized phenomenon in ancient
Greece where the Delphi oracle spoke through women
possessed by spirits. Possession is a central feature
of Haitian voodoo ceremonies where specific deities
are invited to 'ride' the bodies of the worshipers
during ceremonies. It is also found in Balinese ritual
drama where the dancers become the entity they are
portraying.
Possession also appears in early Christianity in
a positive light, particularly in the form of "speaking
in tongues." Many contemporary forms of evangelical
Christianity consider it desirable to be possessed
by the Holy Spirit, with physical manifestations
that include shaking and speaking in tongues. St.
Paul was worried by the phenomenon, and found it
necessary to lecture the Corinthian Christians on
the need to carefully manage speaking in tongues:
If therefore, the whole church assembles, and
all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers
enter, will they not say that you are mad?. . .do
not forbid speaking in tongues, but all things
should be done decently and in order. (I Corinthians,
14)
Spirit possession cults have continued to proliferate,
even in the secular West, and many spirits and their
mediums are part of local as well as global cultures
(Behrend
and Luig, 2000). Possession states still occur
both in the context of non-Judaeo-Christian religious
practices and in some cases of initiation ceremonies
involving ritual ordeals. Anthropologist James
Randall Noblitt, found that,
trauma is used in a variety of the initiation
ceremonies which are conducted in preindustrial
cultures and which may be associated with the development
of possession states. Our theory is that ritual
trauma is a primary cause of the dissociation of
identity which one finds in shamanistic, and sorcery-oriented
preindustrial cultures as well as the "occult
underground" in modern Euro-America.
Possession
and Psychopathology
While possession is a common experience in many
cultures, in Western industrialized cultures, such
experiences are not normative and may lead to inappropriate
diagnoses of dissociative or psychotic disorders.
Anthropologist Ruth Inge-Heinz, PhD [1], who
has studied possession experiences in many cultures,
has commented on the deleterious effects of mislabeling
an individual in a state of dissociation as having
a mental disorder:
The concept of what constitutes a 'healthy mind'
differs considerably from one culture to another...How
devastating it can be to affix the label of 'mental
illness' to any extraordinary state of consciousness!
A dissociative state of mind does not necessarily
qualify an individual for being put into a straight
jacket. Many dissociative states occur in Southeast
Asia, for example, in a culturally conditioned
and controlled setting. (pp. 28–29)
The DSM-IV lists Dissociative Trance Disorder
as a diagnosis requiring further study. Possession
and possession trance are listed under the diagnosis
Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified . The
definition includes,
Possession trance, a single or episodic alteration
in the state of consciousness characterized by
the replacement of customary sense of personal
identity by a new identity. This is attributed
to the influence of a spirit, power, deity, or
other person. (p. 729)
The DSM-IV
Casebook includes a case example of this in
which a woman reports,
"Sometimes God enters my body, which gets
hot when I have visions." (p. 420)
In this state, she is presumed by herself and others
to be possessed by dead ancestors, and to be able
to foresee the future.
The Casebook notes that,
This woman has symptoms that would be considered
psychotic if they were experienced by someone from
a society that did not share the beliefs of her
[Guinean] culture. She believes she has special
powers and she has. . .hallucinations. In her local
society, however, these phenomena are quite common.
Her culture ascribes to her the role of healer
and accepts her unusual experiences as normal for
someone in that role. Indeed she is a successful
healer. . .Local culture would assign her the role
as a healer, an her behavior would not be seen
as something to be treated. (p. 421)
Despite this acknowledgment of the nonpathological
nature of her experience in its cultural context,
the Casebook, authored by many of the same people
who developed the DSM-IV, assigns a diagnosis
of a mental disorder to this case: Dissociative Disorder
Not otherwise Specified!
Yet possession is also known to be associated with
dissociative disorders that are not socially sanctioned
and occur outside of the normal part of a collective
cultural or religious practice. There is clearly
a spectrum of dissociative experiences from nonpathological
to pathological. (See Disintegrated
experience: the dissociative disorders revisited)
Possessions are dysfunctional when there is impairment
in social or occupational functioning or marked distress.
The criteria described in Lesson
5 Differential Diagnosis can be helpful in making
a differential diagnosis.
Associated
Clinical Problems
Possessed persons often feel their behavior is
beyond their control. Bizarre behavior such as choking,
projectile vomiting, frantic motor behavior, wild
spasms, and contortions along with grotesque vocalizations
can be a frightening experience both for the person
possessed and for others witnessing it.
Treatment
A key issue as with most spiritual emergencies
is determining whether the person is in the midst
of an episode of mental disorder or having a spiritual
problem:
Demon possession and mental illness, then, are
not simply alternative diagnoses. . .Furthermore,
demon possession is essentially a spiritual problem,
but mental illness is a multifactorial affair,
in which spiritual, social, psychological and physical
factors may all play an aetioIogical role. The
relationship between these concepts is therefore
complex. Differential diagnostic skills may have
a part to play in offering help to those whose
problems could be of demonic or medical/psychiatric origin.
However, spiritual discernment is of at least equal,
if not greater, importance in such matters.
Chris Cook, Demon Possession and Mental Illness: Should we be making
a differential diagnosis?
The differential diagnostic criteria described in Lesson
5 Differential Diagnosis should
be used with special consideration for the patient's
religious community and its practices. Support
for the patient must include social integration
of the experience within his/her community. The
treatment guidelines in Lesson
6.1, especially those involving grounding,
are especially important in coping with the physical
aspects of possession. If the individual is connected
with a group whose practices include possession,
then collaboration with leaders of that religious
community should be part of the treatment plan.
Case Examples
A Case Study of Possession in the Dojo
by David Lukoff, PhD
WWW LIBRARY on Religion
and Spirituality
The WWW
Library on Spirituality and Religion includes the Yahoo directory
of possession and exorcism sites, accounts of possession, and scientific
perspectives on dissociation.
References
1 Heinze, R. I. (1982)
Shamans or mediums: Toward a definition of different
states of consciousness. Journal of Transpersonal
Anthropology, 6(1&2), 25-44. 
 REQUIRED
QUIZ ITEM: 24
Possession
Possession occurrs
a) only to people in tribal cultures
b) only ancient cultures such as early
Christianity and Egypt c) thoughout history
and around the world d) rarely in contemporary
societies
Record your answer for later insertion
into the Quiz. |
REQUIRED
QUIZ ITEM: 25
Treatment of Possession
People in possession states
a) should be given antipsychotic medications
to quickly terminate the experience b)
should take into account the person's religious
community and practices c) should be treated
as prophets of their religion
Record your answer for later insertion
into the Quiz. |
| RESOURCE KEY:
|
Audio |
Website |
Document |
Quiz |
|
|
|
|
