The Difference Between Mental Illness and Possession? One Exists.

The Mirror takes us back to the dark ages again today (23/05/16), courtesy of Italian exorcist  Father Cipriano de Meo. Clearly the journos at the Mirror are tired of being called backwards, irresponsible, fear-mongering shit lords for promoting archaic notions of demonic possession and have decided to call in an "expert" to fight their corner...

Father Cipriano de Meo (left), is Dean of Exorcists and former president of the International Association of Exorcists, a Roman Catholic organization founded in 1990. In the article, he tells us prayer is the key to establishing what ails a presented person.

"The exorcist will typically say a prolonged prayer to the point where if the adversary [demon] is present, there's a reaction... he unsettling reactions of a possessed person to the prayer, seen by the adversary as an enemy ready to fight him, can include "facial expressions, threatening words or gestures and other things - but especially blasphemies against God and 

Our Lady.”

That's all fine and well, but what de Meo fails to realise is that individuals in families and communities with strong religious beliefs, including belief in Satan, possessions, and demons will very probably believe in those things also. There's no reason to believe that these individuals won't also assume their illness is spiritual in nature. This misattribution is compounded by those around them.

Is it any wonder that these individuals respond to religious provocation? They respond in a negative way because that is the role that is enforced upon them. Psychologists suggest the most likely medical explanation for so-called possession is dissociative identity disorder (DID), one approach to the disorder is to consider it as a syndrome consisting of role enactment created, maintained and legitimised by social reinforcement. This delusion is only compounded by family members and priests confirming it and enforcing it. Cultural interpretations and representations of possession also factor into the disorder. As Robert Todd Carroll, of the Skeptic's Dictionary points out in regards to a MSBC programme featuring several "exorcisms":

"All the participants shown being exorcized seem to have seen the movie "The Exorcist" or one of the sequels. They all fell into the role of husky-voiced Satan speaking from the depths, who was featured in the film. The similarities in speech and behavior among the "possessed" has led some psychologists such as Nicholas Spanos to conclude that both "exorcist" and "possessed" are engaged in learned role-playing."-Carroll (2015)

Schizophrenia is also commonly associated with so-called symptoms of possession, with studies also suggesting that religious delusions are held with more conviction than other forms of delusion:

"Studies which have evaluated the delusional themes of various religious/spiritual delusions report that the common themes are that of persecution (by malevolent spiritual entities), influence (being controlled by spiritual entities), and self-significance (delusions of sin/guilt or grandiose delusions). Studies also suggest that when the non-content dimensions (conviction, pervasiveness, preoccupation, action, inaction, and negative affect) of different types of delusions (persecutory, body/mind control, grandiose, thought broadcasting, religious, guilt, somatic, influence on others, jealousy, and other) are compared, findings suggest that religious delusions are held with more conviction and pervasiveness than other delusions."(Mohr S, et al, Pubmed, 2001)

Is this perhaps because other delusions aren't enforced by family members figures of religious authority such as priests, and the mass media.

On many occasions, it's clear that Priests and members of a local congregation are not acting in the best interests of sufferers of mental illness. Researchers document several cases where the actions of religious leaders have interrupted the ongoing treatment of a prediagnosed sufferer of mental illness. Take the case of a 28-year-old sufferer of schizophrenia from BMJ.

"Historically, many cases of demonic possession have masked major psychiatric disorder. Our aim is to increase awareness that symptoms of schizophrenia are still being classified as demonic possession by priests today... We report the case of a 28-year-old patient who had been diagnosed 5 years previously with paranoid schizophrenia (treated with clozapine, risperidone, ziprasidone and onlanzapine without a complete response) and was also receiving treatment in a first episode psychosis unit in Spain. The patient was led to believe by priests that her psychotic symptoms were due to the presence of a demon. This was surprising because some of the priests were from the Madrid archdiocese and knew the clinical situation of the patient; however, they believed that she was suffering from demonic possession, and she underwent multiple exorcisms, disrupting response to clinical treatment."

The authors continue:

"The patient had schizophrenia and at the time was receiving treatment at a first episode psychosis unit after a psychotic episode a year before... Some months later the patient contacted a clergyman via a website. The clergyman was a renowned expert on exorcisms and a frequent guest on TV programs on paranormal phenomena."

In this particular case, the patients' family were suspicious of the activity of the clergyman in question and ensured that she sought proper medical intervention.

"Family members began to express distrust about the exorcisms because the patient shouted, writhed and occasionally vomited during the sessions. As a result they contacted therapists in the unit for an opinion on meetings with the priest. We were very concerned about the patient's situation and also disappointed with the clerics’ reaction."

The authors conclude:

"...we are surprised that in 21st century and in Europe, there are still experts and clerics who believe that some types of schizophrenia are due to demonic possession. Our intention was to ask an expert cleric from the Madrid archdiocese to try to convince the patient that her symptoms were due to a mental disorder, in an effort to improve her insight. To our surprise, clerics assumed that the patient's psychotic symptoms were due to a malign presence." (Practicing Exorcism in Schzophrenia, Pozo, et all, 2011)

It's worryingly clear here that this wasn't just a case of one Preist or clergyman acting irresponsibly. A whole archdiocese purposely disregarded the opinion of medical professionals and encouraged a young woman to undergo a harmful and potentially deadly, religious ritual. In fact, the clinical report into the case details that the patient was repeatedly vomiting during the exorcisms, one of the reasons the family was so concerned. Likely, this course of action and religious intervention was decided on as a result of this young woman's reaction to religious provocation and that alone. To use such a mundane and explainable justification for overlooking the treatment and advice of medical science is utterly monstrous.

The Mirror article also quotes another unnamed representative of the Catholic Church:

 "Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.”

All fine and well, but cases such as the one documented above show that the Church doesn't actually have much respect for medical science, and as the organisation is yet to show how one can legitimately differentiate between mental illness and possession. The reasons for delineation can clearly be shown to be a factor of the mental illness itself. How about before ascertaining the presence of "the evil one" maybe ascertain there's an "evil one" at all!

Well apart from this guy. Have you seen Jack And Jill.... Brrrrr.... soulless....

Sandler aside, I'll conclude with one line from the paper I've cited above:

"We conclude that religious professionals should encourage appropriate psychiatric treatment and increase their knowledge of mental illnesses."

None of us should hold our breath, in fact, religious leaders seem to be becoming more steadfast in the existence of nonsense such as this.Coupled with the prevalence of such things being presented as "fact" in the news media and entertainment in general results in a devastating double punch of superstition and ignorance to the gut of the vulnerable and mentally ill.

Sufferers of abuse and mental illness aren't Horror movie bad guys...

The BBC today report that child abuse due to exorcism and witchcraft is on the rise in Great Britain. In the article Terry Sharpe, from the Project Violet team, a project devoted to investigating child abuse due to faith and religion, comments on the increase in such abuse, he also states:

"You'll get the actual physical abuse and injuries taking place, and, in the worst-case scenario, we've had some homicides as well," he said.
"We've had a case within the last year where a nine-year-old boy had been called a devil child and thrown out of his address by his parents and was found by social services standing in his bare feet."
In another case a child was attacked by his mother, who bit him on the face and tried to smother him, because she believed he was a "witch possessed by evil spirits".

But is religion the only causal factor here. I don't doubt its the major factor, but does the entertainment industry also play a part?

Lets play a game of odd one out. Look at the above pictures and tell me which one doesn't fit with the rest. I'll give you a clue. Three of the above pictured individuals are fictional movie monsters. The other is a young woman, suffering from diagnosed medical conditions who was tortured and eventually murdered by the people she trusted the most. Her killers were motivated by ignorance and backwards 18th century religious thinking.

I'm sure you have got the point. Not only that but I'm sure that you are familiar with the case of Anneliese Michel, who died of malnutrition and dehydration at 23, during an attempted exorcism by her priests and her parents, you've probably also seen at least one of the two movies based on her death.

The film The Exorcism Of Emily Rose did fairly well at the box office and on home release, as of 2012 its made $144,216,468 worldwide for the studio that produced it. That's a pretty profit made from the death of a young girl.

Of course Exorcism of Emily Rose is hardly the first exorcism film. Hollywood has generated them at a pretty steady rate since the Exorcist was released to much hype and acclaim in 1973. And unfortunately Anneliese is hardly the first person to be harmed and killed by others acting on the belief that demons can inhabit the minds of the living. And judging from today's report she is unlikely to be the last. What's the harm lists over 300,000 individuals killed and a similar number injured by exorcisms.

Many of these supposedly "possessed" people are suffering from well understood, diagnosable and TREATABLE mental illness. Anneliese herself had been diagnosed with depression and likely would have been diagnosed with schizophrenia had she continued with medical help.

A 2012 study by Neuner, Pfeiffer, Schauer-Kaiser, Odenwald et al. (2012) looking belief in spiritual possession in Uganda concludes:

".. in many of the areas of the world where beliefs about spirit possession are widely held, such beliefs are a standard consequence of psychological trauma and may be a way of explaining the dissociative symptoms that often accompany intense traumatic experiences. These beliefs about spirit possession can then be used by various local agencies to manipulate the behaviour of individuals – even to the extent of coercing them into acts of extreme brutality. Explanations of mental health problems in terms of “possession” have taken many forms over the course of history, and it is a form of explanation that has meant that many who have been suffering debilitating and distressing psychological problems have been persecuted and physically abused rather than offered the support and treatment they need."

These people don't deserve to have their ordeals turned into horror films. They don't deserve to be turned into villains. Can you think of any other movie genre that would exploit abuse victims or people suffering from an illness in such a way?

As well as being exploitative the media attention of exorcism keeps it in the public eye, presented as "based on a true story" makes possession seem worthy of consideration as a phenomena that may actually occur, to those witless enough to believe that tag-line actually means anything when used in a Hollywood blurb.

This exploitation is only amplified when ACTUAL sufferers are treated as reality TV fodder, as  is about to happen on True Exorcisms, currently in development. Fingers crossed it will never happen. One TV exorcism that definitely WILL happen is that of the alleged St.Louis home of Roland Doe on October 30th, Destination America.

"Medium" Chip Coffey and the crew of the channel's Ghost Asylum, known as the Tennessee Wraith Chasers will scour the house for evidence of demonic infestation. Good luck with that.

The idea of evidence for possession is an interesting one. In all the stories we hear about possession there come elements of supernatural actions. Inhuman strength, levitation, speaking of previously unknown languages. Yet of all the hundreds of filmed exorcisms not one, that I've seen shows anything happen that isn't achievable under normal circumstances.

Sure many of these videos are quite unnerving, but is unnerving behaviour enough to justify the often brutal process of exorcism. another trait of the individuals in these exorcism videos is how closely their behaviour matches footage of seizures and psychotic episodes. This shouldn't be causing the same confusion that it was causing hundreds of years ago. Not with what we know about the brain now.

Along these lines there is much talk of Anneliese Michel displaying supernatural abilities during her exorcism, sadly the only witnesses to this were her family and priests, her killers essentially. Her superhuman strength could certainly be explained by her epilepsy. Individuals in a midst of an epileptic seizure are extremely hard to restrain. The only evidence that exist is a growling tortured voice recorded during the exorcism. This growling was enough, in one Bishop's eyes to justify starving a 23 year to death.

If you think I'm being slightly hysterical about the effect popularisation of ideas of exorcism and possession have on the public consider this: the Catholic church has confirm the number of requested exorcisms is on the rise.  From a 2014 Telegraph article:

"The rise in demonic cases is a result of more people dabbling in practices such as black magic, paganism, Satanic rites and Ouija boards, often exploring the dark arts with the help of information readily found on the internet, the Church said."

Whilst they put this down to increased frequency in experimentation with the occult and the internet, maybe there's a more straight forward cause. More people are aware of exorcism thanks to media attention. Its now part of the public consciousness. When some people see the tropes of "possession" in family members and friends they don't think "mental illness" they think "this is just like that movie!" Viewing seizure and mental illness, even Tourettes syndrome, view this pop-culture lens point to possession, when common sense allude to illness.

The only recourse for this is erasing ignorance of mental illness and perhaps Hollywood deciding that exploiting abuse victims and the mentally ill for cheap thrills is a bit of shitty thing to do.

If you want to know more about the psychology of possession and exorcism you could do worse than starting with this talk by psychologist Chris French of Goldsmiths for the Centre for Inquiry.