Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 44, No. 1, Spring 2005 (?

2005)
DOI: 10.1007/sl0943-004-1142-9

The

Evidence

Growing
"Demonic

for

Possession":

Should

What

Psychiatry's
be?

Response
STAFFORD BETTY

is voluminous
and comes from many
both ancient
cultures,
spirits
are examined
The
and evaluated.
States
India, and the United
of spirit
of spirit victims,
the universality
the superhuman
actual
experience
phe
oppression,
vs.
success
nomena
of deliverance
and exorcism
and the comparative
with
associated
"possession,"
on the ante
are considered.
the spirit hypothesis
center
Potential
arguments
against
psychiatry

ABSTRACT:

Evidence

and modern.

Cases

of evil

from

China,

of spirits, multiple
and the effectiveness
of medication;
disorder,
personality
their materialist
should
that
countered.
assumption
question
Psychiatrists
a matter
of pos
is strictly
of an aberrant
examine
the literature
mental
illness
brain,
carefully
to determine
and deliverance
where
exorcists
ministers
often
succeed
session,
experiment
why
a more
for healing
of techniques
the complete
fails, and develop
complete
psychiatry
inventory
person.
cedent
improbability
can be
but
these

KEY

WORDS:

demonic

possession,

spirits,

deliverance,

exorcism,

psychiatry.

Introduction
was devoted
or
A great deal of Jesus' ministry
to exorcising
"evil spirits"
accounts
in
"demons." Seven
the
(Matthew, Mark,
Synoptic
specific
Gospels
show him
them out of their human
All over the
victims.
Luke)
casting
to
Third World
down
the
both
right
present
day, "spirits,"
good and bad,
as realities
are taken for granted
that share our world and sometimes
must
are commonplace
be dealt with. Exorcisms
South
and
Southeast
throughout
and South America,
and sub-Saharan
Central
and there is no
Africa;
are
in
the
world
where
unknown.
Before
the
Re
Communist
they
place
a
was
a
out
in
evil
China
normal
Taoist
volution,
spirits
casting
part of
to Catholic
Malachi
States,
job. In the United
priest's
according
theologian

Asia,

L.

Stafford

University,
Religious
studies.

Ph.D.
of Philosophy
and Religious
Studies.
Department
Betty,
Bakersfield.
CA 93311.
Dr. Betty
Bakersfield,
Sbetty@csubak.edu.
in the philosophy
Studies
of religion
in spiritual
and
specializing
He is married
with five children.

State
California
is a Professor
of
and

paranormal

13 ? 2005 Blanton-Peale

Institute

Journal of Religion and Health

14

was
increase
in the number
"a 750 percent
of Exorcisms
the
1960s
and
between
the
mid-1970s"
1992,
(Martin,
early
performed
to
of
the
Dom
Robert
editor
p. xviii). And in England,
Petitpierre,
according
on
"incidents
demonic
of
"Exeter
interference
exorcism,
Anglican
Report"
. . . since
an explosion"'
1960 have become
(Malia, 2001, p. 66).
'virtually
of this journal
think that "spirits," at least
of readers
Yet the vast majority
or possess
the kind that oppress
of
us, are not real. Indeed the very raising
to
Do evil spirits molest
us? seems to most
of us like a return
the question,

Martin,

there

In a dreamlike
be greeted with derision.
state of
Ages and might
in
The
the agnostic
Brothers
Karamazov,
Ivan,
Dostoevsky's
yells at
are
are
someone
are
not
I and
the devil,
you
"No, you
apart, you
myself,
are rubbish,
more!
You
you are my
1957,
(Dostoevsky,
fancy!"
nothing
all of us?
Ivan speak for almost
p. 582). Doesn't
the Dark

delirium

evidence
Yet there is mounting
and oc
today that evil spirits do oppress
even possess
or
the unwary,
the weak,
the unprepared,
the unlucky,
casionally
the targeted.
Imean and do not mean by "evil"
let me clarify both what
Before proceeding,
or "demonic spirits." I don't mean anything
like devils with tails and pitchforks
fell from heaven with Lucifer and have been cursed by God to an eternal
life
a
us
to
in some cosmic ghetto,
similar
from where
under
they tempt
perdition
of a head devil named Satan; none of what
I say here is based on
the leadership
or any other theology
or mythology.
Christian
By "evil spirits" Imean more or

who

to us, with a will of their own who seem to

insensible
intelligent
beings,
or
rare
our bodies outright,
us
in
bother
and with
or,
cases, possess
oppress
can
a
we
of ways.
In this essay I will survey and assess
whom
relate in variety
some of this evidence,
to it might
reaction
then suggest what psychiatry's
be.
less

The

evidence

sources.
of evil spirits
and comes from many
is voluminous
Evidence
One
source is Spiritualism.
In the first half of the twentieth
it was common
century
to conduct
for Spiritualists
"earth-bound"
"spirit help" sessions where
spirits
were
to counseling.
led to freedom by methods
This gentle
form of
analogous
we meet
In India, right up to
elsewhere.
are
and
often
forcibly
present
day,
spirits
spectacularly
Until
in China, Taoist
evicted from their victims by holy men
(babas).
recently
in the
sometimes
conducted
against malevolent
spirits
priests
epic battles
them
their
In
the
victims.
several
from
of
West,
prominent
hope
expelling
to the possibility
of "demonic"
their minds
have
op
opened
psychologists
in exorcisms.
And
and participated
their evidence,
gone public with
pression,
to leave the
in Christian
"deliverance"
circles, demons are forcibly commanded
exorcism
the

oppressed
oppression

is very

different

from what

earth-bound

I will now summarize

victims
in the name of Jesus.
each type of
or possession.
(In order to avoid the tedium of constant
qualifica

15

Stafford Betty

cases
etc.?I will report the following
"ostensible,"
"putative,"
tion?"alleged,"
am
as if the spirits were real. It should not be assumed,
I
that
however,
myself
certain of this.)
Spiritualism
In 1924 Dr.

a psychiatrist
in Los Angeles,
Carl Wickland,
practicing
pub
he
lished 30 Years Among
the Dead, a unique record of verbatim
conversations
as
Wickland
his
wife
medium.
divided
his
book
had with departed
spirits using
into chapters based on what kind of spirit spoke through his wife. Some, both
tormented
others had been criminals,
women;
deaths,
to spirits who were
is devoted
One chapter
alcoholics
to "drink" through
earth life and continue,
their victims.
after death,
case Wickland
the
talks to a spirit who has been parasitically
using

and

before
still

after

others

during
In one
body

their

suicides.

of a woman

named

the

uses
"Mrs. V" to drink. Wickland
transfers
the spirit to his wife's

electric

shock to
a trained

body,
body, the spirit is addressed
by
in
the spirit to leave. Eventually
who tries to persuade
he succeeds
is
the
understand
who
he
that
he
he
has
that
is,
died,
spirit
making
ruining a
can
for
that
woman's
and
he
As
the
himself.
session
ends, the
life,
get help
deceased
Wickland
his
the
account
closes
mother,
departs.
spirit, guided by
a
a
with these words:
"After the foregoing
friend reported
marked
experience
dislodge

Spiritualist
Wickland,

spirit,
medium.

then

Once

inside

his wife's

V., saying that no further desire for intoxicants

her
V. herself
this change and expressed
acknowledged
for the relief obtained"
1974, p. 176).
(Wickland,

change for the better

was manifested.
Mrs.
gratitude

in Mrs.

in India
Spirit possession
as Mrs. Vs. When
most
Unfortunately,
they are
spirits are not as obliging
as they are by most
treated rudely or violently,
all over the world,
exorcists
a spectacle
of themselves.
India is typical.
they often make
A spirit healer
inWestern
as is
India is called a baba ("father," "holy man"),
the god he works with and who gives him power to heal.
use
will
the
term
(I
to the human
here to refer exclusively
The way
it works
is this. A
healer.)
is deranged?we
pressed,
manic-depressive,
healer
by her family. As
person

visibly
within

who

agitated.
her does.

use words
would
like severely
de
or
to
the
schizophrenic,
psychotic?is
brought
she approaches
the temple,
she usually
becomes
Or rather
the earthbound
called a bhut
spirit,
("ghost"),
Once the healing ritual
is underway,
the body of the victim
in the West

becomes
bhut. At the climax of the
completely
possessed
by the tormenting
a tray of lights (arati) in front of each of the victims.
the baba waves
ritual,
These
lights embody the power of the baba and the sponsoring
god, and there
so agitating
is apparently
to a bhut. The body of the person may fall
nothing
into a cataleptic
trance, or moan and shake, or bash its head against a wall, or
exhibit
many

bizarre

of supernatural
force. John M. Stanley
interviewed
gyrations
a
in
at
victims
the
1970s
center
in
spirit
Pune,
India, after their
healing

Journal of Religion and Health

16

of any pain: ". . . all of the

found that none had been aware
are experienced
and all of the agonies
only by the bhut The person
writhing
feels
unconscious,
(Stanley,
1988, p. 39). He also
himself,
entirely
nothing"
to the ses
of the afflicted
that most
discovered
persons who came regularly
to
have
been
for
until
do not usually
sions?bhuts
they
subjected
depart
good
to
exorcisms?were
restored
normalcy.
completely
repeated
and

recovery

in China
Spirit possession
Taoist Peter
The Russian
Taoist
day of a three-day

a horrifying
of the last
account
Goullart
presents
near
at a monastery
that he observed
exorcism
a
are
when
in
with
the
told
farmer
1920s.
We
what
young
happened
Shanghai
"a wild,
abbott
by a Taoist
roving look in his fevered
eyes" was approached
of wisdom
and authority"
"an elongated
the symbol
ivory tablet,
holding
commanded
the spirits?for
there were
1961, p. 86). The abbott
(Goullart,
come out of the man
Taoist
two?to
in the name of Shang Ti, the supreme
The spirits
"out of the energumen's
cursed
the abbott
distorted
in a strange,
if
sounded mechanical,
shrill voice, which
inhuman?as
a
Then
the
havoc
"With
87).
(Goullart,
1961,
p.
parrot"
by
began.
pronounced
to swell visibly. On
unutterable
horror, we saw that [the man's
body] began
until he became a grotesque
continued
balloon of a
and on the dreadful process

Godhead.
mouth

man."
"streams

as the
Then,
of malodorous

credible

profusion."
tinued for an hour
were not finished:

abbott

This
until

more
commanded
fiercely,
on to the ground
in in
an
con
stench,
by
accompanied
appalling
normal
size.
But
resumed
the
finally
spirits

concentrated

excreta
process,
the man

and

effluvia

and

flowed

Another scene of horror evolved itself before our dazed eyes. The man on the bed
became rigid and his muscles
seemed to contract, turning him into a figure of
stone.

very

Slowly,

slowly,

the

iron

bedstead,

as

if

impelled

by

an

enormous

seized the inert

weight, caved in, its middle touching the ground. The attendants
man by his feet and arms. The weight was such that none of them could lift him
up and they asked for assistance from the onlookers. Seven men could hardly lift
him for he was heavy as a cast-iron statue. (Goullart, 1961, p. 89)
and suddenly,
his normal
the man
Then be
regained
Eventually,
weight.
the
the
final
As
the
abbott
abbott
enlisted
gan
struggle,
against
spirits.
Ti
and
out!
"Get
out!"
the
of
Get
Power")
(the "Supreme
yelled
Shang
help
saw
the
his
his
it
claw
onlookers
victim's
body until
body convulse,
fingers
was covered with blood, his eyes roll up under his skull, and then the final
a wild
as the spirits
came out of him with
scream,
paroxysm
twisting
are going
but you shall pay for it with
"Damn you! Damn
your
you! We
his normal
the man
life" (Goullart,
resumed
1961, p. 89). Suddenly,
per
sonality
happened.
away.

and

asked

The

where

exorcist

that had
he was. He had no memory
of anything
was
to
and
be
exhausted
had
helped
completely

17

Stafford Betty

in the United

Exorcism

States

at the Vatican's
and former professor
theologian
in
to
1976
the Devil:
The
Institute,
published
Hostage
most
Americans.
This
is
the
and
and Exorcism
Five
Possession
convincing
of
on the subject.
It was praised
New
authoritative
book available
the
York
by
Post Book Review, Newsweek,
the Psy
the Washington
Times Book Review,
a
and
other
Book
host
of
when
it
Club,
prominent
chology Today
publications
in 1983 M. Scott Peck,
first appeared. We shall come back to it below. Then
Malachi

Catholic

Martin,
Biblical

Pontifical

of the hugely
and author
psychiatrist
popular
self-help
book The Road
the psychiatric
Less
startled
Traveled,
community
by
con
in two exorcisms.
Peck
his participation
says he personally
describing
fronted a profoundly
evil spirit on both occasions.
one of the Chinese
of ways
these Christian
In a number
exorcisms
remind

Harvard-educated

account

reveal themselves
to be utterly
and horrifyingly
demons
to
their
with
victims
unbelievable
and exhibit
they cling
tenacity
a
the
and
exorcism
of
lot
often
several
time,
strength;
superhuman
requires
are
to
the
demons
after
divine
assis
Further,
complete.
days,
only
expelled
to the ex
tance is called on repeatedly,
and the entire ordeal is exhausting
above.

The

malevolent;

orcist

and his

Peck

tells

team.
us

that

he observed
"were gravely
ill from a
patients
their exorcisms"
(Peck, 1983, p. 202), yet that
was
state
of these patients
the mental
dramatically

the

two

before

psychiatric
after
the

standpoint
exorcisms
in control of
improved. As one of the victims
put it, "Before, the voices were
now
I'm in control of the voices" (Peck, 1983, p. 198). Following
additional
me;
a full recovery.
the voices died out and both patients made
psychotherapy,
in the United
States
as far as we know," writes Peck, "is very rare" (Peck,
possession,
it fits?for
the
1983, p. 183). "We should use the word possession
only when
rare Charles Mansons
of the world," writes
Francis MacNutt
(1995, p. 73), a
on evil spirits.
former Catholic
and leading
In MacNutt's
authority
priest
most
are merely
under
the
influence
of
evil
experience
people
spirits

Deliverance

"Genuine

likes the word "demonized"?but

not completely
by demons?he
nor
And
is
exorcism
for
neither
desirable.
possessed.
these,
necessary
Rather,
such victims
need "deliverance."
the "true demons
from hell,"
Furthermore,
a full-scale
the kind
that usually
a relatively
require
exorcism,
"represent
of all the spirits capable of influencing
small percentage"
us, says MacNutt,
only 10 percent"
"perhaps
(MacNutt,
1995, p. 88).
"oppressed"

MacNutt

believes
that many mentally
ill people?both
within
and outside of
institutions?are
the
oppressed
by spirits. These
spirits range from
to the "dead who are not at rest" (MacNutt,
truly Satanic
1995, p. 93). These
latter are not so much
evil as confused. Yet in their blind selfishness
these
"earthbound
if unintended,
harm.
In relation
to us,
spirits" can do serious,

mental

therefore,

they

are "evil."

18

Journal

of Religion

and Health

are being
delivered
oppressing
spirit or spirits
the signs
summarizes
under
three
headings:
in the voice, and changes
in facial expression"
"bodily contortions,
changes
are reminiscent
of the
(MacNutt,
1995, p. 77). MacNutt's
generalizations
we
cases
victims
above. Spirit
sometimes
show supernatural
Asian
surveyed
or strength.
while
still others
They "may arch their spines backward,
agility

What
happens
a victim?
from

an

when

MacNutt

on the ground." Unnatural

Furthermore,
commonplace.
start
A woman
may
speaking
roll
are

mannered

person

1995,
(MacNutt,
a foreign
occasions
writes:
MacNutt

may
begin
p. 78). Often

and unseemly
and
bodily postures
"the tone of the person's
voice
or
in a husky
like a man,
voice
a
tone
in
snide,
speaking
insulting
the

voice

is spoken.

language

As

uses

motions
changes.
a mild
of voice"

plural we, and on rare

in facial expression,
for changes
the

comes when the

Perhaps the most common external indication of demonization
person's facial expression changes. It is as if you are no longer looking at the same
person you started talking to. The old saying "The eyes are the windows of the soul"
It is as if the evil spirit is peering out at you. The
becomes especially meaningful.
the nature ofthat parti
filled
with
become
eyes
hate, mockery, pride or whatever
cular spirit is. Now that the evil spirit has surfaced, you are no longer directly in
touch with the person you have been praying for. (MacNutt, 1995, p. 78)
features
Other predictable
and a feeling of cold in the
is not uncommon,
reports
as we
the victim,
possess
She probably will
have

been

shouting

include rolling eyes, screams,

fetid smells,
gagging,
room. Finally,
near the climax of the deliverance
it
to
for
the
threatened
MacNutt,
spirit
temporarily
saw in the Indian cases. When
that happens,

remember
curses

nothing

she said or did during

at

or

you,

thrashing

around

that time. She may

and

screaming,

but

she will have no memory of it at all. In the end she will

afterward, mercifully,
and ready for a celebration, while you and your team will
feel
refreshed
probably
feel exhausted and ready to sleep on the spot! (MacNutt, 1995, pp. 170-171)
cases of possession
or Central
or South
from Africa
surveyed
are
The
above
where
cases,
America,
they
reported.
frequently
however,
should be adequate
for the preliminary
form of evaluation
that I am interested
in providing
here.
I have

Evaluation

not

of the evidence

of apparent
do we do with all this evidence
In parti
spirit oppression?
can
with
of
the
it
materialist
be
worldview
Western
cular,
squared
psychiatry?
or can we
to be place within
Is "spirit oppression"
marks,
quotation
always
leave them off? Are "spirits" the hallucinations
of a sick brain, or do they have

What

19

Stafford Betty

an

I think every reader must

existence?
grant, however
independent
grud
on
we
the
the
have
that
surface
surveyed
gingly,
phenomena
point to a dualist
we are one kind of being, and spirits are another. We are visible,
metaphysics:
and they are not. We are subject to the laws of physics,
and they are not. We
as
are
as we are, as
not.
Yet
have physical
and
do
conscious
bodies,
they
they
individual

as we

are.

do we find when

we look below the surface? Can a materialist

me
this
the
of
all
evidence?
Can
be
without
be
in
it
face
salvaged
salvaged
taphysics
More
should
farfetched
and perhaps
disingenuous?
sounding
importantly,
room
even
or
used in the
embrace, the "spiritual" therapies
for,
psychiatry make
it place them alongside
the brain-altering
above cases? Should
drugs and elec
used? Should it learn to accept them as
troconvulsive
(ECT) presently
therapies
as medical
alternative
science
learned a generation
ago to ac
therapies?just
But what

Or are there good reasons for maintaining

the status quo, as
cept chiropractic?
is true? Is some form of dualism
would surely be the case ifmaterialism
less of a
or is it the other way round?
stretch than materialism,
line of
Only a book could do justice to these questions
fully, but the following
seems
me
to
fruitful
I
will
the
and
evidence
evaluate
reasoning
suggestive.
under

four headings.

of the victim
Experience
an argument
now
Let us begin with
from introspection.
A spirit victim,
us
an
contact with
he made
intimate
tells
mal
healed,
invisible,
intelligent,
evolent "something"
that seemed completely
alien to him. "Solemnly
and of my
own free will, I wish to acknowledge
that knowingly
and freely I entered
into
one of Malachi
Martin's
five possessed
possession
by an evil spirit," wrote
some months
exorcism
after his successful
persons
(Martin, 1992, p. 403). Is it
as having no possible
such a confession
proper to dismiss
validity? Are any of
us in a better position
to speak with
about some of the
epistemic
authority
most mysterious
"facts" of our own experience? When we assure ourselves
that
we are free and not determined
from philosophy),
do
(to take but one example
we have

evidence?
Libertarians
and determinists
end
any finally
convincing
on
back
and
forth
to
without
conclusion
the
matter.
any
lessly argue
coming
Indeed
it is hard enough making
the notion
of a genuinely
free
intelligible
so that many
are driven to the scarcely
much
will?so
intelligible
compromise
called soft determinism.
Yet almost all of us believe
in free will implicitly
and
live by that belief. Why?
our direct experience
an au
Because
speaks with
a
that
manner
In
silences
all
similar
the
direct
thority
arguments.
experience
of possession
of victims
force to spiritual
points with
equal psychological
possession.
Universality
If spirit
region,

were unique
or religion
or geographical
to one culture
oppression
it would be to me highly
or evil spirits
would
bothersome
suspect. Why

20

Journal

of Religion

and Health

that
"pick on" only one kind of people? The fact that they do not discriminate,
are as prevalent
in India and China as in the
their passions
and machinations
that they work their mischief
all over the
Christian
(or post-Christian)
West,
us take them more seriously. What are taken to be spirits behave
world makes
or Chinese
or
in the same generic way whether
they oppress Americans
cause

the victim's voice and

feel
just as threatened
dramatically.
They
a crucifix
tablet as a Catholic
priest holding
are
to
not by
rout
put
lights (arati). They
or by
Ti
divine power, whether
by Shang
Indians.

They

face and movements

to be changed
a
an ivory
Taoist
by
priest holding
or an Indian baba waving
a tray of
human
agency acting alone, but by
an avatar of Krishna
or by Jesus.

or superhuman
phenomena
account
When we read Goullart's
of the Taoist abbott exorcising
the demons
we
do
the
what
make
from the Chinese
of
of
We
farmer,
symptoms
possession?
a
see a man who blows up like a balloon,
exudes
pool of excreta from his pores as
Unnatural

as rigid and heavy as a cast-iron

caves in an iron
becomes
he deflates,
statue,
while
bedstead
resists being lifted by seven men,
and
motionless,
remaining
snake at the moment
writhes
like a mortally
wounded
of expulsion.
Concerned
to open the minds
of his readers
to the possibility
of spirit possession,
Huston
as he puts it, "it will be useful
Smith quotes this case in its entirety because,
to
have an example
to show that there are cases that almost require
it" (Smith,
are the uncanny movements
of spirit victims
1976, p. 43). Almost as remarkable
at
of
the
Indian
exorcism
the
hands
baba.
undergoing
can do
The question
before us is this: Is it easier to believe human
beings
or that these things are
such things on their own with their bodies and minds,
unnatural
and can be done only by something
and/or extra-human
alien to
If you observed
someone
them using
their bodies?
first-hand
in your own
inflate before your eyes and then speak a language
you know he has
family
never learned,
in a voice that is not his, would
it be easier and more plausible
a hitherto
to assume he was showing
unknown
side of his personality
for the
first

time

or that he was

better diagnosis
a correct
In medicine

possessed

by an alien

spirit?

The

If a physician
mis
a
the patient
him than under
diagnoses,
different
who
it is likely that a
correctly
diagnoses.
Conversely,
physician
treatment
is sounder
than a second
leading to successful
physician's
diagnosis
or less successful
to unsuccessful
treatment.
All
leading
diagnosis
physician's
of this is self-evident.
or psychosis
that suggest
has symptoms
If a patient
to a
schizophrenia
is essential
to healing.
diagnosis
is much
less likely to heal under

but
to an exorcist,
psychotherapist,
possession
come
not
to
treatment
is
from
We
successful
both.
would
equally
likely
expect
was
cor
that the reason
worked
it more
the more
successful
that
approach
the
rectly diagnosed
problem.
typical

Western-trained

21

Stafford Betty

succeeds more often, the conventional

out
of possession
rules
from the
any
possibility
psychiatric
room
not
which
for
makes
but
outset, or the spiritual
only
approach
possession
are
it
when
the
symptoms
present?
appropriate
suspects
about the effectiveness
of contemporary
First the psychiatric.
Generalizing
severe
for
treatment
mental
is
illness
risky, but there
psychopharmacological
are studies which
The
In
his
book
Undiscovered
the celebrated
Mind,
help.
to
of
He
writer
refers
several
these.
science
John Horgan
concludes:
Which

. . .

succeeds,
which
approach

approach

chlorpromazine

and

or at least

related

medications

for

schizophrenia

have

often

been

described as virtual cures. But according to a leading psychiatric

textbook, "a
is that 20 to 30 percent" of schizophrenics
reasonable estimate
taking medi
20 to 30 percent
cation "are able to lead relatively normal lives. Approximately
40
and
to 60 percent
of patients continue to experience moderate
symptoms,
for
life."
remain significantly
and other
Moreover,
impaired
chlorpromazine
cause
often
which
the
resemble
effects,
extrapyramidal
drugs
anti-psychosis
and facial expressions
disease. Patients' movements
symptoms of Parkinson's
become stiff and rigid; they display uncontrollable,
repetitive
twitching and
tremors. It was in part these side-effects
that led psychiatrists
to call anti
means
which
medications
literally
neuroleptics,
psychosis
"brain-seizing."
(Horgan,

1999, pp. 123-124)

do not rely solely on drugs to manipulate

the brain back into
psychiatrists
out of favor for a generation,
electroconvulsive
sanity. After
falling
therapy
to favor because
re
of "the growing
(ECT, or "shock therapy") has returned
one
in
can
of
the
limitations."
No
say
psychiatric
cognition
drugs'
community
for certain why ECT works, but there is no question
that it does. As Dr. Harold
a psychologist
at Columbia
"Not only is the
says,
Sackheim,
University,

But

of getting
well higher
than with
but the
any other treatment,
probability
of getting
is
residual
less"
likelihood
1999, p. 133). ECT is
symptoms
(Horgan,
a much more
was
it
exact science
than
back
in
the 20s when
Carl
today
was zapping patients
to rid them of possessing
Wickland
(see above),
spirits
but the treatment
the same.
is essentially
Now for the spiritual.
Do exorcists
and deliverance
ministers
fare any better
I wish
than psychiatrists?
I could tell you the Chinese
farmer who was freed
from two demons and fully recovered his normal personality
stayed cured, but
a trained
does not tell us. What
Goullart
about the Indian cases? Stanley,
a
us
more
on:
to
social scientist,
little
go
gives
All healing centers claim a high percentage of cure for victims (of possession) who
come regularly to arati sessions. Most of the cures are said to require only a few
weeks; some, as long as a year. Although Iwas not able to test these claims in any
rigorous way, my conversations with spirit victims and friends and relatives of
victims, as well as with people who had been cured, confirmed the claims without
exception. Nearly all who come regularly are, after a certain period of time, fully
restored to feeling their former selves. Some few do come to sessions regularly for

22

Journal

of Religion

and Health

years without complete recovery, but even in these "incurable" cases the relatives
and friends of the victim report that the sessions help the individual a great
that they feel much better immediately after an arati session.
deal?especially
(Stanley, 1988, p. 40)
I see no reason

to doubt

the veracity
of Stanley's
report. He is careful not to
are
cases?and
there
he has taken
incurable
acknowledges
exaggerate?he
care to interview many
in a variety
And he allows
of conditions.
that
people
to return until they are convinced
it
the possessing
spirits have a tendency
for them
to retire permanently.
be more
comfortable
his
would
Moreover,
are supported
of possession-type
in other
by witnesses
phenomena
findings
2000).
parts of India (Dalrymple,
in the United
Back
States,
psychiatrist
is an effective
that exorcism
cisms, holds

in two exor
Peck,
participant
cure?the
cure?in
effective
only
"Difficult and dangerous
situations:
certain
the
exorcisms
they were,
though
were
I cannot
how otherwise
I witnessed
successful.
the two pa
imagine
are
I
been
both
alive
and
healed.
tients
could have
very well
They
today.
reason
to
not
have
believe
that had they
had their exorcisms
every
they
each be dead
would
MacNutt
adds:

by now"

(Peck,

1983,

p. 189). And

deliverance

minister

I once prayed for a young woman who had been confined in a mental hospital for
twelve years, suffering from schizophrenia. After two hours of prayer for healing
the glazed look in her eyes left and she was able to converse in a
and deliverance,
normal way. Several weeks later the doctors recognized a dramatic change in her
I could cite many more examples
behavior and released her from the hospital.
... unable to find help from
or
from a steady stream of supplicants
psychotherapy
from those who are ministers
of religion who had not learned to deal with the
demonic. (MacNutt, 1995, p. 23)
writes

souls that are ravaged

Smith,
"may contain
a word,
the
in
powers
by principalities
psychic
plane;
possessed"
MacNutt
43).
agrees.
(Smith, 1976, p.
I haven't
success
discovered
the relative
and fail
any statistics
showing
ure of exorcists
a study
and deliverance
but
from
ministers,
my impression,
more
are
successes
is
that
of much
there
anecdotal
than
failures
evidence,
"Our madhouses,"

and

Huston

on

is present.
Most
these
successes,
expertise
required
important,
are
as
were
in
Peck's
two
in
total,
usually
they
exorcisms,
they occur,
case
a
in
and
Martin's
five
As
it is im
studies,
result,
Stanley's
samples.
at the surprising
to avoid
conclusion?at
least for the
possible
arriving
are real and that they sometimes
or pos
evil spirits
moment?that
obsess
when

the

when

sess
work?
taking
works

if they were
not real,
as
well
just
bring about

an exorcism
then why would
a
cure
cancer by
for
stomach
might
Is it not reasonable
to conclude
out the appendix.
that exorcism
con
so dramatically,
and permanently
in cases where
completely,

the

One

living.

For

23

Stafford Betty

ventional
ailment

fails because
psychiatry
has
and the psychiatrist

and further

Counterarguments
There
Here

the

exorcist

has

correctly

diagnosed

the

not?

evaluation

some better and

are arguments,
are three, followed by rebuttals:

some worse,

against

this

conclusion.

disorder
(MPD)
or
"dissociative
renamed
disorder,"
(recently
by clinicians
identity
a
a
common
in which
disorder
DID) is
secondary
fairly
psychiatric
personality
one. The primary
or core
itself from the primary
splits off and dissociates
is almost always unaware
of the secondary
one, called an "alter."
personality
it surfaces,
The alter has a life of its own, and when
the core personality
"goes

Multiple
MPD

personality

is usually
unlike
by the alter, which
strikingly
a
think
"evil
that
so-called
possessing
spirit"
psychiatrists
is in reality nothing more than an alter. Occam's Razor states that the simpler
a theory or diagnosis
it is?as
for all the
is, the better
long as it accounts
as
introduce
such dubious
relevant
data or phenomena.
So why
entities
a
common
when
disorder
will
suffice?
"spirits"
personality

underground"
the primary.

and

is displaced

Most

is a sound principle,
and MPD
is often the correct diagnosis
Occam's Razor
no
a
to
when
bizarre
behavior
relation
basic personality
bearing
patient's
turns
But
not
account
MPD
does
for
all
data here.
the relevant
up.
suddenly
in MPD
to Peck,
the core personality,
"is virtually
First,
according
always
unaware
of the existence
of the secondary
least until close to
personalities?at
successful
treatment."
the very end of prolonged,
But in cases of spirit op
are "either aware from the beginning
or [are] readily made
patients
pression
aware not only of the self-destructive
part of them but also that this part [has]
a distinct
and alien personality"
(Peck, 1983, pp. 192-193).
Second,
trying to
cast out an alter is, according
to MacNutt,
"an impossible
task since these
are mostly
of the person's
alters
1995,
(MacNutt,
fragments
personality"
out an oppressing
but likely
p. 231). Yet casting
spirit is not only possible
when
the necessary
is available.
expertise
The above considerations
do not prove the spiritual hypothesis,
but they do
indicate
that
cannot
be re
fairly decisively
spiritual
oppression/possession
to MPD.
Thus Occam's
Razor
is of little help
to the MPD-favoring
since MPD,
theorist
the simpler
it avoids cluttering
because
theory?simpler
our world with invisible
entities
like "spirits"?fails
to account for all the data.
A potentially
useful
escape valve has been sealed off to the materialist.
duced

The effectiveness
of drugs
A potentially
strong argument
against
and ECT do have an impact on the brain

the
and

is that
spirit-hypothesis
on the inner life of many

drugs
men

24

Journal

of Religion

and Health

ill people. As Paul Churchland

the insane
puts it, "For better or worse,
are
now
of
and
the
1940s
1950s
to first
thanks
asylums
emptied,
mostly
30).
1999, p.
generation
(Churchland,
psychopharmaceuticals"
Furthermore,
recent advances
in drug therapy and ECT have ameliorated
even
the situation
more. We are far from having
a
cure
discovered
close
to
for
schizo
anything
or psychosis,
or even depression,
but "we can still do measurable
phrenia
tally

1999, p. 30). And since we can,

good" (Churchland,
sense to conclude
then it makes
that mental
illness
a
not a result of spirit-affliction.
For it is
lot easier
impact on a sick brain than on a possessing
spirit.
think that drugs or ECT are effective
because
they
two responses.
This argument
requires
First,
however
imperfectly,
drugs and ECT often do help
exorcist or deliverance
does this prove? No responsible

this

line of reasoning
goes,
is an illness of the brain,
to see why drugs have an

it is ludicrous
to
Indeed,
chase away demons.
it must
be granted
that,
the mentally
minister

ill. But what

claims

that all
the
of
evil
for
presence
by
spirits. MacNutt,
example,
as a licensed
that his wife,
when
clients
Judith,
reports
counselling
psy
"ended up praying with
chotherapist,
[only] about a third of them to be freed
from the influence
of evil spirits" (MacNutt,
that in
1995, p. 67). This suggests
even a therapist
as sensitive
the other two-thirds,
to the presence
of oppres
them in only a minority
of cases. American
sing spirits as his wife, diagnosed
between
afflictions
that are "purely emotional"
clergy commonly
distinguish
are
and those that
This distinction
the deli
"spiritual."
prevails
throughout
verance ministry.

mental

illness

is caused

it is not at all ludicrous

to consider
the possibility
that drugs and
Second,
or possession.
ECT might
inhibit spirit oppression
Is it really so preposterous
in some mysterious
that a spirit utilizing
way a person's
body, more particu
or
even
should
be
disturbed
when
that body with
its
larly brain,
uprooted
to a shock as violent as ECT? As I pointed
brain is subjected
out above, psy
do not know why
ECT works.
Dr. Sackheim,
the psychiatrist
at
a
in
"We're
seizure
to get the
order
says:
Columbia,
working
triggering
. . .God knows
brain to stop a seizure.
if it's true" (Horgan,
1999, p. 131).
is it all that farfetched
to consider
the further
that
Moreover,
possiblity
an
medications
also
neuroleptic
powerful
might
discourage
spirit
obsessing
from oppressing
its victim?might,
en
create a hostile
like shock therapy,
chiatrists

vironment
in the brain for oppressing
diseases
spirits? After all, cures of many
are administered
both topically
ECT be the topical ap
and internally. Might
an oppressive
proach to expelling
brain, and medica
spirit from the victim's
tion the internal? Not
to consider
such a possibility,
however
is
heterodox,
unscientific.

A demon

behind

every bush
One might
could lead to a kind of madness.
object that a spiritual
etiology
the existence
to obsess us, it might
of evil spirits' ability
admitted
be
Having

25

Stafford Betty

to see them behind all mental

and
illness. This could lead to pogroms
tempting
to take a backward
witch-hunts
and cause civilization
step.
are right: There
To this complaint MacNutt
"Indeed, the skeptics
responds:
is a real danger
of seeing a devil in every bush. But have these critics ever
an extreme
found a devil in any bush?" (MacNutt,
1995, p. 42). In other words,
a
come
can
to
obsession
from
either
is
the
claim
that
response
reality
spirit
irrational.
side and be equally
As for civilization's
step,
taking a backward
ill
treatment
the
mentally
patients
they need
of the world

Much
existence

of

be

to see how
a backward

giving

step.
to acknowledge
the
refusal
by the West's
a dim view
that excludes
of any therapy
It is possible
the West
took a
that
picture.

spirits
from the
healing
under
the
step long ago when,
to give spirits
their
refused
dogmatically
been harmed
by this refusal.

should

could

is mystified
and takes

spiritual
backward

What

it is hard

it
spell of scientific materialism,
of us might
due. Millions
have

we conclude?

in 1983 that "possession

and exorcism
have never been sci
to
or
in
America
my knowledge,
studied,
(Peck,
1983,
entifically
Europe"
that Western
have
p. 200). He acknowledges
anthropologists
long studied
in the Third World,
but India is not America.
possession
phenomena
Is Peck awaiting
the day, as I am, that teams of experienced
exorcists, with six
or seven-figure
or
will
be
to
treat
allowed
grants,
schizophrenics
"hopeless"

Dr. Peck

wrote

locked away in mental

up on, in other words?to
psychotics
institutions?given
see if exorcism works where drugs failed? We have glimpses
I
of such success.
cure by MacNutt
mentioned
above the apparent
of a schizophrenic
who had been
in a mental
for 12 years. And Peck is not the only psychotherapist
institution
in America
to treat mental
illness as possession.
Colin Wilson mentions
working
two who occasionally
treat their patients as if they were possessed.
One of them,
a specialist
on MPD working
ran
Dr. Ralph Allison,
in California,
occasionally
into personalities
that did not act at all like split-off alters. Of one of these Allison
wrote,
"Despite all my efforts, Iwas unable to find a more plausible
explanation
for his existence
than the spirit theory" (Wilson, 2000, p. 261).
But these are only glimpses.
a great deal of tantalizing
We are left with
or
evidence
to
We do
pointing
possession.
oppression
demonic-type
outright
not have, however,
the indubitable
evidence
to
(the "slam dunk") we need
overturn
the claim of Western
are
medicine
not
that infesting
the
spirits
cause?ever?of
What

mental

would

constitute

illness.
such evidence?

Replicability,

says science.

And

I agree.

But what would it take to satisfy the demand for replicability? Would the horrific
phenomena
that bends

reported by Goullart?including
or the horribly
iron bedsteads

the weighed-down
body resembling

inflated

rock-like body
a balloon?be

26

Journal of Religion and Health

on demand?
because
they could not be replicated
one
in
in
exorcisms?
turned up
How many
deli
only
twenty
and exorcists would have to share their stories in the serious
and magazines
took note? How many
before scientists
like
exorcisms
journals
case would
it take to convince
the Chinese
the entrenched
of SCICOP
skeptics

from
disqualified
Or because
they
verance ministers

consideration

for the Scientific

of Claims
of the Paranormal)
that
(Committee
Investigation
or misunderstanding,
but honest
there was no fraud or credulity
and careful
a feature of certain advanced
cases
reporting of the facts? What about l?vitation,
of possession
to
in
cultures
in
down
the
If
age
many
every
reported
present?
cases

occasional

and videotaped

of l?vitation
by reputable

persons were witnessed

by apparently
possessed
individuals
the pro
(Martin, 1992, p. 363), would

fessional debunkers be mollified?

so. Most materialists
of even extrasensory
deny the existence
a
once
a
I
who
had
woke
(ESP).
friend,
up one night at
perception
psychiatrist,
to two and told his wife that his brother had just died. Sure enough,
10 minutes
the call came a few hours
later that his brother, who had not been sick, had
I don't

think

For many months my friend

indeed died?sometime
around two in the morning.
I talked to him 3 years after his
he could find on ESP. But when
read everything
the whole affair as an "anomaly," a "coincidence."
brother's
death, he dismissed
in such a way? I think I know.
In aD that
Why did this bright man respond
he read, he could find no explanation
of how ESP worked. The brute fact of his
death was compatible
sudden "knowing" about his brother's
with no scientific
So he
(i.e., physicalist)
theory he could discover.
what happened.
The "knowing" was
misunderstood
a serendipidous
illusion.

concluded

have

really

than

he must
nothing more

I believe

will always
that this sort of intransigent
those
skepticism
plague
evidence
find much
for a dualist
of reality. Dualism,
be
interpretation
our own immediate
with
has an enormous
{our bodies),
experience
ginning
an explanation
in its favor. But it fails to provide
amount
of evidence
of how
and material
that
immaterial
as
substances
is
interaction
almost
interact;
as
was
it
it.
when
Plato
And
mysterious
today
many people reject
championed
who

it for that
pression,

with
all those queer
reason?along
on it.
that symbiotically
depend

experiences,

such

as spirit

op

of our

I believe
that the evidence
subject,
to think
that Jesus'
of
interpretation
on the mark.
is at least sometimes
If it is, the implications
for us
Most
if an alien
would
be significant.
importantly,
spiritual
being could in
a
an
teract with a living brain, that would
that
inborn spiri
fortiori
suggest
we call a soul?could
interact with
it. If so, materialism
tual being?what
have to be discarded,
and some form of dualism would
would
it. In
replace
once
life
would
become
after
death
And
the
human
addition,
again.
plausible
In spite

of the mysteriousness
here provides
good

surveyed
mental
illness

will, no
freedom

reason

of brain states, could again fly free.

longer a side-effect
sense
to speak of moral
it would make
responsibility

And with
without

that
re

27

Stafford Betty

to the philosopher's
artful dodge of "soft determinism."
Even God
more
seem
a
such
after
facelift.
If
might
comely
metaphysical
spirits, demonic
or otherwise,
came to be regarded by intelligent men and women
as real, Spirit
would
at
its
the
take
controls.
again
place
sorting

What

should

be?

response

psychiatry's

a few people know of my interest

I work,
in paranormal
city where
One of them is a highly
from India. Not long
respected
psychiatrist
out to me for help. In his opinion,
the woman
he was treating
ago he reached
with no success was probably
possessed.
Are there a number
of psychiatrists
in this country
if
quietly wondering
is something
there
to possession?
If so, there
is no evidence
of it in the
To take but one of many
literature.
in a psychiatry
professional
examples,
In the

research.

article
titled "The Delusion
of Possession
in Chronically
journal
Psychotic
Patients"
were
et
there
to "delusional
references
(Goff
al., 1991),
frequent
and "the delusion
of possession"
in the 25 of 61 psychotic
out
possession"
who
believed
never
themselves
It
to
occurred
the au
patients
possessed.
thors that some of those patients
And not too
might
really be possessed.
the lead article,
"The Schizophrenic
many months
ago in Newsweek,
Mind,"
never mentioned
Even
the author
described
schizo
possession.
though
. . .
as "one of the most
of mental
and went
illnesses"
phrenia
mysterious
on

to say that the "cause

she quoted,
assumed
a
disordered
by
exclusively

is

largely unknown,"
she, and all the doctors
without
that
the illness was
caused
question
"In paranoid
brain.
con
she
schizophrenia,"
"the patient
becomes
convinced
of beliefs at odds with reality, hears
tinued,
voices that aren't there or sees images that exist nowhere
but in his mind"
was
she
Since
46).
she
2002, p.
(Begley,
supported
by every psychiatrist
?
felt
to
she
it
this
claim
it
indeed
interviewed,
unnecessary
question
may
never have occurred
to her to question
it. But what
is the evidence,
after
or the images he sees "exist
all, that the voices heard by the schizophrenic
nowhere
but in his mind"? This is an assumption,
not a fact. It may well be
that the voices belong
to realities
see. Does
that we cannot
our inability
to
see them make
them unreal? To a certain kind of materialist,
yes. But what
about the rest of us? More
to the point, does the evidence
here
surveyed
to
materialism?
If anything,
taken all together
it points
point conclusively
some force in the opposite
with
direction.
whom

is a telling
tering Images where
There

moment

in English
two of her characters

the 1930s:
"Do they still perform
"Nowadays

it's

generally

exorcisms
regarded

author Susan
are discussing

in the Church
as

a somewhat

Howatch's
exorcism.

of England?"
unsavoury

superstition."

novel
The

Glit
time

is

28

Journal

of Religion

and Health

"How odd! Is it wise for the Church to abandon exorcism to laymen?"

'What laymen?"
she said dryly. "Maybe you've heard of them.
"They're called psycho-analysts,"
cute
have
little
called
Freud and a very well-paid priesthood and
this
god
They
the faithful go weekly to worship on couches." (Howatch, 1987, pp. 147-148)
is not

She speaks for surprisingly

speaking
tongue-in-cheek.
an
are
and
well-educated
and
many
Anglicans
Anglicans
today,
unusually
well-read
lot. She is saying that materialists
who rule out possessing
spirits as
cause of some mental
con
the ultimate
illness are like religious
people who
a
on
in
their
of
churches
different
kind
fidently worship
god
Sunday, with no
This

character

in.
for what
they believe
article makes
it appear
brings us back to the brain. The Newsweek
to millions
that the cause of all mental
illness
is faulty
of readers
brain
?
no discussion
I hope I have
needed!
shown here that this un
chemistry
is unwarranted.
examined
assumption

better

evidence

This

I suggest that psychiatrists do the following:

1. Challenge
consider

with
assumption
philosophical
rigor.
Especially
a
that
be a mix
of two different
person might
possibility
in harmony
of reality working
when
the person
is mentally
kinds
heal
in
not.
and
when
The
of
invisible
the mix
should
part
disharmony
thy
or a mere
to be unreal
not be assumed
of brain
states
epiphenomenon
the

above

the

it is invisible.
That reasoning
would
lead to the assumption
to physicists,
an
which
is enormously
is merely
mysterious
is either
or a mere
that electricity,
since
unreal
invisible,
can say that the spiritual
of the visible
epiphenomenon
light bulb! Who
is not
like electricity?
of the person
it is at least
component
Surely
that the visible
soul's instrument
brain is the invisible
and that
possible
the instrument
the soul empowers
powers up the light
just as electricity
bulb.
just because
that gravity,
or
illusion;

2. Study
Over

the

literature
responsible
last 40 years,
university
of books
dozens
dealing

investigating

paranormal
phenomena.
and medical
have
doctors
near-death
ap
produced
experience,
and possession;
and several
sci
reincarnation,
paritions,
mediumship,
at
these
entific
great
phenomena
investigate
journals
length. Obviously
to be skeptical
is much
here
and indeed
there
there are frauds
about,
a
off
the
buck
who
drink up every
gullible
simpletons
aplenty making
as
if it were
these
about
Coca
fascinating
perennially
subjects
thing
a
assume
on
mistake
to
that
But
it
book
is
Cola.
the para
every
great
the

professors
the
with

Some of the most

is untrustworthy.
studies
significant
pioneering
in recent
mind
of the human
have
been written
years
by university
?
with
like Ian Stevenson,
academic
credentials
who
strong
professors
in little children
his life investigating
memories
has devoted
past-life
normal

29

Stafford Betty

a career
or Kenneth
has made
who
1974,
1987);
Ring,
most
in
blind
the
near-death
(NDE),
recently
people,
experience
studying
an NDE
from their bodies during
who recover
they separate
sight when
conclusions
of these two, as well
1999). The tentative
(Ring and Cooper,
as many
are
of
careful
fruit
research
and should be
the
extremely
others,
in
interested
the human
studied
by psychiatrists
mapping
carefully
(Stevenson,

mind.

Such

study

would

almost

wean

invariably

the

student

from

stay with his materialism,

I predict,
other
students,

He might
easy materialist
assumptions.
would
be only after a struggle.
Many
to some kind of spirit-body
dualism.
convert
feel to them like the
to bolster
the dying

old

epicenter

theory

Materialism
in the
used

would
sixteenth

too
it

but
would
begin

to

century
the Co

of the universe
before
theory
geocentric
For
would
Revolution
took
hold.
materialism
fail
them,
simply
pernican
to account
facts.
for too many
to determine
3. Conduct
the tools and techniques
of the
research
whether
work better than the drugs and therapies
minister
exorcist and deliverance
a few battle-tested
Allow
of the psychiatrist.
exorcists
and deliverance
to work with
institutions
victims
that psychiatry
are encouraging,
the findings
far
promulgate
tens
of
to
for
the
of
needed
millions
and wide. Then write
dollars
grants
to
that
be
trials
further test the spiritual
appear
techniques
working.
Many
I predict
will be needed
and the most
devised.
experiments
sophisticated
this research will have been done and that
that by the end of this century
But why wait for another
50 years? All it takes
the results will be startling.
on the line in the interest
is for one brave doctor to put his reputation
of
?
?
and get started.
I have
and compassion
truth
(If it is any consolation,
on the line where
I work.)
put mine
now
on the
will do another
from
Newsweek
lead article
50
years
Perhaps
ministers
cannot

into mental
help. If initial

results

instead
of saying
that the paranoid
mind. And
schizophrenic
schizophrenic
at odds with
of beliefs
"becomes
convinced
voices
that aren't
reality, hears
but in his mind,"
that exist nowhere
there or sees images
the article will
or mischievous
certain
that a hostile
report that "in some cases it is almost
to hear voices and see
its victim
being causes
spiritual
not from the mind
of the victim but from the mind
turns
out to be the case, then psychiatry
will have
of
its
curriculum
the
medical
head,
schools,
redesign
of healing
illness ?
all types of mental
those
business
in
the
those
of
that
the
brain,
originate
chemistry
interacts
those
either
victim.

with

and may
negatively
in a meddlesome
originate
or without
its victim's
with

that

the
alter
or hostile
permission,

that emanate
images
of the spirit."
If that
to turn
itself on its
and
that
soul

get

about

the
in the

originate
that constantly

of the

and
brain,
presence
spiritual
targeting,
the soul or brain
of its

chemistry

30

Journal

of Religion

and Health

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Begley,
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October
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