Mental Illness or Possession?
By The Night Watchman

Does possession by a spirit or demon exist, or, is it just a malfunction in the brain that can be treated? That question would no doubt bring on an overabundance of opinions in a group consisting of psychiatrists, theologians, New Agers, and atheists. It is definitely a subject where one really has to have a great deal of faith to believe it exists.

Possession has been believed to exist for thousands of years in most cultures around the world. There are several instances in the Bible addressing demonic possession which resulted in the Catholic Church to establish a special order of exorcists. In recent years, the Church has kept a low profile regarding exorcisms, but there has been a recent upsurge in the study of demonic possession by the Church. Other religious groups, for example, Shamanism, Voodoo, some Eastern religions, and other pagan groups, employ spirit possession in their practices. Although these religious groups have many differences, they are similar in the fact that they believe the human body can be taken over by a spiritual entity.

The advent of modern psychiatry did much to change the belief system of the public, especially in the Western world. For the better part of the last 100 years, psychiatry has replaced possession as the explanation for abnormal and deviant behavior. Dr. Thomas Szasz, former head of the Psychiatric Department at the State University of New York, and controversial writer on mental health issues, says, in short, psychiatry has invented many of the "diseases" they purport to cure.

"Treating the metaphor as the thing itself -- the metaphorization of disease, in our case -- has led to the confusion of production with product, person with body, and mind with brain. Note that unlike the term "brain," the term "mind" implies agency, intentionality, and motivation. Accordingly, behavior per se that may result in disease is often categorized as a mental disease, but is never categorized as a medical disease. For example, excessive drinking is considered a mental disease, not a gastro-intestinal disease -- though cirrhosis of the liver is. A competent speaker of English may thus assert that schizophrenia has caused a person to kill an innocent bystander and excuses him of his deed, but he would never say that diabetes has either caused such lawless behavior or excuses it. Herein lies one of the most important philosophical - political consequences of the concept of mental illness: it removes, with one fell swoop, motivation from action, encompasses it within illness and thus destroys the very possibility of separating disease from nondisease, since it offers the possibility that any intentionality or motivation is a potential "disease." (From "Is Mental Illness a Disease" The Freeman, November 1999)

An avowed athiest, Dr. Szasz would no doubt find possession by evil spirits a silly notion, but his studies and views on modern psychiatry establishes the notion, at least in my mind, that the scientific method may not be the best at explaining the reasons behind many of the "spiritual" events worldwide. This poses the question, why does it have to be all or none? Is it not to our advantage to explore all the possibilities to find the causes behind these "spiritual" events? Is it possible that these so-called schizophrenics could be "possessed" by some unknown entity; a demon maybe, or some alien being? I don't know, but between the stories we have received from people all around the world, and other works I've read from seemingly straightforward individuals, I am willing to give some credence to the possibility.

In fact, to be perfectly frank, I do believe in possession. I realize there are people with problems who have trouble coping in this world, and although I have never seen anyone "diagnosed" as possessed, I have seen someone who, in my mind, had something more than mental illness.

A friend of mine's son, eight years old at the time, had a history of behavioral troubles at school as well as with the law. Throughout much of his childhood, he saw several mental health professionals and they pumped him full of Ritalin, but nothing seemed to work. One moment he would be a pleasant, normal eight year old kid, and the next, he would be out of control, yelling obscenities and destroying things around the house. It was an absolute Hell to be in the presence of this kid when he went off the deep end, and the only thing my friend received from doctors was a prescription for a higher dose of Ritalin.

I recall one incident when I tried to talk to him about why he behaved as he did. As typical of a child, you really couldn't get a straight answer, but when I pressed, I saw his eyes turn almost demonic. It wasn't just a look of anger that one gets when challenged, as I have been known to have, but a sheer gaze of outright evil staring me in the face to the point where, I believe, if he had had the chance to kill me, he would have and with no remorse. He had been known to pull knives on others. I was also frightened by my own reaction to the situation. I truly felt if he'd have come after me, I would have had no problem physically harming an eight year old child!!! Never once had I felt that way before, or since.

Was this boy possessed by evil spirits? I truly do not know. Maybe, deep down, my thoughts and beliefs got the best of me, but with all the weight we put on the opinions of the medical profession, even though they couldn't provide answers to this boy's problems, never once was the consideration of possession a possibility.

I do not know the current status of the boy. My guess is, unless there was a remarkable change in behavior, he is probably causing grief somewhere - in jail or in a mental facility. If I sound judgmental, so be it. Never had I seen a child, so precocious and intelligent in many ways, be so downright wicked. His actions, many times, seemed so calculated beyond the level of an eight year old, that I often wondered whether he was playing us for fools. On the other hand, during his times of normalcy, maybe we missed something he was trying to tell us and we were just blind to it because we lacked the courage to look beyond the "material" causes of such behavior.

For the most part, I believe you are responsible for your own actions. I believe that each person chooses their course of action. There may be material factors such as poverty, family upbringing and chemical imbalances that influence behavior patterns, but I don't believe they are root causes. On the other hand, I don't believe many of the cases of abnormal behavior are the sole doing of the devil as some religious sects do, but I can't discount it either on face value.

There are many extreme cases of behavioral problems where the medical and mental health professions are unable to determine the cause and treatment, but they, in general, have faith that it is some sort of physiological or mental problem that, in time, they will eventually figure out. But, by then, it may be too late. Some of the extreme cases may be caused by something we can't see or believe. But, extreme cases bring on extreme measures, and maybe that's the time for a second opinion.