Spirit Possession and Dissociative Identity Disorder

1. Spirit Possession and Dissociative Identity Disorder A Comparative Study

2. Acts 16:16 “One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.”

3. ESP The New Testament links spirit possession with a form of extrasensory perception (ESP). Divination (predicting the future) in Acts 16:16.

4. Outline Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Dissociative Trance Disorder (DTD) Conclusions: “Personalities” or “Spirits”?

5. Dissociative Identity Disorder Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) It involves the appearance of two or more identities that take turns in controlling a person’s behavior. Psychologists call the alternate identities “multiples” or “alternates” for short.

6. Alternates Differ In: Gender Age Handedness Handwriting

7. Alternates Differ In: Sexual orientation Eyeglasses prescription Foreign languages spoken—James N. Butcher, Susan Mineka, and Jill M. Hooley, Abnormal Psychology. Thirteenth Edition (Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007), 299.

8. Symptoms Depression Self-mutilation Frequent suicidal attempts Moodiness Erratic behavior

9. More Symptoms Headaches Hallucinations Substance abuse Post-traumatic symptoms

10. Cause Psychiatrists and psychologists generally hold to the position that traumatic childhood experiences in a person’s life cause a person to develop DID. However, researchers also acknowledge that not all DID cases are rooted in abusive childhood experiences. –Eugene L. Bliss, M.D., Multiple Personality, Allied Disorders, and Hypnosis (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1986), 137.

11. “Alternates”: Coping Tools Patients allegedly develop alternate personalities to cope with their bad memories of trauma. The new personalities remember the events, but the main personality does not.

12. Cause? However, researchers also acknowledge that not all DID cases are rooted in abusive childhood experiences. –Eugene L. Bliss, M.D., Multiple Personality, Allied Disorders, and Hypnosis (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1986), 137.

13. Is It a Real Condition?

14. Researcher MA Simpson States: “There is no convincing evidence that MPD is a naturally occurring condition, let alone a distinct diagnosis.” Simpson MA, Multiple personality disorder (letter). J Nerv Ment Dis 176:535, 1988, quoted in Carol S. North, M.D., Jo-Ellyn M. Ryall, M.D., Daniel A. Ricci, C.M., A.C.S.W., Richard D. Wetzel, Ph.D., Multiple Personalities, Multiple Disorders Psychiatric Classification and Media Influence (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 35.

15. Is It a Real Condition? Psychiatrists and psychologists debate among themselves regarding whether or not Dissociative Identity Disorder is even a real mental disorder.

16. The Occult and DID Patients

17. Some DID Patients: “Had inclinations toward the occult as well as toward parapsychological and metaphysical phenomena.” —Multiple Personalities, Multiple Disorders Psychiatric Classification and Media Influence (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 151.

18. DID and Paranormal Phenomena Psychokinesis ESP (including clairvoyance) Astral travel (out-of-body-experiences) Poltergeist activities—Multiple Personalities, Multiple Disorders Psychiatric Classification and Media Influence, 151.

19. DID and Paranormal Phenomena Alleged contact with ghosts Automatic handwriting—Multiple Personalities, Multiple Disorders Psychiatric Classification and Media Influence (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 20.

20. Extrasensory Perception Symptoms: “Should not be enshrined as first-rank symptoms of MPD, but are worthy of serious study by mainstream psychiatry.”—Colin A. Ross, M.D., Multiple Personality Disorder Diagnosis, Clinical Features, and Treatment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1989), 108.

21. Locally Described Dissociative Phenomena in Uganda: • “Going into another state of mind and talking in languages people had not learned before. Later, they don’t remember talking in those languages.” (Marjolein Van Duijl, Etzel Cardeña and Joop T. V. M. De Jong, “The Validity of DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders Categories in South-West Uganda,” in Transcult Psychiatry, 2005; Issue 42; Page 227).

22. Dissociative Identity Disorder? • “Western-type psychiatric and biomedical treatment of the condition often remains ineffective.”—Felicitas D. Goodman, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988), 84.

23. Dissociative Identity Disorder? • In some situations exorcisms are quite effective treatments.—Felicitas D. Goodman, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World, 84.

24. DID Patient: Carrie • Psychiatrist Ralph B. Allison has occasionally encountered “entities in his work with multiples that acted anomalously. Their ‘birth’ could not be pinpointed, they served no recognizable purpose, and quite frequently they referred to themselves as spirits.”—Felicitas D. Goodman, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World, 84.

25. DID Patient: Carrie • One of Allison’s DID patients, Carrie, manifested a considerably violent and aggressive personality. This alternate personality “screamed obscenities, had superhuman strength, and was viciously aggressive.”—Felicitas D. Goodman, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World, 85.

26. DID Patient: Carrie • Carrie committed suicide before Allison could effectively help her.—Felicitas D. Goodman, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World, 85.

27. DID Synopsis DID may or may not be a real disorder. There may be genuine cases. Psychiatrists, however, may have misdiagnosed some of their patients. Their patients might be suffering from another disorder altogether….

28. Dissociative Trance Disorder

29. Dissociative Trance Disorder (DTD) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (4th ed., 1994) lists Dissociative Trance Disorder as a proposed topic for further study. Also known as “Trance and Possession Disorder” This diagnosis requires the presence of either a trance state or a possession trance state.

30. Possession Trance State The presence of an altered state of consciousness, in which a person’s normal identity is replaced by a new identity attributed to the influence of a spirit or deity. The term possession trance only applies to trance disorders that lead to distress or dysfunction.

31. Dissociative Trance Disorder DTD shares clinical symptoms with DID, most commonly an altered state of consciousness with an identity. These are, however, two distinct disorders. DTD patients generally do not suffer from traumatic childhood experiences.

32. Study 1: DTD in Italy

33. Researchers Stefano Ferracuti Roberto Sacco Renato Lazzari At: Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza”

34. Patient Demographics All lived in Italy. The authors contacted the official exorcist of the Rome diocese. 16 people who participated in exorcisms were invited to participate in this study. 10 accepted the invitation.

35. Patient Demographics Their ages ranged from 26 to 60 years. The interviews occurred 7 to 10 days after the behavior observed during exorcism. The participants were White and Roman Catholic practitioners.

36. Psychiatric Treatment… 2 people had received a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had been treated with neuroleptics. 5 had received pharmacological treatment for recurrent depression. 1 had a possible diagnosis of “epilepsy” as a child.

37. …Failed “They all claimed that psychiatric treatment had done nothing for their symptoms whereas the religious rituals had brought some improvement. Nearly all of them said that exorcism helped to keep the demon under control so that it pestered them less after the session.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder: Clinical and Rorschach Findings in Ten Persons Reporting Demon Possession and Treated by Exorcism,” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 528.

38. Paranormal Backgrounds “They also described having paranormal experiences, such as ‘spirits’ moving things around in the home, misfortune, and unexplainable nausea and vomiting.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder: Clinical and Rorschach Findings in Ten Persons Reporting Demon Possession and Treated by Exorcism,” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 527.

39. “High Percentage of Paranormal Experiences” “The DDIS” (psychological test) “also showed that the 10 participants reported a high percentage of paranormal experiences, notably diverse forms of extrasensory perception, and contact with ghosts and spirits.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 529.

40. “Poltergeist Phenomena” “For cultural reasons, most participants at first claimed ignorance of poltergeist phenomena. Once the meaning had been explained, 2 participants immediately recalled having experienced similar happenings.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 529, 533.

41. Previous Cult Involvement “Three participants stated that they had been possessed by a dead person in circumstances other than exorcism. The interviewer made no attempt to inquire further into problems arising from participation in cults, activities about which all participants expressed strong feelings of guilt…

42. The Cult Activities “The activities within the cults that the participants spontaneously reported as being more distressing were connected with practicing blaspheme consecrations and performing promiscuous sexual activity.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 533.

43. Occult Family History “One participant (Case 2) had a notable family history of paranormal experiences: The father worked as a dowser, and two relatives were mediums.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 533.

44. “Missing Time…” “On being interviewed the participants stated that they had no memory of the possession trance state, which lasted from 5 min to 2 hr.”— “Dissociative Trance Disorder: Clinical and Rorschach Findings in Ten Persons Reporting Demon Possession and Treated by Exorcism,” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 527.

45. Possession Episodes “The possessing agent always manifested a moral character different from that of the person’s habitual state, usually expressing sexual and aggressive concerns. The possessed persons also had frequent vomiting, coughing, and spitting, accompanied by roars, growls, and barks…

46. Possession Episodes During the possession state these people usually had facial expressions of anger and hate. One person, a former seminarist, talked in bad Latin.

47. The Possessing Agent “…was usually lucid. It stated its identity (Lucifer, Satan, or Asmodeus). Cursed the priest, the church, and God, expressing disgust for the body it had possessed; and in some cases claimed memories and congratulated itself on having created the body it had entered so much trouble…

48. Physical Effects Motor behavior always became intense, agitated, and aggressive. The eyes rolled. The voice became deep and gloomy.” — “Dissociative Trance Disorder,” in Journal of Personality Assessment (1996), 527.

49. Study 2: DTD in Singapore

50. “Phenomenology of Trance States Seen at a Psychiatric Hospital in Singapore: A Cross-Cultural Perspective”