Demonic possession is among one of the scariest ideas in today’s religion and pop culture. The mystery behind it makes for terrifying tales and horror movies. Once all the jitters pass, though, one must ask: what really was going on with the so-called “possessed”? For some it is a matter of faith, for others, science. There’s something other than “demons” flying around in the heads of those we call possessed, and the culprit may be themselves.
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There is a rare condition called somnambular form possession. In this condition, a person has such an intense amount of guilt, depression, or other strong emotions, the person becomes convinced that he/she is being possessed be a “demon.” Of course the person would most likely be associated with certain religions that believe in demonic possession. In a way, it would seem that only a person who truly believes in possession by an entity can be affected by somnambular form possession. Sometimes there are rare cases when an authorized exorcism is practiced, and the afflicted feels normal afterwards. This is all in the mind. In the modern days of psychology, a Vatican-approved exorcism is not so much the driving away of malicious spirits, but the driving away of an overwhelming amount of a negative emotion. Since the person believes he/she is demonically possessed, it is only natural that the person would believe an exorcism would help be rid of the demons.
Those suffering from somnambular form possession are subject to hallucinations. One famous scene from the 1973 movie The Exorcist was when the bed started shaking. The movie is apparently based off of a true event, and a doctor in the movie mentioned the condition. Thus, if that was a scene that was not over-dramatized and was experienced by the girl in real life, it was most likely a hallucination brought on by the condition. Some parts of that movie were over-dramatized, such as the head spinning. Everyone knows that can’t happen without fatal injuries to the neck and spinal cord. The injuries that we see in The Exorcist could have been self-inflicted on the real girl. She might have turned to wrist slitting or self-mutilation.
People who claim to have been demoniacally possessed sometimes talk about “voices” in their heads saying evil things, or telling them to kill themselves, and then being told by other “voices” not to. In reality, that could be chalked up to the Id, and the Ego. Id is one of the three parts of the psyche which contains something called the “pleasure principle.” The pleasure principle and the Id work together to do anything which would ease one’s suffering and pain. In some cases it may feel like the only way to end one’s suffering is to commit suicide and be done with life all together. This is where the Ego comes in. The Ego is the second part of the psyche which uses the “reality principle.” That means the Ego tells the person to do what is rational and will end the pain and suffering without doing anything too hasty. There is a third part of the psyche called the Superego, but it’s not entirely relevant here, so it doesn’t need to be discussed.
When the Id and the Ego are working together to come up with a solution to ease an individual of mental suffering, it may seem like there are two conflicting voices in the head of that person which could be mistaken for evil spirits. Of course more severe cases could be the beginnings of schizophrenia, a mental condition where the thought process completely breaks down. A schizophrenic may hear voices, and see hallucinations, but that’s an entirely different disorder than somnambular form possession.
Overall, there are many people who believe all possession is demonic in nature, but medical science and psychology have teamed up to dissect the mysterious world of those possessed.
