• Question: are exorcisms real?

    Asked by bennyfoster1 to Fiona, David, Chris on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: David Freeborn

      David Freeborn answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Hi bennyfoster1,

      Exorcisms do not really work, but some people do try to perform them.

      Many exorcists have tried to have “demonic possession” recognised as a real psychiatric or medical disorder (there are books that list recognised disorders called the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICM). Demonic Possession is not included in either).

      There are a whole range of psychiatric conditions that can be mistaken from demonic possession, ranging from schizophrenia to epilepsy to Tourette’s syndrome. But all of these are real psychiatric conditions; none of them come from being possessed by spirits or demons.

      Recently, one couple was arrested for keeping their fifteen-month-old daughter caged, unfed, and tied up because they believed the child was possessed.

      Sometimes “exorcism” seems to heal people- usually temporarily. Scientists think this is due to the placebo effect- an effect that believing a cure will work actually has a measured medical effect.

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