A centuries-old tradition: What most people know about exorcism, they learned by watching the "The Exorcist," a 1973 horror film re-released in 2000. It tells of a 12-year-old girl unexpectedly overcome with superhuman strength and supernatural effects like scratching walls, flying chests and rocking beds. She growls, levitates and makes her head spin around 360 degrees while spitting profanities and vomiting on Catholic priests trying to help her. The movie is based on a William Peter Blatty novel, which drew on a 1949 published report of demonic possession of a Maryland boy. Because the movie and real exorcism involved priests, most people think it's exclusively a Catholic rite. But ridding people of dark forces goes well beyond that ancient faith. Most other Christians including some mainline Protestants, Orthodox, Evangelicals, Charismatics like Seevinck, Pentecostals and Mormons have routine ways of wrestling with the devil. So do Muslims and some Jews.

Now comes best-selling author M. Scott Peck, who wrote The Road Less Travelled and People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil, with his own tale of exorcism. In the 1970s, not long after being baptized into the Episcopal Church, Peck found himself officiating at two exorcisms, he writes in Glimpses of Evil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption. "They were two of the most extraordinary experiences of my life," Peck said in a phone interview from his Connecticut home. "I just felt as I got older I could not go to my grave taking these stories with me." The first involved Jersey, a 27-year-old mother of two who had schizophrenic tendencies, had lost all interest in her life and family, and often wandered away from her children. During the four-day ritual, Peck saw Jersey's mouth contort into a "harsh, malicious grin" and her face was "convulsed with a haughty sneer."

View: Full Article | Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Should possession be treated by psychiatrists ?

Yes

I have yet to see or read about a single case of possession that did not have all the earmarks of extreme obsessive disorder.

In the county I live in we do not have a Psychiatrist who lives and works here. We have one Doctor who has a temporary office set up in the Social Services building. He see's his patients once every 6 months, for 20 minutes where he reads councilor reports and blood test results. Then writes out a slip for DRUGS.

Maybe its time to train people in the clergy to handle both the physical and spiritual nature of peoples problems. Neither group by them selves can help the people with problems. And religious healers would have more time to assess the real underlying causes of an affliction.

yes

yes they should be treated by a psychiatrist, and possibly a member of the clergy. (please dont hate me, but;) I dont believe in "possessions" per say. I agree with aquatus1 most people who become possessed exhibit many characteristics of obsessive/compulsive disorder, or Disassociative Identity Disorder. They need to seek the help of a trained professional. I believe that many people who become possessed, have a strong faith, and they need the mental comfort of being helped by the church, but I still think they need to see a psychiatrist.

yep yep yep it should be treated as such