06 Nov 2008
I do not mean to make any cheap asides here but it is interesting to find such a paper being written. From Psychopathology 1999; 32:252-259 by Samuel Pfeifer of the Psychiatric Clinic Sonnenhalde, Basel, Switzerland
This paper looks at "Demonic Attributions in Nondelusional Disorders", investigating what type of people believe in demonic spiritual influences and how they affect mental illness. What I am wondering about is how we might turn it on its heels and equally question "Angelic Attributions in Delusional Disorders".
I am thinking of the first 20 years of the Brahma Kumaris where Lekhraj Kirpalani followers considered him to be God and Krishna, who and how a group could sustain that belief for so long, even against the failures of "Godly" predictions of the end of the world, the end of the Yagya and so on.
We know the community shrunk from 400 or 500 to, it is said, 70 or 80 ... but even within that group, surely there were a few skeptical thinkers, or even hangers on? What shared delusion did they carry and how was it sustained?
This paper looks at "Demonic Attributions in Nondelusional Disorders", investigating what type of people believe in demonic spiritual influences and how they affect mental illness. What I am wondering about is how we might turn it on its heels and equally question "Angelic Attributions in Delusional Disorders".
I am thinking of the first 20 years of the Brahma Kumaris where Lekhraj Kirpalani followers considered him to be God and Krishna, who and how a group could sustain that belief for so long, even against the failures of "Godly" predictions of the end of the world, the end of the Yagya and so on.
We know the community shrunk from 400 or 500 to, it is said, 70 or 80 ... but even within that group, surely there were a few skeptical thinkers, or even hangers on? What shared delusion did they carry and how was it sustained?
Demonic Attributions in Nondelusional Disorders
Abstract
Objective: Belief in demonic influence has repeatedly been described as a delusion in schizophrenic patients. The goal of this explorative study was to examine the frequency, as well as the psychodynamic and social functions of such beliefs in a sample of nondelusional patients. Method: The sample consisted of 343 psychiatric outpatients who described themselves as religious. In semistructured interviews they were asked to give their view of demonic causality of their illness. Results: A high prevalence of such beliefs was not only found in schizophrenic patients (56%) but also in the following groups of nondelusional patients: affective disorders (29%), anxiety disorders (48%), personality disorders (37%) and adjustment disorders (23%). Belief in demonic oppression tended to be associated with lower educational level and rural origin, and was significantly influenced by church affiliation. Conclusions: Beliefs in possession or demonic influence are not confined to delusional disorders and should not be qualified as a mere delusion. Rather they have to be interpreted against the cultural and religious background which is shaping causal models of mental distress in the individual.
Samuel Pfeifer, MD
Psychiatric Clinic Sonnenhalde
CH-4125 Basel-Riehen (Switzerland)0