Cover
story Exorcism and mental illness
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Rome
In a few well-publicized cases,
failure to make a careful assessment of possible brain dysfunction before
performing exorcism has resulted in disaster. In 1976, two Bavarian priests
were convicted of negligent homicide in the case of 23-year-old Anneliese
Michel, an epileptic whose medical treatment was discontinued in favor of
exorcism and who later died.
A lack of standardized procedures can be another problem. A Korean
Protestant exorcist in California was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and
sentenced to four years in prison for, in effect, trampling a woman to death
during a four-hour exorcism in 1996.
Although the exorcists NCR interviewed were aware of such
cautionary tales, they differed in how, and whether, they concern themselves
with a distinction among physical, mental and spiritual distress.
Romes Fr. Gabriele Amorth said that he always asks for
someones medical history and consults a psychiatrist if he thinks it
useful. On the other hand, he argues that only performing an exorcism provides
certainty, because it is in the reaction to the exorcism that one detects the
presence of a demon. Besides, he said, an unnecessary exorcism never
harmed anyone.
That is a judgment questioned by some Catholic priests with
backgrounds in psychotherapy.
A popular culture has developed in which some Catholics, if
confronted by phenomena that confuse or frighten them, will immediately
diagnose the phenomena as demonic and begin a process of ordering an evil
entity to leave the person, said Fr. Joseph Mahoney, a Catholic chaplain
in Detroit who works with people suffering from multiple personality disorder.
I believe it to be spiritually dangerous, psychologically dangerous and
abusive, and scandalous.
Mahoney operates a Web site on trauma and religious issues at
www.jmahoney.com.
Far from being harmless, Mahoney believes exorcism can be
extremely destructive when practiced on patients with undiagnosed
multiple personality disorders. He points to research carried out by the Royal
Ottawa Hospital in Canada, which concluded that exorcism can create new
personalities in such subjects and is contraindicated.
Several exorcists told NCR they rely on signs such as
unusual knowledge or physical strength, an ability to speak foreign languages,
and aversion to sacred objects to determine if an evil spirit is present.
Mahoney, however, says that each can also be a symptom of multiple personality
disorder.
National Catholic Reporter, September 1,
2000
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