What They Did
Working through a spiritual support organization, the
researchers recruited 21 adults who had sought help from a priest exorcist
(though none had actual exorcisms performed). Participants responded to
questionnaires about personal well-being, coping methods, childhood trauma,
propensity for fantasy, and conceptualizations of death. Eight of the
respondents also participated in semi-structured interviews about their
experience.
Statistical analysis
of the questionnaire responses showed that use of religion and transcendence as
coping strategies was correlated with lower psychological distress.
Conceptualization of death as the end of one’s existence, on the other hand,
was correlated with greater psychological distress and inversely correlated
with both the use of religion as a coping method and the propensity for
fantasy. Finally, childhood emotional neglect was correlated with the use of
avoidance as a coping strategy.
The eight interviews revealed that the participants
experienced existential distress, particularly around personal and family
issues. Some reported feeling trapped and desperate for escape. Most of the
participants had significant trauma in their childhoods, ranging from parental violence
or severe parental mental illness to emotional neglect, even when some had
attempted suicide themselves. Many participants were surprised at the
compassion and understanding with which spiritual caregivers responded to their
stories. They mentioned feelings of relief and comfort and described the
importance of being deeply seen and heard in their suffering. Although
participants saw their faith as an important source of clarity and stability,
many also noted the importance of combining spiritual and psychological
approaches, some working with both clergy and psychologists.
Further Exploration
Although the research findings are interesting, I don’t feel
like they really address the question of why the participants sought assistance
from spiritual figures rather than from mental health professions. About 90% of
the participants said they were religious, and about half had seen a
psychologist at some point. It’s not surprising that religious individuals
might seek help from clergy, though I do wonder what motivated the other 10% to
seek not just a priest but one trained in exorcism.
This study was conducted in Italy, and I don’t know what the
statistics are there, but in the United States, about 150 Roman Catholic
priests are trained in exorcism (see https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/vatican-to-hold-training-next-month-as-demand-for-exorcism-continues-to-rise-catholic-church-prayer-ritual-priests-internation-association-of-exorcists-paranormal-supernatural-psychiatry-mental-health)
out of about 37,000 priests total (see https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/clergy-and-religious),
so less than 1% of U.S. Roman Catholic priests are exorcists. As noted above,
none of the research participants actually went through an exorcism ritual,
which is also unsurprising: according to the National Desk article above, only
1 in every 5000 people who present as possible cases of possession are
confirmed as such by religious officials.
The National Desk article dates from 2023 and refers to an
increase in requests for exorcisms, but that increase has been reported since
at least 2014 (see https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-catholic-exorcists-are-seeing-an-uptick-in-requests/).
Some suggest that fictional representations have increased interest. The researchers
who conducted this study also mention that some consider possession in the Christian
sense to be a culture-bound psychological syndrome. It would be interesting to
compare possession with other culture-bound syndromes, but that’s a rabbit hole
for another day!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Folio_166r_-_The_Exorcism.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be nice.