A case illustrating so-called demon possessions.

Abstract

EMONIACAL possession as a church question was formerly accepted literally, being based upon the passage in John x. 20: "He hath a demon and is mad." In the middle ages epidemics of demon possession occurred, as those of St. Brigitta, Loudon, Pledran, Aix, etc., which showed various phases of mental dissociation upon this basis. Nor is exorcism or the casting out of demons any longer indulged in by modern churchmen, though we still find some orthodox adherents who subscribe to this belief. In medical literature can be found two examples of demon possession which resemble the history of the patient which I depict -the case of Achilles described by Janet 1 and the account of Father Surin. 2 As a type of obsession not often found to-day, the following recital should therefore be of interest. I shall first give the patient's account of the possession given to me in running association after Freud's method and in letters which I requested him to write. This material is of course much condensed:"In regard to the voice I hear talking to me all the time, it was through my investigating spiritualism and watching and listening for what I could hear in the evenings after reading the newspaper that it commenced. One evening it began to talk to me, telling me some funny stories, and it kept that up for a week, when one Saturday evening it hypnotized me as I sat in my chair, and I went to bed that night and was in bed until Monday, hypnotized, I suppose, for I was seeing pictures of all kinds all the time until I got up to go to work Monday morning. He has been talking 'Janet, Nevroses et idees fixes, i, ' I disposition du pere Surin, d'Apres Berillon-Dualite. Cerebrate, 102.

The Use of E-mail in the Therapy Process

“…Therapists have also encouraged their clients to write to them for therapeutic purposes and examples of this can be found since the early days of psychotherapy (e.g. Mayer, 1911). In addition, there is a small body of literature that focuses on written correspondence as the medium of therapy (Farber, 1953;Alston, 1957;Bastien & Jacobs, 1974;Ozturk, 1978;Hofling, 1979).…”