I read today that prior to the Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting next week there is going to be a workshop on exorcism for bishops and priests. Exorcism of demonic spirits has been around for thousands of years in the Church, since the time of Jesus, but Catholics like to keep exorcism low key since there are very few cases of real demonic possession. Most often what seems as demonic possessions is manifestation of a brain disease, like bi-polar, schizophrenia, post traumatic stress syndrome or Alzheimer’s.
When I was studying in Chicago for my graduate degree in pastoral studies in the 90’s I met a priest and a psychiatrist that were on the Chicago Archdiocese Exorcism team. The doctor told me that there were just some phenomena in patients that she could not explain by science. The priest gave me some books to read on the subject.
What I did discover is that there is a really a thin line between demonic possessions and brain diseases or what some call mental illnesses. In Jesus’ time there was no awareness of mental illnesses so all cases of strange behavior were treated as demonic possession.
In our scientifically advanced society some still treat mental illnesses as something different than a brain disease or any other disease like cancer. Last night at “Creativity Heals” performance of the National Alliance of Mental Illnesses (NAMI), there were parts of a play on mental illnesses and recovery put on by persons with mental illnesses. Each person in the play had the diagnosis — bi-polar, depression or post traumatic stress syndrome — that the person they played in the drama possessed. One similar line stood out in the monologue of all three actors: “I am not bipolar”, “I am not depression” or “I am not post traumatic stress syndrome.” They are who they are as human beings, not their diseases, just like a person with cancer would not say “I am cancer.”
For years I have been struggling to rid the words “mentally ill” from my vocabulary and those around me. My argument goes like this: If a person had cancer you do not call the person cancerous; if a person has a mental illness, why would you call them mentally ill?
Awareness by a person with a brain disease or mental illness that they are not the disease or illness is the first step in the recovery or healing process. Sadly our society often fails to recognize that fact, making it even harder for a person to accept his or her illness.
In nature we can accept illnesses and diseases of plants and animals, even those of the brain as just that. There are no demons in nature. In human life there are rare cases of actual demonic possession; most people that see, hear or act in ways we do not understand simply have a disease. There are no demons in nature and rarely any in human life.
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