Last week it was reported that Pope
Francis had formally recognised the International Association of
Exorcists,
a group of 250 priests spread across 30 countries who supposedly
cast out demons. The head of the association, Rev
Francesco Bamonte, announced that this was a cause for joy because,
“Exorcism is a form of charity that benefits those who suffer.” While Pope Francis, who frequently mentions
Satan, no doubt agrees with this sentiment, this granting of legal
recognition to the concepts of possession and exorcism has come as
something of a shock to those who do not share this world view.

Belief in possession is widespread both
geographically and historically and is far from rare in modern western societies. A YouGov poll of 1,000 US adults last year found that over half of the respondents endorsed
belief in possession and 20% remained unsure. Only 11% said categorically that they did not believe people could be “possessed by the devil”.

Is it possible that the pope is right and demons can sometimes
take control of their victims’ behaviour? Are exorcists really
bravely battling against the most powerful, evil forces imaginable? Or
are possession and exorcism best explained in terms of psychological
factors without any need to postulate the existence of incorporeal
spiritual entities? I would argue that the available evidence
strongly supports the latter interpretation.

There can be no doubt that some forms of
behaviour that would once have been seen as evidence for possession
by demons or evil spirits would now be recognised as being caused by
neuropathology. Hippocrates, in The Sacred Disease,
declared that epileptic convulsions were caused by brain malfunction,
not evil spirits. Belief in possession was still widespread some 400 years later, however, when Jesus
encountered an individual believed to be possessed but who
was, in fact, clearly suffering from epilepsy.

Another condition that would often have
been interpreted in a similar manner is Tourette’s
syndrome.
Interestingly, the first recorded description of a
case of Tourette’s may be in Malleus Maleficarum (or
Witch’s Hammer) published in the 15th century by
Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kraemer. This notorious book served as a
guide for identifying witches and the possessed and included a
description of a priest whose tics were thought to be a result of possession
by the devil. Although the symptom that people most readily associate
with Tourette’s syndrome is vocal outbursts of foul language, this
symptom is in fact quite rare, affecting only around 10% of
sufferers. Having said that, this is probably the main symptom that,
in times gone by, would have led to suspicion of possession.

There are several other
neuropathologies (eg certain forms of schizophrenia) that might
also have been interpreted as possession in less enlightened times
(and sadly sometimes still are) but it is not plausible to
explain all cases of apparent possession in neuropathological terms.
It should also be borne in mind that the type of phenomenon
that would be the main focus for the International
Association of Exorcists is but one example of situations where an individual appears to have been taken over by some agent, resulting in a dramatic change in behaviour, mannerisms,
voice and even, allegedly, memories.

Other examples would include
mediums "channelling" communications
from the dead; shamans inviting possession by the gods, ancestors or
animal spirits; individuals apparently reliving past-lives, having
gone through a process of hypnotic regression; and volunteers during
hypnosis stage shows apparently taking on the identities of
celebrities, animals or even aliens.

The controversial diagnosis of
dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple
personality disorder) is yet another example of this phenomenon,
though many commentators, myself included, believe that it is
not in fact a genuine psychiatric disorder but is instead a product
of dubious forms of therapy.

The sociocognitive approach, as
outlined by Nick Spanos in his posthumously published book,
Multiple Identities and False Memories, has the potential to explain all the phenomena listed in
the previous two paragraphs without the need to invoke disembodied spiritual entities. Essentially, this approach argues that
all of these phenomena reflect learned patterns of behaviour that
constitute particular recognised roles within specific cultural
contexts.

Although it may not always be
immediately obvious, there are often benefits to enacting the role of
being possessed. Indeed, in many societies, certain forms of
possession are welcomed. For example, glossolalia, or “speaking in tongues”,
is encouraged in many western Christian societies and is interpreted
as possession by the Holy Spirit. During glossolalia, the individual
produces vocalisations of meaningless syllables. Although these may
sound superficially like a foreign language, analysis shows them to
have no true linguistic structure whatsoever. Glossolalia can
sometimes involve dramatic behaviour such as convulsions, sweating
and rolling eyes but can also be much more subdued. The actual form
the glossolalia takes is entirely determined by the expectations of
the particular religious community involved.

For less positive forms of possession,
the benefits of taking on this role may be harder to identify but they still exist. As Michael Cuneo describes in his
excellent book, American Exorcism,
the phenomena of alleged possession and exorcism are much more
widespread in the US than is officially recognised. For
many people, the idea that all of their previous socially and morally
unacceptable behaviour was not in fact their fault but due to
possession by demons is appealing. Furthermore, once those
demons have been exorcised, the repentant sinner is now welcomed back
into the loving arms of his or her community.

Anthropologists have pointed out that
in some cultures, those with little or no social influence can let
off steam and vent their true feelings towards the more powerful
members of their society while “possessed” without having to face
any repercussions. They are not held to be responsible for their
actions, the possessing spirit is. It is notable that historically in Europe, it
was women who were much more likely to be “possessed”
than men.

Of course, we must not forget that the
outcome for the person who is labelled as “possessed” can
sometimes be far from positive. To give one notorious example, the parents of 23-year-old Anneliese Michel and two West German
priests were convicted in 1978 of causing her death (they received suspended
sentences). They had starved the young epileptic as part of a
horrendous 11-month exorcism. She
weighed just 68 pounds (5 stone or 30 kilograms) at the time of her death. The Guardian has noted that belief in possession has been a factor in several child abuse cases in the UK,
including the tragic death of Victoria Climbié in 2000.

The official recognition of such pre-Enlightenment beliefs by
the Vatican will do nothing to prevent future tragedies of this kind.