Believe you and me, it is very real! I didn't even know if I should have even written this as it's just that real of a thing? But people do need to know and if there's one thing that I will always do is bring the right information to everyone to the best of my ability to the fullest of my ability even though it might be in conflict with my own beliefs? My own belief is that this should not be messed with, mistaken for, and joked around with. People trying to connect with the spirits should do, but at their own risk, it's that simple, really?
I found this story:
It is a phenomenon that is on the rise throughout the world: The number of cases of demonic possession – and demands for priests to carry out exorcisms – is, according to multiple sources, soaring.
Medical science remains sceptical. However, a Princeton-and-Yale-educated mainstream psychiatrist believes demonic possession is indeed very real – and claims that the majority of Americans agree with him. With 25 years of experience in a private psychiatric practice and as a professor at New York Medical College and Columbia University, Dr Richard Gallagher has a rare vantage point to observe human behaviour.
And then there is the inhuman.
He is also a sought-after psychiatrist for discernment, the initial step in determining the need for exorcism. Dr Gallagher has evaluated hundreds of cases of possible possessions and, in a wide-ranging and rare interview with the Telegraph, explains why he believes the phenomenon is genuine.
In April, at a Vatican training course for exorcist priests, participants were told that demand for exorcism is booming as a result of a decline in Christian faith and the internet providing easy access to black magic, the occult and Satanism.
Pope Francis has repeatedly reminded his followers that Satan is “a real being, roaming the Earth to devour souls like a lion”. In April, he wrote: “Hence, we should not think of the Devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea. This mistake would lead us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end up more vulnerable.” He observed that life can be “a constant struggle against the devil, the prince of evil”. Last year, speaking to priests attending a Vatican course on confession, the Pope said confessors “should not hesitate” to refer penitents who are suffering from “genuine spiritual disturbances” to exorcists
Describing the Rite of Exorcism as a “delicate and necessary ministry”, the Pope admonished that exorcist priests must be selected with “great care and great prudence."” In the US, the number of priest exorcists has increased from twelve to fifty over the past decade. While demand for exorcism continues to surge, Dr Gallagher’s medical assessment of whether a person is mentally ill or possessed by demons will determine whether some exorcisms are conducted. He is not the only American psychiatrist who evaluates for possession – there are many others who consult on discernment.
But Dr Gallagher is one of the few who is willing to talk about it. He has also written a forthcoming book on the subject, being published by Harper Collins, called Demonic Foes, A Psychiatrist Investigates Demonic Possession in the Modern United States.
“There are many other psychiatrists and mental health care professionals who do what I do, perhaps not to the scope that I do – who seem hesitant to speak out,”he explained.
That’s what gives my work some singularity. I have had so much experience and that I am willing to speak out. I feel an obligation to speak out. I think that I should. Of the cases referred to him for possible possession, he noted that they are people who suffer tremendously.
There are very strict criteria for determining the person’s problem. I am not just intuiting. I’m dealing with it from a very scientific point of view, he said. Speaking to the Telegraph at his office in Westchester County New York, Dr. Gallagher said that while possession is very rare, in his medical opinion, it is real. There are cases of spirit possession in pretty much every culture, he said. He has evaluated cases referred to him by priests, rabbis, Christian ministers, and representatives of other spiritual traditions.
Dr Gallagher does not view himself as being outside the American mainstream in his beliefs about the existence of demons. Noting that the United States is a more religious country “than somewhat secular countries in Europe”, he cited poll numbers indicating that about 70 to 75 per cent of Americans believe in the Devil and at least half of those believe that demons have the ability to affect human beings, possessed or otherwise.
