<p>Possession is a transcultural and transhistorical phenomena that in recent times appears to have had a resurge within western culture. Heavily laden with controversy, incredulity and prejudice possession is not readily dealt with, although many people present in parishes and for psychiatric treatment with symptoms and disturbances that need to be addressed promptly with up-to-date skill and discernment. Lack of interest and practise has been the rule not only in secular science but in major religious contexts as well. An increasing amount of literature highlights the lack of efficient psychiatric and religious response. In this work traditional Christian perspectives on possession were related to recent Psychiatric and Parapsychological results, definitions and conclusions, the aim being to enhance and enrich our understanding of what is being interpreted as an involuntary influence of malevolent spirits on human beings. The method of the study was based on reflexivity, including aspects of phenomenological analysis, critical theory and postmodern theory. It was shown that a clear line can no longer be drawn between science and spirituality as concerning possession, its cure and its etiology; that exorcism and other methods of spirit-expulsion have a not insignificant actuality in international psychiatry of today as a remedy for certain states of dissociative disorders, and that these methods are considered extremely powerful. The study also focused on agents responsible for treating people with related symptoms, religious as well as seculars, and on the need for continued interdisciplinary study and approach to the phenomena of possession. It was stressed that our understanding of this issue is in dire need of revision.</p>

Possession is a transcultural and transhistorical phenomena that in recent times appears to have had a resurge within western culture. Heavily laden with controversy, incredulity and prejudice possession is not readily dealt with, although many people present in parishes and for psychiatric treatment with symptoms and disturbances that need to be addressed promptly with up-to-date skill and discernment. Lack of interest and practise has been the rule not only in secular science but in major religious contexts as well. An increasing amount of literature highlights the lack of efficient psychiatric and religious response. In this work traditional Christian perspectives on possession were related to recent Psychiatric and Parapsychological results, definitions and conclusions, the aim being to enhance and enrich our understanding of what is being interpreted as an involuntary influence of malevolent spirits on human beings. The method of the study was based on reflexivity, including aspects of phenomenological analysis, critical theory and postmodern theory. It was shown that a clear line can no longer be drawn between science and spirituality as concerning possession, its cure and its etiology; that exorcism and other methods of spirit-expulsion have a not insignificant actuality in international psychiatry of today as a remedy for certain states of dissociative disorders, and that these methods are considered extremely powerful. The study also focused on agents responsible for treating people with related symptoms, religious as well as seculars, and on the need for continued interdisciplinary study and approach to the phenomena of possession. It was stressed that our understanding of this issue is in dire need of revision.