Do you believe that some of the people in mental homes may actually be possessed

1. 62

   Mudrearthposted 14 years ago

   Do you believe that some of the people in mental homes may actually be possessed.
   
   maybe even serial killers?

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2. 62

   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   I absolutely do not believe that anyone is ever "possessed".
   
   There is a wide range of different types of mental illness; and, of course, some particularly serious mental illness includes behavior or thinking that could mimic what we see in horror movies about "possession".  At the same time, many people with mental illness show no signs of any such behavior or thinking.
   
   Regardless of which type of mental illness someone has, there is a scientific explanation and process to mental illness.  There is nothing "magic" or "possessed" about it.
   
   Serial killers aren't even always mentally ill.  Many are, instead, sociopaths; which means they lack "conscience" and the ability to feel empathy for their victims.  It has now been shown that there is a part of the brain (associated with conscience and feeling empathy) that may not be developed in sociopaths. 
   
   In the 1600's, the Salem Witch trials resulted in the murders of innocent people believed to be "possessed" and "witches".   One of the contributing factors to the "witches" myth was that some people and animals had suffered health problems like seizures and hallucinations.   Because of the religious beliefs of the people at the time, there was talk of "possession".  It is now know that people were infected with a fungus that had grown in the rye crop because of weather conditions.  (Rye was a staple in their diets.)  Again, whenever there is behavior or thinking that one might imagine as "appearing possessed" there is always a scientific, "non-magic", explanation for it.

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3. 61

   It's just meposted 14 years ago

   I believe that possession is possible because I believe in the soul/spirit.
   Yes, there may be many illnesses both physical and mental that can explain away a great many false cases of possession, yet there are a few that can not be explained in the hard scientific world.

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4. 83

   donotfearposted 14 years ago

   I must say that in my profession, I often ponder this same question. I see people who have lost touch with reality, are suicidal, experiencing hallucinations, paranoid and the like. There has been one occasion when I actually felt fear when dealing with an individual because of a certain 'shadow' that passed over their expression. Something about the look in this person's eye told me to beware. I had to go with my gut feeling. As for others, I've been able to sense real illness. Of course, I know that bad spirits often torment people, especially mentally ill.  I'm sure it is possible that some people could be, or seem, possessed.

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5. 67

   MOEFLATSposted 13 years ago

   My answer is that you cannot program an irrational person.  Thusly, some of these people are probably more themselves than many SEEMINGLY FUNCTIONAL members of our society.  We face a very real "mental invasion" in this era of techno-fascism.  These people might be "crazy", but if they were POSSESSED, they'd be functional.  Mental programming yields a person that will do whatever he/she is told from an outside electronic source, THIS IS POSSESSION........"crazy" people aren't possessed.........our society in general IS.

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