ISU

CULMINATING

PRESENTATION

Andrei Carianopol

ENG3U1

INQUIRY QUESTION…Can one actually become possessed by a supernatural

entity or is it just a mental state of mind?

Thesis StatementPossession by a supernatural entity is a very rare

religious phenomenon that is often confused with the symptoms of common Mental Disorders.

Definitions you should know… Supernatural: Attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.

Spiritual Possession: A term for the belief that animas, demons, extraterrestrials, gods, or spirits can take control of a human body.

Mental Illness: A medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning.

Background information• When information on Mental Disorders was limited and

religion was more widely believed in, people with disorders such as Schizophrenia and Turrets were deemed as being possessed. This is why most cases of Possession happened in the past, although some events have happened in recent years.

• With Mental Disorders, only the person is affected by it. When someone is possessed, everyone in the room with the person is affected in some way.

• Religious people are the ones who are most likely to think they are possessed because they are believers.

• Demonic Possession is mentioned in the Bible numerous times and is believed in by Religious people.

Demonic Possession Schizophrenia

• Aversion to Holy Objects and God

• Speaks using rational dialogue and in tongues.

• Supernatural Knowledge (Can tell future and past events)

• Does not claim they are Possessed, as Demons prefer to be secretive.

• Medicine does not alleviate the problem.

• Supernatural Phenomena (Objects Moving, etc.)

• Often want spiritual help• Never exhibits clairvoyance• Sometimes claim they are

demon possessed.• Medicine helps alleviate the

problem.• Not able to speak in a rational

dialogue, often speaks un-clearly and changes topics a lot.

• Hallucinations• Obsessive Behavior• Acts Agitated or Stone

Faced• Repetitive Behavior• Both speak in an odd

manner• 29% of people with a

Mental Disorder claim they are possessed when asked. An Entity will also say the same if they are asked.

Argument

#1 -> The symptoms of Possession and some Mental Illnesses are very much alike.

Continued..

Argument

#1 ->

• Jack soon loses his mind completely, becoming increasingly abusive towards Wendy and Danny.

• Jack ultimately descends into a murderous psychosis in which he tries to kill his wife and son with an axe (much like the old caretaker).

We know that Jack Torrance was abused by his father when he was young much like how he abuses his family now. While most Mental Disorders are genetically inherited, the environment one is in could also influence one to go into a stage of psychosis. Torrance ultimately becomes obsessive over the thought of killing his family. This was influenced by his mental state and by demonic spirits that roamed the Overlook Hotel.

The book never clearly states whether Jack is actually possessed or not but we can see that the symptoms Jack is expressing are very much like the ones from Demonic Possession because not only him, but surrounding people are also affected by this supernatural phenomenon.

The symptoms of Possession and some Mental Illnesses are very much alike.

Argument

#2 ->

In the past, when information on Mental Disorders was not as vague as it is today, people who were affected by such disorders were defaulted as being possessed and tortured as an effort to exorcise the person, most of the time ending up dead.

• A couple of decades ago, any person with Tourette syndrome or various forms of psychosis such as Schizophrenia were considered to be demonically possessed as their conditions provided the public with reason to regard them in that light because science was not as modern.

• In the 1900’s, a young boy with Autism was exorcised and killed in the process because it became so violent. They saw that the ‘demon’ would not exit him and intensified the exorcism, ultimately killing him.

• In 2010 on Christmas morning, a 14 year old boy was beaten and drowned to death by relatives because they thought he was possessed.

• People who were believed to be possessed were eventually starved and even beaten to death because every exorcism was unsuccessful.

In order to prevent these types of event from happening in the future, The Vatican brought a rule that stated that before performing an exorcism the person must be first psychiatrically assessed.

Argument

#2 -> In The Shining, we see that Jack exhibits many symptoms of Mental Disorders that are similar to the ones of Demonic Possession. Some of these symptoms were:

• Depression • Becomes increasingly abusive towards his son Danny and wife Wendy• Starts hallucinating, see’s ghosts throughout the Overlook Hotel and even interacts with them at

some points (Sitting at the bar with the Janitor).• Irrational thoughts come to mind, like the thought of murdering his Family.• Generally becomes insane (From an average persons point-of-view).

Before Modern Science: Jack would of most likely been exorcised to the point of death because of his insanity. The first exorcism would likely have worsened the state of psychosis he was in causing him to become even more mentally un-stable. Since people were unaware of these Mental Disorders, they would think that their exorcism was un-successful and proceed with another one, ultimately killing the victim.

Examples of this happening in real life..

Argument

#3 ->

One who believes in the supernatural has a higher chance of perceiving an event as being supernatural compared to one who does not.

• Experiments show that when it is suggested to a believer that a paranormal event has occurred in their presence, they are more likely to report as having witnessed such event, when indeed it had not (Wiseman et al., 2003).

• An example:

Two different people were given a tour of a house but were told different stories about it.

Person A: Was told the house is haunted.Person B: Was told the the house is currently under renovations.

After taking a tour of the house, Person A & B were interviewed.

Person A: Walked throughout the house in fear and reported supernatural events occurring such as foot steps etc.

Person B: Walked throughout the house comfortable like it was his own. Did not even think of the house as to being haunted and did not see anything ‘supernatural’.

• In The Shining, Halloran suggests to Danny that he has a supernatural power called ‘Shining’, where he can see things. Once that idea was put into his head he started to have these ‘visions’ more often.

• An example of this was when he walks to the presidential suite and sees blood on the wall.

• When Danny is taken to the doctor, he tells his family that Danny's visions are because of stress caused by the poor relationship he has with his family.

Argument

#3 ->

Connections to the course

theme: conscience &

awareness• When a person is spiritually possessed or believes they spiritually possessed, they're awareness of everything around them diminishes as they becomes fixed on only one subject or object. By loosing awareness of their surrounding, those people will also loose touch with their conscience, thus becoming a completely different person.

• On the other hand, people that do not believe in spiritual possession can be more aware of their surrounding, and perceive things for what they truly are, instead of what they may seem to be.

• Although in some cases, people that believe in spiritual possession and the supernatural have heightened awareness, but loose track of what they perceive as being supernatural and what is not.