Last week I said that I would write some more on the topic of dissociation and demonization since there were questions on how to tell the differences between the two.

I think that not all the people who work with trauma clients are trained mental health professionals. My goal in this blog I want to give information that helps in telling the differences between dissociation and demonization. I will start with questions that help rule out demonization, or at least slow down the conclusion that its demonization. Therefore, we will start with questions that focus on common information on mental health.

1. Obtain a list of medications they are taking or have taken. Their problems may be due to the side effects of medications or the medications may prevent them from going through deliverance, which could be upsetting for them. A history of psychiatric medicines is a strong indication that they may have a psychiatric disorder, especially if they have a long history of using those medications. Those with heart or seizure medication may also develop complications during deliverance.

2.Obtain a history of prior deliverance experiences. If individuals keep going to deliverance and nothing is changing this may indicate that the issue has another (i.e. physical) cause.  This also may indicate that the person has a mental health issue. Also, some individuals may be depending on other people to rescue them when they want to avoid responsibility to take care of an issue themselves.

 

3. Ask about occult activity in their life or family history. Ask specific questions about witchcraft, Free Masonry, and other secret societies. Usually these groups practice lineage rituals that would affect people who may not have had an experience with it themselves. It helps to ask the person if the person participated in paranormal activities such as;

a)spirit possession ceremonies.

b)Astral travel.

c)Mental telepathy,

d)Channeling .

e)Divination.

f)Witchcraft.

4. Ask participants if they hear voices or their own thoughts audibly, because internal voices may indicate a dissociative identity disorder which is not demonization.

5. If the answer to hearing voices is yes, then ask what the voices say and whether they all sound the same or speak like different people. Ask if the voices are discernible in terms of age and gender. Discernible voices are most likely mental health issues instead of demonization. Those voices should not be cast out -they are an indication that the person was severely traumatized as a child and the memories of that trauma are stored as these voices.

Now when dealing with such clients where there is sufficient evidence that it's dissociation, there has to be a clinical approach to this in place of deliverance. 

Next week I will address what approach to take when both dissociation and demonization are present.

Dr. M.