Obsessions and curses: What does psychology say?

Benjamin Taylor6 said:Look, I didn't say whether I believe in it or not. I'm just researching it critically without jumping to conclusions. All I know for a fact is that SCIENCE does not recognize possession.
Theology, however, DOES recognize it. Because even among priests—in my opinion—there are those who don't believe the Evil One can actually "get inside" a person.
This guy in the picture believes in curses and possessions:


http://www.nytimes.com/article/example-news-story-link/530442/

Anyway, I have a friend who completely tanked her business. She bought this 75-foot boat to run tourist trips. Now? She’s lost the apartment, the garage, the car—she and her husband are basically under legal seizure for everything they own. And that boat? It's just sitting high and dry at the dock because she owes money to both God and the devil.

She went to see this guy—a magician/tarot reader type. But, turns out, the man was actually quite grounded and sensible. He told her straight up that she had been targeted by some dangerous people—basically, witch doctors:
1. Witch doctor: "You're a woman, and a boat isn't for a woman, especially not one that's 75 feet long."
2. Witch doctor: "You bought a 40-year-old wooden boat; it's a maintenance nightmare."
3. Witch doctor: "You're broke and you had to put the boat and everything else on credit."
4. Witch doctor: "You don't have any political connections within the local MAFIA."
5. "You don't have anyone to help you with labor or cash; your son is too young, and your husband works at a factory."

😂🤣 sounds incredibly logical to me. It’s easy to blame some mysterious force for our own greed and mistakes, BUT maybe those forces actually exist. Maybe she really was "cursed," or maybe envious people are using telepathy to trip people up, or maybe we just don't know enough about the truth yet. Science hasn't caught up, though maybe it could if you've seen a movie like Insidious, where they use special tech and cameras to capture demons

Wild writing!
Don't delete this post just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can still read it.

I am sure that I can understand what I am reading. By leveraging the uninhibited power of the human mind, through irritation with the Cmbargeid, it is clear that even when the letters in a word are scrambled, only the first and last letters remain in their correct places.
The words can be in complete disorder and despite this absurdity, you can read them without a problem. This is because the human brain doesn't read every single letter, but rather the words as a whole. This phenomenon is mildly known as typoglycemia.
Pretty crazy, right?

Thomas Bailey59 said:😂🤣 sounds incredibly logical to me. It’s easy to blame some mysterious force for our own greed and mistakes, BUT maybe those forces actually exist. Maybe she really was "cursed," or maybe envious people are using telepathy to trip people up, or maybe we just don't know enough about the truth yet. Science hasn't caught up, though maybe it could if you've seen a movie like Insidious, where they use special tech and cameras to capture demons

Wild writing!
Don't delete this post just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can still read it.

I am sure that I can understand what I am reading. By leveraging the uninhibited power of the human mind, through irritation with the Cmbargeid, it is clear that even when the letters in a word are scrambled, only the first and last letters remain in their correct places.
The words can be in complete disorder and despite this absurdity, you can read them without a problem. This is because the human brain doesn't read every single letter, but rather the words as a whole. This phenomenon is mildly known as typoglycemia.
Pretty crazy, right?

The lady is persistent. She still keeps several whiskey bottles on the table. Every day she asks for advice, and every day she sinks just a little bit deeper.🙂

Jamie Chase6 said:There were several articles out there, and I've read interviews with prominent theologians discussing specific cases from their years of practice.
My point was that Vatican City has incredibly strict criteria when deciding if someone is actually possessed; if someone is just mumbling gibberish and showing symptoms of schizophrenia, then obviously, it's not a case for an exorcist.

The symptoms I listed are what point toward possession.

I'm not buying it until I see proof, just like I don't believe alien spacecraft have visited us until I see even one decent, HD-ready recording.🤣
It doesn't even need to be full HD.😉
Sure, it’s possible—but seriously, in an age where every average smartphone can capture solid video clips, why isn't there a SINGLE recording of an exorcism on the entire planet!?
Isn't it strange that priests don't reach out to networks like CNN, for instance? They'd be thrilled to have such a segment, and the Church would gain new believers while strengthening the faith of the old ones through that kind of evidence.

People, please—use a little reason and logic when posting things like this.

...It's all just snippets from newspapers or various magazines obsessed with the "supernatural," plus interviews with elderly priests—it all remains very murky.

ondine said:I mentioned that Vatican City maintains extremely strict criteria when deciding if someone is possessed; if someone is just mumbling incoherently or showing symptoms of schizophrenia, that's obviously not a case for an exorcism.

How do those Vatican "experts" actually distinguish between a supposed possession and a genuine mental illness!?
I know many priests have studied theology and theoretical psychology, but clinical psychology and psychiatry are entirely different beasts—fields they aren't allowed to touch because they don't know the recipe, let alone how to bake the cake.