Based on "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" movie, should we disregard psychiatry completely, & perform exorcisms?

Question

My father has bipolar disorder and becomes uncontrollably paranoid if he's not an medication. Psychiatry and his medicine are the only things that help him.

Answer 1

Exorcisms do not work, because demons do not exist.

Answer 2

Based on "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" .. you really think exorcism should be used on a woman who had epilepsy and other disorders going on in her brain ?
this was all brought to the attention of the court when they were prosecuting the exorcist
the girl wasn't taking her medication !
i think science thankfully is moving on from thinking that every mental illness is a demonic possession

Answer 3

Absolutely not. That almost sounds like scientology. Not all psychological problems can or should be reduced to evil spirits. Catholics believe that both spirituality and psychiatry are important. That is why God gives people callings to work in such fields. An evil spirit can be silenced, but to completely exorcise it may cause further psychological damage, because sometimes the spirit is ingrained in the person's ego for so long that, once it is removed, much rehabilitation (psychological and spiritual) is required to make the person healthy again. For this reason, sometimes it is healthier to silence a spirit rather than exorcise it.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, psychiatry is not really a science. We don't know enough about the human brain and nervous system to actually have a "science" of psychiatry. Also, medical doctors are trained not to believe in "superstitious crap" like demons, Satan, possession, etc. Most of them just barely believe in God. Remember, Freud was an atheist. Whether we "ignore" psychiatrists, though, is a difficult question. Perhaps once in ten or twelve times, they actually do help the patient.

Answer 5

Demons exist whether you want to believe in them or not... there have been too many manifestations of ghosts, poltergeists, etc. for you to say that demons don't exist Capt Wags.

However, I've found, by experience, that exorcisms and psychiatry both are not needed when you have a living, thriving relationship with God.

Answer 6

Oh, most certainly! I haven't seen it but I've seen the exorcist and the omen. Jaws taught us that we shouldn't swim, the A team about chemistry and physics, Miami Vice about fashion. Also taking MA in psychoanalysis not sure what TV program convinced me of that- seventh heaven or little house on the prarie , or perhaps it was lassie and the littlest hobo. Yes, we've much to learn from the screens large and small.

Answer 7

Where is all of this "exorcism" crap coming from? Exorcism doesn't work, and has NEVER worked. The only way to rid someone of a demonic possession is by drowning them.

Answer 8

No, because, even if we accept the premise of the film, at no time was it suggested that every person with mental health problems is possessed, only that Emily Rose was.

Answer 9

That is a tricky question. There are people who are mentally ill, and then there are the rare occasion where someone could be genuinely possessed. It should rely on the beliefs of the parent or garden.

Answer 10

Don't base anything on a movie Hollywood has embellished for entertainment purposes...

Born in Leiblfing, Bavaria. Anneliese Michel(not Emily Rose - that name was used for the movie) was raised in the small Bavarian town of Klingenberg am Main, where her father operated a sawmill. Her parents were devout Catholics and she grew into a deeply religious person. She did much penance in response to the post-Vatican II liberalism that had infiltrated the Church.
Hospitalization

In 1968, Anneliese began suffering from unusual seizures happening during the night, which involved her body suddenly becoming rigid, an enormous weight on her chest, paralysis, and inability to speak. Soon she was diagnosed as epileptic at the Psychiatric Clinic in Würzburg, although the later autopsy, including microscopic study of the brain, did not show any changes or damage that could be responsible for the alleged epilepsy. Then the girl was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Mittleberg where she remained for about one year, and she suddenly began seeing demonic faces during her daily prayers. Suffering from major seizures, Anneliese returned to secondary school in the fall of 1970, and was still able to attend the University of Würzburg in September 1973, where she studied elementary education.

The stay at the psychiatric hospital did not improve Anneliese’s health. Moreover, she began to suffer from depression. Basing her life on deep faith, Anneliese began to attribute her condition to demonic possession. She grew increasingly frustrated with medical intervention as it did not affect what she perceived as her real problems. Long-term medical treatment proved unsuccessful; her condition, including her depression, worsened with time. Continuously haunted by demonic images, and increasingly intolerant of sacred places and objects, she came to feel certain that demons had possessed her..
Medical treatment and possible cause of death

It is important to note that throughout the course of the religious rites Anneliese underwent, she took powerful psychotropic drugs prescribed to her by doctors. Below is the timetable of her medical treatment based on information from F. Goodman’s research. After the third seizure in June 1970, during her stay at the psychiatric hospital, the girl was prescribed her first, unknown anticonvulsant. The medicine did not cure her of seizures; she also continued to see what she described as “devil faces” at different moments through out the day. It also causes brain cells to lose sodium, which might have been the cause of her absenteeism. Around the same time, Anneliese became convinced that conventional medicine was of no help, as it did not make her better in the least. Growing increasingly adamant that her illness was of a spiritual kind, she asked the Church to perform exorcism on her. At that time, however, she was denied help of this kind. The same month she was prescribed another anticonvulsant, Aolept (periciazine), which lowers the convulsion threshold of the nervous system.

* November 1973 – Anneliese started her treatment with Tegretol (carbamazepine), which, according to Physicians Desk Reference, should not be prescribed to women of childbearing age due to its dangerous effect on red blood cells. Anneliese took this medicine frequently, until shortly before her death, when she was unable to swallow anything.

* September 1975 – Anneliese was finally allowed exorcism by the Church; weekly exorcism sessions using the full Romani Ritual, began.

* July 1, 1976 – on the day that Anneliese had predicted as the day of her liberation, she died in her sleep. At midnight when, according to what she said, the demons had to leave her, she stopped raging. Exhausted but peaceful, she finally went to sleep and never woke up. According to Physicians Desk Reference, putting away Tegretol may cause epileptic obnubilation, (a lowered level of consciousness with loss of ability to respond properly to external stimuli) with fever and hypoxemia (lack of oxygen in blood). Anneliese had all these symptoms, which gave rise to the theory that the cause of death was suffocation.

Trial and courtroom charges

After an investigation, the state prosecutor said Anneliese’s death could have been prevented even one week before she died. He charged all four defendants — Pastor Ernst Alt and Father Arnold Renz as well as the parents — with negligent homicide for failing to call a medical doctor.

The trial started on March 30, 1978 in the district court and drew intense interest. Before the court, the doctors claimed the woman was not possessed, although Dr. Richard Roth, who was asked for medical help by Father Alt, allegedly said after the exorcism he witnessed on May 30, 1976 that "[t]here is no injection against the devil."

The priests were defended by church-paid lawyers. The parents' defense claimed that the exorcism was legal and that the German constitution protected citizens in the unrestricted exercise of their religious beliefs.

The defense played the tapes from different sessions, sometimes featuring the demons arguing, to prove that Anneliese was indeed possessed. Both priests presented deep conviction that she was possessed, and that she was finally freed by exorcisms just before she died.

Ultimately, the accused were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and were sentenced to 6 months probation. It was a far more severe sentence than most people anticipated. Also, it was higher than the demand of the prosecution, which had asked that the priests be fined and that the parents be found guilty but not punished.