DISSOCIATIVE TRANCE DISORDER - CLINICAL AND RORSCHACH FINDINGS IN 10 PERSONS REPORTING DEMON POSSESSION AND TREATED BY EXORCISM

Although dissociative trance disorders, especially possession disorder , are probably more common than is usually thought, precise clinical d ata are lacking. Ten persons undergoing exorcisms for devil trance pos session state were studied with the Dissociative Disorders Diagnostic Schedule and the Rorschach test. These persons had many traits in comm on with dissociative identity disorder patients. They were overwhelmed by paranormal experiences. Despite claiming possession by a demon, mo st of them managed to maintain normal social functioning. Rorschach fi ndings showed that these persons had a complex personality organizatio n: Some of them displayed a tendency to oversimplify stimulus percepti on whereas others seemed more committed to psychological complexity. M ost had severe impairment of reality testing, and 6 of the participant s had an extratensive coping stile. In this group of persons reporting demon possession, dissociative trance disorder seems to be a distinct clinical manifestation of a dissociative continuum, sharing some feat ures with dissociative identity disorder.