Vodou practitioners in the Dominican Republic who experience spirit possession report greater somatoform dissociation, more sleep problems, and more past exposure to mortal danger (assaults, accidents, or diseases) than those who do not experience possession. The two groups did not differ significantly in other types of trauma. Somatoform dissociation was the strongest predictor of group membership, though these symptoms may partly reflect the possession experience itself. A factor analysis yielded three factors: early responsibility and professional spiritual role; traumatic events and pain; and distress/dissociation. Overall, possessed individuals did not have a remarkably more severe trauma history and appeared to derive economic benefits from possession practice.
A Dominican Republic Vodou priest, followed from childhood to early adulthood, learned to control and adapt dissociative manifestations into a professional role, transitioning from a child with many problems. A multidisciplinary, developmental approach integrating ethnographic observation and psychological constructs explains how originally dysfunctional expressions of spirit possession became personally and socially beneficial. The community's shifting attitudes toward him are also accounted for by specific psychological and cultural conditions.