Interdisciplinary Review of Demonic Possession Between 1980 and 2023: A Compendium of Scientific Cases
Journal of Scientific Exploration December 28, 2023 Álex Escolà‐gascón, María Francisca Ovalle, Luke J. Matthews 1 citation
An official review of 52 documented possession cases from 1890 to 2023, drawing on psychology, medicine, anthropology, and theology, finds that most such episodes can be explained by existing behavioral science, with only a small fraction remaining unexplained. Quantitative models estimate a 0.01923 probability that a given possession case is scientifically unexplained, a 0.0031 likelihood of discovering new truly unexplained cases in the future, and a 0.0023 probability of encountering five such cases in a single year. The review evaluates medical and psychological interventions and proposes guidelines for safe exorcisms and pharmacological treatments, advocating integrative approaches that include anthropologists and Catholic Church priests for spiritual guidance. It concludes that possession episodes challenge scientific understanding of consciousness.