THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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psyche, forms a "shadow government of the ego". The experience of finding oneself
under the control of malevolent "supernatural" entities is a horrifying experience, and the
intense accompanying persecutory anxiety may drive the desperate victim to attempt
suicide in order to escape. Subject seven states in this regard: "But, you know, later I
wanted them out. I couldn't take it. That's when I tried to commit suicide. I was sick of
everything, ofbeing controlled by all the demons. And so I slashed my wrists".
Because these demons are in fact split-off parts of the subjects' own psyches, they appear
capable of reading the victims' thoughts and attacking them when they attempt to
distance themselves from the destructive subpersonality. After undergoing an
unsuccessful exorcism procedure, subject five recalls: "I couldn't sleep that night ... my
demons were screaming at me, calling me a traitor, saying that Satan was going to kill
me". The ferocity of these attacks and their psychological consequences is vividly
conveyed by subject six: "I was hospitalisedfor demonic attacks, with no physical cause
that the 'does' couldfind. Eventually my entire life was destroyed through demons, and I
hit rock bottom. I felt broken and attacked by demons whenever I had negative thoughts
about Satan and what I was doing with my life.... What they did to me very nearly cost
me my life, as I was left in a quivering, totally broken mess on the bedroom floor, ready
to blow my head offwith afriend's .45 Magnum".
In all subjects, the most severe possession symptoms emerged when they attempted to
leave Satanism, and underwent exorcism or "deliverance" ceremonies by Christian
pastors. Subject seven describes his experience as follows: "I was sitting in B's living
room, and L was praying for me, and then the demons started manifesting. I started
growling, screaming, and swearing, and I remember the room becoming ice-cold. I was
shivering from colef'. The so-called paranormal phenomena that accompany exorcism
procedures reveal just how dissociated these parts of the self can be. In the following
example, the personified demonic figure took vocal control of subject five: "D called on
the spirit ofthe antichrist that was in me. It spoke in a weird voice, saying it had been
assigned to me from birth, and that it wasn't going to leave".