If Christianity isn't true, how are exorcisms explained?

[rtvc2012]

I'm not 100% on either the Christian or atheist side of the fence, but if there is nothing supernatural in the world at all, how might exorcisms be explained?  People faking it?  Same way as NDEs (brain produces hallucinations due to lack of oxygen)?  Just curious as to what you might think.

[JohnE]

Mostly I chalk it up to the placebo effect, like all faith healings. When someone believes something will make them feel better, it usually does.

Possessions themselves are combinations of people attributing real physical and mental illnesses to demons and a sort of reverse placebo effect where people believe in possession strongly enough that they trick themselves into thinking they ARE possessed.

[Witchyjoshy]

It's a combination of the fact that "exorcisms" are part placebo and part torture.

You see, you torture someone, they're going to make noises of pain and thrashing, signs commonly attributed to demon possession (funny how that works, huh?)

Eventually, a person exhausts themselves and stops shouting and stuff, and the exorcism stops.  OR, the person keeps going until they exhaust themselves to the point of death, and suddenly, the exorcist has committed manslaughter.

If you mean the lay-on-hands method of exorcism... well, that's simple.  The power of suggestion combined with peer pressure.

[gyeonghwa]

Exorcism isn't unique to Christianity. There are other religious practices that utilizes exorcism. So even if exorcism is true, it doesn't make Christianity true.

Exorcism rely on a great deal of confirmation bias - ignore instances where it doesn't work but emphasize where it does "work". It's also not controlled - it has too many factors that aren't taken into account.

Exorcism has a long history of. . . unfortunate implications. Many time, those that are subjected to exorcism suffer from an illness or do not conform to social norms.

[Yaezakura]

I'm not 100% on either the Christian or atheist side of the fence, but if there is nothing supernatural in the world at all, how might exorcisms be explained?  People faking it?  Same way as NDEs (brain produces hallucinations due to lack of oxygen)?  Just curious as to what you might think.

Quite simply, people can be "exorcised" because they believe they are possessed. Have you ever heard of a random preacher going up to a random person on the street of a random city and exorcising their demons? Of course not. Every single case of exorcism is a preacher operating in his own church, or the home of a member of his church. The people he is exorcising already believe every word he says.

It's much like hypnosis in this way. For it to have any effect at all, you have to want it to work. The difference is, hypnosis has legitimate medical uses, while exorcism is "solving" problems that never existed or simply distracting people from getting real help when they need it.

[Old Viking]

Most of the explanations I've heard have consisted of loud laughter.

[mice34]

I'm not 100% on either the Christian or atheist side of the fence, but if there is nothing supernatural in the world at all, how might exorcisms be explained?  People faking it?  Same way as NDEs (brain produces hallucinations due to lack of oxygen)?  Just curious as to what you might think.

What is there that needs to be faked or explained? Some poor mentally ill person gets tortured by a group of busy bodies and proceeds to scream and cry until they stop. The mental illness or gayness or whatever they're "exorcizing" doesn't go away, except when the person chokes/smothers to death.

[Sylvana]

Personally I find the fact that people who don't believe in demons never get possessed, and consequently don't ever need to under go exorcisms. I think the main aspect behind it is a delusional conformation bias with a strong dose of untreated mental illness. The placebo effect is much stronger than people give it credit for.

[sandman]

The thing is, most "exorcisms" don't work. They result in someone with a physiological brain disorder like epilepsy or a mental illness like schizophrenia not receiving appropriate care for their condition and either dying or ending up with permanent damage. Since one of the more common "exorcism" techniques is denial-stress (deliberately withholding essential things like food, water, and even air in order to cause the "possessing entity" to panic and leave the "host"), even the attempt can easily lead to inadvertent murder. Some "exorcists" even claim that the death of the "host" is preferable to continued "possession," and is a positive outcome.

In those cases where it does seem to work, when the cause of your "possession" is religious induced or influenced hysteria, a "religious" cure will likely work, but not because any kind of entity was "driven out." It works because the "host" expects it to work.

[MadCatTLX]

Anyone else remember when the "Leviathan in the bathtub" guy tried to exorcise the "gay demons" out of someone? I think he called for help from his angel friends he met in McDonalds.

[Diamandahagan]

looks to me like stage hypnosis. as in suggestion, receiving orders of how to act, not wanting to disappoint and peer pressure  thats increased because you have an expectant audience. add in the fact that most exorcisms are done on people who believe that crap and therefore can easily convince themself its real or are unwilling victims and therefore f-ing terrified and its pretty easy to see whats going on.

on stage hypnosis, i worked out how it worked when i was on stage at an event.

[Zombie Goddess]

The person who believes they are "possessed" may be afflicted with some overwhelming psych issues or sense of guilt that they can't face or admit,and instead convince themselves that it's a demon making them sick,and has nothing to do with their mind.The exorcism works because they believe it does.Or some may just be faking the whole ordeal for attention or notoriety.Just my two cents.

[Distind]

Anyone else remember when the "Leviathan in the bathtub" guy tried to exorcise the "gay demons" out of someone? I think he called for help from his angel friends he met in McDonalds.

This: http://fstdt.net/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=60847

Most of the exorcism stories I've heard that don't fall under easily diagnosed medical condition + blatant lies fall into the completely fucking retarded pile like the one I've linked to. But people believe in demons, so they have to put them into something.

[czechmate]

The Abrahamic religions and especially Christianity, rely on fear to keep their flocks in line. The RCC is exceptionally expert in instilling phobias into their followers, and is usually backed up by films such as The Omen series or Constantine which are all fictitious, though some take them as fact.
Indoctrinated belief makes some see things that are non-existant and make them declare that such hysterical BS is true.

[Atheissimo]

Depends on the kind of exorcism you're talking about.

If you mean non-medical ones where the intention is to 'exorcise' behaviours out of people like homosexuality then I'd imagine it's simple collective hysteria and peer pressure. People are physically restraining you, chanting in Latin, shouting at you, brandishing crosses and the like. If you're in any way suggestible it's only natural to get caught up in it and revert to an animal state in your terror until you're so exhausted that you collapse and are 'cured'. I'd imagine that sort of experience would make you think twice about publicly expressing the sorts of thing that got you exorcised in the first place. Hey presto! It's a miracle!

If it's an exorcism to banish an actual medical condition like schizophrenia that they believe is caused by 'demons' then it simply doesn't work. The victim will just get more and more traumatised, the exorcisms getting more and more severe. Obviously the nature of the condition is to induce powerful rages, abrupt changes of character and hallucinations under the stress of the exorcism; all of which are taken by the pastor to be further evidence of demon possession. Unfortunately it has been recorded in several occasions that the victim has died as a result of this treatment, whether of exhaustion, exposure or deprivation of food or water to hurt the demons.

What I think is telling is that nobody who doesn't already believe in demons ever benefits from an exorcism. If you're young and you've got every adult you trust telling you that you're possessed, why wouldn't you believe them? They perform the exorcism to get rid of your gayness, which you may already be trying to suppress, and you believe that you're cured.