Possession: What the Psychiatric Community Doesn't Want You to Know About Mental Illness

In his book Possession: What the Psychiatric Community Doesn’t Want you to Know About Mental Illness, Dr. Augustus explores the relationship between certain mental illnesses and demonic possession. The psychiatric profession considers such a discussion taboo—indeed even the suggestion that evil spirits may influence the actions of the mentally ill is seen as an evidence of mental instability in itself. The spirit world, they argue, is nothing more than myth—a throwback to a more primitive age that 21st century man should abandon in favor of enlightened psychology. This is where evangelical Christianity and psychology clash. Indeed, this is where the facts of the crimes of such notorious killers as the Son of Sam and Adolf Hitler clash with the accepted paradigms of psychology and science—crimes that are so horrendous that they cannot be explained outside of a belief in the supernatural realm of the spirit world. The juncture of where these worlds collide is the focus of this book.