The Phenomenon of Demonic Possession: Definition, Contexts and Multidisciplinary Approaches

Abstract

Starting from the classical definition of "demonic possession" as a psychophysical condition in which a person becomes a victim of a supernatural being, be it a spirit, a demon, an angel, a divine creature or a family ancestor, the analysis continues with the examination of theoretical and practical profiles of this particular event, with an emphasis on approaches that tend to explain it, according to the most significant guidelines: ethnopsychiatric, the socio-anthropological, the cultural, the religious, the esoteric, the psychoanalytic and the clinician, to then re-elaborate everything in an integrated key, according to the neurobiological model, also with the help of the sophisticated investigation techniques used in criminal law.