Important Facts on Demonomania

Experts consider demonomania as a psychiatric illness and a type of melancholy that has its roots in spirituality. People affected by this disease consider themselves to be possessed by demons or an evil spirit. Others may believe that they have helped in meetings between evil spirits in an imaginary world. 

Spiritually, people affected with demonomania may believe that they have direct contact with the almighty. They might even believe that they can converse with holy spirits. The symptoms may include being obsessed with a single thought or feeling to the point of being unable to function naturally. Demonomania is derived from the Greek ‘monos’ (which means ‘one’) and mania (excitement).

Meaning of Demonomania

The Psychological Association of America defines demonomania as an unnatural obsession with demons and devilish possession. This includes the sentiment that one is owned or controlled by an evil spirit or the devil.

The French psychiatrist Esquirol highlighted the association between possession by demons and spiritual melancholy. In Des Maladies Mentales (1838), the psychiatrist dedicates a chapter to demonomania, understood by him as some sort of religious melancholy.

He claims that these religious beliefs arose in prehistoric times when primitive religion lost its potential. Religion could not provide a worldview due to people’s alienation from it. An increase in feelings of melancholy, grief, fear, and terror resulting from a more pessimistic worldview caused this alienation.

As a result, Esquirol explains the many occurrences of demonomania in the 16th and 17th centuries as the outcome of incorrect religious conceptions about predestined journeys, divine judgement, and so on.

The Demonomania Epidemic in Northern Italy

Demonomania outbreaks are so uncommon in today’s world that the subject has practically vanished from the minds of public health writers.

At the start of 1878, an epidemic broke out in Northern Italy in an isolated, remote part of the district of Tolmezzo, Udine. The epidemic began with the case of simple hysteria in a female, which was mishandled by uneducated priests as a case of ‘demonic possession’.

Slowly, the disease spread. It ended with 18 instances, 15 of which ranged in age from 16 to 26 years. The rest included people of 45, 55, and 63 years, respectively. When the word of the outbreak reached Udine, officials and medical personnel intervened quickly. They halted the spread of the disease and brought it to a close.

Research and Beliefs by the French Regarding Demonomania

• French philosopher Michel Foucault’s work on the history of lunacy highlights some of the causes of demonomania. His work established the chronology of psychiatry in France, and many researchers followed Foucault’s footsteps.
• The French believed that an excessive amount of alcohol caused a variety of mental illnesses, including demonomania.
• While some considered drug abuse a form of insanity, others believed that an opium overdose might result in demonomania.
• According to the French, eating datura, or thorn apple (which includes atropine), was another source of demonomania. In reality, datura is a hallucinogenic drug.
• The French psychiatrist Esquirol believed that this mental illness is caused by false concepts of religion (religious fanaticism, notions of religious punishment etc.).

Demonomania: An 18th-Century Viewpoint

The condition is further subdivided into the following three categories.

• First, ‘True Demonomania’, which researchers doubt exists.
• Second, ‘Feigned Demonomania’, which includes sorcerers, vampires, spiritual or political fanaticism, and opium-induced amnesia.
• Third, ‘Falsely Ascribed Demonomania’, which includes causes like worms and hysteria.

In Synopsis Nosologia Methodica (1769), writer William Cullen (1710–1790), professor at the University of Edinburgh, writes: ‘I don’t believe there is any actual demonomania, and all cases recorded are either:

1. A melancholia or mania species,
2. Diseases incorrectly attributed to the influence of demons by onlookers,
3. Fake ailments, or
4. Diseases that are somewhat real and partially staged.’

Symptoms of Demonomania

According to Esquirol, the primary symptoms of demonomania are as follows:

• Sadness and worrying
• Thoughts of being condemned or doomed
• Feelings of torture and despair
• The delusion of being overpowered by the evil
• Refusal to eat food and death wishes 

These melancholic features are frequently accompanied by a variety of hysteric symptoms, such as convulsions, contractions, and paralysis in demonomania.

However, Esquirol stated that there exists a type of demonomania that occurs without the awareness of the devil possessing one’s body. Demonomania of this form is defined by despair, fear of damnation, body mortification, and self-destruction. Esquirol says that such demonomania is difficult for psychiatrists to treat, although pastoral care and comfort have proven to be successful in certain situations.

Conclusion

Demonomania is a psychiatric illness that causes an unnatural obsession with demonic figures and the belief that one is possessed by evil spirits. It is a rare condition. Much research has been conducted on the origins of this disease, with french psychiatrists tracing the disease to an epidemic that occurred in Northern Italy in 1878. However, very few cases of demonomania and its symptoms have been recorded in recent years. One may explore the study of this disease with cerebral disruptions for a detailed overview. Causes ranging from excessive alcohol, an opium overdose, or eating thorn apples have been discovered as the causes of this less-known disease.