Table of contents:
- How does medical science explain trance?
- What are the signs of being possessed?
- What could have caused the trance?
Often times we hear horror stories about someone in a trance where the person's body is possessed by a ghost who is in a different dimension to us as humans. Many horror stories about trance develop into a belief.
Trance is believed to occur because a person's body has been possessed by a spirit or ghost. In Indonesia, trance can occur due to unintentional or deliberate factors. Some traditional rituals deliberately summon ancestral spirits to enter the body of a member of the traditional village for a specific purpose.
However, actually in the eyes of medicine, trance is a mental disorder, and not a mystical thing. This mental disorder is caused by various factors, such as social and psychological factors.
How does medical science explain trance?
Trance usually occurs in countries that still adhere to mystical culture or beliefs. However, it turns out that trance can also be explained in a medical sense.
Possession in the medical eye is called "Possession Trance Disorder". Trance and possession disorder is a new diagnostic category within Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV). DSM itself is a standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States.
In the DSM-IV, possession trance disorder is included in the category dissociative disorder aka dissociative disorder. Dissociative disorder is the loss of part or all of the integration between past memories, awareness of identity, and sensation and control of bodily movements. This means that possession trance disorder can be classified as a form of mental disorder related to changes in self-identity.
If interpreted separately, trance is defined as a mental state in which the individual does not have awareness of his mental and / or environment for a long period of time. While possession disorder is a term from experiences that occur in society or a term that describes the influence of eternal agents (Cardena, 1992).
According to WHO in ICD 10 version 2008, possession trance disorder is a disorder in which there is a temporary loss of personal identity and full awareness of the environment. This includes a state of trance, intentional or unintentional, occurring outside of a religious situation or cultural acceptance. This means that trance does not occur because of a religious or cultural belief, but rather a person's mental factor.
What are the signs of being possessed?
When a person's body loses its identity, of course he does not become himself and behave like other people. So that when possessed or experienced possession trance disorder, the person is acting strange, talking about unusual things, and in a different tone. Often after a trance has occurred, the person concerned does not remember what he has done.
Reporting from psychnet-uk.com, possession trance characterized by a temporary change in identity whereby a person's normal identity is temporarily replaced or appears to be possessed by a "spirit, ghost, power, god, or other person". The experience of being "possessed" by another entity, such as a person, god, demon, animal, or inanimate object, has different meanings in different cultures and therefore the diagnosis for this disorder may be culture bound.
When someone is being taken over ownership of their identity or is in a trance, that person usually experiences various signs, such as:
- Losing control over his actions
- Change in behavior or act differently
- Loss of environmental awareness
- Loss of personal identity
- Difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy in a trance
- Change in tone of voice
- His attention wandered
- Trouble concentrating
- Loss of awareness of time
- Loss of memory or recollection
- The appearance of his body changed
Sometimes, the signs of possession trance disorder are the same as those of other mental disorders, such as dementia, epilepsy, schizophrenia, Tourette's syndrome, and dissociative amnesia. So, it must be known the differences between these diseases in order possession trance disorder can be diagnosed precisely.
What could have caused the trance?
The condition of possession can only be understood through a combination of biological, anthropological, sociological, psychopathological and experimental perspectives. Trance or possession trance disorder can be caused by various factors, such as spiritual, social, psychological and physical factors. By doing an in-depth examination, maybe the causative factor can be identified.
Dissociative disorders can also cause possession trance disorder this. Due to psychological trauma and repeated violence causes social and mental distress. This dissociative experience changes from non-pathological to pathological. However, there is no biological theory about the origins of this possession trance disorder.
