In Reply to: Was David Berg demon-possessed? posted by curious on March 05, 2004 at 15:21:17:
I spent three years working a night shift in a psychiatric emergency room. I saw some pretty wild stuff go down during that time, almost all of which was handled by a calm, caring demeanor, a chemical cocktail and (the worst cases) four-point restraints to a hospital bed.
People who are psychotic and/or in an emotional disequilibrium can be pretty scarey. There were times the hair on my neck would stand up from the stuff I saw & heard coming out of another human being. I don't know if there is such a thing as demon possession, but I do know I've seen some stuff that was treated as "insanity" that seriously spooked me. I never thought it hurt me to say my prayers and wear a protective medicine pouch.
Many of us who worked in psychiatric crisis stabilization did this sort of thing--sometimes we'd sprinkle the doorposts with holy water and do a little dance to the four winds when we knew a particularly bad case was coming in. We'd say we were just being superstitious, and then go ahead with our protective rituals. It made us feel better, because we knew how easy it is to have a very deep fear response triggered by some of the stuff that goes on when someone's psyche is deeply disturbed and raging out of control.