The illustrious owner and chief editor of Paranormal Daily News, John Brocas, is also an academic and has a soon-to-be-published paper titled: “Expanding Grof’s Transpersonal Framework to Integrate Parapsychology and Address Spirit Intrusion in Spiritual Crises.” Spiritual intrusion can also be considered as an obsession state or what is known as possession, though the latter is very rare.
For the majority of people not familiar with these terms, Brocas is referring to Czech-born American psychiatrist Stanislav Grof (who, as of this writing, is still alive at the age of 93) and investigated the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics in the 1950’s and 60’s Soviet era. These ideas have caught on in the West only recently. (See the work of Dr. David Luke)
Grof and Transpersonal Psychology
One of the most notable areas of exploration in psychiatry for Grof was the idea of transpersonal psychology, where non-ordinary (aka exceptional) experiences are taken into account as part of the spectrum of human experiences instead of being treated as a sickness of the mind. These often exceptional experiences are then used to benefit the individual instead of being treated as aberrant behavior.
This paper branches out from the core of transpersonal psychology to introduce another element to be taken into account: nonphysical intelligent entities that attach themselves to people. Brocas uses the term “direct spiritual intrusion,” which is also known as possession, although that term is probably a bit too dramatic. Brocas writes in his paper:
This paper argues for an interdisciplinary framework that redefines pathology, and integrates empirical evidence with spiritual experiences that may be viewed as originating external to the individual . This framework could contribute to a more harmonious relationship between the experiential focus of transpersonal psychology and the empirical methodology of parapsychology. Additionally, it proposes that psychotic disorders such as psychosis and schizophrenia, could, in many cases be interpreted as instances of Intelligent Spirit Intrusion (Brocas, 2018).
It’s Like a Toxic Coworker
Think of spiritual intrusion as being similar in emotional impact to having to deal with a toxic relative or coworker on a daily basis—someone very negative and critical that you can’t really get away from. Their presence is a form of possession. I posed this to Brocas, and he agreed. Such a problem is neither a mental disorder nor lends itself to easy fixes. It weighs on a person and induces strong emotional reactions, but it is largely an external problem, even though the entire effect is on a person’s mental state.
Brocas goes on to provide a definition:
We can differentiate direct spiritual influence or possession states by using the term spiritual subjugation (Brocas, 2018). Spiritual Subjugation is the direct influence of an external force or intelligence where the individual’s will, spirit, or the immediate environment is controlled by the influencing intelligences. The Oppression's existence is demonstrably clear through both subjective and objective empirical data.
What he is saying in the last sentence is that this isn’t a matter of speculation. A proper diagnosis requires subjective (i.e. subject testimony and data from mediumship) and objective data. (observable behavior, emotional states, and intellectual capacity)
Is It an Intrusion or Something Else?
The existence of such entities is difficult to diagnose, and that is why Brocas suggests employing different methods to discern whether an intelligent spiritual intrusion is at play. It was beyond the scope of the article to address how one would go about treating such a condition, but it is an important consideration for further exploration. All of the symptoms begin in the mind, so the question arises about whether the treatment of an internal or external force causing the problem makes any difference. What does one do differently in the healing process when confronted with an external intrusion rather than an internal conflict?
I think that there is a difference. If we look at the example of dealing with a toxic relative or coworker, we observe that the problem a person faces is in maintaining their sense of identity in the face of external forces attempting to create a weaker and more submissive identity for them. Possession can also be treated as an external issue.
Conversely, an internal struggle is one where a person is finding or building their identity in the first place. The former is pushing against manipulation whose purpose is creating a false identity, the latter is a process of discovery. They are quite different goals and therefore require different approaches.
What John Brocas is suggesting here—that we take the idea of spiritual interference seriously—is, I think, a good one. Properly diagnosed, a therapist can then direct a person to focus on productive strategies for dealing with the problem.
Brazilian Methods
To that end, Brocas presents evidence from Brazil, where mediums are used to help determine if a mental illness, such as schizophrenia or psychosis, has a basis in spiritual interference. he writes:
A growing body of research [DP1] (Friel, 2024, p. 11) would suggest that psychosis and schizophrenia share the same similarities and experiences that are reported by mediums. This includes hallucinations, hearing voices, visions, and altered states. These symptoms are at risk of being wrongly pathologized (Moreira-Almeida, 2012) and the individual being treated for a psychiatric illness when, in fact, it is a more spiritual expression. In Brazil, spiritists who practice mediumship believe that many mental illnesses are caused by negative spirits. [DP2] They use a mediumistic approach to facilitate DE possession, a practice that mainstream psychiatry would likely pathologize.
He goes on to cite a specific case:
An example where this evidence would support the joint parapsychological approach was in a case in Scotland with a schizophrenic patient who was presenting with a combination of all pathology. The medium could bring forth evidence of the experiences and evidence of the influencing spirit or agency, as well as external phenomena witnessed. The evidence brought forth used a pyramid of evidence approach (Brocas, 2018) that corroborated experiential phenomena, as well as knowledge unknown. This case was a clear case of spiritual subjugation.
Brocas is raising an interesting question here about the basis for some cases of schizophrenia. Could people get some relief by addressing spiritual interference?
The Conscious Universe Model
If all of this sounds a bit “out there,” bear in mind that that attitude comes from assumptions about the nature of the universe. Many of us assume that the universe is material because that’s what our senses tell us is real. Under those conditions a noncorporeal intelligence seems quite unlikely. However, the world we experience originates in our minds, something that is often forgotten or brushed over. What we take for real is actually a picture that our mind creates. This suggests that consciousness, not the material world, is fundamental to physics. And since this appears to be true, then the existence of beings that are nonphysical is a foregone conclusion. When you remove the assumption of materialist theory, the spiritual interference, which initially appears far-fetched, becomes a concept worth taking seriously.
In the end, it’s not about theory; it’s about helping people in the quickest and effective way. If this approach turns out to be successful in helping people, then that is the only metric that really matters.
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