LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY pretentioustfu)

(note: I'm making this post as a kind of looking for more information on this topic as well as for sharing what little I have. It's intended as more of a collaborative discussion-opening than a definitive post. If someone has more links, especially to actual content from ministries involved or to anything else my OP here seems deficient in providing, please post and I'll edit this post to link your comment.)

After reading dogemperor's posts on theophostic counseling and its similarities to Scientology, having looked back on some of the encounters with just the "milder" side of deliverance ministry I believed in as a fundamentalist teenager(1), and having researched dissociative identity disorders somewhat, I'm becoming gravely concerned with a potential side effect of deliverance ministries and/or theophostic counseling and/or anything within the religious right/dominionism that wishes to "split" parts of someone's humanity or personality even out of a goal of eradicating "bad" behaviors.



That potential side effect would be dissociative identity disorder or similar dissociative disorders. According to the Causes and Risks sections on the Mayo Clinic site ( http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dissociative-disorders/DS00574/DSECTION=3 and http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dissociative-disorders/DS00574/DSECTION=4), dissociative disorders are most often caused by childhood trauma via physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. This site says they are "rarely" caused via adulthood trauma. The trauma isn't limited to parental abuse, especially in adult cases, as the risk factors section notes. Psychology Today's page on the subject notes that DID is, in effect, "characterized by a fragmentation, or splintering, of identity." http://psychologytoday.com/conditions/did.html

Many of these groups claim MPD/DID is "demonic". http://www.realdeliverance.com/mpd.shtml 
http://pullingdownstrongholds.com/deliverance/multiple_personality_disorder.htm  and http://www.boblarson.org/HOTTOPICS/MPD_Treated/mpd_treated.html.

So what does all of this have to do with deliverance ministry, theophostic and nouthetic counseling, the modern fundagelical/dominionist exorcism experience, and the dominionist mindset? I'm thinking that many of these groups are actively producing dissociative states in people involved in their exorcisms and in their theophostic/nouthetic counseling. In short, the groups are creating their own problems, while blaming the results of these botched "exorcisms" and the use of a dangerous, unproven counseling methodology which has dissociation as a known danger on "demons," which of course means more exorcisms, more counseling, and eventually, more damage to the individual.

Let's start with the dominionist/fundamentalist mindset in general. In it, there's been a major move from recognizing sin as a part of ordinary human actions to creating the idea that humans are duality and that the "sin nature" or "the flesh" is an almost physically separate entity in us compelling us always to do wrong and be evil, rather than one of many sides to our human experience. This is entirely separate from the idea of "demons" or "embedded lies," but it's a concept that easily lends itself to problems integrating one's personal identity and/or accepting responsibility for oneself and one's actions, and from which the concepts of demonic or satanic control can be argued.

Nevertheless, for as problematic as a dualistic view of humanity could be, it's not a problem unless the person holding the dualistic view is severely traumatized. Unfortunately, theophostic/nouthetic counseling on the "milder" end of the scale and untrained or self-trained exorcists on the more severe end can both produce this kind of trauma, especially when the person being victimized has been a victim of abuse or sexual assault (which these groups claim is an indication for their "interventions," i.e. a way someone can become "demonized" or "satanically harassed"). - Warning, all of the links in the parentheses are pro-dominionist and may be triggering.

Theophostic/nouthetic counseling, as outlined here in posts by dogemperor, is the milder and less dramatic form, but that may or may not make it less dangerous. My personal experience was with this form of counseling for the most part, and I am convinced that the process outlined in this therapy (especially being made to question whether your thoughts and actions are really your own or those of demons or "embedded lies from Satan") could cause a dissociative split in a vulnerable individual.

The more concerning form is exorcism, e.g. that advocated by groups such as Bob Larson Ministries, demonbuster.com, and groups that could arguably be much more extreme if not as public as these. Public "exorcisms" of this sort (and I would guess in-church exorcisms as well) seem to be very much traumatic emotional experiences, where people are forced to re-experience painful traumatic events, imagine traumatic events that have never even happened to them by reliving generational curses, for example, and all of this in a heavily pressure-filled social environment. Occasionally, they may even involve physically abusing or torturing the person (even a child) involved in the exorcistic ritual (http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/744426.html). The exorcists are often self-trained or trained by spiritually abusive groups, and called into action first, as opposed to Roman Catholic or Anglican exorcists who are trained and whose services are, responsibly, reserved for cases where no mental illness other than the "possession" exists.

For example, here is the only video I've found on YouTube showing Bob Larson engaging in the exorcism process. Note the forcing persons through emotional trauma, the verbally and emotionally abusive behavior, and on occasion physical assault (keep in mind to someone with body space issues, being smacked with a Bible would be a severe invasion, especially after being brought to the mental brink already). I do not recommend clicking this link to anyone who is easily triggered or who might find them disturbing:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=75TsvDIzIZc Bob Larson in action on a local news report from here. More primary source stuff at boblarson.tv but registration is required there.

(1: Full disclosure: When I was around 16-17, I watched Bob Larson when he was on a Christian station here, read books on demonology from the Moody Bible Institute, and convinced myself I was being oppressed by demons due to things like "generational curses," poverty, owning things that someone who had died had given me in a will, my growing love for video games and Japanese culture despite my then-fundamentalism, and my inability to "give up EVERYTHING for Christ," so I sought treatment with a counselor then using theophostic methods from the quite dominionist Shadow Mountain Community Church - he basically followed along with Neil T. Anderson's books like The Bondage Breaker)

ETA: (my HTML is giving me problems, so all of this will be uncoded)
lihan161051 has made a very interesting point about dominionists forcing exorcisms or theophostic counseling on youth here http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10905922#t10905922
and on theophostic/deliverance methods becoming a part of criminal justice here http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10906434#t10906434

more information on the specific groups and dangers by dogemperor here: http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10907714#t10907714
On home invasion exorcism, and on the risk to life and health and more info on the DID and PTSD risks:
http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10907970#t10907970
And on predisposition to and worsening of DID
http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10908226#t10908226
and on whether it's a deliberate tactic or not
http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10910786#t10910786
http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/853570.html?thread=10911042#t10911042