Trance phenomenon, seen from the medical side

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Often we hear horror stories about trance people where the body of a person is possessed by ghosts that are in a different dimension from us as humans. There are many horror stories about possessions that develop so that it becomes a belief.

Trance is believed to occur because a person's body has been possessed by a spirit or ghost. In Indonesia, possession can occur due to accidental or intentional factors. Some customary rituals intentionally summon ancestral spirits to enter the body of one member in the traditional village for a specific purpose.

However, actually in the medical eye, possession is a mental illness, and not a mystical thing. This mental disorder is caused by various factors, such as social and psychological factors.

How does medical science explain possessions?

Trance usually occurs in countries that still adhere to a culture or belief about mystical matters. However, it turns out possessions can also be explained on the medical side.

Trance in the medical eye is called "Possession Trance Disorder". Trance and possession disorder are new diagnostic categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV). DSM itself is a standard classification of mental disorders that is used by mental health professionals in the United States.

In the DSM-IV, possession trance disorder belongs to the category of dissociative disorder or dissociative disorder. Dissociative disorders are the loss of some or all of the integration between past memories, identity awareness, and sensations and controls of body movements. This means that a 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 individuals do not have mental awareness and / or their environment for a long time. Whereas a possession disorder is a term of experience that occurs in society or a term that describes the influence of an eternal agent (Cardena, 1992).

According to the WHO in the 2008 ICD 10 version, a possession trance disorder is a disorder in which a temporary loss of personal identity and full awareness of the environment. Including here intentional or unintentional possession conditions occur outside the religious situation or cultural acceptance. This means possessions do not occur because of a religious or cultural belief, but rather a person's mental factors.

Are there signs of trance?

When a person's body loses its identity, of course it doesn't become itself and acts like everyone else. So that when possessed or having a possession trance disorder, the person behaves strangely, talks unusual things, and in a different tone. Often after trances occur, the person concerned does not remember what he did.

Reporting from psychnet-uk.comtrance possession is characterized by temporary changes in identity where a person's normal identity is temporarily replaced or as if possessed by "spirit, ghost, power, god, or someone else". Experience being "owned" by other entities, such as people, gods, demons, animals, or inanimate objects, has different meanings in different cultures and therefore a diagnosis for this disorder may be culturally bound.

When someone is being taken possession of his identity or being possessed, the person usually experiences various signs, such as:

Loss of control over his actions
Behavior changes or act differently
Loss of environmental awareness
Loss of personal identity
Difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy when possessed
Change in tone of voice
His attention wanders
Difficulty concentrating
Loss of time awareness
Memory or memory loss
His body's appearance changed

Sometimes, the possession trance disorder is similar to other signs of mental disorders, such as dementia, epilepsy, schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, and dissociative amnesia. So, there must be a difference between the diseases so that the possession trance disorder can be diagnosed appropriately.

What can cause trance?

The possession condition can only be understood through a combination of biological, anthropological, sociological, psychopathological and experimental perspectives. Trance or possession trance disorder can be caused by a variety of factors, such as spiritual, social, psychological and physical factors. By carrying out an in-depth examination, it may be known that the causal factors.

Dissociative disorders can also cause this trance possession disorder. Because psychological trauma and repeated violence cause social and mental stress. This dissociative experience changes from non-pathological to pathological. However, there is no biological theory about the origin of this trance disorder disorder.

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