Demons? Or Psychological Disturbances?

To what extent do you feel as a Christian that afflictions often attributed to demon attacks are psychological in nature instead?

How often do demons attack us?
 
This is a good topic.

When I worked as a police officer I would encounter very crazy people really often and I always wondered if what I was seeing was a demonic possession or just a mental illness. I don't think that all mental illness is caused by demons, although some of them definitely could be.

I got a call once for a "signal 16," which means demented person. I showed up and this lady was freaking out. She was about 65 years old and she was jumping up and down and couldn't stand still. I talked to her and she calmed down a little bit. She was screaming blasphemous stuff even after she calmed down though. When the ambulance took her away the woman's mother, who was really old, told me that a demon entered her daughter when she was really young while she was dreaming. She said that as a girl she was dreaming about their house being on fire and she woke up screaming and cussing. I forgot to ask how old she was.

I had to deal with that woman about six times. She was the only person I met while on the police department that ever scared me. One of the other times I got a call at her house her son showed me a video he had taken of her having an episode before I got there. It was probably the most horrifying thing I've ever seen that was real. She was speaking in different voices and hitting herself. It was very creepy.

Other crazy people I talked to never gave me that vibe. They just seemed like normal crazy people.
 
Wow, that's...scary for sure. The inside of that woman's head is probably a nightmarish place to be.

There are no right or wrong answers to this question, I don't think anyone can ever know for sure what they are dealing with, but given that the field of mental health seems to be able to explain so much these days I wondered where everyone sits on the issue.
 
Even for those that are trained in demology the differences between insanity and a demonic influence are subtile.
As has been mentioned on other threads, RCC exorcists are required to have the apparent demoniac go through psychological analysis before any attempt is made of actual exorcism.

The quickest test requires two people (and the subject). One should speak to and otherwise distract the subject while the other person (who has hidden a blessed object in his hand ) nonchalantly raises his hand with the blessed object behind the subjects head. If the person is possessed they will react strongly to the presence of the blessed object.

Other signs of true possession are aversion to the names of God, Jesus, Saints, etc., violent reaction to Holy Water, speaking in unknown tongues, inhuman strength, abnormal stenches from no source, and of course odd phenomena like levitation or stuff flying around of its' own accord.
 
Even for those that are trained in demology the differences between insanity and a demonic influence are subtile.
As has been mentioned on other threads, RCC exorcists are required to have the apparent demoniac go through psychological analysis before any attempt is made of actual exorcism.

The quickest test requires two people (and the subject). One should speak to and otherwise distract the subject while the other person (who has hidden a blessed object in his hand ) nonchalantly raises his hand with the blessed object behind the subjects head. If the person is possessed they will react strongly to the presence of the blessed object.

Other signs of true possession are aversion to the names of God, Jesus, Saints, etc., violent reaction to Holy Water, speaking in unknown tongues, inhuman strength, abnormal stenches from no source, and of course odd phenomena like levitation or stuff flying around of its' own accord.

That woman could have been speaking in unknown tongues. I couldn't understand what she was saying but could tell it wasn't her normal voice. Most of the crazy people I dealt with were very strong though.
 
Has anyone here actually seen a demon? I watch a lot of scary movies and I was wondering if any of the stuff I see in the theater has any truth in reality.
 
To what extent do you feel as a Christian that afflictions often attributed to demon attacks are psychological in nature instead?

How often do demons attack us?
It is a complex discussion.

On the one hand, we can give them too much credit. We are mostly stupid, mad and promote evil without them. On the other, there are millions of them and they are bored. They are a greater creation then us / more intelligent, hence we would never be 100% certain if it was them harassing us.

Let's just be clear on some facts.
1. Christians cannot be possessed.
2. The unsaved are protected to a degree by God.
3. Children can be affected by demons through evil parents welcoming them into their house.
4. Many sicknesses do come from them. Albeit explainable by science. Example Matt 8:16 and Matt 12:22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
 
Has anyone here actually seen a demon? I watch a lot of scary movies and I was wondering if any of the stuff I see in the theater has any truth in reality.

I can't say for sure if I've ever seen one, but I'm convinced I felt one years ago when I was in high school. I am often reluctant to accept I've seen a felt something like that, but in this case, I really suspect I have.

When I say felt one, I mean very literally -- one sitting on my chest while I was trying to go to sleep and I stopped breathing. It wasn't the same gasping for air that I experience when I have asthma attacks (I have asthma), but it was as if the wind was just knocked out of me. When I experience asthma attacks, it's more of an internal tightness in my chest. With this one, it felt more like immediate pressure on top of my chest. But it was also a very non-peaceful, scarey feeling I had as if something was with me that needed to be gone -- something not of this world at all.

I prayed over and over again for God to help, and suddenly, it felt whatever it was sitting on my chest just left immediately.
 
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