Spirit Release: Can Psychiatry Get Behind This?
Spirit Release and Psychiatry
Do you know anyone who suffers from patterns of negative thinking that just won’t go away, e.g. resentments, desire for revenge, self-hatred? At its worst, this can lead to obsessive thinking, night and day. The mind fills with negative thoughts like “I’m inadequate.” “I should be different than I am.” “I’m going to make someone else suffer”, or “I want to kill myself.”
Trying to change one’s pattern of thinking may be easy for some but can seem impossible for others, even with CBT and a good psychotherapist.
Spirit Release in the USA
The notion of “Depossession” aka “Spirit Release” is coming of age in the USA. The idea is that the spirit of a person who has passed away can attach itself to a human being, and add energy to their negative thinking patterns. The pattern of thinking then persists despite all therapies.
An effective depossession can detach the negatively motivated spirit and usher them into a higher state of consciousness. This relieves the human being as well as liberating the spirit. The person-in-body is now able to complete the work of fully letting go of the negative pattern of thinking and behaving that is no longer extreme.
In the USA, depossession is typically done by an individual practitioner with their client/patient present. A fee is charged for the spiritual intervention. The practitioner may work with their own spirit guides in what is often termed a “ceremony” that uses drumming, singing, and other elements, like fans made of feathers, which we often associate with shamanic practices.
Realize that some individual psychiatrists in the USA are trained in doing depossession and may even teach it as a protocol to use with patients. Kerri Husman, MD, published an article about her work, Healing Through Compassionate Depossession: A Shamanic Perspective.
Spirit Release in Brazil
Spiritist groups in Brazil have been developing their form of releasing spirits from human beings for more than 130 years via “disobsession”. Their practice was inspired by the writings of an academic, Allan Kardec, in France.
Disobsession is practiced in Spiritist Community Centers and Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals in Brazil. The Spiritist disobsession practices are not part of any religion or cult but align with a way of life that supports human evolution.
Disobsession is offered to individuals who don’t respond well through the help of personal therapy, group therapy, and other therapies offered by psychologists and psychiatrists as well as energy work, similar to Reiki.
The group intervention is free to the client/patient. The supervisor is there to make sure all the mediums feel balanced and present in ordinary consciousness before leaving the session.
Does Psychiatry Endorse This?
The spirit release practices are all based on the belief that spirits exist independent of a physical body but we are all ultimately destined to return to our maker. As more psychiatrists and healthcare providers accept the positive results of disobsession and depossession, we will have the opportunity to add these techniques to the increasingly popular paradigm of bio-psycho-social and spiritual care.
UK psychiatrists may be showing the way to dovetail psychiatry and spirituality. The Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK is the professional medical body responsible for setting and raising standards of psychiatry in the United Kingdom.
Andrew Powell MD was Founding Chair of the Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK in 2005. Today this interest group numbers 5,000+ members.
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Author: Emma Bragdon, PhD, leads annual 7-day seminars exploring Spiritist Therapies in Brazil. For more information, link to https://courses.imhu.org/courses/2025-weeklong-seminar-in-brazil-spiritist-therapies-in-brazil