Interfaith Group

Do you remember Primal Therapy? Although rather bizarre and hard to clinically justify, there is something to be said for a therapeutic cathartic experience. An exorcism, whether one believes in actual external demons or not, could provide this for some people.

One way to look at this is that it is the person themselves that has an evil or destructive side, which seems to be what you are describing.

Although I have never witnessed an exorcism, I suspect that they may sometimes resemble certain kinds of psychotherapy. It's the literalness of the demonic part that makes it hard to accept.

I'm not as familiar as you with archetypal based treatment, but there are parallels here with other kinds of therapy.

As usual, every case is quite different from every other case. If those making the determination about who should and should not receive exorcism are trained to identify those that might benefit from a dramatic, cathartic experience (and not be harmed by it), then that would be a good thing.

Of course, everything I have said here can and probably will be twisted into me saying that I endorse exorcism, which I don't.