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What are God/ Goddess possessions?
Q: Are Amma possessions ( Goddess possessions) during the fairs in the villages true? According to Science, how can it be considered as real? How can we trust them?
Krishna: You can see such possessions in all religions and cultural backgrounds.
You asked about scientific point of view, therefore, I deal with it only.
The reason that women are more commonly seen in Afro-Eurasian God possession cults is because of deficiencies in thiamine, tryptophan-niacin, calcium, and vitamin D. A combination of poverty and diet cause this problem, and that it is exacerbated by the strains of pregnancy and lactation. They postulated that the involuntary symptoms of these deficiencies affecting their nervous systems have been institutionalized as possession. In clinical psychiatry, trance and possession disorders are defined as "states involving a temporary loss of the sense of personal identity and full awareness of the surroundings" and generally classed as a type of dissociative disorder (1)
People alleged to be possessed by spirits sometimes exhibit symptoms similar to those associated with mental illnesses such as psychosis, catatonia, mania, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder (2,3,4).
It is not uncommon to ascribe the experience of sleep paralysis to demonic possession, although it's not a physical or mental illness.(5, 6)Studies have found that alleged demonic possessions can be related to trauma.
Article on Dissociative Identity Disorder, the DSM-5 states, "possession-form identities in dissociative identity disorder typically manifest as behaviours that appear as if a 'spirit,' supernatural being, or outside person has taken control such that the individual begins speaking or acting in a distinctly different manner"(7).
Women are more likely to be involved in spirit or God/ Goddess possession cults than men are, and according to some researchers such cults act as a means of compensation for their exclusion from other spheres within their respective cultures.
The reason that women are more commonly seen in Afro-Eurasian God possession cults is because of deficiencies in thiamine, tryptophan-niacin, calcium, and vitamin D. A combination of poverty and diet cause this problem, and that it is exacerbated by the strains of pregnancy and lactation. They postulated that the involuntary symptoms of these deficiencies affecting their nervous systems have been institutionalized as possession. In clinical psychiatry, trance and possession disorders are defined as "states involving a temporary loss of the sense of personal identity and full awareness of the surroundings" and generally classed as a type of dissociative disorder (1)
People alleged to be possessed by spirits sometimes exhibit symptoms similar to those associated with mental illnesses such as psychosis, catatonia, mania, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder (2,3,4).
It is not uncommon to ascribe the experience of sleep paralysis to demonic possession, although it's not a physical or mental illness.(5, 6)Studies have found that alleged demonic possessions can be related to trauma.
Article on Dissociative Identity Disorder, the DSM-5 states, "possession-form identities in dissociative identity disorder typically manifest as behaviours that appear as if a 'spirit,' supernatural being, or outside person has taken control such that the individual begins speaking or acting in a distinctly different manner"(7).
Those who act as possessed may sometimes "act" to attract attention. Some those who trust them
may believe that all that is real too.
It is not actually a superstition but most of the time a 'cultural or traditional act' during festivals,
where women demand attention to compensate for their downgraded positions and might feel elated when others around them worship or give importance to them.
Footnotes:
5. Beyerstein (1995), pp. 544–552.
7. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013. pp. 293. ISBN 978-0-89042-554-1.
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