Spirit Release and Mental Health

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Ethnic Health Initiative Conference - September 2013
Spirit Release and Mental Health
Conference report by David Furlong

Background
This well attended conference, the third in the series on spirit release run by the Ethnic Health Initiative, was held at Oxford House, in Bethnal Green, West London.

Introduction
Dr Sashi Sashidharan, a Consultant Psychiatrist from an independent practice, introduced the conference. He highlighted the different ways that a spirit could take possession of the body from a slight influence to a complete take over, where the client afterwards had no memory on what had happened. He confirmed that not all possession is negative but can have sometimes a positive benefit in helping individuals deal with trauma. He did recognise that malign entities can cause considerable distress. Dr Sashidharan then spoke about a study in Mozambique, carried out by a team of medical anthropologists, which showed that 18.6% of the study group had had some experience of possession and 5.6% had had multiple experiences. This study suggested that there was a relationship between these figures and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In Western medicine individuals displaying symptoms of spirit possession are usually diagnosed as schizophrenic but this is often not helpful and can tend to marginalise non-western perceptions. Dr Sashidharan then referred to the book "Crazy Like Us: The Globalisation of the American Psyche" by Ethan Watters, which showed how the American conception of mental health, linked with the drug companies drive to use psycho-pharmaceuticals, had bulldozed through traditional systems of health and healing causing enormous issues and problems. In this context trying to understand 'spirit possession' has become problematic because the real causes of this experience are not addressed or understood. Finally Dr Sashidharan, stressed one of the themes that ran through the day of 'humility' in trying to relate to what is happening to individual clients.

The following talks were also given at the conference and are described in more detail in the .pdf article see below for link.

The Anthropology of Spirit Possession by Professor Simon Dein

Jinn and Possession by Dr Najat Khalifa

The Perils of Being Porous by Isabel Clarke

Talking with Demons by Dr Rufus May

The full article is available in .pdf format. Please click her to access.

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David Furlong grew up in a family that practised spiritual healing and discovered, as a young child, how to access his healing skills. He has been a healer for more than forty years. He is one of the founder tutors of the College of Healing and was the first Chairman of the Natural Health Network. The author of five books including The Healer Within, Working with Earth Energies and Healing Your Family Patterns, he has run workshops and training courses for more than thirty-five years. He is the founder of the Spirit Release Forum.

Background Reading
The following books are recommended as further information to the above article.

Links
The following links to other website may be of interest:

David Furlong - http://www.davidfurlong.co.uk/

Background Articles
The following articles are the process of development and will be added to and updated on a regular basis.

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The Soul Journey	Soul/Body Link	Health Issues	Death & Transition
The articles here explore the recent developments in understanding the journey of the soul through various incarnations as well as information about its sojourn in between lives in the spirit realms. The Soul's Journey Reincarnation	In order to experience the Soul needs to be energetically linked into the body. The articles here look at various models that explains how this might occur, providing a further insight into the Soul/mind/body link. The Soul/Body Link Soul Fragments and Retrieval	Imbalances between the Soul and the mind/body can lead to a large range of health issues including mental and psychological problems. Mental imbalances include 'Dissociative Disorders' and 'Trance States'. Causes for Attachments Electromagnetic Pollution	One of the most challenging experiences that we will all have to face is the death of the physical body. The Near Death Experience or NDE tells us what should happen and provides insights into why spirits get trapped. Death and Transition Near Death Exp.(NDE)
Trapped Souls	Psychic Issues	Spirit Attachments	Spirit Release
There appear to be many reasons why Souls fail to make a full transition and become trapped or 'earthbound' and still able to influence the physical planes. We explore here some of the issues involved. Earthbound Souls	Sensitive people can be aware of a whole range of 'subtle' energies that can cause them considerable distress. The articles here explore these various states and the way that negative energies can be deliberately created. Geopathic Stress Curses	Individuals suffering invasions or spirit attachments claim a wide variety of different types of attaching entities, in addition to normal human Souls. We look here at some of the claims that have been made. Spirit Attachments Shadow Entities	We explore the processes that can be adopted to help release trapped or 'earthbound' spirits. The articles here also considers the differences between spirits that attach to people and those that are stuck in places. Spirit Release  - Background  - Places Part1  - Places Part2  - People Background  - People  - Demonic Release Pt1  - Demonic Release Pt2

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