A long-term spirit attachment and its removal

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A Case Study - the effects of a long-term spirit attachment and its removal
by Richard Hankins

Abstract
This case study, drawing on Richard's personal experience, deals with a long-term spirit attachment that first affected his life in early childhood before its eventual removal some sicty years later. It gives further insight into the effects of such an attachment in a particular life situation

The extract below is the first part of the study the full version can be accessed in .pdf format (Please click here to access and download).

Case Study

Part I: Some aspects of my life story

Early In 2016 I visited David Furlong as a client, with the presenting problem of dysthymia (low-grade, chronic depression), which started when I was about 18. I am now 61. Initially I lived with it giving me several difficult months each year. It wasn’t formally diagnosed as depression until I was 30 (one GP thought I had glandular fever, as so many students did).. From then on it was treated with anti-depressants by various GPs. These worked alright, but I was always aware that they were only treating the symptoms, and I was always wanting to find a real cure.

In pursuit of that cure, I tried numerous treatments including counselling, full blown psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, psychosynthesis, hypnotherapy, body work, mindfulness and creative writing. When I wasn’t actively trying one of these, I told myself that the depression was just a chemical imbalance, which was largely genetic (thus justifying the continued treatment with other chemicals).

By the time I arrived at David’s door at the age of 60, I had also developed over these years a spiritual practise of listening to my “inner voice”, with various lengths of time spent in a variety of Christian churches between 18 and 35, then dabbling in the New Age movement, and ending up as part of my local Quaker Meeting from the age of 50 onwards. So when David did a guided meditation to meet with my Higher Self (H-S) it felt pretty familiar territory. My H-S presented himself as a centaur named Alleyn.

More background details

I was able to share with David various events forming part of my life journey, but which I didn’t understand the relevance of at that time.

A major life event was going to university at 18. Within about three weeks of arriving for the first time, I was invited by my lab partner (I was reading engineering) to go with him to hear a Christian preacher talk about the relevance of Christianity to modern life. I had had the usual vague Church of England upbringing, with occasional church visits plus lots of school assemblies, which left me thinking that Christianity was pretty irrelevant to all modern life. The preacher was a sort of intellectual version of Billy Graham, and I was duly converted and absorbed into a very strong Christian fellowship within my college.

What occurred along with my conversion to Christianity was a major change of behaviour, perhaps even one of personality. I went from a very withdrawn, severely shy teenager totally lacking in confidence in any social situation, to a virtually normal, friendly person interested in other people and comfortable with being with them. I certainly did not become an extravert, but at least I was a fully functioning introvert, able to cope with – even thrive in - normal life.

Previously in my teens I had a few acquaintances who I did electronics or music with, but no-one I could call a friend who I could share my thoughts and feelings with. That was my state of mind from 11 through to this conversion period at 18. My only emotional “outlet” at this time was playing the piano, an activity I started about the age of 6, and I was very good at it, entering and winning numerous competitive classes in the Brighton Music Festival. At home I would play for many hours at a time: in this case think of the film “The Piano” rather than someone doing hours of tedious finger exercises. Indeed, if my piano playing had a problem, it was that I never did any exercises, and my technique was always poorly developed – but apparently more than made up for by emotional expressiveness.

By the end of my first year at university another change became apparent in my inner world – and that was the arrival of depression. I was struggling with the heavy academic work required. By the end of the second year I was totally unable to function in the exam room in many of the papers. At Cambridge that’s a serious matter because there are no retakes allowed. You either pass – or you fail. Fortunately I went to my tutor and told him about the problem before the results were announced – and I was duly packed off to the university counselling service. I don’t recall them achieving very much except to discover that “I had never shared with another person so much personal detail”, which was, of course, perfectly true. I failed the exams, but was awarded a pass on the basis of my previous coursework.

In subsequent years I experienced the depression in various ways. Firstly loss of energy and interest in life. I never missed a day’s work, but I could readily sit at my desk all day and do nothing. Secondly, I would get semi-suicidal thoughts like “What is the point of going on?”, “You are worthless”, and similar. And I noticed a sort of “tunnel vision” effect in my head – I have noticed the same effect from drinking too much alcohol, which is of course a depressant (contd as .pdf format).

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

♥♥♥♥

Richard Hankins is married to Rachel and has three adult sons. He studied engineering at Cambridge University and went on to work in various branches of electronics until he he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2000. That led to early retirement - at least from paid work. Richard now does voluntary work helping people suffering from mental ill health, who have problems with the benefits system and who generally find everyday life a severe challenge. He has been interested in spiritual matters all his life and joined the Quakers in 2005.

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

Links
The following link to David's website may be of interest:

David Furlong - 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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