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Who's Talking?
Who's Talking?
Who's Talking?
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Who's Talking?

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Schizophrenic patients who hear voices describe them as being alien and external to themselves and they adopt a paranormal explanation. Although psychiatrists assert that a primary need is to establish the identity of the voices and to use the views of patients as a starting point of any treatment, they commonly dismiss this type of explanation without applying any tests. Such a view does not validate patient’s experience. Dr. Robert Hartley attempts to do so by asking whether spirits and other forms of disembodied consciousness may account for the voices that schizophrenic patients hear. He does so by considering psychiatric research findings, theories and treatments in the light of what is understood about spirits, spirit communication and release, incorporated in the ‘spirits model’. If spirits do account for the voices then any related theory needs to account for the research findings. Can this model explain the major and anomalous auditory hallucination research findings? Triggers, various coping strategies and experiences labelled delusional are also interpreted in the light of the model.

‘Who’s Talking?’ validates voice hearers experience and opens a debate by seeking to answer these questions, and in so doing suggests new considerations, avenues of research, and improvements to clinical practice. Dr. Hartley shares his experiences in actively testing various spiritual approaches and therapies. He considers that a fruitful way to clarify this fundamental issue is to talk to the voices, try out different tests and measures and to implement research into the efficacy of Spirit Release Therapy. There is a need to apply scientific principles, as a new realm of experience is explored. This is necessary, if one wishes to fully consider what might be contributing to the mental health problems experienced by individuals.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 21, 2013
ISBN9781301103447
Who's Talking?
Author

Robert Hartley

Robert Hartley worked as a research child psychologist in London’s East End and was awarded a doctorate in psychology at the Institute of Education, London University. He then trained as is a documentary film director and made films for television. He trained at the National Film & Television School and he won the British Film Institute Award as Outstanding Newcomer to British Film & Television and other international film awards. He has combined these disciplines in making films about children, psychiatry and psychology. He has published research as a child psychologist and he has also taught documentary film production at London Metropolitan University. In the course of researching a documentary film about mediums in the 1990s, he became interested in spirit phenomena (writing ‘Helen Duncan The Mystery Show Trial’), and whether some practises in this field could help people suffering from psychiatric and psychological problems. He has spent many years exploring this area and related treatments, and is interested in carrying out research to learn more about the source of the distressing voices heard by people and develop effective treatments.

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    Who's Talking? - Robert Hartley

    Who’s Talking?

    Dr. Robert Hartley

    Published by Robert Hartley at Smashwords

    Copyright 2013 Robert Hartley

    The right of Robert Hartley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

    ISBN 978 - 1-3011034 - 4 - 7

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Front Cover designed by Dave Jackson, Abbotts Print, London

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    ******

    About the author

    Robert Hartley worked as a research child psychologist and was awarded a doctorate in psychology at the Institute of Education, London University. He then trained and worked as a documentary film director where he made films related to psychiatry, psychotherapy, and children. He won national and international film awards, has published research as a psychologist, taught documentary film production at London Metropolitan University, and has written articles and books about film and spiritual related matters. In the course of researching a documentary film about mediums in the 1990s, he became interested in considering whether some practises in this field could help people suffering from psychiatric and psychological problems. He has explored this area and related treatments over many years, and is interested in carrying out research to learn more about the source of the distressing voices heard by people and develop effective treatments.

    ******

    Table of Contents

    Acknowledgements

    Preface

    Introduction

    Spirits Model

    A Personal Experience

    Reality of Hallucinations

    Normal Population

    Judging Voices

    Types of Spirits

    Identity of Voices

    Bereavement

    Internal External Voices

    Olfactory, Visual & Tactile Hallucinations

    Inner Speech Accounts

    Deafness

    Other Theories

    Voices Appear To Know Intimate Details of Life

    Socio-psychological Theories

    Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

    Mindfulness

    Can Others Hear The Voices?

    Triggers, Darkness and Implications

    Sadness and Darkness

    Relationship Counselling

    Alone

    Time of Day

    Food

    Energising the Entity

    Voices Who Ask Questions

    Coping Strategies

    Shouting at the Voice

    Watching TV

    Relaxation

    Mental Effort

    Exposure

    Non-reaction

    Covering Hands

    Touch

    Earplugs

    Memory & Delusions

    Memory

    Delusions

    Thought Broadcast

    Thought Intrusion & Insertion

    Blocking & Blanking of Thoughts

    Thought Capture

    Reference to Devices

    Visual Hallucinations

    Mind Reading/Telepathy

    Being Controlled

    Grandiose Delusion

    Beliefs about Voices from the Devil

    Belief that the TV or radio broadcasts are communicating to the patient

    Death Rays from an Enemy

    The ‘Spirits Model’ Response

    A Moral Response

    Knowledge

    ‘Spirits Model’: Some apparent inconsistencies

    Loss of Energy

    Heart

    Voices of the Living

    Backing Off

    Assisting Spirits

    Past Lives & Thought Forms

    Locations

    Telepathic Implications

    Preparing Materials

    Scheduling Contact

    Acceptance

    Natural Mediums

    Psychiatrists Are Talking To The Voices

    Are Voices Sub-personalities?

    Clinicians may be mistaken: Patients won’t co-operate

    ‘Spirits Model’ acknowledges both dissociative states and spirits

    Wrongly invalidating patient’s views

    The voices are protective

    The questioning

    Spirits target sub-personalities

    Energy Exchange

    Refusal to Talk

    Using Voice Dialogue as a self-help coping strategy

    How are Romme & Escher getting the results they clam?

    Discussion

    Research Directions

    Conclusion

    Notes

    Appendix

    References

    *****

    Acknowledgements

    I wish to thank a number of people who kindly made comments on the manuscript Dr. Tom Zinser, Dr. Terry Palmer, Dr. Andrew Powell, Dr. Jim Geekie, Peter Bullimore, Dr. Ruby Osario, Dr. Isobel Clarke, Dr. Charles Heriot-Maitland and David Furlong. I also have to thank Carolyn Hardiman for proof reading. In terms of developing my own understanding of the field through active participation I need to sincerely thank Bob Corse, Jackie Jenkins, Cathy Spencely and Elsie Mylonas.

    Back to Contents

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    Preface

    As someone who first trained and worked as a research psychologist later when I became a documentary film director I became interested in many broader issues as I carried out research and sought to portray different subjects and the experiences of individuals. I found myself frequently addressing subjects from the perspective of a film director and psychologist.

    In the early 1990s chance led me to conduct research for a film project about mediums and the afterlife. In the course of that research, I saw a lot of spirit phenomena and spoke to many people who claimed to hear the voices of spirits. I naturally also became interested from a psychological research perspective. One question that immediately raised itself was whether schizophrenic patients who claimed to hear voices might be hearing voices from the same source. I found it interesting that the purported ‘spirits’ claimed that these voices came from within their sphere. This led me to explore and test a range of different complementary spiritual approaches used to help individuals suffering from psychological and emotional problems, whom practitioners thought might be troubled by spirits. I saw many people helped by various ‘spirit release’ practices.

    It is interesting that schizophrenic patients who hear voices commonly describe them as being alien and coming from outside themselves, and many adopt a paranormal explanation. Although psychiatrists assert that a primary need is to establish the identity of the voices, and to use the views of patients as a starting point of any treatment, they commonly dismiss this type of explanation without applying any tests.

    As someone who was open to exploring such a possibility I thought that it was important to attempt to do so by examining whether spirits and other forms of disembodied consciousness can account for the voices that schizophrenic patients hear. I decided to do so by considering psychiatric research findings, theories and treatments in the light of what is understood about spirits, spirit communication and release, incorporated in the ‘spirits model’. If spirits do account for the voices then any related theory needs to account for the research findings, and establish an empirical research base. Can this model explain the major and anomalous auditory hallucination research findings? Can triggers, coping strategies and experiences labelled delusional also be reinterpreted in the light of this model?

    ‘Who’s Talking?’ is an attempt to explore these questions, and in so doing, raise new considerations, avenues of research, and also possible insights and improvements to clinical practice. Hopefully it will also encourage voice hearers to join the debate and try out different approaches. I share my experiences in actively testing various spiritual approaches and therapies. I believe that the most fruitful way to clarify these fundamental issues is to talk to the voices, to try out different tests and measures and implement research. There is a need to apply scientific principles as a new realm of experience is opened up. This is necessary, if one wishes to fully consider what might be contributing to the mental health problems experienced by individuals.

    Another reason for writing this book is my concern for individual voice hearers. Many people who hear voices are left without any theory or approach that validates and speaks to their experience. They are left unsupported and many have to deny their experience, while some develop views about the paranormal that do not accord with the accepted understanding of spirit related phenomena. It is for this reason that I present the ‘spirits model’ and discuss the options facing voice hearers in terms of understanding, how to approach the experience and treatment. There is still much work to do as many research questions remain unanswered but hopefully insights and new approaches can be developed that validate patient’s experience and move the field forward.

    Back to Contents

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    Introduction

    Auditory hallucination is a defining feature of psychotic illness and a common symptom for schizophrenia. Hallucinations are defined as sensory experience that occur in the absence of corresponding external stimulation of the relevant sense organ, over which the subject does not feel he/she has direct or voluntary control. They have a sufficient sense of reality to resemble a veridical perception, and they occur when awake (David 2004).

    Auditory hallucinations (AH) occur in 60% (Slade & Bentall 1988) to 74% (Mueser et al. 1989, Sartorius et al. 1974) of schizophrenics. Hallucinations occur in a variety of conditions including, anxiety, depression, epilepsy (Beavan 2011), bereavement (Pierre 2010), migraine, trauma (sexual abuse, bullying, combat veterans, refugees), DID (Ross 2004), dissociation and reactive processes (Escher et al 2004), bipolar disorder, illegal drugs (LSD, cocaine), prescribed medication, alcohol withdrawal (Kingdon & Turkington 1993), PTSD (Pierre 2010), for those being held hostage (Siegel 1984), solitary confinement (Grassian 1983), experiencing sleep deprivation (Oswald 1983) and sensory deprivation (Vernon 1963).

    Many researchers have increasingly come to recognise the importance of the patients’ own views (Geekie 2004) and the British Psychological Society recommended that ‘service users should be acknowledged as experts on their own experience’ (p.7, 2000). A great number of patients believe that the voices they hear are discarnate entities or spirits, yet clinicians do not test for it and so are therefore unable to determine if the voices are spirits or not.

    Voices have been viewed as ‘religious or spiritual phenomena (voices of Gods, demons, angels), supernatural or psychic experiences (indicative of ghosts or telepathy), psychological experiences (post traumatic, dissociative, psychotic) or entirely normal (voice of conscience, experiences own thoughts, creative inspirations, grief experiences, hypnopompic and hypnagogic experiences)’ (Moskowitz & Corstens 2007 p.35-36). For the past 150 years efforts have been made to distinguish between these different forms of hallucinations.

    Researchers are mindful of the importance of cultural beliefs and that many of the voices identify themselves in similar terms, as spirits. These spiritually oriented beliefs, regardless of what identity the voices claim for themselves, can be summarised as supernatural or discarnate entities producing the voices. Romme & Escher (1994) invited voice hearers from the general public to contact them, and found people adopted a similar frame of reference relating to parapsychology, reincarnation, metaphysics, collective unconscious or spirituality of a higher consciousness. Romme and Escher (1994) proposed that ‘we might learn more if psychiatry, parapsychology and transpersonal psychology were to share research efforts and results more freely’ (p.249). Hastings (1983) considers that there is the need to distinguish parapsychological from psychopathological phenomena.

    Although many patients identify the source of their voices as coming from supernatural entities or spirits, many voices identify themselves in the same way, and the literature emphasises the importance of taking note of the views of patients and not invalidating them, there has been no attempt to test if the voices are indeed produced by entities that may represent spirits. If these voices are caused by spirits as many patients believe then no breakthrough will be made in psychiatry until research is carried out, and in the meantime many patients’ experience will be invalidated as clinicians ‘challenge, threaten or undermine their authority’ (Geekie & Read 2008).

    Geekie & Read (2008) observe that such questions raise both philosophical and pragmatic issues for many psychiatrists and those who seek help, as they search for meaning about their experience. Many patients adopt this perspective in interpreting their experience and the field emphasises the importance of listening to their views and validating their experience. Despite these assertions they state that the views of patients are not integrated, even though it is widely agreed that it is beneficial to start any therapy from the patient’s viewpoint.

    Geekie et al. (2008) assert that the literature and the thinking about psychosis is characterised by a failure of integration, which has become a ‘serious obstacle as it inhibits both conceptualisations and clinical approaches to psychosis’. They identify a failure of integration apparent within the professional clinical literature, and between the professional clinical literature and other discourses on madness (lay and cross-cultural perspectives). They characterise the literature as being constituted by a variety of theories rather than offering an evaluation of the relative merits of these various theories. Benjamin (1989) makes the same point in asserting that the operationalization and empirical testing of respective hypotheses has been largely neglected.

    Waters et al. (2007) assert that it is a priority to develop theories to accommodate the empirical evidence and Jones & Fernyhough (2007) assert that any theory claiming to offer an explanation of AH must explain the major research findings. This paper views it worthwhile to do so from the point of view of the so-called ‘spirits model’ (Kardec 1986, Austin 1998, Storm 1998).

    The term ‘spirits’ will be adopted for ease of discussion, and as a working assumption. A spirit is defined here as an intelligent being made by the source (that many refer to as God), and it possesses a divine spark of the source. Spirits have their own individuality and free will. Each spirit survives eternally and they are independent of matter. Every human being is a spirit either incarnate or discarnate.

    Back to Contents

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    Spirits Model

    Although researchers note that the voices patients hear are likely to have a supernatural identity (Stolar 2004, Chadwick & Birchwood 1994), they are faced with difficulties in addressing such a proposition, as they have no way of determining what a patient is actually experiencing in that sense. It is considered helpful to consider the literature related to auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia in the light of the so called ‘spirits model’. How far does the model account for the existing findings in the literature, does it generate testable hypotheses, new clinical insights and research?

    It is seen as worthwhile to consider Ockham’s razor in the development of theoretical models of AH. As a logical principle, Ockham’s razor would demand that scientists accept the simplest possible theoretical explanation for existing data but it has not been applied to this field. Considering the research findings in the light of this heuristic seems necessary and worthwhile.

    The ‘spirits model’ asserts that many of the voices patients and nonpatients hear come from spirits (Modi 1995), and so by definition these individuals are acting as mediums. As the ‘spirits model’ has never been tested against the other theoretical models then any conclusions as to the cause of hallucinations in the literature is presumptuous.

    The spirits model is drawn from the work of mostly western psychiatrists, researchers and practitioners who have sought to communicate with disembodied voices influencing individuals and have critically analysed the communications in an effort to understand their nature and develop clinical practices to alleviate the suffering experienced. Many have sought to change the condition and in so doing gained insight into its nature. These workers include psychiatrists Wickland (1952), Sanderson (1998, 2003a,b), Modi (1997), McAll (1994, 2002), Powell (2003), clinical psychologists Fiore (1988), Zinser (2010), Baldwin (1995), psychotherapists Van Dusen (1990, 1994), Crabtree (1988), hypnotherapists Ireland-Frey (1999), Hickman (1994), Tomlinson (2006, 2011), physician and therapist Sagan (1997) and educator, intellectual and investigator Allan Kardec (2007, 1986).

    The ‘spirits model’ incorporates Spirit Release Therapy (SRT) which refers to the practice of releasing from the patient or host any disembodied consciousness (Baldwin 1995). SRT is being applied by practitioners in various cultures around the world (Harwood 1972, 1977, Grapanzano & Garrison 1977, Ward 1989, Perez y Mena 1977) and in Brazil its methods are being used widely (Hess 1987, Lucchetti et al. 2011, Moreira-Almeida & Neto 2005) in over fifty State run psychiatric hospitals beginning from the 1930’s (Bragdon 2011) where patients can elect to have Spiritist (SRT) treatments.

    The model asserts that some patients experiencing voices may also be responding to sub-personalities, alter-personalities or soul fragments formed in reaction to traumatic experiences (Baldwin 1995, Zinser 2010), thought forms, the influence of other incarnate minds and other entities of various kinds human and nonhuman (Baldwin 1995) as well as from the patient’s own imagination. The ‘spirits model’ asserts that there is a need to identify the true source of the hallucinations before one can successfully treat the patient.

    The model asserts that spirit influence is a cause of many mild to severe psychological, emotional and physical conditions, in which hearing voices is only one affect. In most cases, attached spirits have no executive power. They may influence feelings and perceptions, but only rarely do they displace the host, as for example in fugue states and alcoholic blackouts. Conditions caused by the influence of spirits include depression, sleep disorders, anorexia, obesity, anxiety disorders, PTSD (Albertson et al. 1988), paralysis, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, addictions, criminality, panic attacks (Modi 1997), gender dysphoria (Fiore 1988), compulsions, irrational behaviour, unexplained somatic conditions, changes in personality, rapid moods swings, fears and phobias, anomalous sexual behaviour, poor concentration and memory, relationship difficulties, suicidal preoccupation, psychotic symptoms and obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Discarnate entities can cause physical pain, deafness and visual impairment. Some patients hear voices but for the most part spirits do not make their presence known to the host. It is during the therapeutic session using hypnosis, where the intention is to release any spirit attachments that they are commonly provoked to speak, often through the voice of the patient. This commonly occurs in response to the therapist asking if there is someone else inside this body, or making similar enquiries.

    Fiore (1988) reports that at least 70% of her patients had spirit attachments, while Baldwin, Hickman and Ireland-Frey (see Ireland-Frey 1999) estimate between 70-80%. Modi (1995) reports that 80% of primary symptoms and about 30% secondary symptoms of her patients were caused by spirits and soul fragmentation. Avildo Fioravanti the President of the Spiritist organisation (FEESP) in San Paulo reports a 90% success rate with addicts and the suicidal depressed, without dependence on drug therapy (Bragdon 2011) using mediumship practices. Practitioners report that real spirits are the primary agency in schizophrenia and psychotic states and many other illnesses and do not originate from the patient’s imagination.

    Leão & Neto (2007) report weekly 2 hour remote SRT procedures (patients not present) over a 6 month period produced a significant improvement on an interactive observation scale of clinical and behavioural change with mentally disabled psychiatric inpatients (n=20) compared with matched paired patients not receiving the treatment.

    Sanderson (2010) considers that schizophrenia presents a challenge for individual practitioners using Baldwin’s direct approach if patients lack ego strength and the clear boundaries necessary for successful treatment. SRT can be applied directly to many voice hearers and there are also remote approaches that can be more easily applied in these cases using mental mediums (Hickman 1994), trance mediums (Wickland 1952, Moreira-Almeida et al. 2005) or a hypnotised mediator, usually a friend, family member or a good hypnotic subject (Modi 1997, Ireland-Frey 1999).

    Currently the NHS refuses treatment by SRT and associated methods, research or access to NHS patients. The ‘spirits model’ has been highly critical of psychiatry for refusing to acknowledge the possibly that patients may suffer from spirit influence (Kardec 2007) and claim psychiatric practices cause considerable suffering because they treat schizophrenia as if it were an organic condition. Scientific proof of the extinction of the spirit and soul after physical death has never been demonstrated so scientifically the question is still open (Neigeli-Osjord 1988).

    Many psychiatrists are sceptical about incorporating such an approach into their clinical practice despite the most positive findings reported by SRT practitioners. This is understandable in a western context but it is most unusual that they should prevent any research into the subject, in case the voices patients hear do originate from separate sources of consciousness that are impinging upon the minds of individuals.

    Unlike psychiatric research which has resisted the possibility of testing whether the voices heard might be spirits, some psychiatrists and researchers have been open to the possibility of testing it and speaking with the disembodied voices in order to find out more. These researchers working in different parts of the world have identified similar underlying processes and agree on a common theoretical model and therapeutic process to treat a number of psychiatric conditions.

    When the voice represents a communication produced by a spirit(s) in order to rid the patient of them, it is best if the voice is communicated with and counselled, so they are convinced to move on. Information is acquired and their circumstances are explained and they are encouraged and helped to leave and move safely to an area of ‘light’ that they report seeing (Baldwin 1995, Modi 1997, Fiore 1988, Wickland 1952). The light appears to react to the degree of understanding and the attitude of the voice and it is a place where they can get the help that they need in the realm they occupy. In this way the patient and spirit(s) causing the problem are both viewed as needing assistance (Fiore 1988). The ‘spirits model’ also acknowledges that once removed, the patient may continue to need therapy and it is easier to deal with any underlying psychological troubles once the entity has gone. Clients have to face their own issues and they need to look at weak points that allowed the entity access (Sagan 1997).

    This approach differs from the religious practice of exorcism in the sense that driving out the spirit, often means it might return or go on to inflict suffering to some other person. Both approaches do however adopt a working assumption, like most physicists, that there is a nonmaterial dimension or reality. The ‘spirits model’ asserts that there are other discarnate beings operating in these realms who actively assist both the incarnate and discarnate ‘patients’ and the therapist, and will enter into a working relationship with them in order to bring about a cure, insight and the required healing, as Spirit Release Therapists and patients report. These other entities can be called upon to assist and on occasions will communicate as disembodied voices to give advice about the therapy or approach required. Patients and their disembodied voices also report seeing and speaking to such entities who actively assist them (Romme & Escher 1994, Van Dusen 1990, Ross 2005)

    If spirits are adversely influencing patients across a number of psychological and psychiatric conditions as many practitioners and patients believe, then naturally it is important to apply scientific methods to test it and discover more about it, in the hope that many millions of people might be relieved of the mental distress being experienced. Such spirits are not viewed as inherently evil as several religions claim, but misguided and ignorant and are offered compassionate help.

    Sanderson (2003a) describes two therapeutic approaches which he terms ‘intuitive’ that requires the therapist to have a psychic awareness, and ‘interactive’, where the therapist helps the patient into an altered state of consciousness and then talks with the attached spirit, using the patient’s vocal apparatus. Some therapists communicate with entities by using the client as an intermediary, using their psychic awareness, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience and clairsentience. If the voice is prominent the patient may simply convey any questions to it from the facilitator and repeat the voice’s answers, allowing dialogue (Van Dusen 1990).

    There are also a number of remote methods. A person may act as a ‘scanner’ who is not in direct contact with the client, and is used as an instrument of communication between the therapist, the client’s higher self, the entity, and any assisting spirits that may be present to offer guidance and advice. Alternatively spirit-protectors or evolved spirits can be contacted via a medium and consulted about the patient’s mental condition and treatment. This is commonly used in Brazil (Moeira-Almeida et al. 2005), and Zinser (2010) received assistance using this method. A deceased Viennese psychiatrist Karl Nowotny, also purportedly channelled six volumes of books describing psychiatric illness from his perspective in the spirit world (Nowotny 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996).

    Dowsing methods are also used where the dowser gains information about the circumstances using charts and may send a guide to counsel the spirit(s) (Maurey 1988) or may link mind to mind and explain the circumstances and counsel the spirit.

    Working directly with the patient has the advantage of them being consciously engaged. However under this procedure they have to act as their own scanner, a role for which some are not well-suited. The remote approach has the benefit in treating children or others who may not be in a position to co-operate.

    There is another method that can be used remotely by using a trance medium through which the spirit speaks and who can then be counselled by a facilitator (Wickland 1952). This is the method that is used in Brazilian psychiatric hospitals (Xavier & Vieira 2005). Such remote methods have the advantage of the medium picking up things that patients may be unaware. Remote methods can also be used with the patient present (Wickland & Watts 1934, Wickland 1952), so not only can they hear the voice that has been attached to them but also talk to it.

    On occasions SRT practitioners work together in groups to gain information, counsel the entities, or speak to the psyche of the patient. This practice is common in Brazil, where the patient may be contacted remotely and spoken to, even though physically they are in another location (Leão & Neto 2007).

    Some mediums apply an extended period of spiritual healing in an attempt to force the entity to leave, reasoning that it cannot withstand the purity and intensity of energy being applied. On these occasions sometimes the entity may jump to the medium, who in turn is given healing until the entity is taken away to the ‘light’ by other spirits who are assisting.

    Individuals without hypnotherapy training or psychic abilities can call out the entity (in a similar way to exorcists), and explain the circumstances involved, counsel and assist them in leaving, sometimes using the patient as the intermediary. This method can be used to talk directly to or communicate mind to mind with the entity.

    Hands-on spiritual healing can also be used in conjunction with SRT, where the positive healing energy is beneficial bringing balance, repairing any damage done to the body and energy field, and it may weaken the hold the entity has over the patient. Prior to spiritual ‘hands-off’ healing patients, the Spiritists offer a prayer and inspired words, and it is followed by giving the patients water that has been ‘blessed’ with healing energy. Unlike western spiritual healing, Brazilian Spiritists

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