POSSESSION STATES ACROSS THE WORLD: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL
In western tradition many are reluctant to apply techniques and approaches as if the
were embarrassed of passions, something that was in the medieval times. Micheal Harner
emphasized on the existence of spirits, and science has not disproven him, says that this
finding should not be dismissed. Winick defines possession as "an external force that
enters a worshiper of a deity so that he temporally is the deity, the ultimate religious
experience." They are 2 categories in traditional societies, instutionalized and
semiinstutionalized where possession is seen as a desirable and necessary adjunct to the
worship of a deity. Wallace explains it as an " any native theory, which explains any event of
human behavior as being the result of the physical presence in the human body of an alien
spirit which takes control of the hosts' executive functions, most frequently speech and
control of the skeletal musculature." Walker explains trance as " the scientific description
of a psychological state in western terminology, whereas possession is the folk
explanation, in more philosophical terms, for the same type of state." These states only
occur where native folk theory recognizes these states as a viable category of reality,
which means it has meaning and relevance in the lives of the bearers of the culture, and
where the data can be imposed on by the outside observers. In western term's possession
is a serious psychological state, an "altered state of consciousness," where individuals lose
touch with their culture, a presence of a 2nd personality. There are 3 psychological
asspects of possession, the "altered states of consciousness"; 1) obsessive ideation and
compulsive action. 2) Hysterical disassociation, including multiple personalities,
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