Bonnie Henderson Schell

Until the late nineteenth century, it was a commonly held belief that mental disorders were the work of demons. Even today, some graduate-level seminary programs in pastoral counseling teach that mental illness is a symptom of demonic influence and should be dealt with as a spiritual problem.

To Bonnie Henderson Schell, director of the Mental Health Client Action Network in Santa Cruz, California, contemporary belief in demonic possession represents one more attempt to intrude on the dignity and autonomy of those who suffer from mental illness. Schell argues that exorcism places too much power in the hands of manipulative spiritual leaders, interfering with the victim's ability to assess his or her own psychological needs.

And as Jesus stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long...