Anneliese Michel - Psychiatric Treatment

Psychiatric Treatment

Her treatment in an unnamed psychiatric hospital did not improve Michel’s health. Moreover, her depression began to deepen. She grew increasingly frustrated with medical intervention as it did not help. Long-term medical treatment proved unsuccessful; her condition, including her depression, worsened with time. A devout Catholic, Michel began to attribute her condition to demonic possession. Michel became intolerant of sacred places and objects, such as the crucifix, which she attributed to her own demonic possession. Throughout the course of the religious rites Michel underwent, she was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, which she may not have taken.

In June 1970, Michel suffered a third seizure at the psychiatric hospital where she had been staying and was prescribed anti-convulsants for the first time. The name of the drug she was prescribed is Gambutrol or Dylantin (Gambutrol as mentioned in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a movie loosely based on her story, is an anti-seizure drug); the drug did not bring about immediate alleviation of Michel’s symptoms. She also continued talking about what she called “devil faces”, seen at various times of the day. Michel became convinced that conventional medicine was of no help. Growing increasingly adamant that her illness was of a spiritual kind, she appealed to the Catholic Church to perform an exorcism on her. That same month, she was prescribed another drug, Aolept (pericyazine), which is a phenothiazine with general properties similar to those of chlorpromazine: pericyazine is used in the treatment of various psychoses, including schizophrenia and disturbed behaviour. In November 1973, Michel started her treatment with Tegretol (carbamazepine), an anti-seizure drug and mood stabilizer. Michel took this medicine frequently, until shortly before her death.