Medical explanations of bewitchment, especially as exhibited during the Salem witch trials but in other witch-hunts as well, have emerged because it is not widely believed today that symptoms of those claiming affliction were actually caused by bewitchment. The reported symptoms have been explored by a variety of researchers for possible biological and psychological origins.
Modern academic historians of witch-hunts generally consider medical explanations to explain the phenomenon. Besides, it's believed that the accusers in Salem were motivated by social factors – jealousy, spite, or a need for attention – and that the extreme behaviors exhibited were "counterfeit," as contemporary critics of the trials had suspected.
Read more about Medical Explanations Of Bewitchment: Ergot Poisoning, Encephalitis, Lyme Disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Hysteria and Psychosomatic Disorders, Projection
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I tell you what you’ll never really know:
all the medical hypothesis
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struck leaves letting go.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“In the nineteenth century ... explanations of who and what women were focused primarily on reproductive events—marriage, children, the empty nest, menopause. You could explain what was happening in a woman’s life, it was believed, if you knew where she was in this reproductive cycle.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)