Prevention and Treatment
Not all mental perturbations have spiritual origins. It is necessary to rule out psychological or psychiatric causes prior to any spiritual treatment. For instance, "to hear voices" may be a case of obsession, but is usually a simple case of psychosis.
Prevention of obsession is achieved by means of three precautions:
- Learning and developing one's mediumship, if it is strong enough to be used as an instrument by obsessors (one may want to develop his mediumship for other reasons as well).
- Living according to the commandments of God so that one's moral stature can act as a wall between him and the "inferior" would-be obsessors.
- Praying for God's protection and guidance whenever one's will is weakened.
The treatment for obsession is termed disobsession in Kardecist Spiritism. The cure is a lengthy process that involves all of the above treatments, but also:
- Participation on mediunic meetings to assess the reasons why the obsessor is acting.
- Forgiving and asking forgiveness by means of praying the Lord's Prayer.
- Befriend the obsessors (with the help of a Spiritist Centre) so that he understands his condition and how his behaviour is hampering his progress towards his own happiness.
In overall, the solution to problem of obsession is threefold:
- Learning the doctrine of the law of cause and effect
- Living according to the doctrine of Christ (Faith, Hope and Charity)
- Loving each other as Christ taught, forgiving and asking forgiveness
Read more about this topic: Obsession (Spiritism)
Famous quotes containing the words prevention and/or treatment:
“... if this world were anything near what it should be there would be no more need of a Book Week than there would be a of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“Any important disease whose causality is murky, and for which treatment is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)