Inspired by the case of Anneliese Michel, a devoted Catholic whom suffered from schizophrenia, 68 exorcisms were preformed. Anneliese Michel died of starvation and dehydration at age 23; the priest and her parents were held responsible for manslaughter and negligence.  My project explores the religious stigma associated with observation of common behaviour in dissociative disorders such as schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder.

The symptom psychosis translates directly into delusions, visual and auditory hallucinations and sometimes severe extreme beliefs in irrational and sometimes dangerous ideas. Religious hysteria fueling the minds of people whom suffered these conditions much earlier on before mental health could have been explained by science, the explanations accepted were mainly religious, but this only made the sufferer worse as their psychosis would often manifest in delusions of demonic possession, or more commonly believing they were the messiah or Judas. An exorcism is a ritual preformed in the Catholic Religion, to expel an evil spirit or demonic entity from the human form.