协助识别那些被恶魔附身的人的精神病医生 [美国媒体]

As a psychiatrist, I diagnose mental illness. Also, I help spot demonic possession.

我是一名对心理疾病作出诊断的精神病医生，不过我也协助识别那些被恶魔附身的人

How a scientist learned to work with exorcists.

一个科学工作者是如何学习与驱魔人一起工作的。

By Richard Gallagher

作者：理查德·加拉格

July 1

七月1日

Richard Gallagher is a board-certified psychiatrist and a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College. He is at work on a book about demonic possession in the United States.

理查德·加拉格是一名有资质的精神病医生，同时也是一名在纽约医学院教授临床精神病学的教授。他正在写一本有关那些生活在美国国内被恶魔附身的人的书。



In the late 1980s, I was introduced to a self-styled Satanic high priestess. She called herself a witch and dressed the part, with flowing dark clothes and black eye shadow around to her temples. In our many discussions, she acknowledged worshipping Satan as his “queen.”

二十世纪80年代末有人将我介绍给一个自封为撒旦的高级女祭司的人。她自称女巫，并且也像个女巫那样打扮自己：身着下垂的黑色衣服并在太阳穴周围涂黑色眼影膏。在我和她进行的多次讨论中，她承认虽然她崇拜撒旦，不过她将自己视作他的“女王”。

I’m a man of science and a lover of history; after studying the classics at Princeton, I trained in psychiatry at Yale and in psychoanalysis at Columbia. That background is why a Catholic priest had asked my professional opinion, which I offered pro bono, about whether this woman was suffering from a mental disorder. This was at the height of the national panic about Satanism. (In a case that helped induce the hysteria, Virginia McMartin and others had recently been charged with alleged Satanic ritual abuse at a Los Angeles preschool; the charges were later dropped.) So I was inclined to skepticism. But my subject’s behavior exceeded what I could explain with my training. She could tell some people their secret weaknesses, such as undue pride. She knew how individuals she’d never known had died, including my mother and her fatal case of ovarian cancer. Six people later vouched to me that, during her exorcisms, they heard her speaking multiple languages, including Latin, completely unfamiliar to her outside of her trances. This was not psychosis; it was what I can only describe as paranormal ability. I concluded that she was possessed. Much later, she permitted me to tell her story.

我是一个从事科学工作同时也热衷于历史的人。在普林斯顿大学研究过古典文学之后，我又在耶鲁大学接受过精神病学的训练，还在哥伦比亚大学接受过精神分析学的训练。正因为有这样的背景（而且我无偿提供专业意见），所以一个天主教神父就上述那名妇女是否罹患心理疾病征询我的意见。这件事发生在举国都对恶魔崇拜感到最为恐慌的时候。（因为当时有这么一个会引发全社会歇斯底里的案子：弗吉尼亚·麦卡马丁以及其他人被指控在洛杉矶的一所幼儿园中疑似进行崇拜恶魔的宗教仪式并存在虐待行为；该指控后来被撤销。）所以我对上述妇女是否患有心理疾病持怀疑态度。不过我这个研究对象的行为的确无法用我所接受的学科训练作出解释。她能够讲出一些人不为人知的弱点，比如极度傲慢。她还知道一些她从不认识的个体是怎么死的，这其中就包括我的母亲和她罹患的致命的卵巢癌。后来又有六个人向我保证说在她驱魔的时候他们听见她说包括拉丁语在内的多种语言，而在她清醒的时候则对这些语言一无所知。这不是精神错乱，而我只能将它描述为超出科学可知范围的能力。我当时得出的结论是她被恶魔附身了。过了很久她才允许我公开她的故事。

The priest who had asked for my opinion of this bizarre case was the most experienced exorcist in the country at the time, an erudite and sensible man. I had told him that, even as a practicing Catholic, I wasn’t likely to go in for a lot of hocus-pocus. “Well,” he replied, “unless we thought you were not easily fooled, we would hardly have wanted you to assist us.”

彼时上述那名就该离奇个体向我征询专业意见的天主教教士可是全美利坚合众国最富有经验的驱魔人，而且他非常博学与理智。我当时是这样对他说的：即使身为一个开业的天主教医生，看到这么多欺骗花招我也不想往里钻。“这么说吧，”他回答道，“如果我们认为你是那么容易被愚弄的，我们根本不可能要你协助我们。”

So began an unlikely partnership. For the past two-and-a-half decades and over several hundred consultations, I’ve helped clergy from multiple denominations and faiths to filter episodes of mental illness — which represent the overwhelming majority of cases — from, literally, the devil’s work. It’s an unlikely role for an academic physician, but I don’t see these two aspects of my career in conflict. The same habits that shape what I do as a professor and psychiatrist — open-mindedness, respect for evidence and compassion for suffering people — led me to aid in the work of discerning attacks by what I believe are evil spirits and, just as critically, differentiating these extremely rare events from medical conditions.

就此一段像是不可能存在的合作关系开始了。在过去二十五年中，我参与了数百次会诊，协助多个宗派的教士检视一个一个的心理疾病患者（罹患心理疾病的人在我们接手的案例中占有压倒性多数）。直接说吧，我们的工作就是要把那些魔鬼干过的事找出来。虽然任何一个接受过正规大学教育的医生都不可能做我做过的工作，但是我并没有看到我所从事的这个工作所具有的两面性在互相斗争。因为我既是一名教授，同时又是一名精神病医生，而我做的不论什么事都是由这两份职业所具有的相同的习惯塑造的：即开放包容的心态、对证据的尊重、以及对患者的同情。正是这些习惯在识别就我看来是来自恶灵的攻击的工作中帮助了我，而且严格地讲，正是这些习惯协助我从心理疾病病患中将这些极度稀少的案例辨认出来。

Is it possible to be a sophisticated psychiatrist and believe that evil spirits are, however seldom, assailing humans? Most of my scientific colleagues and friends say no, because of their frequent contact with patients who are deluded about demons, their general skepticism of the supernatural, and their commitment to employ only standard, peer-reviewed treatments that do not potentially mislead (a definite risk) or harm vulnerable patients. But careful observation of the evidence presented to me in my career has led me to believe that certain extremely uncommon cases can be explained no other way.

既是一个富有经验的精神病医生，同时又相信恶灵（虽然很稀少）在攻击人类，这种可能性存在吗？我的大部分来自科学界的同事和朋友对此予以否定回答。（不过他们这样回答也是因为他们经常接触的病人总是向他们就恶魔这类事情撒谎，还有他们对超自热的力量总体持怀疑的态度，以及他们承诺只使用标准的、经过同行评议的治疗方案进行治疗——毕竟这样的治疗方案不会带来潜在误导的风险，也不会伤害到易受伤害的病人。）但是仔细观察那些由我的工作呈现给我的证据，确实让我相信某些极端反常的病例不能用其它方式解释。

The Vatican does not track global or countrywide exorcism, but in my experience and according to the priests I meet, demand is rising. The United States is home to about 50 “stable” exorcists — those who have been designated by bishops to combat demonic activity on a semi-regular basis — up from just 12 a decade ago, according to the Rev. Vincent Lampert, an Indianapolis-based priest-exorcist who is active in the International Association of Exorcists. (He receives about 20 inquiries per week, double the number from when his bishop appointed him in 2005.) The Catholic Church has responded by offering greater resources for clergy members who wish to address the problem. In 2010, for instance, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops organized a meeting in Baltimore for interested clergy. In 2014, Pope Francis formally recognized the IAE, 400 members of which are to convene in Rome this October. Members believe in such strange cases because they are constantly called upon to help. (I served for a time as a scientific adviser on the group’s governing board.)

虽然梵蒂冈并没有监测全球范围或是全美范围内的驱魔行为，但是根据我的经验以及我所遇到的教士的说法，对驱魔的要求呈上升趋势。受人尊敬的文森特·郎帕特神父是常驻《印第安纳都市月刊》的教士兼驱魔人，同时也是国际驱魔人协会的积极分子（他每周会收到大约20次驱魔请求，而2005年他刚刚被他所在教区的主教任命为驱魔人的时候这个数字只有现在的一半）。根据他的说法：美国是大约50个“稳定”驱魔人的本部，而在十年以前这个数目是12个。这些驱魔人由那些教区主教指派，并以一种半正规的方式去和魔鬼的活动战斗。对于那些希望解决魔鬼问题的神职人员，天主教教堂用提供更多财力物力的方式予以回应。比如在2010年，美国天主教主教大会就曾把有志于此的神职人员组织起来在巴尔的摩开了一个会。而在2014年，教宗方济各则正式承认了国际驱魔人协会这个组织，并且于当年十月在罗马召唤该组织的400名成员。因为人们总是在向这些成员寻求帮助，所以他们是非常相信此类离奇的案例的。（我曾为该组织的理事会做过短期的科学顾问。）

Unfortunately, not all clergy involved in this complex field are as cautious as the priest who first approached me. In some circles, there is a tendency to become overly preoccupied with putative demonic explanations and to see the devil everywhere. Fundamentalist misdiagnoses and absurd or even dangerous “treatments,” such as beating victims, have sometimes occurred, especially in developing countries. This is perhaps why exorcism has a negative connotation in some quarters. People with psychological problems should receive psychological treatment.

不幸的是，并非所有接触此类复杂领域的神职人员都像前述第一位接近我的神父一样小心谨慎。在某些圈子里已经出现了这样一种趋势：本来的解释只是假定有恶魔，但是（人们）的心智却被这种解释过分占据，以致无论何处都能看到恶魔。原教旨主义者出现误判，并使用荒谬甚至危险的“治疗方式”——比如殴打牺牲品——时有发生，这种情况尤其容易发生在发展中国家。这或许就是为什么在一些地方驱魔人有负面含义。有心理问题的人应该获得的是心理学的治疗。

But I believe I’ve seen the real thing. Assaults upon individuals are classified either as “demonic possessions” or as the slightly more common but less intense attacks usually called “oppressions.” A possessed individual may suddenly, in a type of trance, voice statements of astonishing venom and contempt for religion, while understanding and speaking various foreign languages previously unknown to them. The subject might also exhibit enormous strength or even the extraordinarily rare phenomenon of levitation. (I have not witnessed a levitation myself, but half a dozen people I work with vow that they’ve seen it in the course of their exorcisms.) He or she might demonstrate “hidden knowledge” of all sorts of things — like how a stranger’s loved ones died, what secret sins she has committed, even where people are at a given moment. These are skills that cannot be explained except by special psychic or preternatural ability.

不过我确信自己已看到了问题真正之所在。（恶灵）对个体的攻击可以被归于以下两种情况中的一种：一是“被恶魔附身”，一是受到普通（而非强烈的）“压抑”的轻度攻击。一个被恶魔附身的个体可能会突然出现一种神志昏迷的状态，并喊出令人震惊的恶毒言论，且对宗教充满轻蔑，同时还能理解并使用他们先前一无所知的多种外语。被研究的那个主体也可能展现出巨大的力量，甚至极度罕见的漂浮于空中的现象。（虽然我本人没有亲眼目睹过空中漂浮，但是有五六个与我合作过的人发誓他们在驱魔的时候见过这种现象。）他或她可能指出所有事物背后“被隐藏的东西”——比如一个他们不认识的人所珍爱的人是如何死的，还比如她犯过什么样的不为人知的罪行，甚至指出某个时间点这些人在何处。这些本领除了被特殊的通灵能力或是超自然的能力去解释之外别无其他方法解释。

I have personally encountered these rationally inexplicable features, along with other paranormal phenomena. My vantage is unusual: As a consulting doctor, I think I have seen more cases of possession than any other physician in the world.

我本人除了遇到过这些用理性无法解释的特征之外，还遇到过其它超出科学可知范围的现象。首先我处在一个与众不同的有利地位——我是一名顾问医生。因此我认为我比世界上其他的医生看到过更多被魔鬼附身的个案。

Most of the people I uate in this role suffer from the more prosaic problems of a medical disorder. Anyone even faintly familiar with mental illnesses knows that individuals who think they are being attacked by malign spirits are generally experiencing nothing of the sort. Practitioners see psychotic patients all the time who claim to see or hear demons; histrionic or highly suggestible individuals, such as those suffering from dissociative identity syndromes; and patients with personality disorders who are prone to misinterpret destructive feelings, in what exorcists sometimes call a “pseudo-possession,” via the defense mechanism of an externalizing projection. But what am I supposed to make of patients who unexpectedly start speaking perfect Latin?

我以顾问医生这个身份评价过的大部分人所患的病都很平淡乏味。即使只听过心理疾病这个名词的人都知道，但凡认为自己被恶灵攻击的个体总的说来根本就没有经历过那样的事。执业精神病医生一直都在为下列精神病患看病：那些宣称看见或听见恶魔的病人；那些行为夸张或是易受他人影响的个体（比如罹患身份分裂症状的人）；还有那些患有人格障碍的病患（他们很容易将心里所想具体化，然后把这种行为当做一种防御机制去曲解具有毁灭性的感觉，而驱魔人有时会将这种被曲解的感觉称作“虚假附身”。）但是，面对那些完全出人意料开始讲流利拉丁语的病患，我该怎么办？

I approach each situation with an initial skepticism. I technically do not make my own “diagnosis” of possession but inform the clergy that the symptoms in question have no conceivable medical cause.

我接近每一个病例的最初都是持怀疑态度的。严格说来我从不亲自得出恶魔附身这样的“诊断结论”；相反，我告知教士一些被我们讨论的症状是无法用医学知识解释其可能存在的原因的。

I am aware of the way many psychiatrists view this sort of work. While the American Psychiatric Association has no official opinion on these affairs, the field (like society at large) is full of unpersuadable skeptics and occasionally doctrinaire materialists who are often oddly vitriolic in their opposition to all things spiritual. My job is to assist people seeking help, not to convince doctors who are not subject to suasion. Yet I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners nowadays who are open to entertaining such hypotheses. Many believe exactly what I do, though they may be reluctant to speak out.

我清楚其他许多精神病科医生是如何看待我做的工作的。虽然美国精神病学会并没有就此类事情发表官方看法，但是与此相关的领域（一般说来就是这个协会）依然充满了无法被说服的宗教怀疑者以及秉持教条主义的唯物主义者（他们尖酸地反对所有与宗教有关事物到了令人匪夷所思的地步）。我的工作就是协助人们寻求帮助，而非向那些拒绝被说服的医生证明什么。不过我还是惊讶地发现现在还是有相当数量的精神病科医生和其他从事与心理健康有关的工作的执业医师对这类假说怀有开放的心态，这令我很高兴。也许让他们讲出来有些勉为其难，不过许多医生还是相信我所做的工作的。

As a man of reason, I’ve had to rationalize the seemingly irrational. Questions about how a scientifically trained physician can believe “such outdated and unscientific nonsense,” as I’ve been asked, have a simple answer. I honestly weigh the evidence. I have been told simplistically that levitation defies the laws of gravity, and, well, of course it does! We are not dealing here with purely material reality, but with the spiritual realm. One cannot force these creatures to undergo lab studies or submit to scientific manipulation; they will also hardly allow themselves to be easily recorded by video equipment, as skeptics sometimes demand. (The official Catholic Catechism holds that demons are sentient and possess their own wills; as they are fallen angels, they are also craftier than humans. That’s how they sow confusion and seed doubt, after all.) Nor does the church wish to compromise a sufferer’s privacy, any more than doctors want to compromise a patient’s confidentiality.

作为一个有理智的人，我不得不一直解释我的那些看似荒谬的工作。一个受过科学训练的医生是怎么能够相信“这类过时且还无科学依据的胡说八道”的？我有一个简单的答案来回答这个我经常被问及的问题：我非常坦诚地罗列证据。我曾经被简单告知漂浮空中违反了重力定律，好吧，漂浮当然违背这条定律！但是我们在这里要处理的不是单纯的物质现实，我们要处理的是一块神灵主宰的领域。一个人既不能强迫这些生物去人类的实验室接受研究，也不能强迫他们顺从以科学为名义的操纵，同样，它们也很难允许自己那么容易就被录像设备记录下来。而且因为它们是堕落的天使，所以它们也比人类更狡诈。毕竟它们就是这样播种困惑和疑虑的。教堂不想损害一名受害者的隐私的愿望，并不比医生想保住一个病人的秘密少。

Ignorance and superstition have often surrounded stories of demonic possession in various cultures, and surely many alleged episodes can be explained by fraud, chicanery or mental pathology. But anthropologists agree that nearly all cultures have believed in spirits, and the vast majority of societies (including our own) have recorded dramatic stories of spirit possession. Despite varying interpretations, multiple depictions of the same phenomena in astonishingly consistent ways offer cumulative evidence of their credibility.

在不同的文化中，与魔鬼附身的故事相伴的往往是愚昧无知和迷信。许多声称与魔鬼相关的故事的确可以用欺骗行为或是心理异常去解释。但是人类学家都同意几乎所有的文化都相信神灵，而且绝大多数社会（这也包括我们自己的这个社会）都有许多非常吸引人的关于神灵附身的故事。尽管演绎的方式各有不同，但是对同一现象的众多描述都在用惊人的一致提供越来越多它们存在的证据。

As a psychoanalyst, a blanket rejection of the possibility of demonic attacks seems less logical, and often wishful in nature, than a careful appraisal of the facts. As I see it, the evidence for possession is like the evidence for George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware. In both cases, written historical accounts with numerous sound witnesses testify to their accuracy.

作为一个精神分析学家，如果我对魔鬼攻击的可能性持完全拒绝的态度似乎显得不合逻辑，而且也很主观，完全不像一个认真对事实进行鉴定的医生。在我看来，能够证明魔鬼附身的证据就像能够证明乔治·华盛顿横穿过特拉华州一样真实。在这两件事中，写就的历史被无数明智的证言证明了它们的真实性。

In the end, however, it was not an academic or dogmatic view that propelled me into this line of work. I was asked to consult about people in pain. I have always thought that, if requested to help a tortured person, a physician should not arbitrarily refuse to get involved. Those who dismiss these cases unwittingly prevent patients from receiving the help they desperately require, either by failing to recommend them for psychiatric treatment (which most clearly need) or by not informing their spiritual ministers that something beyond a mental or other illness seems to be the issue. For any person of science or faith, it should be impossible to turn one’s back on a tormented soul.

不过在最后我还是要说，驱使我开始这项工作的既非学术研究亦非我心之武断固执，实在是我被请求去给痛苦中的人释惑解难。我也常常想如果一个医生被要求去帮助一个受折磨的人，那么他就不应该随便拒绝这种要求。那些拒绝受理这些病例的医生（他们既不推荐病人去接受精神疾病的治疗——这个很明显是最必需的，也不向病人的精神导师说明某些事情已经超越了心理疾病的范畴，更不说明似乎还要其它的疾病才是问题的关键）在不知不觉中阻止了那些病人获得他们孤注一掷寻求的帮助。对于任何一个从事科学工作或是宗教工作的人而言，拒绝一个受到折磨的灵魂是不可能的。


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Perhaps Dr. Gallagher should consider this a good time to surrender his license.

也许加拉格医生应该考虑考虑这正是他交出执业资格证的大好时机。