Affiliations: Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center, Freedom Trail Clinic, 25 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA | Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Note: [] Correspondence to: D.C. Goff, Freedom Trail Clinic, 25 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Abstract: The fields of anthropology and sociology have produced a large quantity of literature on possession states, physicians however rarely report on such phenomena. As a result clinical description of possession states has suffered, even though these states may be more common and less deviant than supposed. Both ICD-10 and DSM-IV may include specific criteria for possession disorders. The authors briefly review Western notions about possession and kindred states and present guidelines for evaluation and classification.
