Is Schizophrenia Really Demonic Possession?
Examining the Claims of Psychologist Jerry Marzinsky
If you’ve ever listened to a compilation of what a schizophrenic patient says the condition sounds like, you will quickly understand that it is horrifying. The patient isn’t just hearing their own thoughts; they are hearing distinct and numerous voices of men and women telling them things, instructing them, and driving them insane.
But what are these voices, really?
Jerry Marzinsky is an American Psychologist who has spent years conveying the strong message that schizophrenia is likely not a person hearing their own thoughts with a broken brain or chemical imbalance, rather they are hearing actual voices of entities outside of themselves. In short, he makes the case that schizophrenia is a type of demonic possession.
In his book An Amazing Journey into the Psychotic Mind: Breaking the Spell of the Ivory Tower, Marzinsky describes past and present medical treatment of diagnosed schizophrenics, drugs and their effects, the common experiences of a schizophrenic, and pathways to cures which he has found.
Background
From start to finish, Marzinsky argues that this is not a physical affliction - it is a spiritual one. And psychiatrists ought to view their work through this lens, but they do not. After all, the Greek word psyche actually means “the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body.” Marzinsky expresses much disappointment over the entire field of psychological medicine leaving this core aspect of their practice behind.
Marzinsky brings us through the insanely cruel “treatment” methods used over the years to kill the voices these patients have heard, all to no avail. Believing schizophrenia to be anything from a genetic condition to a biological pathogen, experimental treatments included (but was not limited to) drilling holes into the skull, spinning in chairs at high speed, removing the uterus, forcing seizures, overdosing on insulin, injecting malaria, lobotomies, and of course the good old fashioned electroshock therapy.
These days, the only treatment offered is a heavy dose cocktail of sedatives and antipsychotics. Marzinsky demonstrates that shockingly, Big Pharma actually completely invented the idea of “chemical imbalance” in the brain in order to push these drugs without question and without alternatives. In a post-2020 world, who can even be surprised at this news? But they indeed fully admit to this diagnosis being a complete lie, and of course there have been zero consequences or changes of course since then.
All this to say that medicine still to this day, in 2024, does not know what schizophrenia actually is. If they cannot define it, they cannot say where the voices originate, and they also cannot cure it. And doctors, just believing their textbook narratives, do nothing but treat schizophrenics as if everything they say is a delusion. Therefore, everything the patient says is labelled as crazy, whether it is a revelation of some key truth or not. But Marzinksky went rogue, and seems to have determined some of the answers to these questions as a result.
The Entities Are External
Working with mostly prison patients, where the rules were much more relaxed for him, Marzinksy stood on the shoulders of medical and intellectual giants Dr. Wilson Van Dusen (1923 - 2005) and Christian scientist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 - 1772). Swedenborg had written extensively on matters of science, philosophy and theology. In his later years, he experienced several strange events, which some Christians say was a walk through Heavenly realms, while psychologists argue it was a delusional psychotic break. Marzinsky and his contemporary Van Dusen found much value in Swedenborg’s writings, with Van Dusen pioneering the idea of schizophrenia being a matter of possession. Marzinsky was also assisted in his research by a cured schizophrenic patient named Sherry, who contributed to the book. So, together these four present their case that the voices patients are hearing are not hallucinations.
Marzinsky starts off by validating the voices as external entities and saying he believes the patients when they say this isn’t their invention. This allows the affected individuals to gain enough trust with Marzinsky to divulge much needed information, and to gain enough self-empowerment to start believing their problem has a solution.
See, when you think the problem is your broken brain, and when you think the cause of your problem is yourself, it is easy to stop pursuing solutions. Doctors are convincing these patients that their disorder is forever, and the only option is to become a zombie with pharmaceutical medications; all this serves only to kill any motivation the demoralized patient ever had in making the problem stop.
As modern-day exorcist Rachel Stavis informed us in her book Sister of Darkness, people are already predisposed to demonic attachments when they undergo trauma. Many schizophrenics satisfy this condition. Further adding to the argument that these voices are external entities, many patients reported that their schizophrenia did not exist until the day they used a Ouija board.
Drug and alcohol use can also unlock the demon door and keep it wide open, as well as exacerbate any mental health issues. Marzinsky and others in my research have indicated that methamphetamines specifically are a favorite drug of negative spirits wishing to influence us. Have you ever encountered someone on methamphetamines? It is truly horrifying. A friend of mine who is a nurse practitioner recently got stuck with the unfortunate task of providing care and oversight for a meth-addicted patient, who spent the entire night bragging about how he had just gotten out of prison for molesting children. My friend lamented having to listen to this horror, describing the meth patients coming into his ER as nothing short of demonically possessed. Marzinsky’s patients also described meth as “the devil’s drug of choice.”
On the note of drugs, the sedatives and anti-psychotics pushed on patients tend to make the voices quiet down quite a bit, but that in effect makes the voices angry. Patients with schizophrenia often stop taking their meds even though the meds provide much relief and improvement, and when pressed as to what made them stop, the patients always say the voices convinced them or threatened them to stop.
Incredibly, many patients described situations where their voices would inform them of knowledge they could not possibly possess. One example was when a robber with schizophrenia had his voices constantly inform him of which houses were empty, when people were coming home, and where police were waiting for him as he ran around the city. Drug addicts reported their voices informing them of where to go look for drug dealers and which people to ask, when they were in completely unknown territory. Another man was guided hundreds of miles away by car and foot to a secluded marijuana field which he could rob. The only reason he got caught during his last crime event was because he did not listen to the voices.
Non-schizophrenic people devoid of any known mental illness can also experience these intrusive voices or temporary external influence . Have you ever been driving in your car and had the thought to suddenly veer off the road for no real reason? Or has it ever occurred to you to commit violence toward someone innocent, and the thought leaves you feeling guilty and frightened? Have you ever had to apologize for something you said or did, and used the phrase, “I don’t know what came over me?” because you can’t even explain why you said or did it? According to Marzinsky and others, this is all too common and it means most of us are susceptible to the phenomenon if we aren’t aware and on guard.
Marzinsky himself asked to experience a voice via a prayer, and he got his wish. While swimming, a voice told him he would drown and should give up trying to get back to shore. Marzinsky also began to experience physical manifestations from one patient whose voices expressed anger toward Marzinsky. The patient’s voices could somehow make electrical “sizzles” appear on the walls of a room and travel around. When this happened during a session, one of the voices took over the patient and told Marzinsky, “You have no right to interfere with our way of life.”
So, the case is made that the voices experienced by many schizophrenics are real, third party entities. So what can someone do about it to get rid of them? First of all, the patient needs to be convinced that the voices are indeed external, and not a manifestation of a broken mind. Then, the patient can start calling the voices liars, laughing at them, and dismissing them. This generally results in the voices ramping up and getting angry and loud in order to dominate and subdue the patient. At this point the patient should pray. Specifically, Psalm 23 and Psalm 91 are most detested by the entities. After much repeated practice of these steps, many of Marzinsky’s patients were permanently freed from hearing voices in their head.
Key Characteristics of Schizophrenic Entities
Marzinsky made some fascinating discoveries about the particular entities plaguing his patients:
They prey on innocence: Most or all patients reported their voices encouraging them to do things they did not wish to do. This was generally in order to produce negative feelings, which the voices used as food. Some voices would encourage the patients to hurt the smallest and youngest children possible, because the entities hated innocent beings. Sounds demonic, doesn’t it? Patients often described them as demons as well.
They are energy parasites who drain the patient and doctor: After some time, Marzinsky began to notice that each of his schizophrenic patients were constantly exhausted, and described feeling drained of energy. This feeling was strongest just after an episode with the voices. Marzinsky also noticed that he himself was left feeling drained of all his energy when he finished a session with a schizophrenic patient, but he never got this feeling on days when he dealt with other patients.
The entities demonstrate a hierarchy: Van Husen and Marzinsky discovered that the entities doing all the talking and harassing were the lowest level in a hierarchy, but they were answering to someone who outranked them. It seemed to be a tremendous problem to the security of the entities if the patient suddenly figured out the entities were external, and not a fabrication of their mind. Their power rested upon the patient remaining convinced this affliction was forever and was their own fault. This indicates various intelligence levels, powers, and personalities among the entities. The patients describe these voices as seeming actually quite dumb - often one will repeat the same thing over and over, as if it is robotic, or reading from a script. One voice is generally trying to accomplish one reaction, and that’s it. So some will insult, others will instruct, and others just annoy.
Sexual abuse: Some schizophrenics report being sexually abused by demons they cannot see, but can hear and feel. Some patients were obviously disturbed by this, but surprisingly some kind of like it. People seem predisposed to fetishinzing and romanticizing such a violation when it comes to incubi, succubi, and even vampire legends.
They detest religious symbols and prayer: As demonstrated, the entities can be silenced and even banished with continued prayer, but first, they express rage. They also scream at the patients whenever a priest is close by.
Something seems to invite their presence: This is demonstrated by those patients saying their voices did not begin until they played with a Ouija board, while others had a door come open with trauma or drugs. The fact is that most patients are on average about 24 years old when the voices begin. So are we really talking about a broken brain here? Or are we talking about certain steps which should occur in order to bring about entities that talk to you and only you?
Angelic entities are also there with you: On the note of permission, Marzinsky made the discovery that there are angelic entities also surrounding us all the time. But they behave much differently. For one thing, they refuse to violate our free will (unlike the demonic entities). So, we must explicitly request their assistance if we want it. They will not just swoop in and do something. For another thing, they usually will not speak to us in a voice. Rather, they will convey a feeling, an idea, or a symbolic image to us to help us out.
Avoiding The Issue Altogether
How can one avoid this problem altogether? According to Marzinsky, one should avoid drugs, alcohol, boredom, negative music, violent video games/movies/books, and reliving trauma in an unhealthy manner. All these can summon the types of entities his patients are plagued with.
Of course, avoiding Ouija boards, witchcraft, and occultism is also recommended. This is not going to please every reader, but there is compelling evidence (including my own anecdotal experience) that working with mediums, tarot cards and other similar esoteric practices can also bring about negative entities. The danger is that they pretend to be deceased loved ones, angels, or spirit guides in order to attach.
Of course, not everyone is going to avoid the fate of being plagued with schizophrenia or other similar disorders, such as Dissociative Identity Disorder (aka: Multiple Personality Disorder). Neither Marzinsky nor I wish to oversimplify a complex issue which likely involves a mix of physical brain conditions, spiritual conditions, and environmental conditions all working together to form an outcome. However, Marzinsky successfully makes the case that we cannot neglect to include spirituality as a component in treating mental health and curing people who are afflicted with various conditions.
Jerry Marzinsky can still be found contributing to various podcasts online, happily enlightening us with the knowledge he has gained on this phenomenon. He also has a website. Please look him up and support his work.