The sanitized environments maintained by multinational corporations in Malaysian "free trade zones"' are not immune to sudden spirit attacks on young female workers. Ordinarily quiescent, Malay factory women who are seized by vengeful spirits explode into demonic screaming and rage on the shop floor. Management responses to such unnerving episodes include isolating the possessed workers, pumpin...

As in many cultures, also in Uganda spirit possession is a common idiom of distress associated with traumatic experiences. In the DSM-IV and -5, possession trance disorders can be classified as dissociative disorders. Dissociation in Western countries is associated with complicated, time-consuming and costly therapies. Patients with spirit possession in SW Uganda, however, often report partial ...

Spirit possession is a common, worldwide phenomenon with dissociative features. Studies in Europe and the United States have revealed associations among psychoform and somatoform dissociation and (reported) potential traumatic events. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships among spirit possession, dissociative symptoms and reported potentially traumatizing events in Uganda. One ...

zār is the term used to describe a form of spirit possession common in northern african, eastern african, and some middle-eastern societies. although these regions share some cultural similarities arising from their history of slavery, in these places, zār varies in prevalence, clinical characteristics, and social context. based on a selective review of the literature, this paper looks at the p...

BACKGROUND We present a literature review on trauma exposure and spirit possession in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite the World Health Organization's objective of culturally appropriate mental health care in the Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020, and the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee to consider local idioms of distress and to collaborate with local ...

Abstract Spirit possession elicits two common responses – rites to exorcise Satan or medical intervention. Drawing on pastoral experiences in the major cultures of Fiji, this paper examines different types spirit from perspectives social anthropology, psychology, and theology, which all play important roles dealing with cases possession. Understanding communication within local cosmology is imp...