Author Archives: Shervan K Shahhian, LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, The Most Comprehensive Online Library Regarding Mental Health, Psychology and Parapsychology in the World.

Doctored Degree in Clinical Psychology (PSYD) (ABD) All But Dissertation, a Masters (M.A.) in Clinical Psychology, a Bachelor's Degree (B.A.) in Psychology, a Associate Degree (AA) in Liberal Arts with an emphases in Psychology, Certification in Anger Management, Certification in MRT-Moral Reconation Therapy®, Certification in Clinical Hypnotherapy, and Certification in Advanced Hypnotherapy.

Demonic Psychosis, explained:

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

“Demonic psychosis” is not a clinical diagnosis in psychiatry or psychology. It is a cultural, religious, or spiritual interpretation of a psychotic state, most often used in faith-based contexts to explain experiences that clinicians would classify as psychosis.

Below is a clear, layered explanation that distinguishes belief language from clinical reality.

1. How the term is used (non-clinical)

In religious or spiritual frameworks, “demonic psychosis” typically refers to a state in which a person is believed to be:

Influenced, oppressed, or possessed by a demonic entity
Hearing voices attributed to demons
Experiencing intrusive thoughts perceived as external evil forces
Exhibiting drastic personality, moral, or behavioral changes
Showing intense fear, paranoia, or religious preoccupation

This language appears in:

Certain Christian, etc. , and some folk-religious traditions
Deliverance or exorcism ministries
Cultural explanatory models where spirits explain illness

2. Clinical understanding (what psychology actually diagnoses)

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

From a psychiatric standpoint, the experiences labeled “demonic psychosis” could be most commonly explained as psychotic disorders or states, such as:

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders
Bipolar disorder with psychotic features
Major depressive disorder with psychotic features
Brief psychotic disorder
Substance-induced psychosis
Trauma-related psychosis or dissociative psychosis

Core features of psychosis:

Hallucinations (often auditory voices)
Delusions (fixed false beliefs, including religious or persecutory themes)
Disorganized thinking or speech
Impaired reality testing

Importantly:
The content of psychosis is shaped by culture and belief.
A religious person may experience “demons,” while a secular person may experience “surveillance,” “AI,” or “aliens.”

3. Why the “demonic” framing can be harmful

Interpreting psychosis as demonic influence can:

Increase fear, shame, and stigma
Delay medical or psychological treatment
Worsen symptoms through reinforcement of delusions
Lead to coercive or abusive practices (e.g., forced exorcisms)

Research shows that how voices or experiences are interpreted strongly affects distress. A threatening supernatural explanation often worsens outcomes.

4. Trauma and dissociation often play a role

Many individuals labeled as “demonically afflicted” have:

Significant trauma histories
Dissociative symptoms
Intrusive inner voices or parts (not entities)
High suggestibility or absorption

Trauma can produce externalized inner experiences, which may feel alien, malevolent, or “not me.”

5. A balanced, culturally sensitive view

Modern psychology uses a biopsychosocial model:

Biological vulnerability
Psychological factors (trauma, stress, cognition)
Social and cultural meaning systems

Clinicians might aim to respect spiritual beliefs without validating interpretations that increase harm or impair reality testing.

6. Key takeaway

“Demonic psychosis” is a belief-based label for psychosis, not a medical condition.

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

The experiences might be real and distressing.
The explanation of demons is cultural, symbolic, or theological rather than clinical.

Effective treatment might focuses on:

Safety
Stabilization
Trauma-informed care
Medication when appropriate CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST
Meaning-making that reduces fear rather than amplifies it
CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST
Shervan K Shahhian

Religious Hallucinations, explained:

Religious hallucinations could be sensory experiences involving religious or spiritual content that occur without an external stimulus. The person could believe they are hearing, seeing, or feeling a divine or supernatural presence.

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

These experiences might occur in psychiatric disorders, extreme stress, bereavement, or sometimes in intense religious states. Because you study psychology and parapsychology, this topic is interesting since the two fields often interpret them very differently.

1. What Religious Hallucinations Look Like

They might involve religious figures, voices, or supernatural entities.

Common examples could include:

Auditory

Hearing the voice of God
Hearing angels or demons speaking
Commands believed to come from a divine source

Visual

Seeing Jesus, angels, saints, or demons
Visions of heaven, hell, or divine light

Tactile / Somatic

Feeling touched by a spiritual being
Sensation of possession or spiritual energy entering the body

Olfactory

Smelling incense, sulfur, or sacred fragrances without a source

2. Conditions Where They Commonly Occur

In clinical psychology, religious hallucinations might appear in several disorders:

Psychotic Disorders

Might commonly appear in

Schizophrenia
Schizoaffective Disorder

Some Typical features:

Commanding voices
Religious delusions (e.g., believing one is a prophet or chosen by God)

Mood Disorders with Psychosis

Such as:

Bipolar Disorder (during manic episodes)
Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features

Example:

Hearing God condemning or judging them.

Neurological Conditions

CONSULT WITH A NEOUROLOGIST

Temporal-lobe disturbances are especially associated with intense mystical or religious visions.

3. Cultural and Religious Context

Some psychologists might emphasize that culture strongly shapes hallucination content.

For example:

Christians may see Jesus or angels
Hindus may see deities

The brain might often use the person’s belief system to interpret unusual sensory experiences.

4. Difference Between Religious Experience and Hallucination

Some Psychologists might usually distinguish them by several criteria.

Healthy Religious Experience	Religious Hallucination
Occurs during prayer or meditation	Occurs spontaneously
Person retains critical thinking	Person believes it absolutely
Not distressing or commanding	Often commanding or frightening
Does not impair functioning	Often disrupts life

5. Parapsychological Interpretations

In parapsychology, some researchers might argue that not all such experiences are pathological.

Two interpretations sometimes maybe discussed:

Psi-mediated perception: (telepathy/clairvoyance)
Super-Psi / Living Agent Psi model: unconscious psychic abilities producing the experience.

This perspective could be discussed by researchers at the
Society for Psychical Research and the
Parapsychological Association.

However, mainstream science still treats most of these cases as psychological or neurological phenomena.

In summary:
Religious hallucinations are sensory experiences with spiritual content that occur without an external source. Clinically they are often linked to psychosis, neurological disorders, or extreme emotional states, while parapsychology sometimes explores non-ordinary interpretations.

Shervan K Shahhian

After-Death Communications (ADCs), explained:

After-Death Communications (ADCs) could be experiences in which a living person perceives contact or communication from someone who has died. These experiences could be widely reported in grief research and are discussed in both clinical psychology and parapsychology.

1. What an ADC Is

An After-Death Communication is any subjective experience in which a bereaved person feels they receive a message, presence, or contact from the deceased.

They often occur spontaneously, without attempts to summon spirits, and are commonly reported during the early stages of bereavement.

2. Common Types of ADCs

Reports could tend to fall into several categories:

1. Sensed Presence

The bereaved person might strongly feels the deceased nearby.

Examples:

Feeling someone sit on the bed
Feeling watched or protected
A sudden emotional wave of the person’s presence

2. Visual Apparitions

The person briefly sees the deceased.

Features:

Often vivid and realistic
Usually short (seconds to minutes)
The figure may appear peaceful or younger.

3. Auditory Communications

Hearing the deceased’s voice.

Examples:

Hearing their name called
Hearing comforting words like “I’m okay.”

4. Dream Visitations

Very common ADC type.

Characteristics:

Extremely vivid dreams
Clear message or emotional closure
The deceased appears healthy and calm.

5. Tactile Experiences

Physical sensations such as:

A touch on the shoulder
Feeling a hug
Bed movement

6. Symbolic Signs

People interpret unusual events as communication.

Examples:

Objects moving
Electronics turning on
Meaningful coincidences.

3. How Common Are ADCs?

Some research might suggest they are surprisingly common.

Studies indicate:

Some of bereaved people report at least one ADC.
They occur across cultures, religions, and belief systems.
Many experiencers were not expecting them.

This is why grief researchers consider them a normal aspect of bereavement for many people.

4. Some Psychological Interpretation

In clinical psychology, ADCs could often interpreted as part of the grief adaptation process.

Possible explanations include:

Memory activation of the deceased
Dream processing
Emotional coping mechanisms
The brain maintaining a continuing bond with the loved one.

The model might argue that healthy grieving often includes maintaining an inner relationship with the deceased.

5. Parapsychological Interpretation

Some parapsychologists consider several possibilities:

Survival Hypothesis
The consciousness of the deceased survives death and communicates.
Psi-Mediated Experience (Super-Psi)
The living person unconsciously uses psi abilities (telepathy, clairvoyance) to create the experience.
Living-Agent Psi Model
The experience is produced by the mind of the experiencer rather than the deceased.

Some of these models are discussed in modern research organizations such as Parapsychological Association and the Society for Psychical Research.

6. Differences from Psychiatric Hallucinations

Some researchers emphasize that ADCs typically differ from pathological hallucinations.

Common differences:

ADC	Psychiatric Hallucination
Usually comforting	Often distressing
Occurs during grief	Linked to mental disorder
Rare and brief	Persistent or frequent
Person retains insight	Often loss of insight

Because of these differences, many psychologists view ADCs as non-pathological grief experiences.

Key Point:
For some people, ADCs are not considered mental illness but a subjectively meaningful experience during bereavement.

Shervan K Shahhian

Bereavement-Related Anomalous Experiences, what are they:

Bereavement-Related Anomalous Experiences (BRAEs) could be unusual perceptual or psychological experiences reported by people after the death of a loved one. They could be widely discussed in both clinical bereavement research and Parapsychology. These experiences might often feel very real and meaningful to the bereaved person.

What They Are

Bereavement-related anomalous experiences could be subjective experiences in which a grieving person perceives contact, presence, or communication from the deceased.

They typically occur during the early stages of grief but may also appear years later.

Some researchers in grief psychology might sometimes call them After-Death Communications (ADCs).

Common Types of Bereavement Experiences

1. Sense of Presence

A person feels the deceased nearby even though no one is physically there.

Examples:

Feeling the loved one sitting beside them
Sensing someone in the room
Feeling watched over

2. Visual Experiences

Seeing the deceased briefly or in dreams.

Examples:

Seeing the loved one standing in the room
A vivid waking vision
Extremely realistic dreams of the deceased

These are sometimes called grief visions.

3. Auditory Experiences

Hearing the voice of the deceased.

Examples:

Hearing their name called
Hearing them speak a brief message

4. Tactile Experiences

Physical sensations associated with the deceased.

Examples:

Feeling a touch on the shoulder
Feeling someone sit on the bed

5. Symbolic Coincidences

Events interpreted as meaningful signs.

Examples:

Unusual animal appearances
Objects moving or appearing unexpectedly
Music associated with the deceased playing suddenly

6. Dream Encounters

Dreams where the deceased appears alive, healthy, and communicating.

Some people might report these dreams as emotionally healing rather than disturbing.

How Common Are They?

Surprisingly, they could be very common.

Studies in bereavement research might suggest:

Some of widows and widowers report at least one experience
Many people might never report them because they fear being judged

Possible Psychological Interpretation

Possibly in clinical psychology, these experiences could often explained as:

Normal grief phenomena
Memory activation and emotional processing
Attachment system responses
Temporary sensory misperceptions during intense mourning

Importantly, they may not usually be considered symptoms of mental illness unless they are persistent, distressing, or impair functioning.

Possible Interpretation in Parapsychology

Some researchers in Parapsychology might sometimes explore other possibilities:

Survival hypothesis: consciousness continues after death
Super-Psi Hypothesis: the bereaved mind unconsciously produces psi information
Psychological coping mechanisms

Some parapsychologists acknowledge that multiple explanations may coexist.

Possible, Key Characteristics

Bereavement anomalous experiences might have these traits:

Brief and spontaneous
Occur during emotional vulnerability
Feel comforting rather than frightening
Do not typically impair reality testing

Example Report

A typical report might be:

“After my husband died, I woke up one night and felt him sit on the bed and place his hand on my shoulder. I wasn’t scared, it felt comforting.”

Experiences like this might be reported cross-culturally and throughout history.

Possibly Important Clinical Perspective

Some modern grief specialists might view these experiences as:

Common
Usually healthy
Often helpful in the grieving process

Unless they become persistent hallucinations with loss of insight, they are not treated as psychiatric disorders.

Shervan K Shahhian

Understanding Grief Hallucination:

A grief hallucination (often called a bereavement hallucination or post-bereavement experience) is a sensory experience of a deceased loved one that occurs during the grieving process. These experiences are very common and usually not considered a sign of mental illness.

Psychologists and parapsychologists might refer to them as bereavement-related anomalous experiences.

Common Types of Grief Hallucinations

People may experience the deceased in different sensory ways:

1. Visual experiences

Briefly seeing the deceased person
Seeing them sitting in their usual place or walking by

2. Auditory experiences

Hearing their voice
Hearing them call your name

3. Sense of presence

Feeling strongly that the person is nearby

4. Tactile sensations

Feeling a touch or pressure on the bed or shoulder

5. Olfactory experiences

Smelling their perfume, cologne, or cigarette smoke

How Common Are They?

Research in bereavement psychology shows they are surprisingly frequent.

Studies suggest some of the grieving people might report at least one such experience.

These might occur across cultures and age groups.

How They Might Differ From Psychiatric Hallucinations

Some psychologists might distinguish grief experiences from disorders such as Schizophrenia.

Key differences:

Grief Hallucinations	Psychiatric Hallucinations
Occur after a loss	Occur without bereavement trigger
Usually brief and comforting	Often distressing or threatening
Person knows the loved one died	Often involves loss of reality testing
Do not disrupt daily functioning	Often impair functioning

Some grief hallucinations fade might naturally as the grieving process progresses.

Some Psychological Explanations

Modern grief psychology suggests several mechanisms:

1. Attachment system activation
The brain is still expecting the loved one to be present.

2. Memory integration
The mind is reorganizing emotional memories of the person.

3. Sensory expectation
The brain briefly “fills in” expected perceptions.

Parapsychology Perspective

It’s worth something that researchers in Parapsychology sometimes classify these as crisis apparitions or after-death communications (ADC).

Three interpretations could be often discussed:

Psychological grief process
Psi-mediated experiences (Super-Psi model)
Actual survival-related contact

The field does not claim certainty, but it studies the experiences seriously.

Important Clinical Point

In some cases, grief hallucinations are:

Normal
Transient
Part of healthy mourning

They only might become a concern if they:

Persist for long periods
Cause distress
Impair functioning
Occur with other psychiatric symptoms

Interesting fact:

Many bereavement researchers now consider these experiences part of “continuing bonds”, where the relationship with the deceased psychologically continues in a new form.

Shervan K Shahhian

The Fourth Model Many Modern Parapsychologists Discuss the “Super-Psi or Living Agent Psi model”:

Many modern researchers in Parapsychology may discuss a fourth explanatory model for anomalous experiences that could be called the “Super-Psi” or “Living Agent Psi (LAP)” model. This model tries to explain phenomena that appear paranormal or spirit-related without requiring discarnate spirits or external entities.

The Super-Psi / Living Agent Psi Model

Basic idea:
All the information or effects involved in an anomalous experience come from the psychic abilities of living people, usually unconsciously.

These abilities may include:

Telepathy: mind-to-mind information transfer
Clairvoyance: acquiring information about distant or hidden events
Precognition: knowledge of future events
Psychokinesis: mental influence on physical systems

The “super” part of the theory means these abilities operate at extremely complex and powerful levels, combining all of the above simultaneously.

Why It Was Proposed

Some researchers may have noticed that some paranormal cases seemed to involve:

Accurate information about deceased people
Objects moving or disturbances (poltergeist cases)
Visions or voices that seem external
Mediumistic information

Instead of assuming spirits, the Super-Psi model suggests:

The living person’s unconscious psi gathers information from anywhere in space and time and constructs the experience.

Example

A grief apparition:
Someone sees and hears a deceased relative.

Interpretations by different models:

Psychological model: grief hallucination
Survival model: the spirit of the deceased actually appeared
Psi model: telepathic/clairvoyant perception
Super-Psi model: the experiencer’s unconscious psi accessed information about the deceased and created the full perception

Where It Is Used

The model is often discussed in research areas such as:

Apparitions
Mediumship
Poltergeist cases
Near-death and after-death communication reports

Some influential parapsychologists who possibly debated these ideas include:

J. B. Rhine
Ian Stevenson
Stephen E. Braude

Strengths of the Model

Parapsychologists might consider it attractive because it:

Explains paranormal information without requiring spirits
Uses known psi processes studied in labs
Can theoretically explain very complex cases

Main Criticism

Critics may argue the model becomes too powerful and unfalsifiable.

For example:

If unconscious psi can access any mind, any place, any time, then almost any paranormal event might be explained by Super-Psi, making it difficult to test scientifically.

Important Debate in Parapsychology

Today the biggest debate in Parapsychology could be between:

Super-Psi / Living Agent Psi theory
Survival of consciousness after death

Both might attempt to explain the same phenomena but propose very different realities.

Shervan K Shahhian

Grief & Loss Recovery Support and Therapy, an explanation:

Grief & Loss Recovery Support refers to the range of emotional, psychological, social, and sometimes spiritual services that help people process and adapt to the experience of loss. The loss can involve many things, not only death.

Types of Loss People Seek Support For

Grief support may address losses such as:

Death of a loved one
Divorce or relationship breakup
Loss of health or disability
Loss of a job or career
Loss of identity or life role (retirement, empty nest)
Loss after trauma or disaster
Existential or spiritual crisis

In psychology, grief might often be understood as an adaptive process of adjusting to a changed reality.

Main Forms of Grief & Loss Recovery Support

1. Grief Counseling

Provided by psychologists, therapists, or licensed counselors.

Goals:

Process painful emotions
Integrate memories of the lost person or life situation
Reduce complicated grief reactions
Restore functioning and meaning

Approaches might include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Meaning-Centered Therapy
Complicated Grief Therapy
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

2. Grief Support Groups

Peer-based groups where individuals share experiences with others who have had similar losses.

Benefits:

Reduces isolation
Normalizes grief reactions
Provides community validation
Encourages emotional expression

These may be hosted by:

Hospitals
Community centers
Religious organizations
Bereavement programs

3. Bereavement Coaching / Grief Coaching

More practical and guidance-focused than therapy.

Coaches might help with:

Daily life adjustment
Decision-making after loss
Rebuilding life routines
Meaning reconstruction

4. End-of-Life & Bereavement Support

Support before and after death through roles such as:

End-of-Life Doula
Death Midwife

They help families with:

Emotional preparation
Rituals and closure
grief transition

5. Spiritual or Existential Support

Some individuals seek support from:

clergy or spiritual advisors
existential therapists
meditation teachers

This is common when grief triggers questions about meaning, consciousness, or the nature of existence.

Psychological Goals of Grief Recovery

Modern grief psychology does not aim to “eliminate grief.” Instead, it helps a person:

Accept the reality of loss
Process emotional pain
Adjust to a new life structure
Maintain a healthy continuing bond with what was lost
Rediscover meaning and purpose

Signs Someone May Need Professional Support

Grief counseling is often recommended if a person experiences:

persistent numbness or despair
inability to function months after loss
severe guilt or self-blame
suicidal thinking
prolonged isolation

This condition may relate to Prolonged Grief Disorder.

Interesting psychological insight:
Some research shows grief recovery improves when people can tell the story of their loss in a coherent narrative, which is why both therapy and support groups are effective.

Shervan K Shahhian

The Internal Moral Judge, explained:

The internal moral judge is a psychological concept referring to the part of the mind that evaluates your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors according to moral standards, what you believe is right or wrong.

Core Idea

The internal moral judge might act like an inner authority that:

Monitors your behavior
Judges whether you acted morally or immorally
Produces emotions such as guilt, shame, or pride

It develops through:

Parents and caregivers
Cultural norms
Religious or ethical teachings
Social learning and experience

Possible Psychological Functions

The internal moral judge helps regulate behavior by:

1. Self-evaluation

“Was what I did right?”

2. Moral restraint

Prevents harmful or antisocial behavior.

3. Conscience formation

Guides ethical decision-making.

4. Social adaptation

Helps people live within social rules.

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Internal Moral Judge

Healthy

Encourages responsibility
Supports empathy
Promotes ethical growth

Unhealthy (overly harsh)

Constant guilt
Perfectionism
Severe self-criticism
Internalized shame

This overly harsh version might often overlap with what psychology calls the inner critic.

Related Psychological Concepts

Conscience
Moral reasoning
Self-criticism
Cognitive dissonance

Example

If someone lies to a friend, the internal moral judge might say:

“That was wrong. You should tell the truth.”

This internal response produces guilt, motivating the person to apologize or correct the behavior.

Shervan K Shahhian

Self-Evaluative Thinking, what is it:

Self-evaluative thinking is the mental process in which a person reflects on and judges their own thoughts, feelings, behavior, abilities, or character. It is essentially the mind evaluating itself.

Core Idea

It involves questions like:

“Did I do that well?”
“Was that the right thing to say?”
“Am I a good person?”
“Why did I react that way?”

This type of thinking is part of self-reflection and self-awareness and helps people understand themselves and regulate behavior.

Possible Key Psychological Components

Self-assessment
Evaluating one’s performance, actions, or decisions.
Self-judgment
Deciding whether something about oneself is good, bad, adequate, or inadequate.
Self-monitoring
Observing one’s own behavior while it happens.
Comparison with standards
Comparing oneself with:
- personal values
- social norms
- expectations
- other people.

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Self-Evaluative Thinking

Healthy Form	Unhealthy Form
Constructive self-reflection	Harsh self-criticism
Learning from mistakes	Rumination
Realistic self-appraisal	Perfectionism
Growth-oriented	Shame-based thinking

Excessive negative self-evaluation could often be linked to:

low self-esteem
depression
anxiety
the inner critic.

Example

After giving a presentation:

Balanced self-evaluation:
“I was nervous, but I explained the key points well. Next time I can improve the ending.”
Harsh self-evaluation:
“I completely embarrassed myself. I’m terrible at this.”

In Psychology

Self-evaluative thinking is could be closely related to concepts like:

Self-esteem
Self-concept
Metacognition
Rumination

These processes help shape identity, emotional regulation, and decision making.

In short:
Self-evaluative thinking: the mind observing and judging itself.

Shervan K Shahhian

Hypervigilant self-Monitoring, explained:

Hypervigilant self-monitoring is a psychological pattern in which a person might constantly and intensely observes their own thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and behavior, often out of fear of making mistakes, being judged, or losing control.

Core Idea

It combines two processes:

Hypervigilance: a heightened state of alertness usually associated with perceived threat.
Self-monitoring: the act of observing and regulating one’s own behavior and internal experiences.

When combined, the person might become overly focused on themselves, scanning for problems or flaws.

Typical Characteristics

People experiencing hypervigilant self-monitoring might:

Constantly analyze what they say or do
Monitor facial expressions, tone of voice, or body language
Watch for signs that others are judging or rejecting them
Repeatedly check their thoughts or feelings to see if they are “normal”
Notice and worry about small bodily sensations
Feel mentally exhausted from continuous self-evaluation

Possible Psychological Context

Hypervigilant self-monitoring might appear in:

Social anxiety
Trauma and PTSD
Perfectionism
Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
Shame-based upbringing or chronic criticism

The mind’s threat detection system might become overactive, causing the person to treat ordinary social or internal experiences as potential danger.

Possible Psychological Effects

Long-term hypervigilant self-monitoring might lead to:

Increased anxiety
Self-consciousness
Difficulty being spontaneous
Mental fatigue
Amplified perception of bodily sensations
Reduced sense of authenticity

In some social situations, it can create a paradox:
the more someone monitors themselves, the more anxious and unnatural they feel.

Clinical Perspective

In possibly in therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-based therapies, treatment often focuses on:

Reducing excessive self-focused attention
Redirecting awareness to the external environment
Learning non-judgmental awareness of thoughts
Challenging catastrophic self-evaluations

In simple terms:
Hypervigilant self-monitoring is when the mind turns into a constant internal surveillance system, watching oneself for mistakes or danger.

Shervan K Shahhian