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From Dysfunction to Extraordinary Functioning: One Man’s Path from Mental Illness to Mediumship

This is reprinted from Kardec’s Spiritism (Bragdon 2004, pp. 60-63). It is one of the clearest cases of a patient being assisted by the Spiritist integrative approach to helping someone diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Marcel Teles Marcondes came to Palmelo, Brazil in the spring of 2002. Although he had enjoyed a normal life (with no significant early trauma) with satisfying work as a travel agent, and many friends, he began to experience emotional problems when he was in his late 20s (in 1996). His father, Arnoldo Marcondes Filho, a bank manager for the Bank of San Paulo State, Banesba, was able to afford excellent medical care for his son, and took Marcel to the best psychiatrists in Sao Paulo.

Marcel was first diagnosed with depression, then schizophrenia. Anti-psychotics were prescribed as well as sleep medication. The prognosis: Marcel would have to manage his symptoms with these strong medications for the rest of his life.

But Marcel never felt well when taking the medications. When he was committed to a psychiatric clinic for twenty days, the hospital environment only added to his stress. His parents then tried touring Brazil with Marcel for eight months in a motor home, to help him relax. Marcel continued to experience bizarre delusions: seeing and feeling crabs and spiders crawling all over him, grabbing at him. He could turn unpredictably aggressive and hostile for periods of time. Sometimes, he would hear two to three voices in his head talking to him, simultaneously.

Although the family was Catholic and had been advised by their physicians not to trust the services of Spiritist healers, they took a chance and drove Marcel to Palmelo. He was committed to Euripedes Barsanulfo Hospital, a Spiritist psychiatric facility in Palmelo, and stayed there as an inpatient for one hundred days.

As an in-patient, Marcel continued on anti-psychotic medication, under the care of a licensed psychiatrist. Marcel also participated in the mainstream modes of therapy offered at the hospital: physical activity (playing soccer or gardening), occupational therapy, and attending group therapy three times a week. He also participated in the Spiritist activities, including private “laying-on of hands” performed by trained healer/mediums once a week, who transmitted healing energy to Marcel, without touching him. He would also have private sessions of medical intuition once a month.

“Disobsession” was performed by mediums three times a week in a group format to rid Marcel and other patients, individually, of negatively motivated disincarnates who had attached themselves to the energy field of the patients. This was not an exorcism as we know it, as there were no special rituals or incantations performed by a priest.

All of the Spiritist work was either supervised or done directly by Bartholo Damo, the spiritual head of the hospital. Soon after his arrival, Marcel was told by some of the hospital’s mediums that he was being troubled by spirits who had known him in past lives. Although initially disconcerting, this perspective proved to be very helpful, pointing him in the direction of very specific work he had to do to forgive himself and others, make amends, and thus find a way to regain his stability.

After several weeks of medical intuitive reading and disobsession, Marcel’s periods of violent aggression stopped, as did his delusions. He then began studying Kardec’s philosophy in the first books, “The Spirits’ Book” and “The

Mediums’ Book.” Damo was continually monitoring Marcel’s emotional stability, also his understanding of Kardecist philosophy. Damo could see, by indicators in Marcel’s subtle energy field (aura), that Marcel was a medium with healing abilities. This became more evident as disincarnate entities causing his obsessing were liberated. Marcel needed more study and supervision to gain conceptual understanding of spiritual realms and the practice of mediumship. Marcel also needed to come to terms with how his prior lifetimes had contributed to the internal stresses of the present lifetime.

I met Marcel twice in 2003, after he had done a considerable amount of study and skill building as a medium, under the direct supervision of Damo. Marcel was then functioning as a member of a team of healing mediums performing disobsession through laying-on of hands, and was still taking a minimal dose of psychiatric medications.

Johann Grobler, a psychiatrist from South Africa traveling with me, asked Marcel:

“Why does a person get possessed by a disincarnate entity?”

Marcel answered, “When the etheric body (a subtle energy field around the physical body) is weakened by stress or depression, spirits driven by negative emotions, like anger, greed, lust, addiction, fear and vengeance, can take possession of him or her. The weakened person is unable to over-ride the willfulness of the negative disincarnates in this case and he or she is driven to irrational behavior. The undeveloped spirits may come to hurt the person or his family in response to hurt they felt in other lifetimes at the hand of that same individual. These entities get trapped in obsessing and part of releasing them is to help them be free to go on to their next step in their own development.”

Marcel’s current inner balance and peacefulness is obvious and clear testimony to his having successfully confronted his “demons.” His healing depended on “inner transformation,” called “reforma intima” in Portuguese, that necessitated his making amends for prior wrong-doing (acting in a way that is not compassionate to oneself or others) in this and other lifetimes. His dedication to be of service to others through healing is a significant way he is making his amends.

The negative patterns of the mind brought about by obsession take time to heal. Marcel has been asked by Damo to stay for two years in Palmelo, to study Kardec and other Spiritist teachers, and continue his service work, receiving spiritual healing, and living a life in which stress is minimized. According to Damo, “This will completely restore his balance.”

I had the opportunity to visit Marcel at the home he shares with his mother and father. The love that flowed among them all was palpable, and obviously contributed to Marcel’s healing. The three reported that they had been through a lot of soul-searching together, including sharing the events from past-lives, where various difficulties had arisen among them, causing conflict that had continued into this lifetime. Marcel’s reforma intima had involved all three of them resolving these issues and making a deeper commitment to treat each other with compassion, in brotherhood, that transcends the roles of this lifetime: as mother, father and son. I feel sure the simple diet, with plenty of Acerola juice (high in Vitamin C) also contributed to Marcel’s healing.

When I first met Marcel he was ushering visitors as they prepared to have a personal session with Vania Damo, the wife of Bartolo Damo. She is gifted in channeling spirits through automatic writing. (“Dona Vania” is one of the most well respected teachers in the community, as well as the main person who performs the service of automatic writing, to assist those who want to communicate with loved ones who have died.) I had also watched Marcel giving “laying-on of hands” during disobsessions at the hospital. At his present level of development he is learning to deliberately ‘incorporate,’ that is, allow a highly evolved discarnate to use his body for a specific period of time, to transmit helpful information or do psychic healing.

Arnoldo, Marcel’s father, has come to believe that the majority of cases of schizophrenia are caused by disincarnates possessing a person, or causing an individual to obsess. As he and his wife witnessed their son improving dramatically, they felt they had to accept the principles of Spiritism. Arnoldo told me, “I got back my son. I thought he might be gone forever.”

Even as Catholics, the family began believing in reincarnation and the necessity of making amends for mistakes in previous lifetimes. Like Marcel, they learned to strengthen their focus on peace and love, and control the images and thoughts in their minds, to deliberately be more positive. Kardec’s Spiritism considers this discipline is essential to healing. It helps individuals separate from the negative influence of undeveloped discarnates—and paves the way for those entities to be “educated,” learning that they too are free to develop.

I asked Marcel, his mother and father, what they would want others to know about Marcel’s healing, if they could address the world. His mother said, “What makes healing possible is our faith in God’s goodness, and our ability to see life from new perspectives, getting over our prejudice against Spiritism.” Both parents agreed, “The patient must actively participate in his healing through study and other activities of a Spiritist center, like Palmelo.” Marcel said, “My story is concrete evidence that medication in combination with Spiritism work. You need both.”

Spiritist Treatment: Perspective from a Brazilian Social Movement

It takes a willful blindness to believe that other cultures lack a meaningful framework for understanding the human response to trauma…We (often) take their cultural narratives away from them and impose ours. It’s a terrible example of dehumanizing people.

--Watters, p. 107

A Spiritist medical doctor once told me that Spiritists believe that those with bipolar symptoms were mediums or healers in past lives who did not have a full understanding of the responsibilities that accompany those gifts and thus hurt others. They had a well-developed sixth sense as clairvoyants, and their sources of inner knowing that are invisible to the five senses were far greater than normal. They now need to harness their abilities as “sensitives” and creative people in order to be more consistently in service to others and so as not to manipulate others to serve their personal needs. A psychotic break is a time when the memories and intuitions locked up in the subconscious mind break through and demand to be dealt with.

It’s an interesting way of looking at what the origins of these mental illnesses are, isn’t it?

If this perspective is accurate, it means that those who are labeled bipolar or psychotic need to rebalance themselves by harnessing their sensitivities in a disciplined way, under supervision of well-trained mediums who know the territory. Study and discussion of the purpose of life and the nature of being a medium and relating to spirits can be part of that rebalancing. As we have recognized in psychology and practice in psychotherapy, the mentally ill also need to make amends for prior wrongdoing and to weave more compassion and love into their relationships. This is known to be essential in twelve-step programs aimed at recovery. Judicious use of psychiatric medication may also hold an important place. From this point of view, Spiritism can take a significant role in bio-psycho-social and spiritual healing.

The role of spirituality may be even more important with some of the mentally unbalanced than with those with physical disorders seeking healing. That becomes apparent in the course of each individual’s journey in healing. With everyone having emotional issues, there is a need to develop the skills to sort out relationships; learn more positive, accepting and forgiving ways of relating to oneself and others; and to manage anxiety without acting out that causes needless suffering. This is the work of personal transformation. It is a path of taking more responsibility for oneself, one’s physical health, and creating a positive role in one’s community.

There are many spiritual paths—East and West, North and South—that can assist in this endeavor. What is essential to all of them is accepting and relating to the existence of a Higher Power, be it God or a less-defined but still greater intelligence.

Integrative Medicine

I admire the way Brazil’s Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals and their Spiritist Community Centers view spiritual therapies as just one part of an integrative approach to health and healing. We might be physically healthy but depressed. We might have many friends but feel spiritually empty because we are not connecting deeply with ourselves or with anyone else. If we reach a higher state of consciousness but can’t relate to our loved ones in a consistent, compassionate, and real way, we are out of balance. We might be great at giving to others yet depleted and sick because we are not capable of taking good care of ourselves. In other words, if we find ourselves out of balance, we need to attend to all aspect of health: the spiritual, the physical, the emotional, and community relationships.

Those who represent an integrated approach, now called the bio-psycho-social-spiritual,” assert that to experience wellbeing, we must be mindful of all areas of our lives. This means take in good food, get plenty of rest, have an outlet for our spirituality that invites spiritual growth and inspiration, exercise, relate to nature, maintain deep connections with loved ones, and participate meaningfully in our communities. When one thing is forgotten, we become out of balance.

The Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona defines integrative medicine (IM) as “healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative.”