Changes

== Psychiatric considerations ==

== Psychiatric considerations ==

Popular psychiatric interpretations of Ronald Hunkeler experience have been offered, including [[dissociative identity disorder]], [[Tourette's syndrome]], [[schizophrenia]], [[sexual abuse]], and [[group hysteria]]. Terry D. Cooper, Ph.D., a psychologist with doctorates from [[Vanderbilt University]] and [[Saint Louis University]], as well as Cindy K. Epperson, a doctoral fellow at the [[University of Missouri]], have analyzed the case of Ronald Hunkeler and have come to the conclusion that normal psychological explanations can not account for the claimed events; their explanations are offered here.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Popular Psychological Explanations">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote= Psychological interpretations have certainly been offered for this case. Some of these interpretations include multiple personality disorder (or what is now called dissociative identity disorder), Tourette's syndrom, schizophernia, sexual abuse by the aunt, and group hysteria.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Dissociative Identity Disorder (also known as Multiple Personality Disorder) is a [[dissociative disorder]] involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality identities manipulate the individual's behaviour at different moments, whose treatment consists primarily of [[psychotherapy]].<ref name="NAMI - Dissociative Identity Disorder">{{cite web|url =http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Dissociative_Identity_Disorder_(formerly_Multiple_Personality_Disorder).htm|title= Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder)|publisher = [[National Alliance on Mental Illness]]|accessdate = 2010-04-05}}</ref> Although some symptoms of dissociative identity disorder line up with Ronald's behavior,<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote= Robbie seemed to manifest a demonic personality along with his normal personality. His voice and facial expressions would change dramatically. Several problems arise when we try explain Robbie's profile strictly from a multiple personality perspective. The most basic is the question, Why did Robbie's symptoms suddenly disappear? Multiple personality disorder does not simply "go away" as a result of having priests perform an exorcism ritual. Again, treatment involves a slow, tedious process of psychotherapy. There is no evidence in Robbie's case that these multiple personality disorder symptoms returned. If he truly had MPD, where did it go? A second problem is that MPD is clearly related to chronic abuse in one's childhood. Investigations into his family backgound, as well as Robbie's own testimony, revealed no such ongoing abuse. Third, an MPD diagnosis hardly explains the strange paranormal-like activities going on around the boy.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Dr. Cooper and Dr. Epperson criticize this explanation because it fails to explain how Ronald's symptoms suddenly disappeared after the exorcism ritual since psychotherapy is a slow and tedious process.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote= Robbie seemed to manifest a demonic personality along with his normal personality. His voice and facial expressions would change dramatically. Several problems arise when we try explain Robbie's profile strictly from a multiple personality perspective. The most basic is the question, Why did Robbie's symptoms suddenly disappear? Multiple personality disorder does not simply "go away" as a result of having priests perform an exorcism ritual. Again, treatment involves a slow, tedious process of psychotherapy. There is no evidence in Robbie's case that these multiple personality disorder symptoms returned. If he truly had MPD, where did it go? A second problem is that MPD is clearly related to chronic abuse in one's childhood. Investigations into his family backgound, as well as Robbie's own testimony, revealed no such ongoing abuse. Third, an MPD diagnosis hardly explains the strange paranormal-like activities going on around the boy.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Moreover, Ronald Hunkeler displayed no previous history of multiple personality disorder earlier in his life.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder"/> According to Cooper and Epperson, labeling Ronald's condition as dissociative identity disorder also fails to explain the strange [[paranormal]] activity associated with the case to which forty-eight individuals testified.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder"/>  

Popular psychiatric interpretations of Ronald Hunkeler experience have been offered, including [[dissociative identity disorder]], [[Tourette's syndrome]], [[schizophrenia]], sexual abuse, and group hysteria. Terry D. Cooper, Ph.D., a psychologist with doctorates from [[Vanderbilt University]] and [[Saint Louis University]], as well as Cindy K. Epperson, a doctoral fellow at the [[University of Missouri]], have analyzed the case of Ronald Hunkeler and have come to the conclusion that normal psychological explanations can not account for the claimed events; their explanations are offered here.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Popular Psychological Explanations">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote= Psychological interpretations have certainly been offered for this case. Some of these interpretations include multiple personality disorder (or what is now called dissociative identity disorder), Tourette's syndrom, schizophernia, sexual abuse by the aunt, and group hysteria.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Dissociative Identity Disorder (also known as Multiple Personality Disorder) is a [[dissociative disorder]] involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality identities manipulate the individual's behaviour at different moments, whose treatment consists primarily of [[psychotherapy]].<ref name="NAMI - Dissociative Identity Disorder">{{cite web|url =http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Dissociative_Identity_Disorder_(formerly_Multiple_Personality_Disorder).htm|title= Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder)|publisher = [[National Alliance on Mental Illness]]|accessdate = 2010-04-05}}</ref> Although some symptoms of dissociative identity disorder line up with Ronald's behavior,<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote= Robbie seemed to manifest a demonic personality along with his normal personality. His voice and facial expressions would change dramatically. Several problems arise when we try explain Robbie's profile strictly from a multiple personality perspective. The most basic is the question, Why did Robbie's symptoms suddenly disappear? Multiple personality disorder does not simply "go away" as a result of having priests perform an exorcism ritual. Again, treatment involves a slow, tedious process of psychotherapy. There is no evidence in Robbie's case that these multiple personality disorder symptoms returned. If he truly had MPD, where did it go? A second problem is that MPD is clearly related to chronic abuse in one's childhood. Investigations into his family backgound, as well as Robbie's own testimony, revealed no such ongoing abuse. Third, an MPD diagnosis hardly explains the strange paranormal-like activities going on around the boy.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Dr. Cooper and Dr. Epperson criticize this explanation because it fails to explain how Ronald's symptoms suddenly disappeared after the exorcism ritual since psychotherapy is a slow and tedious process.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote= Robbie seemed to manifest a demonic personality along with his normal personality. His voice and facial expressions would change dramatically. Several problems arise when we try explain Robbie's profile strictly from a multiple personality perspective. The most basic is the question, Why did Robbie's symptoms suddenly disappear? Multiple personality disorder does not simply "go away" as a result of having priests perform an exorcism ritual. Again, treatment involves a slow, tedious process of psychotherapy. There is no evidence in Robbie's case that these multiple personality disorder symptoms returned. If he truly had MPD, where did it go? A second problem is that MPD is clearly related to chronic abuse in one's childhood. Investigations into his family backgound, as well as Robbie's own testimony, revealed no such ongoing abuse. Third, an MPD diagnosis hardly explains the strange paranormal-like activities going on around the boy.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Moreover, Ronald Hunkeler displayed no previous history of multiple personality disorder earlier in his life.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder"/> According to Cooper and Epperson, labeling Ronald's condition as dissociative identity disorder also fails to explain the strange [[paranormal]] activity associated with the case to which forty-eight individuals testified.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Dissociative Identity Disorder"/>  

The essential feature of Tourette’s syndrome are multiple [[tic]]s, which may include blurting out inappropriate comments.<ref name="NAMI - Tourette's Syndrome">{{cite web|url =http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Tourettes_Syndrome.htm|title= Tourette's Syndrome|publisher = [[National Alliance on Mental Illness]]|accessdate = 2010-04-05}}</ref> Ronald was indeed known to use foul language during the exorcism ritual,<ref name="Sue Lim - Foul Language">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZH_CdJpxoUC&pg=PA98&dq=Phyllis+Mannheim&lr=&cd=2#v=onepage&q=Phyllis%20Mannheim&f=false|title= Good Spirits, Bad Spirits: How to Distinguish Between Them|quote=Robbie periodically awakened for moments...then fell back into his nightmare sleep and thrased and laughed and screamed. "I'm in hell," he shourted, laughing.|publisher = [[iUniverse]]|accessdate = 2010-04-05}}</ref> albeit he no longer swore after the successful exorcism.<ref name="Terry Douglas Lockhart - Tourette's">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qhyOAAAAMAAJ&q=Robbie++exorcism&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=4|title= The dark side of God: a quest for the lost heart of Christianity|quote=And following the classical Tourette's syndrome, Robbie does curse and swear  like a seasoned trooper; but he recovers from this compulsion when the exorcism...|publisher = Element|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Dr. Cooperson and Dr. Epperson argue that reducing Ronald's "entire set of circumstances to this simple disorder does not do justice to this case. It's simply implausible that a young man with Tourette's was able to fool nine Jesuit priests, hospital personnel, and all the family members."<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Tourette's">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote=Yet reducing Robbie's entire set of circumstances to this simple disorder does not do justice to this case. It's simply implausible that a young man with with Tourette's was able to fool nine Jesuit priests, hospital personnel, and all the family members.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Moreover, Tourette's syndrome is treated with medication and [[counseling]] - it simply does not go away.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Tourette's">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote=Also, Tourette's syndrome, like the other disorders we've discussed, simply doesn't go away. It is usually treated with counseling and medication.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref>

The essential feature of Tourette’s syndrome are multiple [[tic]]s, which may include blurting out inappropriate comments.<ref name="NAMI - Tourette's Syndrome">{{cite web|url =http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Tourettes_Syndrome.htm|title= Tourette's Syndrome|publisher = [[National Alliance on Mental Illness]]|accessdate = 2010-04-05}}</ref> Ronald was indeed known to use foul language during the exorcism ritual,<ref name="Sue Lim - Foul Language">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZH_CdJpxoUC&pg=PA98&dq=Phyllis+Mannheim&lr=&cd=2#v=onepage&q=Phyllis%20Mannheim&f=false|title= Good Spirits, Bad Spirits: How to Distinguish Between Them|quote=Robbie periodically awakened for moments...then fell back into his nightmare sleep and thrased and laughed and screamed. "I'm in hell," he shourted, laughing.|publisher = [[iUniverse]]|accessdate = 2010-04-05}}</ref> albeit he no longer swore after the successful exorcism.<ref name="Terry Douglas Lockhart - Tourette's">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qhyOAAAAMAAJ&q=Robbie++exorcism&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=4|title= The dark side of God: a quest for the lost heart of Christianity|quote=And following the classical Tourette's syndrome, Robbie does curse and swear  like a seasoned trooper; but he recovers from this compulsion when the exorcism...|publisher = Element|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Dr. Cooperson and Dr. Epperson argue that reducing Ronald's "entire set of circumstances to this simple disorder does not do justice to this case. It's simply implausible that a young man with Tourette's was able to fool nine Jesuit priests, hospital personnel, and all the family members."<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Tourette's">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote=Yet reducing Robbie's entire set of circumstances to this simple disorder does not do justice to this case. It's simply implausible that a young man with with Tourette's was able to fool nine Jesuit priests, hospital personnel, and all the family members.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref> Moreover, Tourette's syndrome is treated with medication and [[counseling]] - it simply does not go away.<ref name="Terry D. Cooper, Cindy K. Epperson - Tourette's">{{cite book|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DXHqjYs3l5kC&pg=PA25&dq=Robbie++exorcism&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Robbie%20%20exorcism&f=false|title= Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology |quote=Also, Tourette's syndrome, like the other disorders we've discussed, simply doesn't go away. It is usually treated with counseling and medication.|publisher = [[Paulist Press]]|accessdate = 2010-04-03}}</ref>