M. Scott Peck fascinates me. A psychiatrist who wrote widely acclaimed books (such as The Road Less Traveled) who struggled with a number of personal demons (alcohol, nicotine, amorous affairs), who professed Christianity which at some times seems quite liberal but at other moments almost evangelical/charismatic in its nature.

In this book he discusses his start as an unbeliever in demonic spirits, his attempt to test the matter scientifically, and his eventual decision that the demonic does exist and his performing of two exorcisms.

The book felt choppy to me but seemed also an authentic attempt to express things that are difficult to understand which could result in public mockery, even the stripping of professional credentials.

I read this volume in part because I am also reading his People of the Lie which is a more psychological approach to the question of human evil.

After First Reading

This was a fantastic book. Peck is the first person to give us a proper account of exorcisms which is intelligently explained, completely and utterly convincing, and pretty damned scary. As a psychiatrist, he details his daunting experiences with two particular patients who claim to be possessed by a demonic entity. Using his expertise and medical knowledge, he is neither biased nor at all ignorant in his dealings with this controversial subject. I won't say if he is successful or not, but I can tell you that in both cases he really does get glimpses of the devil, and manages to establish this terrifying privilege with nothing but medical expertise and a deft understanding of the human mind. The psychological triggers for one of the patients is truly startling.

After Second Reading

Yep. Pretty much what I said before. I admire Peck's bravery in publishing on such a misunderstood concept. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of doctors in the psychiatric community who laughed behind his back. But Peck comes across as very down-to-earth. He's the best kind of Christian in that he still has the ability to doubt things and question them. All the same, while I do believe he speaks in earnest, some of this book probably should be taken with a grain of salt. (Oh, you like salt with your dinner? Well, then, a grain of something you don't like, you fucking smartarse, you). I found it a little silly how quickly Peck jumped to the conclusion that he was dealing with Satan himself. I suppose it's one of those having to be there to understand it kind of things.
On reading some less positive reviews for this book though, some questions were asked which I think could lead to answers quite as horrifying as the thought of demonic possession. Specifically the the possibility that, through his own obsession with prodding these mysteries, Peck projected the idea of possession into his patients and this, in turn, led to the downfall of one of them. It is conceivable that someone could become convinced that they're possessed when really they are just schizophrenic or woke up on the wrong side of the bed or some damned thing. That would make Peck quite the villain.

But look here, I don't think that was the case. I think Peck probably was the genuine article, and I certainly can get behind his wistful proposition that such areas as this should not be pushed into the realm of fiction by medical professionals as they have been. Science and religion are worlds apart now, and that's unfortunate because either one dispelling the other is a dead-end road to understanding our place in the universe. There's just so many Atheists that one day God will be nothing more than a fictional fantasy like Hogwarts and unicorns and my imaginary girlfriend.

This is an extremely interesting book. The author, Dr. Scott Peck, is a well known psychiatrist and author. In his practice, he has seen situations in which modern medical thought is not sufficient to explain what is the problem for some of his patients. In People of the Lie he presented a number of situations in which either the patients or their family exhibited behavior that that was evil and yet they didn't suffer from a known mental illness. This book goes beyond those earlier stories to incidents of actual possession.

I met Dr. Peck when he came to our church for a weekend seminar and our small group came to know him very well. We were impressed with his wisdom and intelligence as well as his honesty and forthrightness.

In this book, he discusses cases of his which involved actual possession. He knew Malachi Martin, author of Hostage to the Devil and discussed some of these cases with him.

People today are reluctant to even entertain the notion of a personal devil and yet as far back as the earliest records almost every civilization has a belief in devils. It is only the last 75 years that people have rejected the idea, especially when their image seems to only include a person in read tights with a trident and horns. C. S. Lewis says that the devil is just as happy when people are obsessed with him as when they ridicule him. Either way, he is camouflaged and can go about his work.

This is a great book to read with an open mind and learn from.

when I give this book 3 stars, I mean it is an entertaining read, particularly for someone with a mental health background. It's full of bullshit, but it's entertaining bullshit.

Very, very fascinating. I'm not a huge believer in Satan, but this opened my mind a little on the subject of possession.

My favorite parts:

"I gave examples from my clinical practice of how love was not wholly a thought or feeling. I told of how that very evening there would be some man sitting at a bar in the local village, crying into his beer and sputtering to the bartender how much he loved his wife and children while at the same time he was wasting his family's money and depriving them of his attention. We recounted how this man was thinking love and feeling love--were they not real tears in his eyes?--but he was not in truth behaving with love." [pg 55:]

"Since the primary motive of the evil is disguise, one of the places evil people are most likely to be found is within the church. What better way to conceal one's evil from oneself as well as from others than to be a deacon or some other highly visible form of Christian within our culture." [pg 148:]

The most interesting thing about M. Scott Peck, M.D. is his credibility. He is a graduate of Harvard and Case Western Reserve and he was at first highly skeptical of this subject. While I may not be 100% convinced, Peck is the type of credible, mentally stable, intelligent source that I look for when researching a new subject. He's no religious nut. He encourages questioning and doubting. He's a Christian I can get on board with. Dammit, I just looked him up and he passed away in 2005. I would have liked to have dinner with the man.

I feel a little unfair rating this book, since I'm apparently not anywhere near the intended audience. Peck is not going to convince anyone who doesn't already believe in actual demons and in Satan as an entity, and even those who believe in such things might find that this book stretches their credulity.

This book, as near as I can figure, expands upon two situations mentioned in Peck's earlier work, People of the Lie, where he encountered women in his psychiatric practice who he believed to be possessed. In the early eighties, Peck became interested in exorcism and possession and whether these could somehow be scientifically proven. In the process, he became acquainted with Malachai Martin, author of Hostage to the Devil. This already had my eyebrows shooting up, since Martin was a controversial figure and more than a little bit of a huckster. Martin eventually asked Peck to investigate the case of a young woman named Jersey, who believed herself to be possessed.

Peck meets Jersey, and almost immediately recognizes the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder, yet he uses hypnotism to speak directly to the "demons," and they convince him that there might be some truth to Jersey's belief. He agrees to continue to investigate the case. Soon after this, during a psychiatric interview, Jersey suddenly has what appears to be a psychotic break, exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia, but this ends abruptly when Peck tells her to "cut it out." Peck finds this sudden change "breathtaking," and he takes it as evidence of possession. This is interesting, since I've read at least one account of a woman with BPD who suffered from extremely brief episodes of psychosis that usually resolved themselves within an hour. Anyway, Peck goes ahead with a deliverance (an intense prayer session designed to relieve the sufferer of demonic influences), and when that affords only temporary relief, he performs a full-on exorcism, which takes four days. At the end, there is a marked improvement in Jersey's condition, but Peck himself states that his initial assessment was that "at most, what the exorcism did was to transform a severe untreatable borderline personality into a severe treatable one."
At this point, my reaction as a reader was basically that I thought Peck was misinterpreting psychiatric symptoms as demon possession, but Jersey did seem to be helped by the exorcism, so maybe it was a case of "no harm, no foul." Then Peck does something I consider to be unconscionable.
Peck is of the belief that possession can only occur if the victim leaves the demons an opening. Because both he and Jersey have come to believe that Jersey was possessed sometime around twelve years old, Peck spends a lot of time trying to find out what happened that gave the demons a foothold. Gradually it comes out that after Jersey had her appendix out when she was twelve, her father sexually molested her under the guise of medically examining her. While her father had a PhD in psychology and had a practice of seeing his patients in a starched white coat, he was not a medical doctor. Jersey emphatically swears up and down that she thought he was, but Peck tells her that at the age of twelve, she should have known that he was not a medical doctor and that what he was doing was wrong. Thus, her decision to lie to herself was what gave the demons a foothold and caused her possession. Peck emphatically tells her that no one would blame her, and that it was perhaps a necessary lie -- but it was a lie nonetheless, and that's what caused her to be infested by demons for the following fifteen years. "During the twelve days that followed," Peck writes, "we were to go over her father's sexual molestation several times, elaborating on the unfairness of it as well as the unfairness that the devil had taken advantage of such a tiny and pardonable wrong choice. But I also emphasized during those times that it had been, in fact, a wrong choice on her part. ... I repeatedly told her that God is truth, and truth is what is real. The choice to believe her father's lie because it was the less painful alternative was a choice to believe unreality. And unreality belonged to the devil.(p. 83)" I, frankly, have no words to respond to this, except that I consider it to be one of the most f-ed up things a therapist could tell a survivor of sexual abuse.
At any rate, this is getting long, but my main reaction on reading this case study and that of the other woman Peck exorcised, is that I'm glad that Peck stopped practicing as a psychiatrist in the mid-eighties in favor of the lecture circuit, and I hope he didn't infect too many other mental health professionals with his ideas.

A creepy, well-written and compelling read. Left me mildly disturbed.

I need to just step away from the crazy.

Having read The Road Less Travelled and People of the Lie, this book doesn´t come close to the interest inspired by those two. Although Scott Peck has an academic and case-study style that I appreciated in People of the Lie (my favourite of his books), this style seemed a little more stilted and "So what?"-ish in this book. Perhaps the case studies included were particularly banal, but perhaps the fact of the matter is that possession happens to the most banal people (as evidenced by the banality of evil already explored in People of the Lie) as I have no doubt these were his most interesting cases. Maybe I was expecting fireworks and a resolution like in the film, The Excorist, or conclusions that were a little firmer. I don´t know. I was more interested in what he had to say about the Vatican´s exorcist, but as he seemed to be of no help to the miffed Scott Peck it came to nothing more than a mild character assassination. Slightly disappointed.

In this book, the author definitely hits a road less traveled (pun intended). Peck talks about how he became interested in the possibility of demonic possession (he was quite skeptical at first), his relations with the controversial Malachi Martin, and two patients he believes were demonically possessed. The book doesn't involve over-the-top "Exorcist" type of things. However, it is disturbing and creepy in parts. Jersey, Peck's first patient, is a twenty something who is severely neglecting her children and dabbling in a spiritualist cult. Peck is successfully able to "treat" her. Beccah, patient two, is a multi-millionaire married to an abusive crook. Raised Jewish, Beccah eventually converted to Christianity. As a very young girl she also became obsessed/possessed by an "evil book." As an adult, a depressed Beccah develops a thing for shady stock trading, lying, and self-mutilation. The mutilations she would perform with specially ordered "Nazi knives." Beccah's story doesn't end too well. Controversial, well-written, thought provoking.

This discussion delves further into the details of the book than most of my reviews because I have some issues with the ethical behavior of the author of this book.

Though some might feel that a book recounting exorcisms is written on shaky foundation, I believe in the supernatural and, more specifically, the existence of evil spirits we call “demons.” I am not, however, a Christian, so I bring my own opinions to the reading of these stories, which is the impetus for this review. I believe that every spiritual explanation–from major religions to individual experiences–is like a blind man trying to describe an elephant. The observation touches on something true about the whole, but the interpretation misses the entire picture.

In Glimpses of the Devil, Dr. Peck, who is a psychiatrist and converted Christian, recounts two experiences where he acted as an exorcist. He holds these two cases up as proof of demonic possession. Enough evidence exists in what he presented that, if he has presented everything factually, I believe these are cases of true demon possession.

However, I disagree with his interpretation of events in two specific areas.

Glimpses of the Devil is described as a factual representation of events; however, it ends up as an autobiographical account of a man who decides, without religious or demonological training, to exorcise two patients. This becomes clear throughout the book as Dr. Peck wrestles with his decision. One of my chief concerns regarding all this is that he never asks, “Should I do further research into exorcisms beyond reading Malachi Martin‘s books?”

Mr. Martin is widely criticized in the exorcist community as writing sensational books full of half-truths and for decidedly un-Christian-like conduct, such as several affairs. Dr. Peck goes so far as to claim that no other handbook for exorcisms exists beyond Mr. Martin’s, which is patently untrue. Dr. Peck’s ignorance of the best practices in dealing with demons is evident from the beginning.

The first case is Jersey, a girl who has been possessed since she was twelve. Dr. Peck and his team exorcise her, which goes well. He then spends three weeks with her in psychoanalytic therapy, preparing her for re-entering the world.

After the exorcism, Dr. Peck is in contact with her over the years. During one visit, she explains to him that the demons still talk to her, but she is able to ignore them. In one instance, she told them to “shut the **** up,” and they did. However, out of curiosity, Dr. Peck asks to hypnotize her, as he did in the past, and to speak to the demons through her. She agrees and the resulting conversation is confusing. Nothing particularly demonic happens; instead, the entity speaking through Jersey identifies itself as a clerk living in Anaheim. He ends the hypnotic session and sees her rarely after that, though she, at press time, is happy, healthy, and no longer possessed.

I am appalled. Shame on you, Dr. Peck, for opening the door to allow a demon to speak through Jersey. I won’t be surprised if the ending to the story is that she ends up possessed again.

Look, I’m no expert, but I have read a few things and I have some common sense. One of the preeminent exorcists of our times, Father Gabriele Amorth, has given extensive precautionary information in An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories. These two books are not pea-soup-spitting horrors but are thoughtfully written tradesman’s books–discussions of the nuts and bolts and challenges facing exorcists. They could be about plumbing or IT development but are instead about exorcisms. At the time that Dr. Peck conducted his exorcisms, the books had not yet been written; however, I would expect a non-fiction published in 2005 to at least acknowledge the existence of Father Amorth’s books.

In his books, Father Amorth advises, quite sensibly, against engaging a demon in conversation. Assuming you believe demons are creatures of inherent evil and you aren’t interested in unleashing evil into the world, you can agree that you shouldn’t talk to them. Why? Because they lie. Even if they’re not lying about whatever you ask, how do you know that? You’re begging to be manipulated. What is there to learn, other than that they’re evil, which you already know?

It’s an exciting, gripping, fascinating world to step into. The lure of talking to something not human is immense. It’s no wonder the Catholic Church refuses to promote its work in the realm of exorcisms.

This deviation from “get the hell out of that woman” to “hey, guy, whatcha doin’ in there?” becomes prominent in the second patient’s exorcism. Dr. Peck is fascinated with the idea that Beccah is possessed by Satan, an evil creature millions of years old. He senses a giant, immoveable snake, as old as the world itself, coiled supernaturally around or inside of his patient. He wonders why it has possessed her. He asks it questions. He hypothesizes why it won’t leave her. He does everything except exorcise it.

I wasn’t there. I don’t know. Maybe it went differently, and his ruminations are for the book only. But the exorcism of Beccah took a subtle shift from the exorcism of Jersey. With Jersey, he very strongly orders the demons to leave for three days straight. With Beccah, he ends up falling to the floor weeping at one point and another team member must step in and complete the exorcism. Is it no wonder that it turned out the way it did?

I’m also uncomfortable with the conclusions that Dr. Peck has drawn, aided by Malachi Martin, about the reasons behind demonic possession. Both men claim that every possessed person is complicit in their possession, that to become possessed, one must open the door for that possession, even if only a crack.

When the first patient Jersey was twelve, her father molested her. She allowed him to do it because he claimed to be a medical doctor and was “examining” her after her appendix was removed. He held a PhD and was a practicing psychologist but was not a medical doctor.

Dr. Peck claims that at twelve years old, Jersey knew the difference between a psychologist and a medical doctor. Though he doesn’t outright blame her, he explains that in not protesting what her father did to her, she created a kind of cognitive dissonance that allowed the demons to gain a foothold. She willfully believed a lie, and therefore, she opened the door to being possessed.

Are you kidding me, Dr. Peck?

I have no idea why that poor girl was possessed, but the only proof the author had that her demonic interference started at twelve was her word while she was possessed. It could have been one of the demons speaking through her to hide the real timing and cause of the possession. Her bad behavior only starts manifesting in her twenties. Why did the demons wait so long?

And I just don’t agree with the idea of Jersey bringing this on herself because she was molested. “Oh,” Dr. Peck says, “you didn’t bring the molestation on yourself; however, you did bring the possession on yourself.”

In healing psychological trauma, it’s important to identify and acknowledge all feelings. Thus in a rape, a victim might say, “I feel that I brought this on myself.” While this may be a turning point for the victim, the turning point is because he or she is releasing that negative thought. A follow-up might be an acknowledgement that she didn’t bring it on herself or perhaps that she could have taken a different route home but had no way of knowing what would happen. It is not suddenly a fact that the victim brought the horrific tragedy on herself just because she thinks she did. It’s psychologically freeing–which we see in the case of Jersey–but that doesn’t make it true.

This preoccupation becomes even more apparent in Beccah’s case, and Dr. Peck’s search for the moment of her possession may have distracted him from being useful to her. Beccah was found wandering six streets away from her home when she was eighteen months old. Though little is known of her mother beyond that she was seen by Beccah as evil, this is exceedingly atypical behavior by a child in that age range, as asserted by Dr. Peck himself. Non-traumatized children nine months to several years old are afraid of strangers and cling desperately to their mothers. That Beccah ran away from home before she could talk says that she was already maladjusted, due to her circumstances, well before she had a choice in the matter.

While it is important to note that everyone has a choice and that choice is important in defeating a demon, we are all victims of our circumstances. A woman may end up being narcissistic because she was genetically predisposed and her mother modeled that behavior; she may free herself from it by taking responsibility for her actions. Going in is not a choice, but coming out is.

The very definition of a demon is a creature that preys on human victims. Have we forgotten what victims are? They’re victims. And it’s not a far stretch to believe that supernatural creatures intent on anguish and destruction choose innocents. It’s comforting to tell ourselves that we won’t ever be targets because we don’t do anything to invite evil into our lives, but that smacks of untruth.

I admire Dr. Peck’s open discussions, including failings that he freely admits. The books was fascinating, but I’m cautious about naming the elephant. Whenever we delve too far into specifics when it comes to religion, we become distracted and unable to see the entire picture. Though it’s obvious that “invoking “he name of Jesus Christ” holds sway over demons, that doesn’t prove that every piece of Christian dogma is correct. Exorcisms have been performed successfully for thousands of years across all cultures and religions, despite what the Catholic church might want people to believe.

I’m convinced that there’s evil in the world. And sometimes, we can do nothing to stop being swept away by it. Educating ourselves on all aspects of evil and opening ourselves to understanding beyond our own narrow worldview will aid in defeating it in our own lives and as collective humanity.

Also posted on my blog, Magic and Mayhem Book Reviews.