Reader’s Question

So lately I’ve been really paranoid over a demon. I’ve had dreams where my body has been taken over and the demon has told me that it controls my body now. I’m married and I’m scared to sleep alone. I think that something is going to come through the door or grab me when I’m not looking. I’m a 28-year-old man and I don’t think I should be having thoughts like this. I’m a person that reads a lot of religious books but who isn’t really religious. We just lost my wife’s younger bother, and I was having very strange thoughts about death. I was questioning the ways humans live life, and I consider our way of life to be too complicated. I believe this has a lot to do with my problems. Any advice will help.

Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Paranoia is a significant psychiatric symptom…but I don’t sense that in your situation. Rather, you are obsessed with death, demons, religious issues, anxiety, and the meaning of life. This obsession is directly linked to real-life emotionally-charged trauma — the recent death of your brother-in-law. I agree that these issues have combined to produce your current distress and symptoms.

Psychologists have a lot of theories, and I have one for your situation. I suspect you were already experiencing stress prior to the loss of your brother-in-law. His death was very traumatic and stressful for you and your family, significantly increasing your stress level and combining that with bereavement. These events combine to change brain chemistry, typically lowering our Serotonin (a neurotransmitter) levels and increasing neurotransmitters associated with anxiety/panic. Low Serotonin in the brain is also associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and for that reason, death-related worries have now become obsessions. As we find in clinical practice, we can only become obsessed about things we know about. We can’t fear a Horta if we don’t know what it is. Your frequent reading of religious books, at a time when a death has occurred, has produced the obsession about demons.

You’ll be experiencing the additional symptoms of depression as well, including chronic fatigue, emotional sensitivity, you’ll be thinking too much, can’t sleep, appetite will be decreased, you’ll be socially withdrawn, have a loss of humor, preoccupation with death/dying, poor concentration, and a variety of vague physical symptoms. If we’ve got these symptoms, what do we do?

• Recognize that your symptoms are created by your level of stress and depression. This is actually a normal reaction to stress, depression, and bereavement. Your concern about demons is actually a symptom of the obsessive thoughts we often see in depression. The problem isn’t demons — it’s obsessive thinking.
• Read about depression — the causes, symptoms, and treatments on this website. Take a few of the screening tests. Read something different for awhile. Depression uses our daily experiences and thoughts to torment us — so we don’t want to provide readings about demons to give us more to think about.
• If your symptoms don’t fade away, I would recommend seeing your family physician. This type of depression is easily treated with modern antidepressant medications. These meds work by gradually increasing the availability of Serotonin, thus relieving our depression. As low Serotonin is also implicated in obsessive thoughts, the worry/concern about demons will also disappear with treatment.
• Counseling/therapy is also helpful. Your brain is running at high speed right now, overwhelmed by negative and tormenting thoughts. Counseling helps sort out those thoughts and rebuild your self-confidence.

You are correct that you shouldn’t be having these thoughts. They are however, common symptoms of depression and bereavement. This is something that can be treated.

By the way, a Horta is an alien creature from Star Trek that tended to attack victims in the dark.