by Louise Ireland-Frey, M.D., C.C.Ht.
No stranger to members of APRT or the readers of JRT, Dr. Ireland-Frey is a physician, well schooled in the rigors of scientific research. It is, therefore, doubly interesting for a person of her background and training to undertake an exploration of this topic. In a recent letter to the Editor, she addressed this, writing, “The trouble—and the fascination—is that the farther we go into the metaphysical and mystical realms, the more questions we come face to face with and the more shaky some of our firm old theories become.” She expects some skepticism. So do we. One of the purposes of JRT is to present new ideas and alternative approaches to inform and, hopefully, stimulate our readers.
Introduction
It is not surprising that even among members of such a group as the APRT, acquainted with mystical and metaphysical ideas and methods, the subject of obsession of human beings by non-human entities is controversial. This division in thinking is due in large part, I believe, to the backgrounds of the various members. Most are therapists with education from the mainstream of Academia, with the vocabulary of modern psychology and with the concepts that stem from Freud, Adler, and especially Jung. Some of us, however, reading Jung’s autobiographical book, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, may have come upon some statements or suppositions that cause us to murmur, “Oh, that isn’t quite the way it is. My experience has found that…” Yet most of our concepts are still the concepts of orthodox current psychological teaching.
Others of us, although perhaps having some background in current psychology, have had teachers from other backgrounds, or have had training that emphasized concepts other than the “accepted” ones. Examples might be Theosophy, Catholicism, or other religious denomination, Taoist or Buddhist or Hindu teachings, etc. At present, for myself, I find it easiest and simplest to put aside my mental doubts and questions and accept at face value just what the obsessing entities say of themselves: that they are individual beings, individual consciousnesses not part of the client.