Spirit release and depossession therapy

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Carl Wickland, Edith Fiore, William Baldwin · 1924 · Los Angeles, USA

What it is

Spirit release rests on the premise that some emotional, behavioural or physical distress is caused by discarnate beings "attached" to a person: chiefly spirits of the dead who have not moved on ("earthbound spirits") and, in some versions, non-human "dark" entities or thought-forms. Wickland, a…

Format

• Proponents describe several approaches rather than one protocol; no standard session count or length is published.
• Approaches. A doctoral account lists five: an intuitive approach (the practitioner "receives" information); an interactive approach (the client relays what an entity communicates); a direct approach (the entity is said to speak through the client in an altered state); a remote approach (a…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status in one line: there are no controlled trials; support rests on practitioners' case reports, and a sympathetic doctoral study states that its diagnostic claims "need to be substantiated by rigorous empirical studies". The psychotherapist does not perform release. The task is to work…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the label used to avoid assessing risk. Working when distress eases without a disorder being missed.
• switching, amnesia, self-harm, destabilisation when material is pushed. Working when stability improves.
• abuse disclosure (follow safeguarding duties); flooding if trauma is opened too early. Working when trauma symptoms are named and a treatment path is agreed.
• the client hearing referral as being called "mad"; a releaser telling the client to avoid doctors. Working when the client attends and stays connected to you.
• prolonged grief, guilt fed by claims that the dead person is "stuck" because of the client. Working when the bond feels less frightening and daily life resumes.

Problems the guide addresses

• Risks to vulnerable clients

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.