Ross Pomeroy, Real Clear Science

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IS SCHIZOPHRENIA CAUSED by demons? A Turkish researcher seems to think so, and his article on the topic was just published in the Journal of Religion and Health, a scientific journal owned by Springer, a German-based publishing company.

The first two-thirds of M. Kemal Irmak’s paper, “Schizophrenia or Possession?”, read normally enough. You learn about the devastating symptoms of schizophrenia, current treatment approaches, and the nature of the delusions and hallucinations that schizophrenics experience. And then you arrive at this little doozy:

“One approach to this hallucination problem is to consider the possibility of a demonic world.”

The abrupt transition from established science to outlandish woo is positively comical. And once the quackery starts, it doesn’t stop. (…)