PS: I’m aware that delay of treatment is a causation. But I happened to have read many articles, that in a way made me conclude that exorcism killed that person. What does exorcism really have to do with deaths?
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Delay or denial of real treatment as you mentioned, plus it depends on the specific details of what is done in the exorcism. If you put someone under enough psychological stress you could trigger a heart attack or seizure or etc.
There have also been cases of drowning where a victim’s head was held underwater during attempted “exorcisms”.
I think it depends. There can be a lot of factors involved.
I’m an autistic adult. From age three to seven, I was in a foster home where I was tortured. I was held or tied down and extremely violent acts were done to me.
At age eight, I was adopted by my grandparents. They eventually had me exorcised. I was tied down while people put their hands on me.
From their perspective, my responses were “demonic”. I was reacting to the fact that I was tied down, people were chanting spells at me (what else are verses intended to cast out demons?) And touching me all over.
I was tied down for hours without food or water because I was too reactive to eat or drink. One of the times, my hands turned blue and the pain was excruciating.
If the person is mentally ill and fights the way I did, and the people keep going, I can easily see it eventually leading to death. Other mitigating factors like a heart problem or a blood clot forming from injuries caused during it making it more likely.
If the person is extremely mentally ill or terrified, exorcism can be a very violent act.
Also, there is the danger of suicide. Once a person becomes convinced they are possessed, they may try absolutely anything including suicide or self harm. An OCD person or schizophrenic can become convinced that drinking poison can “cure” them, as one possibility.
Because of course, prayer and fasting and exorcisms don’t work. So both the person and those around them who believe in exorcism will escalate.
It took me six exorcisms to learn to STFU. It was, at best, psychologically damaging. It was physically violent, no matter if they would tell you that all of the violence was on my side.
I will always remember my desperation and terror.
Yes, you can be literally scared to death: https://www.britannica.com/story/can-you-really-be-scared-to-death
Tying someone up and keeping them confined against their will, screaming at them for hours or days about how they are the devil, throwing water at them, especially when they are already in a psychologically fragile state…I could certainly see some kind of stress-induced aneurysm resulting from that.
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