Dybbuk-possession as a hysterical symptom: psychodynamic and socio-cultural factors

The Dybbuk is the traditional Jewish variant of the phenomenon spirit-possession, involving spirits of the dead. Manifestations of such supposed possessions have always been considered malevolent and treated by exorcism. Descriptions of such cases have always been found in folklore, but have not been discussed in psychological or anthropological literature. Based on analyses of 63 documented cases of dybbuk, this paper seeks to analyze the Jewish variant of spirit-possession from psychodynamic and socio-cultural points of view. Psychodynamically, dybbuk-possession is conceived of as a hysterical syndrome expressed by repressed impulses, primarily sexual. By analyzing the psychological content of dybbuk-possession, specific psychoanalytically derived hypotheses concerning the dynamics of underlying hysterical symptoms may be validated. From the perspective of psychiatric ethnology, the dybbuk is a culture-bound syndrome viewed as a working alliance between society and a selected group of deviants.