ABSTRACT
Sorcery or witchcraft is performed with the aid of the Jinn to cast spells and incantations intended to bring harm to others. The purposes in the use of magic and witchcraft are related to love, marriage, sexual dysfunction, fertility, excess bleeding, separation, health and sickness, lethargy. Hysteria and epilepsy are the disorders that are most frequently associated with witchcraft or demonic possession, especially if the presenting symptoms include shaking, tremors, convulsions or of loss of consciousness. In cases of witchcraft and magic, the individual may present with a number of disorders including psoriasis, eczema, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure and heart disease, stress, anxiety and depression. Somatoform disorders are a group of psychological disorders where the individuals express subjective feelings of the conditions. The somatoform disorders represent the severe end of a continuum of somatic symptoms and many physical symptoms appear in different parts of the body. The symptoms include unexplained extreme headaches, weight loss or gain, tiredness, nightmares, changes in voices, abdominal pain, seizures, episodes of miscarriage, amenorrhoea, infertility, impotence, persecutory feelings and hallucinations.
Physical symptoms or painful complaints of unknown aetiology are fairly common in those presenting with witchcraft and possession, and this is referred to as functional neurological disorder. In clinical practice, very few individuals are actually possessed by Jinn or have been bewitched even though they may show or express symptoms of witchcraft or Jinn possession. There are differential diagnosis issues as the conditions of witchcraft or magic may present diagnosable symptoms but the aetiology is of unknown origin or the trigger is abnormal.
