Demonic possesion

[bookitty]

What is was is that someone came over to church while being lucid and seemed perfectly fine and during the part in the service where everyone prays for a bit, said person starting acting in a hysterical manner. The pastor prayed for the person for a very long time (close to an hour) then the person became lucid again. The person was in an altered state of consciousness. Which is the broader question I am asking here.
Why is it that in certain religious rituals and in certain religious environments, some people experience altered consciousness.It's not just Christians I'm talking about, this happens in pretty much every religion. And I want to know Why.

A quick wiki to get you started:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ecstasy

The easy answer is that the human brain is wired for weirdness. Religion creates a powerful focus for meditation, lack of inhibition, etc.

A person who has experienced an altered state from religion, even if it was something small like feeling that they had received an actual answer to prayer, would seek out that feeling. Altered states effect both the pleasure center and reward system of the brain. Over time, a person might be able to bring on the altered state at will.

Or they are in cahoots with the preacher because one person having hysterics tends to set off others. If the others reach an altered state, they'll be back and they'll reward the church financially for giving them that feeling.

 

[Roma]

It doesn't help that this psychiatrist lectures at universities world wide and has his own teaching institute, this is a page out of Dr.Colin Ross' book "Osiris Complex":
(oh and yes he has performed many exorcisms and has taught how to perform exorcisms at the University of Manitoba, it's on his CV)