Demon/ghost says to burn your self to death.

[nofogdj]

My cousin called me last night and was very disturbed. He said that last night something came to him and spoke to him. It told him it's name was Dennis and the only way for him to cleanse himself of the sins that he has done in his life was to burn himself to death. The demon or spirit also said that it had done the same to its self and to its family.

Does anyone know if someone named Dennis has ever lived who has killed their family by burning them? Does this sounds like a spirit/ghost or is it more like a demon? My cousin said that there was no body he could just hear a voice speaking to him. Could it be that my cousin is becoming schizophrenic? He has been under a lot of emotional stress for the last few years, so I feel that it could be a possibility.

[grendal]

Well first, one does not become schizophrenic, it's thought to be genetic, but can be triggered by enironment.

Certain environmental events may trigger schizophrenia in people who are genetically at risk for it.

You are more likely to develop schizophrenia if you have a family member with the disease.

Schizophrenia affects both men and women equally. It usually begins in the teen years or young adulthood, but may begin later in life. It tends to begin later in women, and is more mild.

Childhood-onset schizophrenia begins after age 5. Childhood schizophrenia is rare and can be difficult to tell apart from other developmental disorders of childhood, such as autism.

The first symptoms are: Irritable or tense feeling

Difficulty sleeping

Difficulty concentrating

as it goes untreated, problems arise with thinking, emotions, behavioral problems including:

Lack of emotion (flat affect)

Strongly held beliefs that are not based in reality (delusions)

Hearing or seeing things that are not there (hallucinations)

Problems paying attention

Thoughts "jump" between unrelated topics ( “loose associations”)

Bizarre behaviors

Social isolation

These are the main symptoms depending on the type of scizophrenia there are other symtopms.

Paranoid scizophrenics often have:
Anxious

Angry or argumentative

False believes that others are trying to harm you or your loved ones.

where as disorganized schizophrenics often have:

Problems with thinking and expressing ideas clearly

Childlike behavior

Showing little emotion

then there's catatonic schizoprenics, who will have other symptoms:

Lack of activity

Muscles and posture may be rigid

Grimaces or other odd expressions on the face

Does not respond much to other people

then there's undifferentiated schizophrenics, who do not have a set group of symtopms and will have symtopms from multiple types of schizonrenia.


The name Dennis....very vague. There are 653,541 people in the U.S. with the first name Dennis, and is Statistically the 76th most popular first name.

Self immolation is very rare in the US. I can only recall one incident, where an exchange student from tibet tried to protest the chinese occupation, and she lit herself on fire. She was on a public street, and she survived. During vietnam there might of been more such protests, but that might be something needing further research.


The best way to begin getting to the bottom of the problem is to get your cousin to a psychiatrist to rule out scizophrenia. It is possible for people under great stress to hallucinate. The military does sleep deprivation training to root out those who apply for special forces are unfit for the job. Many who are unfit have breakdowns and hallucinate. Environmental aspects could be at play, things like molds, mildews, household chemicals, soil contamination could also be at fault. Even alcohols, various drugs can cause issues expecially with the combination of medicine.

Not sure how old you cousin is, but I know many college people have been drinking four loko, four loko has caused people to hallucinate. Even simple caffine.

I've been writing a cookbook, and lately I've been pushing the energy drinks. I was tired and I reached for another energy drink, it sent me into an overdose.

Breathing trouble
Confusion
Convulsions
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Fever
Hallucinations
In and out of consciousness
Increased thirst
Irregular heartbeat
Muscle twitching
Rapid heartbeat
Sleeping trouble
Urination - increased
Vomiting

The fever trouble breathing, falling down and vomiting sent me to the hospital, was not fun. I know college kids kinda do the same thing to study.

Also I know another common thing is ripped fuel and energy drinks...this is extremely dangerous and can also cause hallucinations.

As for spirit demon, at this point there are more normal things to rule out first, and then we start looking at spirits and demons. More often then not it's something normal. I just hope he has the ability to see past the stigmas attatched to those with mental illness and will be willing to go just to rule it out.

According to the national institute of mental health, 51 million people world wide suffer from scizophrenia. 2.2 million in the united states.

According to the national institute of mental health, After 10 years, of the people diagnosed with schizophrenia:

25% Completely Recover
25% Much Improved, relatively independent
25% Improved, but require extensive support network
15% Hospitalized, unimproved
10% Dead (Mostly Suicide)
After 30 years, of the people diagnosed with schizophrenia:

25% Completely Recover
35% Much Improved, relatively independent
15% Improved, but require extensive support network
10% Hospitalized, unimproved
15% Dead (Mostly Suicide)

Here's a facts page for him. http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm
A general page with all sorts of information. http://www.schizophrenia.com/index.html

If he is willing to give it a try, here's a directory of psychiatrists by state.

http://www.healthgrades.com/psychiatry-directory

The other thing I recommend, is to notify people, such as his family, and possibly the police. In a state such as this, he poses a significant danger to himself and others, expecially if he is schizophrenic.

I've told people before, and I'll say it again, sometimes people with schizophrenia do not know of their actions. I've seen police chases on tv where the person being chased was having a schizophrenic hallucination, and they believed so strongly that they were a police officer involved in a high speed police chase of a suspect who stole a cop car, when infact it's them being chased in a stolen cop car that they stole.

You cannot begin to seek out a paranormal source without ruling out the normal.

What else has been going on besides this voice? What else makes him think it's a spirit or demon and not a sign of mental illness?