The child was possessed by a demon. How to calm your nervous child

Published: October 26, 2018 Updated: June 17, 2021

Frequently ill children (FCI) is a collective concept, not a diagnosis. On what basis can a doctor classify a child into this group?

If a baby or older child is often susceptible to acute respiratory infections (ARI), most likely he will be considered frequently ill.

For children in the first year of life, these are 4 or more episodes of acute respiratory infections; for children 1-3 years old - 6 or more episodes; 4-5 years - 5 or more episodes; over 5 years - 4 or more.

Young children cannot help but suffer from acute respiratory infections, since their immune system has not yet matured, does not have perfect mechanisms of specific and nonspecific defense, and is characterized by the absence of so-called immunological memory. But it is important to understand that episodes of the disease in this case should occur in a mild form without complications and chronicity of the process.

Often, acute respiratory infections in a child simply do not end. Some smoothly flow into others, a stuffy nose turns into a sore ear, then the reddened throat turns pale, then the voice becomes hoarse, the cough becomes moist, then the temperature rises again. There is no need to treat such children yourself! To keep your baby healthy, you need to see a doctor and get examined.

How to calm a violent madman. Tips for parents

You can “heal” anxiety states with love, mutual understanding, and fun. Here are a couple more “tricks” on how to calm a nervous child.

First of all, calm down. Do not answer the child, in his own manner - teach by example.
Avoid giving caffeinated drinks. They excite the autonomic and nervous system. The tea should be weak. Before going to bed, give milk, cocoa, compotes or kefir.
There must be a routine in everything. Nervous system If a child eats on a schedule and goes to bed at the same time every day, then his nervous system and biorhythms improve. He becomes more balanced.
Have a busy weekend. Sometimes children don’t need much: a walk in the park, eating ice cream on a bench, going out of town, lying on the grass with their parents, looking at the clouds.
Try to get him interested in modeling, drawing, creating figures from construction sets, assembling puzzles. The brain likes to dream. It calms, develops imagination, fine motor skills, and teaches concentration.
Don't demand too much from your child. Especially when it comes to school performance. Counting down for bad grades will not change the situation. Find out why some objects are “lame” in your child. Perhaps it's because of your classmates or the teacher. Try to spark interest in the lesson. Buy colorful books, interesting videos, practice reading by role. For literature or history, you can organize home performances.
Don’t exhaust yourself with a lot of responsibilities and a cycle of additional activities. Of course, every parent wants their child to grow up smart and versatile. But the result will be overwork and emotional burnout.
Review your parenting methods. Speak calmly, do not humiliate the child’s dignity, do not compare with others.
Punish fairly and correctly. Don't reprimand in public, don't be cruel. Better give reasons why you can’t behave this way.
Praise and encourage useful interests and small achievements more often. For example: he didn’t scream when they took the toy from him, but asked to return it. I was able to read a book in 5 minutes. longer than usual.
Spend more time with your child. Do not replace parental love and attention with gifts.
Your decisions should not change. Do not change your position under the pressure of children's tears.
A child should not live in the problems of adults - this affects his psyche. Therefore, keep discussions out of children's ears.

Addiction in children

Addiction does not require intelligence. Addiction affects humans just as much as it affects laboratory mice. Sometimes pride, intelligence, passion for others, and the desire to be socialized prevent one from becoming a drug addict. Children don't have all these defense mechanisms. Children have not yet learned to calm themselves. Self-control is located in the frontal lobes of the brain, the final maturation of which occurs at eighteen years of age. Children are impulsive, emotional, and cannot assess consequences, but there is another side to the coin. Children really don’t know how to concentrate, including on their desires. They are forgetful, quick-witted, flexible - to a certain extent. If a child watches movies on TV, a mobile phone or a computer, especially more than two hours a day, this can lead to obsession. The smaller the child, the lower the toxic dose of looking at the screen, the more dangerous. Blueish screen light is known to disrupt the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Children don't want to go to bed. The evening turns into a session of fighting for the control panel. Sometimes there is no other option but to turn off all screens completely. Dear parents, turning off the TV is not a punishment! This is salvation! TV calms the child for an hour, but then you will not be able to cope with him. As Miss Bok said, you won’t recognize your baby! It would be better to return to the Soviet model of watching TV, when the only normal program daily was “Good night, kids.”

The difference between demonic possession and mental illness

The line between obsession and mental illness is very thin and it can be difficult to distinguish one from the other. In biblical times, epileptics were considered possessed, and only with the development of medicine did they move away from this statement.

Psychiatrist Dmitry Avdeev identifies three causes of mental illness:

“The first reason: from human nature. Indeed, individual biological and genetic factors play a decisive role here. There are diseases as a consequence of sinful passions that have enslaved the soul - alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction, etc. And there are mental disorders as a result of demonic influence. You need to know the causes of the development of mental illnesses, and, depending on the cause, apply the necessary medicine...
I've been hosting for twenty years now. And I often had to observe how the believing relatives of a seriously mentally ill person sought, first of all, to take him to reprimand. This is incorrect behavior. I myself do not dare to make any spiritual diagnoses. But if I see that in front of me is a sick person in need of urgent qualified psychiatric help, then I definitely tell his relatives about this. There is no need to take him to reprimand.”

But it is difficult to accurately identify the signs of possession and distinguish a possessed person from a mentally ill person. Sometimes these diseases are combined, that is, the person is both obsessed and mentally ill. Saints, as well as spiritually experienced priests, could see the essence of the disease. We, ordinary lay people, should not “stigmatize” people by diagnosing them.

How to help someone who is possessed

In the Gospel, the Savior healed a demon-possessed youth who threw himself into fire and water. And He gave the answer on how to get rid of demons: “This generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21).

Righteous John of Kronstadt gave the following interpretation of the words of Jesus Christ: “How great is the power of fasting and prayer! No wonder: during fasting the soul becomes dominant over the lusts of the body, generally subjugates it to itself, and the devil very often acts through the flesh; The faster, therefore, conquers both the flesh and the devil - which means that then he is close to God in his moral state and can do the powers of God most easily. If prayer is added to this, which brings down to us the blessing and help of heaven, then man can truly command not only material nature, but also fallen spirits. How did the Lord Himself defeat the devil? By fasting and prayer.”

Some time ago, “reprimands” began to be especially popular among Orthodox Christians. A reprimand is a special type of prayer performed on demon-possessed people to exorcise evil spirits. In the breviary this prayer rite is called “Following a prayer service for the weak, overwhelmed by unclean spirits.” Such prayers really help get rid of unclean spirits.

How does a demon possess a person?

The devil penetrates the unprotected soul of a person, he, like a microbe, looks for loopholes for his dirty deeds. Divine barriers crumble under the influence of sins. They become a conscious choice in favor of the devil, and the person loses the protection of the Almighty.

This does not happen right away, because God is patient and forgives people and cleanses the soul. But he does this only with awareness, humility and repentance. The Creator can appeal to the mind of a sinner, but will never go against his will, for he respects freedom and the right to choose.

People possessed by demons and their inherent diseases

Symptoms may include disturbances in well-being. However, all these should be considered as symptoms of the disease. If examinations do not show its presence, one may suspect a negative program or the entry of a demon.

This is especially true for parents who are sure that their offspring has been possessed by an evil spirit. The crime chronicle is replete with similar stories, and for children they end in tears. The demon may also be in you, pushing the “possessed” person to deprive you of medical care.

Unreasonable weakness and fatigue should cause alarm. Any form of seizures and convulsions is a reason to consult a doctor and a chance to think: were it not sins that were to blame for the disease? Symptoms similar to demonic possession include fever, drying out of body parts, trembling hands, sweating, cold skin, obesity or excessive thinness, and sleepwalking.

Despite the cunning and enterprise of the unclean, it is possible to recognize their presence, which poisons a person’s life. However, many of the symptoms can be attributed to half of the country's inhabitants. Be careful in identifying demons; the law will not always be on your side.

Features of the report

People often come to “reprimands” and bring their loved ones who are not possessed. For example, “my husband drinks”, “my son has become aggressive”, “who knows, maybe I’m damaged”, “my daughter has been jinxed” - such reasoning is not a reason for special incantatory prayers. And these are not signs of obsession. People perceive “reprimanding” as a magical ritual, and not a prayerful appeal to God in cases of possession. At the same time, they forget the Gospel words of Christ that only through prayer and fasting can demons be defeated.

“Every sinful passion is essentially submission to evil spirits. Uncontrollable outbursts of anger, conceit with contempt for others, foul language reaching the point of an internal need for swear words, addiction to seductive images - this and much more is the subordination of the soul to dark forces.
Actually, the soul of every person is a container that does not tolerate emptiness. If you do not create the temple of God within yourself, then you will become the abode of dark forces. We have no other choice - either build an altar to God in our hearts, or it will turn into an abomination of desolation. And therefore, both the stability of his soul in the earthly world and his well-being in the eternal world directly depend on a person’s spiritual activity” (Priest Valery Dukhanin).

Signs of demonic possession

The devil's minions look out for evil souls; hatred and anger in a person attracts them with negative energy. It’s easy to take control of such people and lead them further down the dark path into hell. But even in external virtue a demon can be hidden, under the skillful grimace of a radiant smile and sensual speeches.

Demons cannot completely hide their presence and obvious signs of possession come out:

loud screams in a voice not your own in a strange language;
temporary paralysis of the body or its individual parts;
strengthening physical capabilities;
the color of the skin and eyes darkens;
emits a sulfur odor;
manifestations of rage and desire to destroy everything around;
frequent bouts of hysterical laughter;
causeless aggression and hatred;
hunted and wary behavior.

A person possessed by demons avoids everything connected with the church and clergy. It is impossible to take him into the temple, and from the icons, candles and illuminated water his body begins to convulse.