Editing Demon (section)

=== Western world ===
Psychologist [[Wilhelm Wundt]] remarked that "among the activities attributed by myths all over the world to demons, the harmful predominate, so that in popular belief bad demons are clearly older than good ones."<ref>{{harvp|Freud|1950|p=65}}, quoting Wundt (1906, 129).</ref> [[Sigmund Freud]] developed this idea and claimed that the concept of demons was derived from the important relation of the living to the dead: "The fact that demons are always regarded as the spirits of those who have died ''recently'' shows better than anything the influence of mourning on the origin of the belief in demons."<ref>{{harvtxt|Freud|1950}}</ref>

[[M. Scott Peck]], an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject, ''People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil''<ref>{{cite book |last=Peck |first=M. S. |author-link=M. Scott Peck |year=1983 |title=People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9780671454920 |url=https://archive.org/details/peopleofliehopef00peck |url-access=registration}}</ref> and ''Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Peck |first=M. S. |author-link=M. Scott Peck |year=2005 |title=Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption|publisher=Free Press |isbn=9780743254670 |url=https://archive.org/details/glimpsesofdevila00peck |url-access=registration}}</ref> Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In ''People of the Lie'' he provides identifying characteristics of an evil person, whom he classified as having a character disorder. In ''Glimpses of the Devil'' Peck goes into significant detail describing how he became interested in [[exorcism]] in order to debunk the ''myth'' of [[Demonic possession|possession]] by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to [[psychology]] or [[psychiatry]]. Peck came to the conclusion that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil and that possessed people are not actually evil; rather, they are doing battle with the forces of evil.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/2005/01/18/peck_5/ The exorcist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420045711/http://www.salon.com/2005/01/18/peck_5/ |date=2017-04-20}}, an interview with M. Scott Peck by Rebecca Traister published in [http://www.salon.com/index.html Salon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219102002/http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/12/13/betty/index.html |date=2005-12-19}}</ref>

Although Peck's earlier work was met with widespread popular acceptance, his work on the topics of evil and possession has generated significant debate and derision. Much was made of his association with (and admiration for) the controversial [[Malachi Martin]], a [[Roman Catholic]] priest and a former [[Jesuit]], despite the fact that Peck consistently called Martin a liar and a manipulator.<ref>[http://www.beliefnet.com/story/159/story_15928.html The Patient Is the Exorcist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005151954/http://www.beliefnet.com/story/159/story_15928.html |date=2008-10-05}}, an interview with M. Scott Peck by Laura Sheahen</ref>