Editing Stigmata (section)

==Scientific research==
[[File:Domenico Beccafumi - Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena - WGA01536.jpg|thumb|Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena]]

Many stigmatics have been exposed for using trickery.<ref name="Carroll 2003">[[Robert Todd Carroll|Carroll, Robert Todd]]. (2003). ''[[The Skeptic's Dictionary|The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions]]''. Wiley. pp. 366–367. {{ISBN|0-471-27242-6}}</ref><ref name="Nickell 2004">[[Joe Nickell|Nickell, Joe]]. (2004). [https://skepticalinquirer.org/2004/03/the-stigmata-of-lilian-bernas "The Stigmata of Lilian Bernas"]. ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]''. Retrieved 12 May 2016.</ref> [[Magdalena de la Cruz]], for example, confessed before she died that her stigmata was deliberate deception.<ref>[[Joe Nickell|Nickell, Joe]]. (2001). ''Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal''. University of Kentucky Press. p. 281. {{ISBN|0-8131-2210-4}} "That many stigmatics were fakes is well established. For example, Magdalena de la Cruz, having become ill in 1543 and fearful of dying a sinner, confessed that her stigmata, inedia, and other phenomena were deliberate deceptions."</ref>

Early neurologist [[Désiré-Magloire Bourneville]] published works which stated that [[saint]]s claiming to produce [[miracle]]s or stigmata, and those claiming to be [[Demonic possession|possessed]], were actually suffering from [[epilepsy]] or [[hysteria]].<ref>Porter, Dorothy; Porter, Roy (1993). ''Doctors, Politics and Society: Historical Essays''. Rodopi. pp. 120–121. {{ISBN|90-5183-510-8}}</ref><ref>Hustvedt, Asti. (2011). ''Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris''. Bloomsbury. p. 279. {{ISBN|978-1-4088-2235-7}}</ref> Some modern research has indicated stigmata are of hysterical origin or linked to [[dissociative identity disorder]].<ref>Mazzoni, Cristina (1996). ''Saint Hysteria: Neurosis, Mysticism, and Gender in European Culture''. Cornell University Press. pp. 24–28, 136–140. {{ISBN|0-8014-3229-4}}</ref><ref>Seidl, O. (2008). ''Stigmatisation and Absence of Nutrition in the Case of Therese Neumann (1898–1962)''. ''Nervenarzt'' 79 (7): 836–843.</ref><ref>Regal, Brian (2009). ''Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia''. Greenwood. pp. 154–155. {{ISBN|978-0-313-35507-3}}</ref><ref name="Kluger 2013">Kluger, N.; Cribier, B. (2013). ''Stigmata: From Saint-Francis of Assisi to Idiopathic Haematidrosis''. ''Annales de Dermatologie et de Vénéréologie'' 140: 771–777.</ref>

There is a link between dietary constriction by [[starvation|self-starvation]], [[dissociation (psychology)|dissociative mental states]] and [[self-mutilation]], in the context of a religious belief.<ref>{{Cite journal | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages = 81–96 | last = Fessler | first = Daniel | title = Starvation, serotonin, and symbolism. A psychobiocultural perspective on stigmata | journal = Mind and Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences | access-date = 2009-09-12 | year = 2002 | url = http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fessler/pubs/FesslerStigmata.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060222083502/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fessler/pubs/FesslerStigmata.pdf| archive-date = February 22, 2006}}</ref> [[Anorexia nervosa]] cases often display self-mutilation similar to stigmata as part of a ritualistic, [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]]. A relationship between starvation and self-mutilation has been reported amongst [[prisoners of war]] and during [[famine]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1002/1098-108X(199501)17:1<33::AID-EAT2260170104>3.0.CO;2-2 | volume = 17 | issue = 1 | pages = 33–38 | last1 = Yaryura-Tobias | first1 = Jose A. |first2=Fugen A. |last2=Neziroglu |first3=Steven |last3=Kaplan | title = Self-mutilation, anorexia, and dysmenorrhea in obsessive compulsive disorder | journal = International Journal of Eating Disorders | year = 1995 | pmid = 7894450 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1136/bmj.2.4476.585 | pmc = 2054516 | pmid = 21284113 | issn = 0959-8138 | volume = 2 | issue = 4476 | pages = 585–586 | last = Curtin | first = A. P.| title = Imprisonment under the Japanese | journal = BMJ | year = 1946 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | publisher = University of Minnesota Press|first=Ancel |last=Keys | title = The Biology of Human Starvation | year = 1950 }}</ref>

The psychologist [[Leonard Zusne]] in his book ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking'' (1989) has written:

{{blockquote|Cases of stigmatism fall into two categories: self-inflicted wounds, which may be either cases of fraud or of unconscious self-infliction, and those that are caused by emotional states&nbsp;... Self-induced (through autosuggestion) itching and subsequent scratching of which the individual is unaware is likely to occur in suggestible persons if the stimulus is a mental or actual picture of the Crucifixion used during meditation and if the main motive is to receive the stigmata. The motive behind that may be unconscious conflict and a desire to escape from an intolerable situation into invalidism where one's needs are taken care of. It then becomes a case of hysterical conversion reaction. Many cases of stigmatism can be explained as fraud or unconsciously self-inflicted wounds.<ref>Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. pp. 54–56. {{ISBN|978-0-805-80507-9}}</ref>}}

In his ''Stigmata: A Medieval Phenomenon in a Modern Age'', Ted Harrison suggests that there is no single mechanism whereby the marks of stigmata were produced. Harrison found no evidence from a study of contemporary cases that the marks were supernatural in origin. He concluded, however, that marks of natural origin need not be hoaxes. Some stigmatics marked themselves in attempt to suffer with Christ as a form of piety. Others marked themselves accidentally and their marks were noted as stigmata by witnesses. Often marks of human origin produced profound and genuine religious responses.<ref name="Harrison 1994"/>

Harrison also noted that after Saint Francis of Assisi, the stigmata was "seen as a predominantly female experience" with the female-to-male ratio of stigmatics being 7 to 1. Those men that were stigmatic were non-ordained, including Saint Francis. Harrison argues that in many cases the stigmata was a consequence of the intense personal mystical ministries practiced by those excluded from the priesthood. Only in the twentieth century have cases of stigmatic [[Roman Catholic priest|priest]]s appeared.<ref name="Harrison 1994"/>

One suggestion is that [[painful bruising syndrome]] may explain rare cases of non self-induced stigmata.<ref name="Kluger 2013"/><ref>Early, Loretta F; Lifschutz, Joseph E. (1974). ''A Case of Stigmata Loretta''. Arch Gen Psychiatry 30 (2):197–200.</ref><ref>Ratnoff, O. D. (1980). ''The psychogenic purpuras: A review of autoerythrocyte sensitization, autosensitization to DNA, "hysterical" and factitial bleeding, and the religious stigmata''. Semin Hematol 17: 192–213.</ref><ref>Panconesi, E., & Hautmann, G. (1995). "Stress, Stigmatization and Psychosomatic Purpuras". ''International Angiology'' 14: 130–137.</ref><ref>Armando De Vincentiis (2011). [https://www.cicap.org/new/articolo.php?id=274400 "New insights into the phenomenon of Natuzza Evolo"]. [[CICAP|Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims on the Paranormal]]. Retrieved 12 May 2016.</ref>

Skeptical investigator [[Joe Nickell]], who investigated recent cases of stigmata such as Katya Rivas,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://skepdic.com/rivas.html|title=Rivas, Catalina (Katya or Catia) |website=The Skeptic's Dictionary }}</ref> commented that they are indistinguishable from [[hoax]]ing.<ref name="Nickell 2001"/>

In 2002, a psychoanalytic study of stigmatic [[Therese Neumann]] suggested her stigmata resulted from [[post-traumatic stress]] symptoms expressed in unconscious self-mutilation through abnormal autosuggestibility.<ref>{{Cite journal | volume = 25 | issue = 3 | pages = 329–358 | last = Albright | first = M. | title = The Stigmata: The Psychological and Ethical Message of the Posttraumatic Sufferer | journal = Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought | year = 2002}}</ref>

According to a study of the French theologian [[Joachim Bouflet]], in the 21st century there were 200 stigmatics all over the world. Most of them reached the third age without having particular health problems. The oldest stigmatic was [[Marie-July Jahenny]] who died in 1941 at the age of 91. As of 1997, the stigmatics who had been declared saints by the Roman Catholic Church were only 7.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1-adnkronos-com.translate.goog/Archivio/AdnAgenzia/1997/12/18/Cronaca/PADRE-PIO-IN-ITALIA-21-STIGMATIZZATI-COME-IL-FRATE_152100.php?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp|publisher=[[Adnkronos]]|title=Padre Pio: in Italy 21 stigmatized like the friar|date=December 18, 1997|location=Rome}}</ref>