Windigo Sickness - Psychic Disorder

Caused by Egotistical Abuse of Psychic Powers or Abilities

Jun 22, 2009

Isolation by Snow, Factor for Windigo Psychosis, http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/558442

Wiley, a pseudonym due to confidentiality, is a case of a person whose ego brought on this ailment. The change began with small signs, then, snowballed.

There are various Windigo (also spelled "Wendigo") legends among Northern AmerIndian tribes. It’s an enormous cannibalistic monster, feeding on humans. At times, it will possess a person, turning him or her into a Windigo. It’s fitting that two psychic disorders were named after this creature.

Windigo Sickness vs Windigo Psychosis

Many psychological anthropologists believe the most significant criterion for defining mental illness is the degree of a person’s social conformity. People whose behavior is such that it deviates from society’s norms are defined as being mentally ill. The behavior can be the result of eccentricity by itself or a psychiatric disorder.

The Windigo psychosis has been reported among the Northern Algonkian AmerIndians living around the Great Lakes. It generally happens in winter when families were isolated by snow and had scant food supplies. Initial symptoms were usually poor appetite, nausea, and vomiting. Then, the person would develop a delusion of being transformed into a Windigo or fear becoming a Windigo. Victims of this psychotic experience extreme anxiety and sometimes attempt suicide to prevent themselves from becoming a Windigo.

Wiley Before Windigo Sickness

Wiley was a respected professional. He met some friends through business. They shared interests in the paranormal and Native American Shamanism. Wiley warned them about the dark side. He appeared to be caring, concerned for people and was a gifted psychic.

Start of Windigo Sickness

The first signs of Windigo sickness were subtle. Wiley’s ego became inflated. If someone asked a question he didn’t know the answer to, he’d make one up. When called on this, his reply was, “Oh well,” as he shrugged his shoulders. He had to be the center of attention at all gatherings.

Windigo Sickness Takes Control

Wiley began to lie about his friends. He went to bars, got inebriated and gave “psychic readings.” “Spirit” told him. The consensus of his friends was that the spirit was Jim Beam and/or Jack Daniels. He’d tell people things about themselves that weren’t true and insist he was right. He had the sheets from the bed his mother died in and would throw them at unsuspecting visitors, asking them what they sensed.

The cliché last straw was when he told a woman who had been hospitalized for psychiatric disorders to practice dark magick. His friends no longer included him in gatherings. Eventually, he moved out of the area.

Psychic Disorders and Traditional Psychiatry

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, Revised, is the handbook used by mental health professionals to make diagnoses for billing purposes. There is a diagnosis for Spiritual Problems, V62.89. There are no listed criteria, only the classification.

There are other psychic disorders in addition to the Windigo Sickness. Three of these are:

Spiritual Emergence Experience, SEE, can be misdiagnosed as schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder. It’s psychic awakening and can be psychologically painful. Psychiatrist Stanislas and wife Christina Grof are the pioneers in this field which falls under the transpersonal school of psychology. Grof was one of the founders. This school recognizes the spiritual and the psychic.
Old Hag Syndrome is characterized by intense fear, paralysis and the inability to speak. It can be accompanied by a feeling of a weight on the chest. It’s similar to Sleep Paralysis, which isn’t in the DSM.
Psychic Vampyrism. There are recorded cases of people draining others psychically, either on a conscious or subconscious level.

At some point in time, traditional psychiatry will likely take an interest in transpersonal psychology and psychological anthropology, as some therapists have.