spirit possession study 1993?

There are those who don't believe this study was a credible work. What do you think? Why?
joe sz
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spirit possession study 1993?

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this is a 1990s article that addresses spirit possession and amnesia,,,
It also became clear that not only could all Haitians be possessed, but that almost all who participated at Voodoo ceremonies and desired the experience had been possessed at least once in their lifetime. And there were several who reported that they had been present at ceremonies where they did not want to be possessed and had the experience anyway. It was also found that there was indeed a distinct amnesia about what they had done while possessed. Interrogation revealed that they not only did not want to say what they did while possessed, but that they were genuinely unable to remember what they did. When shown objects they handled while possessed by the loa , they showed absolute failure to recognize those objects. (Bourgignon 1978: 105) Haitians were either all very skilled liars or they genuinely did not remember their actions while possessed. And then Western people like Maya Deren began to proclaim that they also became possessed at Haitian Voodoo ceremonies. (Deren 1970: 249) Theories of "racial susceptibility" to possession flew out the window.

During the 70s, it became clear to many anthropologists such as Bourgignon and Sheila Walker that there were many similarities between possession and the hypnotic state, and that possession, much like hypnosis, might be a state of consciousness different from the ordinary one. (Walker 1972: 29) Hypnotic subjects almost always failed to recall their experiences while hypnotized, unless ordered to do so by the hypnotist. Curiously, however, hypnotic subjects could remember memories from other parts of their life with almost "total recall," if ordered to by the hypnotist. They could even be made to remember something at a later point or to feel a certain sensation after leaving hypnotic trance - this was known as posthypnotic suggestion. There were many curious things about hypnosis, especially its origins, which we will deal with later. The main thing to note is that possession, like hypnosis, seemed to be amenable to analysis as an altered state of consciousness .
entire article:
http://www2.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/spiritpos.html
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