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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Alarming Habits	Lyn	Saturday, May 21, 2011
Question: Brother, Thank you for answering my question on Jan. 6 about ancestral sin and for your prayers. They have had good effect. I am happy to inform you that my husband has since confronted his father about his having married a divorced woman in a civil ceremony and has brought up the need for an annulment. He did this without my nagging him, because he knew that it was bothering me. Also, while we were in a Catholic bookstore recently, I suggested that we purchase a book titled "Annulments and the Catholic Church" and that he should give it to his father. Miraculously, he agreed on the spot. I suspect that my father-in-law is still serving as a Eucharistic minister, but the good news is that he has expressed a desire to have the situation resolved. None of this is ideal, of course, but I am pleased that there is small progress, at least with my husband. My next question is about some habits of mine that may sound alarming, and I wonder if it is evidence of demonic harassment. As mentioned earlier, I was sexually abused as a child by my father and didn't tell my mother about it until many years later. One of my mental habits is that I often feel very self-critical and sometimes this causes mental stress to build to a point where I start to say, "SSshhh!" out loud. It happens often. Another thing I do is to shout, "NO!" in a loud voice, sometimes in the middle of the night. Since one of the incidents of childhood sexual abuse happened in the middle of the night when I was already asleep, it makes me wonder if there is a connection. In any case, is there a way to work on this? I have been to a psychologist in the past, and it hasn't helped with this. Should I be rebuking a spirit? But, what is the spirit? When these outbursts happen they are not connected to any memory of abuse, at least consciously, anyway. Another thing that I will say when the mental anxiety builds is, "Shut up, you stupid _____!" These things only happen when I am alone or often my husband hears it. But, not in public. The outbursts happen when I am thinking about my faults. I pray the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet and I wear the scapular and have consecrated my life to Jesus through Mary. But, I don't often ask for healing. Perhaps I should! Thank you for your response and God bless you, Brother.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r) Dear Lyn: I praise God that our Q&A Forums have helped with the relatives. We will continue to pray for them. I am sorry to hear about your experiences. Sexual abuse is a difficult experience to overcome. There can be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms for many years. I suppose it is possible that your "shout outs" could be a symptom of PTSD. You would need to talk to a psychologist who is familiar and experienced with the issue of PTSD as it applies to sexual abuse in childhood. Most often demons do not cause problems but rather hitchhike on problems tht already exist. The mental habit of self-criticism is a psychological issue, but one that can be exploited by demons to harass you to make the problem worse than it has to be. The first step is to realize that you are not at fault in any way for the abuse you experienced. The second step is to realize that God loves you and understands your faults and weaknesses as well as your merits and strengths. He is there to help you heal the problems and to guide you into greater growth and intimacy with Him. This includes letting the past be in the past. While we cannot erase the past, we do not need to let it hold us in bondage. Whatever happened in the past, whoever we were in the past, must be let go and instead we must consider the present and consider what we want to be in the future. In order to do that we must forgive. We need to forgive everyone in our lives (all the way back to childhiid) who has hurt us. We must do more than forgive, we must let go of the pain, we must take ourselves off the hook and get on with our lives. Third, we must understand that when we confess our sins, God no longer remembers them. If God has forgotten all forgiven sin, why do we remember them and fret over them? I would suggest that you follow the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance linked below. Those steps will take you through some exercises to help you heal. As for the vocal utterances, you do not mention if these utterances are beyond your control, a compulsion, as opposed to something you choose to say. You call it a habit. If it really is somthing that you choose to say that has become a habit to say, then stop it. When you feel yourself about to say these things, force yourself to not say them. You can pray to God to help you break this habit. If these utterances are a compulsion, assuming there is no psychological cause, then it may be part of a demonic harassment. You can rebuke the spirit behind the utterances. We have a Prayer to Rebuke Particular Spirits in the Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog linked below. Name the spirits by attribute (e.g., anger, lust, jealousy, fear, anxiety, etc.). In your case there is probably a spirit of self-criticism, improper sexuality, anxiety, an utterances. You can rebuke these spirits by these and whatever other attributes. In the prayer you replace these negative spirits with the opposite attribute. The opposite spirit to self-critcism is self-esteem and love; the opposite to improper sexuality is purity and chastity; to anxiety is peace; to utterances a spirit of self-control. If you follow the 7-Steps for a while and avail yourself of the Prayer Catalog (also see the Hedge Prayers of Protection, etc.) then perhaps you will find some relief. If not you can contact us for further help. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Alarming Habits

Lyn

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Question:

Brother,

Thank you for answering my question on Jan. 6 about ancestral sin and for your prayers. They have had good effect. I am happy to inform you that my husband has since confronted his father about his having married a divorced woman in a civil ceremony and has brought up the need for an annulment. He did this without my nagging him, because he knew that it was bothering me. Also, while we were in a Catholic bookstore recently, I suggested that we purchase a book titled "Annulments and the Catholic Church" and that he should give it to his father. Miraculously, he agreed on the spot. I suspect that my father-in-law is still serving as a Eucharistic minister, but the good news is that he has expressed a desire to have the situation resolved. None of this is ideal, of course, but I am pleased that there is small progress, at least with my husband.

My next question is about some habits of mine that may sound alarming, and I wonder if it is evidence of demonic harassment. As mentioned earlier, I was sexually abused as a child by my father and didn't tell my mother about it until many years later.

One of my mental habits is that I often feel very self-critical and sometimes this causes mental stress to build to a point where I start to say, "SSshhh!" out loud. It happens often. Another thing I do is to shout, "NO!" in a loud voice, sometimes in the middle of the night. Since one of the incidents of childhood sexual abuse happened in the middle of the night when I was already asleep, it makes me wonder if there is a connection.

In any case, is there a way to work on this? I have been to a psychologist in the past, and it hasn't helped with this. Should I be rebuking a spirit? But, what is the spirit?

When these outbursts happen they are not connected to any memory of abuse, at least consciously, anyway.

Another thing that I will say when the mental anxiety builds is, "Shut up, you stupid _____!" These things only happen when I am alone or often my husband hears it. But, not in public. The outbursts happen when I am thinking about my faults.

I pray the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet and I wear the scapular and have consecrated my life to Jesus through Mary. But, I don't often ask for healing. Perhaps I should!

Thank you for your response and God bless you, Brother.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)

Dear Lyn:

I praise God that our Q&A Forums have helped with the relatives. We will continue to pray for them.

I am sorry to hear about your experiences. Sexual abuse is a difficult experience to overcome. There can be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms for many years. I suppose it is possible that your "shout outs" could be a symptom of PTSD. You would need to talk to a psychologist who is familiar and experienced with the issue of PTSD as it applies to sexual abuse in childhood.

Most often demons do not cause problems but rather hitchhike on problems tht already exist. The mental habit of self-criticism is a psychological issue, but one that can be exploited by demons to harass you to make the problem worse than it has to be.

The first step is to realize that you are not at fault in any way for the abuse you experienced.

The second step is to realize that God loves you and understands your faults and weaknesses as well as your merits and strengths. He is there to help you heal the problems and to guide you into greater growth and intimacy with Him.

This includes letting the past be in the past. While we cannot erase the past, we do not need to let it hold us in bondage. Whatever happened in the past, whoever we were in the past, must be let go and instead we must consider the present and consider what we want to be in the future.

In order to do that we must forgive. We need to forgive everyone in our lives (all the way back to childhiid) who has hurt us. We must do more than forgive, we must let go of the pain, we must take ourselves off the hook and get on with our lives.

Third, we must understand that when we confess our sins, God no longer remembers them. If God has forgotten all forgiven sin, why do we remember them and fret over them?

I would suggest that you follow the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance linked below. Those steps will take you through some exercises to help you heal.

As for the vocal utterances, you do not mention if these utterances are beyond your control, a compulsion, as opposed to something you choose to say. You call it a habit. If it really is somthing that you choose to say that has become a habit to say, then stop it.

When you feel yourself about to say these things, force yourself to not say them. You can pray to God to help you break this habit.

If these utterances are a compulsion, assuming there is no psychological cause, then it may be part of a demonic harassment. You can rebuke the spirit behind the utterances. We have a Prayer to Rebuke Particular Spirits in the Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog linked below. Name the spirits by attribute (e.g., anger, lust, jealousy, fear, anxiety, etc.).

In your case there is probably a spirit of self-criticism, improper sexuality, anxiety, an utterances. You can rebuke these spirits by these and whatever other attributes.

In the prayer you replace these negative spirits with the opposite attribute. The opposite spirit to self-critcism is self-esteem and love; the opposite to improper sexuality is purity and chastity; to anxiety is peace; to utterances a spirit of self-control.

If you follow the 7-Steps for a while and avail yourself of the Prayer Catalog (also see the Hedge Prayers of Protection, etc.) then perhaps you will find some relief. If not you can contact us for further help.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.