Demonic Foes: Experiences of a Psychiatrist in the World of Exorcism

Richard E. Gallagher, M.D., is an American board certified psychiatrist.  He is a Professor of Psychiatry at New York Medical College and also on the faculty of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Institute. where he trained as an analyst.  Dr. Gallagher is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, where he studied the Classics and won the class scholarship prize in ancient Latin and Greek.  After playing professional basketball in Europe, he trained in Psychiatry at Yale University.  Dr. Gallagher served for many years on the governing board of the International Association of Exorcists and has addressed its plenary sessions on numerous occasions.   He has collaborated with many Catholic priests, rabbis and ministers in the assessment of individuals being evaluated for possible diabolic attack over the last twenty-five years.  He has written widely and given many talks, including on TV and radio and in documentaries, on the topic of diabolic possession.  As a physician, he emphasizes the critical need to differentiate such cases from the mentally and medically ill.  He published a widely reprinted scholarly article on the most dramatic case highlighted in a chapter of his upcoming book, of a Satanist who was unquestionably possessed, entitled “The Satanic Queen.”  His book will be published by Harper Collins in the fall and is called:  “Demonic Foes: A Psychiatrist Investigates Demonic Possession in the Modern United States.”