schizophrenia or demon possession

Yes. Demons attack the family. See Jim Logan "Spiritual Warfare" series on here sermonindex

Luke 4:35 and then again in Luke 9:37-43 tells us something about demonic activity which some ought to take notice of. In these verses the convulsion or the casting to the ground only occurs as the demon is coming out of a person. And in the case of the little boy in Luke chapter nine there are two references to the boy being thrown to the ground. The first is where the father of the child speaks of the boy having a convulsion as the demon leaves his son, and the second is the demon having the very same effect as the Lord commands it to leave his son. It would appear that in these instances the characteristic is that of neurological disturbance malevolently produced whilst a demon is leaving someone. It also shows that demons come and go when they are not fully dealt with.

In Matthew 17:15 we read a slightly different account of this same boy and this time we are told that the boy often falls into the fire and into water.

I would be inclined to want to know why these parents think their son is schizophrenic in the first place. The symptoms described are not in any way typical of schizophrenia. It is also a mistake to think that schizophrenia is doubly mindedness as well. It is properly a condition which has difficulty with one reality let alone two realities. The most common symptom of schizophrenia is delusion. The delusions can be quiet formal and rational to the individual but they do not correspond to reality as though the delusion existed side by side with reality. It is one or the other and not double mindedness. A good definition could be to say that a schizophrenic individual is beside themselves. Not two minds but one mind which has lost touch with the real world.

Also it is very uncommon for a child to be schizophrenic. Many behaviours which are rightly seen as divorced from the real world, in a child, reflect a reality of experience and not a delusion. I was sent to see a psychiatrist myself aged seven because my behaviour was said to be outside of the normal range of childish behaviour. Psychological disturbance can seem very similar to schizophrenia, but unlike schizophrenia may be nothing more than a reasonable response to disturbing circumstances which go on for a long time. There is also a behaviourally induced seizure which looks very similar to epilepsy but which has its roots in muscular spasms brought on by a neurological trauma, such as hitting ones head or flicking the head back and forwards. Plenty of children have violent outburst entirely of their own volition as well. So it may be neither a demon or schizophrenia.

The parents believed their son is schizophrenic because they said his older sister who is eleven is. She has different symptoms then her brother though, when she was younger they said she had visual and auditory hallucinations, she is now on medications. The article said there is mental illness on both sides of the family. I just thought the description reminded me of the demon possessed boy. The little boy has not been diagnosed with schizophrenia but his mother believes he will be. I just wonder if there could be people who are said to have a mental illness when they are in fact possessed?? not saying that these children are possessed just brought the question to mind.

Thank you for the link it makes things a lot clearer.

This link makes it even clearer still.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/born-schizophrenic-mentally-ill-children-threaten-tear-family/story?id=23687000

The likelihood of this family being oppressed seems very high after seeing the video and listening to the description that 74 individual personalities (friends) are essentially tormenting the little girl. The video was made in 2010.

The psychiatrist in the clip however makes it clear that the boy is not schizophrenic. It seems a little misleading to use the phrase "born schizophrenic" as that is an impossibility of itself. Schizophrenia has a potential of being physically explained in nine genetic markers of which 15q11.2 is the most well established. Without 15q11.2 schizophrenia is not physically implicated and even with it, the disease occurs in very few people who have the appropriate chromosomal duplication syndrome which is believed to be a likely explanation in the case of these two children. This couple appear to be in that group hence the reference to both their families having mental illness histories.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-12/19/schizophrenia-autism-dyslexia

http://www.rarechromo.org/information/Chromosome%2015/15q11.2%20microdeletions%20FTNW.pdf

More generally It is increasingly believed that there is an immune response implication for explaining how the neurological pathology, which gives rise to a potential to develop schizophrenia in some people, occurs more generally. Hence why this disease is still seen as both genetic and environmental.

http://www.semel.ucla.edu/news/09/jul/01/ucla-collaboration-identifies-immune-system-link-schizophrenia-0

It is a complex subject which is beyond my own knowledge, but I have been interested in mental disorders for many years and have developed an understanding of how demonic agents achieve their effects in people even when there is no physical basis for that disease. I suppose you would call this oppression. But the thing which is oppressed is of course the brain itself by disturbing the neural pathways and thereby mimicking mental illnesses.

In the case of schizophrenia this is particularly difficult because the neurological evidence cannot be found at the base genetic level to support physical causality unless there are two recessive genes one from each parent in a pair. This refers to the foundation or 23 pairs of chromosomes. In the case of this family the articles appear to suggest that this may be the case. I still wonder why they do not state the possibility more clearly however, as simply making reference to metal illness in both sides of the family does not in any way presuppose chromosomal duplication syndrome.

The next stage which science is looking at to understand schizophrenia is at the immunogenetics level, and the development of the central nervous system, which of course means the development of the brain itself. It is this secondary level which is then implicated in the development of neuropsychiatric illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia. In the end science will no doubt claim that schizophrenia is primarily a physical illness.

I personally believe that schizophrenia is neurologically based in physical reality for some people, but that demonic agents can accomplish the very same psychological effects through physical oppression amounting to possession, in others. In medicine there is still a conflict between geneticists and psychiatrists due to the fact that psychiatrist see a broad range of psychological symptoms which mirror those of schizophrenia but which do not respond to treatment. My mother was a schizophrenic which is why I was treated for three years when I was seven years old due to unusual behaviour. Interestingly enough in my own case the psychiatrist established clearly over a three year period that I had no underlying schizophrenia. Yet by the time I was 16/17 I was exhibiting very nearly every one of the classic symptoms of schizophrenia. I always knew that there was something wrong with me but I also understood that I was actively involved in the occult as well and so had every good reason to know why I was experiencing supernatural events which were grounded in my own body due to my own choices, but which were in the air about me as far as manifestations were concerned. When I was saved at age twenty-four years my mind was completely restored instantly. For three months after I was saved Satan did everything in his power to draw me into believing in an ariel and visible understanding of spiritual things, but the Lord kept me and from that time to this I have always encouraged believers not to seek for visible signs and evidences of demonic activity. They have to be discerned with the spirit and not with the soul through the central nervous system. In this way we can deal with demons according to spiritual authority and realities and not psychophysical realities.