Why I Don’t Believe in ‘Psychic Attack’
When people send me emails asking a question on the subject of psychic attack, they fall invariably into two categories:
- They are people who are afraid of psychic development because they’ve heard that it makes you vulnerable to psychic attack. They want assurances that psychic attacks are not a part of psychic development.
- They are people who claim to be under psychic attack. If they get a reply, on more than one occasion it has degenerated into an accusation of me or someone in my business infiltrating their mind or psychically attacking them, too. What can you say to that, apart from “You need to see a mental health professional”?
It’s interesting that I’ve never actually encountered anyone in a session who I perceived to be under real psychic attack. I’ve only ever heard from what I consider mentally ill people or people who are afraid of psychic attack.
I can only conclude, based on my experience working with people in the last four years, that psychic attack as a spiritual issue alone (i.e. psychic attack that does not involve mental illness) is extremely rare or non-existent.
As a result, it is my belief that a perceived ‘psychic attack’ is best resolved on the psychological level, not on the spiritual level.
What is Psychic Attack Anyway?
Psychic attack is the name for the situation where a person is being psychically victimized by a dark entity or person (or the person perceives they are.)
Sometimes people believe that a non-physical entity is victimizing them. Sometimes it might be that a person believes that another person is psychically victimizing them or infiltrating their mind or energy field, against their will.
Both stem from the false idea that our boundaries can be violated against our will.
If you do a Google search for psychic attack, you will find tons of pages on how to avoid or overcome psychic attack. Some are written by psychics.
My Experiences with ‘Psychic Attack’
Let me tell you about my experiences with the idea of ‘psychic attack’.
I personally had encountered this idea of psychic attack twice before I trained as a professional intuitive.
The first time was when I was involved in an evangelical Christian church and it was basically a cult-like organisation that used fear to keep its members loyal to ‘God’ and the organisation. I only went a couple of times and attended a few bible study meetings (that was more than enough for me.)
When I told my friend who had introduced me to the church that I was leaving, she said something along the lines of:
“The reason why you want to leave is because you’re under psychic attack from the devil, who is trying to keep you separate from God.”
I wasn’t crazy, but I felt like I was going round the twist. I was already confused – quitting that church had taken a lot of power and confidence that I didn’t have much of, at that time in my life.
Her comment sent panic and irrational fear straight through my brain, like a thunderbolt.
You can make a vulnerable person feel crazy (and question their own sanity) by telling them they’re under psychic attack. I rang my grandmother who told me I wasn’t under psychic attack and invited me to come home for a week.
(Sometimes I am embarrassed that I managed to get myself into such ‘interesting’ experiences in the past, but at least it means I have something to write about on this blog!)
In my view, it will undermine anyone’s mental and emotional health to worry about and focus on the idea of a devil, psychic attack, or negative beings coming to get you. Or even to believe in it.
The second time I came across the idea of psychic attack was when I read a book by a popular author in the new-age field who writes about psychic and negative beings a great deal, and how to avoid them. The idea in this book was that some negative beings were scary and powerful, and we have to employ ingenious ways to elude them.
Anyway, after having read this book, at first I found it liberating that the negative thoughts I was having might not belong to me. I thought, maybe they were coming from outside of me after all. I preferred to blame what might be in my environment rather than face up to the fact that I had a lot of fear and low self-esteem to heal.
(Plus I was an untrained empath and I was picking up on other peoples’ negative emotions on a daily basis, which made my emotional state worse.)
Soon after I’d sort of accepted this theory in the book I had read, I began to have bad dreams. They involved evil beings victimizing me and pinning me down. The dreams were so vivid that it felt real and I was scared. I wondered if these were the beings the book talked about.
If anything, this book caused my fear to grow. A lot.
Eventually I came to my senses, realized that I was allowing these ideas and these imaginary beings into my space. I didn’t have another ‘pinned down’ dream after that. My personal power had grown a little through that experience – I was choosing how to see the world, and I didn’t want to see the world through the eyes of fear.
So that is why I believe that it will undermine your mental health to focus on psychic attack, negative entities or demons. My experience has taught me it is the case.
If you’re afraid of psychic attack, my advice is not to focus on it.
Astral Entities
As an aside, there is a group of entities that we do want to avoid in psychic development, but as I mentioned in my last article, they are lost souls (also called ‘astral entities). They can drain energy without meaning to, and they can amplify negative emotions if they take up residence in the aura. But they do not victimize us. Nor do they mean to cause harm. They are essentially ghosts or earthbound spirits and they can be cleared from a space or an aura. And they definitely do not send an otherwise sane person around the twist, as I already explained in this article.
But what about those people who really do believe they’re under psychic attack?
In my experience, those people who are insistent that they are under psychic attack are either mentally ill or more politely I could say they have a distorted view of reality. Sometimes people might project their own issues onto a spirit they believe is victimizing them, because they don’t know any better.
Often people who believe in psychic attack have an abuser/victim mentality, where people they meet fall under the category of either victim or abuser. Bad people and spirits are the abusers who can take away our power and violate us, and good people are the victims who need to defend themselves against the psychic attackers.
But this is buying into the idea that another person can violate another without their consent.
While it may be possible to rape another person physically in this plane, it is not possible to violate another person energetically unless that person has given their permission explicitly or implicitly.
If you have well developed personal power, there’s no way you will give your permission to have your boundaries violated by a living person or an entity of any kind. People with well developed power chakras have good energetic boundaries. People with little personal power are more likely to fall into the abuser/victim mentality and consequently believe they can be violated, and so they come across as more vulnerable. What’s the point in upholding boundaries when you believe more powerful beings can come in and violate them anyway?
What about being under psychic attack from other people?
Yes, some people can be draining to be around.
Yes, some people like to take more than they give.
Yes, some people can be abusive or manipulative or both.
There are all kinds of people in this world.
But it is up to us to have real boundaries in the physical or to make choices that keep those people at a distance or away from us altogether.
When a person lacks the personal power to stand up to a bully, stop giving, or lay down the law, the situation will drain them and they might call it psychic attack or psychic vampirism.
Let’s get real about this: there’s nothing psychic about it, apart from your own resentment or upset. And no one can drain you without your permission.
Of course, you might also be an untrained empath who unconsciously picks up on other peoples’ emotions. This can overwhelm you with emotions that aren’t yours, but it’s not psychic attack. (If you are an empath who struggles with negative emotions, then check out my recommended books on turning off empathy.)
In conclusion, I don’t work with people who vehemently believe they are under psychic attack. If a person will not entertain the idea that they might actually be projecting their own issues onto spirits they perceive in their environment, I consider it some kind of psychological disorder that I am not trained to deal with.
And I think it’s a shame that psychic attack is an accepted and popular idea in new-age literature and communities, because I think it creates a lot of fear for people.
I suspect that I am going to get some flak for my views on this topic, since it is very popular to blame one’s ‘stuff’ on an entity. But for those who might be critical of this stance, I want to know – how many of you work with clients on a daily basis? Until I actually encounter an instance of ‘psychic attack’ that isn’t rooted in poor mental health or mental illness, I won’t be changing my mind on this topic!
What are your experiences with this?
Further reading on this topic:
Psychic Self Protection – What You Need to Know
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Great article, Anna. I haven’t met a person yet who says they are under psychic attack who isn’t projecting their issues in some way onto spirit.
I really enjoyed this article, Anna. It’s nice to see someone taking a stand on this issue! Psychic attack is real, if you make it real. Otherwise it is a nonissue, not worth spending any time thinking about. Period.
I’m not a professional intuitive nor am I psychologist but I did have a good friend go crazy on me.
This quote really summarizes the problem with my friend:
“When a person lacks the personal power to stand up to a bully, stop giving, or lay down the law, the situation will drain them and they might call it psychic attack or psychic vampirism.”
And the fact he smokes weed makes it even worse because it amplifies his feelings of despair and paranoia.
I don’t know exactly why but he always feels victimized somehow and that people are out to get him. He even would sometimes think I’m out to get him despite the fact we’ve known each other for 5+ years and I’ve never screwed him over.
One day I told him he’s being irrationally paranoid and that he’s got to deal with his issues. Well surprise, surprise he got mad and says he’s not paranoid and that people really are out to get him.
It’s ironic in that mentally ill people don’t think they are mentally ill, those psychologists got their work cut out for them!
Great article!
I think the same. When a person thinks about this, it will brings fear based emotions. On energy plane he/she will build an energy form and on brain level he/she will build new pathway-mirror neurons that will play a bad movie in his/her mind. New Age authors writing on subject psychic attack must be ignored.
Thank you for the informative post. I have heard about psychic attacks in passing but this is the most in-depth information I’ve read on the subject. I feel fortunate in that my interest regarding metaphysics has always been geared toward enriching, happy, feel-good subjects. I have no interest in dark entities, etc. I am still looking forward to taking your class – just waiting until the right time!
I haven’t run into anyone in my practice who had this concern. Usually people have more issues with what’s holding them back, and are more apt to think of it from a psychological standpoint.
I wholeheartedly concur — I have never, not once, in five years of doing professional readings, ever encountered a single person who is “under psychic attack.”
I also do not attract people claiming to be — what’s with all the “psychic victimization”? I just don’t understand all this confusion and fear and weakness surrounding these subjects… If it’s not empowering and positive, why would anyone even bother?
(Oh! actually, I can answer my own question — I believe that the people claiming to be under psychic attack and mental duress due to psychic phenomenon are mostly seeking attention.)
“While it may be possible to rape another person physically in this plane, it is not possible to violate another person energetically unless that person has given their permission explicitly or implicitly.”
I think this is so important! I do believe that we give away our power in subtle ways and that this can appear to us as psychic attack and the like because we don’t realize we’ve been giving it away this whole time.
I had a revealing dream about boundaries the other night. I believe the theme of the dream was that, although my conscious mind was saying “you do not have permission to cross my boundaries,” another part of me was granting permission and allowing others into my space. It wasn’t until I examined where I was giving consent that I even realized this was happening.
Thanks for the article!
Kate – thanks!
Yes, I guess you don’t have to be mentally ill to think you might be under psychic attack, just misguided.
Namaste – thank you! You’re right, psychic attack so isn’t even worth thinking about.
Joey – That’s a shame your friend is so paranoid but I bet it has a lot to do with the weed. I know someone who is reliant on it and they are exactly as you described.
Stefan – Yep, believing is seeing…
Slade – Good to hear your take on this. No psychic I have talked to this about this has encountered psychic attack. Yet apparently it’s such a common phenomenon.
I think that psychic attack has been a ‘catch all’ self-diagnosis for people when something seems to be wrong.
And I think it is true what you said about seeking attention. Also I think diagnosing psychic attack is a way of avoiding taking responsibility and owning one’s power. Because what’s the point in healing, overcoming issues, or being empowered when an entity can come and mess things up anyway?
Hi Anne – glad your path has been all about the light stuff!
Julie – I’m glad you’ve never come across anyone who fears they’re under attack!
Iseke -
I do believe that we give away our power in subtle ways and that this can appear to us as psychic attack and the like because we don’t realize we’ve been giving it away this whole time.
Yes, totally agree. It’s easy to not notice where we’re giving away our power then if we don’t have the resources or inclination to look under the surface and think hard about what is really going on, we can latch onto a convenient misdiagnosis. Like psychic vampirism or attack.
Ufff what a relief! your post is so timely for me..in the last few weeks, I have had lots of fear while going deeper in meditation…and have given up meditating for a while for fear of some sort of evil entity possesing me!!!…Your post is so encouraging. I will slowly move back into exploring this sphere further once I feel stronger and more confident. Many thanks Anna. Rashmi
I’d not heard of psychic attack as such and though I do very much agree with Anna’s article , I believe I have had a three of experiences where I felt psychically threatened. I felt afraid, it felt very real and I felt that I had to use a lot of resistance (strong prayer, calling on angels, god and various ascended masters) to send the entity/ies on their way. The final instance was more like an earthbound spirit. The other two were not so clear.
I had no doubt that resistance would prevail (with assistance), but it didn’t make it any less nasty, or real-seeming. I actually felt privileged to be given this insight and a strong sense of the strength of help available if I only ask. I agree with the analogy with the physical or psychological bully (whether real or perceived). My sympathy goes out though to those who feel they are or have been attacked. It stops, however, where individuals deny their own responsibility for changing this and I do now try to avoid these (very draining) people.
I think I’ve probably repeated what everyone else has said! Did just want to stand up in support of people who feel attacked – my sense is that it can happen, even if it’s not the personal, vindictive, impossible to resist thing that some people obviously paint it to be! Apologies if I’m misunderstood the whole concept!
Good. One more thing. When you think that you are under phychic attack,your right of your body / where lungs are located / is under pressure. Your left side of your body where the shoulder is located contains fear energies / combining I think energies from second and fifth chakras-negative / that will play bad role agains your stomach. Banishing rituals do not work. Clearing negative energies with chakra system, deep breathing, working with solar plexus chakra / astral connections here / and ignoring fully subject psychic attack.
I find the whole thing fascinating. Do negative energies really exist or are we being attacked by a dark part of our own psyche?
About a year ago while on a weekend break in the U.K. I visited what I had heard to be a “very haunted” place out of curiosity as it was recommended by a friend.
It’s important to stress I had no spiritual leanings at the time and had long held a scientific sceptical view of paranormal and spiritual phenomenon. It was a touristy thing to do and a bit of a laugh.
We went shopping and I had had a few drinks before I went down there (2 beers) and the instant I got in there (haunted place) I felt really sick, the hairs on my neck stood on end as you typically hear. I felt an overwhelming sense of dread and heaviness – I felt like I really didn’t want to be there, the feeling was disgusting it just felt, thick and evil, my body felt like it really wanted to leave, but my mind kept telling me that nothing can harm me, so I stayed.
Then there was heavy breathing in my ear (we were in a big group, I just thought the guy next to me was a bit of a weirdo) then I saw what I thought was a person staring at me, they looked real, 100% solid, they were wearing old fashioned clothes, the only thing that didn’t seem right were the eyes, they were black – no colour at all and they just stared at me from the end of the corridor, my girlfriend also caught a glimpse of him, just as I nudged for her to look he walked off, but she caught a glimpse of him.
I felt strange for the rest of the tour and I felt spaced out for the rest of the weekend, the only way I can describe it is it felt like when you have been out in the sun too long, you feel dizzy, spaced out, nauseous. When I went out for dinner that night, I felt strange, like I wasn’t fully present.
Anyway after I got home these feelings continued, along with an inability to concentrate. A strange feeling that I wasn’t alone, electrical, tingling sensations up my spine.
And I was becoming more and more spaced out, extremely tired, detached,sad and angry, my senses seemed dulled, I just felt like someone or something was with me. At times though it was terrifying as I felt I was losing consciousness.
There were some strange electrical malfunctions and smells in my flat but I did not hear any voices or anything of that nature.
I thought that there were two possibilities, I was either going insane or that somehow something had actually followed me home. I figured in that case I needed to see either a psychologist or an exorcist.
Eventually I found this lady http://www.sueallentherapies.co.uk/ who is a trained psychoanalyst and psychic specialising in spirit release and psychic attack.
I thought if any one can tell me if I have mental health issues or I am actually possessed then it will be this lady. Unfortunately she was booked up fully for 3-4 months, so instead I went to see somebody else who had been trained by her, a healer who speicalised in “spirit release” she confirmed that I did in fact have the spirit of a dark and particularly nasty murderer with me along with a lady and her little girl – 3 spirits in all.
The alcohol I had consumed “weakened my aura” along with being run down and working 60 hour + weeks allowed the break in apparently.
I felt much better afterwards, I could think clearly and things returned to normal.
I made the mistake of telling some people about it who I knew were interested in spirituality and even they thought I was mental. Now I won’t tell anyone about it unless I know they have experienced it themselves.
From my point of view, there were many physical sensations along with the mental disturbances, electrical tingling sensations up the spine, draining sensations, extreme tiredness. Along with feelings of almost instant relief after visiting the healer which is why I believe I had a negative entity attachment but in reality there are three Possibilities.
1. Psychosis brought about from stress, overwork, alcohol and the spooky environment – which is what most people think happened. That I went nuts
2. Some sort of Neurotoxic/Paralytic shell fish poisoning (I had eaten a lot of sea food and shell fish that weekend)
and some of the mental symptoms are similar to those I described. However I had none of the physical symptoms of food poisoning.
3.”Spirit attachment” or self created thought form entity
I guess I will never really know for sure…
If you have time check out this link http://www.suite101.com/content/greyfriars-history-of-horror-a365942 over 500 people have reported to have been attacked by an unseen entity in this graveyard – so many reports in fact that the area where the attacks have occurred has been permanently closed to the public. How can we explain things like this?? I would be interested to know your thoughts?
Alexander, spirit/entity attachment is what you had, it is different than psychic attack.
Thanks for the article. I have to wonder though ~ having done many readings in the past 3 years, a few weeks ago, I experienced what I thought to be a psychic attack from a client.
Right away, I could feel it in my heart and it made me feel very ill. In reflection it seems as though in the words/thoughts my client stated, caused the judgement and fear within myself to arise and stir.
It took a few days, some wonderful friends healing, some deep meditation and ‘blocking’ this client, to come back to myself. I’ll have to rethink this term if and ‘every’ if I use it again.
I read an interesting book of various first hand accounts on this subect called: “Vampires Among Us”. The stories sounded much like Alexanders.
People minding their own business and encountering someone who “cords” to others on a regular basis conciously or unconciously, often because of a physical
illness. Their common motivation seems to be drawing energy from others in order to empower themselves. It does seem to be a boundary issue, and the ones who were able recognize the attachment were better able to protect themselves, as with any hazard. “Michael’s Gemstone Dictionary” also has some specific recommendations for aura clearing and decording: Alexandrite, Bastnaesite, Flourite, Brown Jasper, Yttrocerite, Yellow & Colorless Zircon.
I think the ” theme ” VAMPIRES must be gone. Your subconscious mind don’t like some feelings in the aura of the vampire. Direct techniques not work and some body moves too. After the meeting, charge yourself with deep slow breaths for 2-3 minutes to fill your body with life force energy / prana, chi, ki, mana and more / Books for vampires are bussiness type. The secret is to cleanse your solar plexus chakra regulary. Good luck.