Experience with Ouija Board Detrimental to My Son

Reader’s Question

My son who is 21 got into a Ouija Board and since has had some really off the wall ideas that people are with him… He sits by himself, as if he is talking to someone. This weekend has been extremely bad. He has hardly eaten. He goes upstairs and sits on our deck and then he will go downstairs and sits on the porch. He has had very little sleep. I am at my wits’ end…

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

For most people the Ouija Board is harmless fun, just as having your cards or palm read. In rare cases, the Ouija Board (and thousands of other experiences) can trigger psychiatric symptoms in individuals who are psychiatrically fragile.

There are many people in our environment who are psychiatrically fragile — that is, moderately to severely depressed yet trying to work/relate, others at risk to develop psychiatric disorders yet haven’t had an increase in symptoms, or people so stressed that it doesn’t take much to put them into a major psychiatric reaction. Your son may have fit one of those categories before his experience with the Ouija Board.

Obviously, the experience has moved him into a serious psychiatric state. You are describing a variety of significant psychiatric symptoms including paranoia, possible auditory hallucinations, a loss of social/personal functioning, and social isolation. These symptoms are very serious and associated with a possible psychotic reaction. He may have been frightened in his experience with the Ouija Board, triggering the release of neurochemicals in the brain that produces the paranoid ideation. More information on this is available on my website under Chemical Imbalance at www.drjoecarver.com.

Sadly, your son is currently overwhelmed by his experience. His brain is going 100 mph and he is experiencing something similar to an LSD trip. He will need psychiatric consultation and treatment. Also sadly, these symptoms can get worse. I would recommend seeing a psychiatrist as soon as possible. You might encourage him to seek help by focusing on the physical issues created by his symptoms — the sleeplessness, loss of appetite, weight loss, poor concentration, etc. Right now, he is experiencing a type of paranoia that will make him quickly threatened by any focus on the Ouija Board or challenge regarding his imaginary friends, spirits, etc.

If he is willing to discuss the situation, focus on how the Ouija Board has triggered a change in his brain’s chemistry — producing the hallucinations and paranoid thoughts. Don’t discuss how it has opened a door to another dimension — it hasn’t. There are no spirits, ghosts, aliens, etc. here — just a sudden change in his neurochemistry that is best treated by a psychiatrist.

Good luck during this very difficult time.