demonomanian.
/ˌdiːmənə(ʊ)ˈmeɪnɪə/, U.S. /ˌdimənəˈmeɪniə/ Now historical.
The belief that one is possessed by an evil spirit; mental illness characterized by this.
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the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > [noun] > demonomania
demonomania1800
theomania1853
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > possession
possession1601
fanaticism1708
demonomania1800
demonopathy1846
theolepsy1886
mafufunyana1952
1800 tr. W. Cullen Nosology 133 I do not allow that there is any true Dæmonomania.
1837 J. C. Prichard Treat. Insanity 33 Dæmonomania occupies an important place among the forms of insanity described by the old writers, and..this is still the character which, in some catholic countries, insanity connected with superstition frequently assumes.
1837 Asylum Jrnl. Mental Sci. 3 102 This description..does not exactly describe more modern cases of demonomania—in which the patient is much depressed, pretends to no supernatural knowledge, and is firmly convinced either of being possessed by, or actually transformed into the devil.
1880 Sat. Rev. No. 1295. 249 Outbreaks of the epidemical demonomania to which every age is liable.
1916 Med. Pickwick Jan. 4/2 Medieval accounts of the obsessional aspects of demonomania differ little in symptomatology from the mental state of agitated melancholia of the present day.
1991 Oxf. Art Jrnl. 14 i. 81/1 Only one of these engravings comes close to Géricault's pictures—an anonymous portrait of a victim of demonomania.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1800