Human Development

Theomania

Description:
A state of frenzy and exaltation arising under an excess of devotional or religious fervour, when the person may seem "possessed" by a deity, theomania may arise from any activity where there is preoccupation with religion or which causes xenophrenic states - asceticism, chanting, prayer, drugs - and may manifest in unusual behaviour and phenomena, from convulsions to clairvoyance and glossolalia, from healing powers to immunity to pain. It is not always easy to make a distinction between divine frenzy (furor divini), where a divine presence is manifest, and ecstasy or possession by spirits or demons. In the extreme the person may believe himself to be God.
Broader:
Frenzy