Tucker Carlson calls "mental illness" a "phrase invented by people pretty recently," discusses "demonic possession" with Lee Strobel 

In a recent episode of his videocast, commentator Tucker Carlson spoke with Christian author Lee Strobel, asking whether some conditions categorized as mental illness may instead be spiritual. The episode discussed demonic possession and the representations of possession in religious texts.

Tucker Carlson kicked off the segment by calling into question how people now talk about mental health.

"There are certain forms of what we refer to as mental illness, which is like a phrase invented by people pretty recently," he said.

While acknowledging that some conditions are legitimate, he claimed that certain people “have visions that are very unpleasant and that bear, like, almost a precise resemblance to the demonic possession described in the New Testament."

Carlson then posed a question to his guest, asking if it was fair to assume that psychiatrists, who he said "can never describe where it comes from or how to fix it," may be misclassifying spiritual issues as only psychological.

"Is it fair to assume that maybe some of that is spiritual?" Tucker Carlson said.

Lee Strobel, an ex-atheist author of several bestsellers on Christian apologetics, agreed with the premise. "Yes, I think it can very well be," he said. He set forth a criterion for appraising such cases while stressing the importance of "external corroboration."

Lee Strobel gave examples of "external corroboration," citing unexplained scratches or bruising on people, levitation, and "people speaking in a language they don't know."

“Those are the cases I'm more comfortable in concluding that they're demonic when I've got that kind of external corroboration,” Strobel claimed.

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Tucker Carlson and Lee Strobel discuss speaking in tongues and demonic signs

The conversation then moved on to an analysis of spiritual phenomena. Tucker Carlson noted that speaking in unknown languages is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles as a gift of the Holy Spirit, and wondered how one could tell the difference between divine and demonic possession.

Lee Strobel claimed that context is important and mentioned examples such as aggressive behavior toward clergy and recoiling from a rosary and other religious symbols as plausible presence of malevolence.

Additionally, Tucker Carlson inquired about glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. Lee Strobel replied he thinks it is an active spiritual gift today, but that it is also a theologically complicated issue amongst Christians. However, both Carlson and Strobel agreed that some people "seized by some unseen force" allegedly begin "speaking in languages they have never studied."

"I believe they are still active. I've met Christians who speak in other tongues, and others who interpret that. So I believe it's a gift that still takes place. I have not experienced that personally, but I have credible people who do and have experienced that," Strobel claimed.

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Tucker Carlson and Lee Strobel framed a stark contrast between modern psychiatric definitions and ancient religious descriptions of spiritual warfare, claiming that some conditions might be misunderstood by contemporary medicine.