Nonpossessed

Nonpossessed is an adjective used to describe a person or entity that is not possessed by a spirit, demon, or other external agent. The term is most commonly encountered in religious, folkloric, or paranormal contexts, where possession refers to a claimed takeover of a person’s body or agency by a nonhuman force. Nonpossessed thus denotes the absence of such influence.

The word is formed from the negation non- plus possessed. In discussions of possession, nonpossessed may be used to describe a person who has not displayed signs of possession after a ritual, exorcism, or spiritual intervention. In many traditions, possession is a culturally patterned phenomenon, and whether someone is considered nonpossessed can reflect doctrinal or communal beliefs rather than an objective medical condition.

In scholarly and popular narratives, nonpossessed is also used to contrast characters who are under the control of spirits with those who are not. In fiction and media, it can function as a plot device to signal autonomy, protection from danger, or the efficacy of ritual purification.

Notes on usage: outside religious or folkloric contexts, experiences of possession are discussed in psychology and psychiatry as subjective experiences with cultural meaning; the term nonpossessed is rarely used in clinical discourse, which tends to describe symptoms or states rather than possession itself. See also possession, exorcism, possession (psychology).