whose fault is a possession?

Who is to Blame in a Possession?
The difference between thinking of an illness as a disease and thinking about it as a spiritual problem is the presence of guilt and placing the blame. If the illness is thought of as a disease there is no blame on the victim for what has happened to him/her. If the illness is thought to be caused by the devil possessing the victim’s body then the placing of blame or a logical explanation as to why the devil picked the particular victim is sought after. Most of that era would say the people possessed by the devil somehow deserved their plight. They are weak of spirit and can be easily persuaded to have the devil enter into their brains. The society will usually use these victims as a lesson to others to be more vigilant against the devil or someone might become possessed like these poor souls.
With the illness metaphor a hospital is the way to fix or suppress the illness of modern society. Accountability is different than in the possession metaphor. No it was not the victim’s fault but it’s the victim’s job to get better or learn to live with the illness. In the spiritual problem metaphor the blame is on the victim but society does not stress that the victim fix their illness because no one can get rid of the devil by any means short of exorcism. They coax the devil out of Margaret Cooper by idly praying. Ian Hacking, a proponent of social construction, would say that spiritual intervention or possession is false and that the correct way to handle these women would be to consider their ailment an illness.