Persons of all cultures have engaged in the effort to understand themselves and have

developed scholarly concepts to account for the similarities and differences among them. Each
person belongs to different race, ethnicity, religion and culture that affects in the way we live.
There are some deviant behaviors that may seem unusual but culturally and individually
appropriate to us. In this experiential mini-paper our professor gave us a significant activity that
let us to experience the sense of a real world. This experienced gave me a greatest reward and
luxury of travel to be able to experience it for the first time, and it also helps for the evolution of
my consciousness. However, I will tell you my experienced in coping the real world.
From the beginning of our journey, me and my group went to Rizal Park to find Rizalista,
this is a religion on which their god is our national hero named Jose Rizal. But when we go there,
we didnt see any Rizalista and we found out that they are very confidential group of person and
nobody know where are their conference or church. For that reason, we think another unusual
activity that will widen our mind in our society. Then, we go behind Quiapo Church Manila to
attend in a group of soothsayer or also known as manghuhula. According to a MerriamWebster Dictionary, they are a group of person who predicts the future by magical, intuitive or
more rational means. At first, we are just standing in front of them and observing how they do
their session when they have costumers. And when we got a chance to communicate with one of
the oldest soothsayer, we asked an inform consent to join and interview them to know their
background on what they are doing. This is a very breath-taking experienced for me. As Ive I
grown in a Christian, Born Again family we consider this culture as deviant and not acceptable to
be with. But good judgement comes from experience, and there is no end to the adventures we
can have if only we seek them with our open eyes. Yes, Im a little bit nervous and

uncomfortable to be with them. But I consider this as challenge because there is nothing to do
when I will stay with my fear.
One of my groupmate are very uncomfortable and afraid, and she said that she will just
observed us and find another event that she could be fit on her. But all we have to do is to cheer
her up and motivate her on this activity. Then, we started to talk to the oldest soothsayer, she
already told her price by joining and talking to her. But she considered our status, thats why she
didnt shock us with a high price. We are just sitting behind her and observed how she does her
session with her costumers. I noticed that she asked first the status of a person, and then the high
status costumers demand a high price. Thats why she didnt make me believe that her magical
power is true because of taking advantage from her different costumer. When we asked what her
name is, she only told us her alias because she tell that the life of a soothsayer is very
confidential since she just met us for the first time. Her name was alias Madam Auring, 65
years old and originated from Surigao Del Sur. She told us that her magical power was nature in
her family blood. She started soothsaying at 9 years of age in her province, and then she goes to
Quiapo Manila to improve the said magical powers. There basis to predict ones future is by
Latin prayers, rituals, cards, reading hands and analyzing the meaning of the name of a person.
They have also a secret conference in Quiapo where they pray. They have also God and religion
which is Roman Catholic. Moreover, when we are already comfortable to her. She told us her
secret which makes me shock and interested. She said that being a soothsayer was being great
because they are very powerful and magical. Madam Auring told us that she is very gifted and
had a millions of skills, like she had a ritual on which she can make a couple to have child, but
then along her price was too high, besides she can also abort child. She also told us that she
already saw and talk to God personally, and then she defined it by us. She said that God was so

bright and smells so good. Finally, she showed and taught us how to do soothsaying. She predicts
our future one by one, and I observed that she limits her negative words but instead all positives.
I perused from the beginning of our book in Abnormal Psychology, Historical Conceptions
of Abnormal Behavior, that for a thousand years, humans have tried to explain and control
problematic behavior. Humans have always supposed that agents outside our bodies and
environment influence our behavior, thinking and emotions. These agents which might be
divinities, demons, spirits, or other phenomena which are driving forces behind the supernatural
model. For much of our recorded history, deviant behavior has been considered a reflection of
the battle between good and evil and can treat in a supernatural way. The supernatural tradition in
psychopathology is alive and well, although it is relegated to small religious sect in this country
and to primitive cultures elsewhere. As the days goes by when they philosophers and
psychologists discover medical and psychological treatments, no one would advocate
supernatural treatment for severe psychological disorders, except, perhaps, as a last resort.
Going back to our main topic, as Ive observed one of the soothsayer Madam Auring. I
therefore conclude that she has a Grandiose Delusions (GD) or delusions of grandeur which is
the fixed, false belief that one possesses superior qualities such as genius, fame, omnipotence or
wealth which I observed by her when she told us that she had already seen God personally and
she is very gifted and had a millions of skills. It is most often a symptom of schizophrenia, but
can also be a symptom found in psychotic or bipolar disorders, as well as dementia (such as
Alzheimers). Patients suffering from grandiose delusions wrongly hold themselves at an
extraordinarily high status in their mind. Madam Auring also told us that she already made an
important discovery that others dont understand and appreciate. It can be difficult to distinguish
delusions from overvalued ideas because a person with delusion is absolutely convinced that the

delusion is real. I also observed that she has a symptoms of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
In DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, I observed that she has a
symptom of it but not so severe. She has a grandiose sense of self-importance which I have said
that she was gifted and has magic, interpersonally exploitative because she takes advantage of
her costumers by demanding a high price to achieve her own ends, and she has a lack of empathy
to other people because she is a swindler and she can also do abortions. Cognitive therapy strives
to replace their fantasies with a focus on the day-to-day pleasurable experience such as relaxation
training that are attainable. Coping strategies such as relaxation training are used to help them
face and accept criticism. Helping them and focus on the feelings of other is also a goal.
This cultural activity that I attend open my eyes in our society. This is a very memorable
experienced that I encounter a deviant tradition that was very different from my usual life. All
our efforts and expenses are very worth it. This is what Ive been waiting for in our psychology
course, to discover and meet a psychologically incapacitated person. I am not only read it in our
book, but I already met a person with an abnormal behavior. Ive learned so many things with
my experienced. This experienced will be our stepping stone and an advance practice in our
future profession. This active involvement in this experience becomes a breakthrough in my
psychology course.