Nohelp4u (who as usual doesn't live up to her name) gives a good answer. There are some kinds of spirits who happen to have a spot on the food chain where their natural prey is shamans, psychics, and creative people. "Skinwalkers" is one term for it that some people from some Native traditions use. Many Native cultures have better traditions and rituals for dealing with these things than "white" culture. You might want to ask your parents if they have some friends who could light your son up and brush him off (that's how one Native friend of mine always describes that ritual), or otherwise give him some tools and protections for dealing with this. Perhaps they could also give him some training in using his gifts because, as I said, it tends to be gifted people to whom such spirits are attracted, and it is not good to keep dark the mind of such a one.
A good psychologist might not be a bad idea, either. It would have to be an open-minded and progressive counselor. Personally I recommend ones with a transpersonal focus to their practice (it usually says that on the yellow pages ad). The stronger and more integrated a person, the less room there is for a parasitic spirit to sneak in.
They feed on fear, so he needs to learn to conquer his fear (or better yet flow with it). Which is a totally different thing from trying to teach him that there is "nothing" to be afraid of, that the things he is afraid of aren't real--you want to stay away from teachers and shrinks who take that approach.
Despite the fact that it comes from one of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novels, a lot of people have found this mantra (using the term in the loose, secular sense) to be effective:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Perhaps he would benefit from focusing on the feeling itself, not reacting to the fear but experiencing it, trying to identify its color, its sound, the way it smells, to recognize it as something happening to him, like a thunderstorm passing over a mountain. The storm passes and the mountain remains.
Good luck with this. Remind your son that as he gets older, he will learn ways to deal with this, and to try to be patient.
Blessings to you and your family.
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