Is it beneficial to visit exorcists/sorcerers/spiritual healers/psychics to overcome problems caused by ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.)?

Some people affected or possessed by ghosts try to overcome problems caused by ghosts by visiting exorcists/sorcerers etc., i.e. people who supposedly have the ability to remove the black energy of ghosts or to remove the ghosts themselves. SSRF does not recommend this as a suitable or a sustainable option for various reasons:

• Most exorcists / sorcerers / tāntriks / māntriks / spiritual healers / priests / psychics do not have adequate study of the subject and hence lack in depth knowledge about various aspects of ghosts like their types, strength, characteristics, etc. Hence they can be mislead by the illusory forms of ghosts as well as their mock/fake departure.
• They also do not possess enough spiritual power to be able to influence the ghosts so as to force them out of the person permanently.
• Without a strong basic foundation of spiritual practice that provides a strong inherent focus of sāttviktā that keeps up an ongoing fight against the ghost, the best of external efforts to remove the possessing ghost or to reduce its influence are jeopardised. At best the ghost may fake a departure or may even leave genuinely, only to come back into the person once the exorcist’s back is turned.
• Some such people may be frauds and one runs the risk of being cheated of money etc. but most importantly without the expected resolution of the problem.