Comparing Shamanism and Psychiatry

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Shamanism, one of the oldest spiritual healing disciplines, has recently become a topic of interest in mainstream psychiatry. Shamans are often compared to psychiatrists, searching the unconscious for hidden sources of suffering and lost fragments of self. In a recent article for the webzine Mad in America, Natalie Tobert, Ph.D., a medical anthropologist and the author of Spiritual Psychiatries, compares and contrasts the role of diagnosis and treatment within shamanism and psychiatry. Tobert explores both their methods of working, and their function of maintaining social order. Comparison of their job descriptions to alleviate human suffering is complex. Shamanic practice focuses primarily on the individual within society, environment, and cosmos. In contrast psychiatry focuses on the individual’s body/mind — though it is beginning to consider wider issues. In both cases, the diagnoses which are made by shamans and psychiatrists are linked to their own explanatory models of causation. Although the societal role appears similar, their practices and treatments are different. Tobert generalizes that in order to diagnose and treat human suffering, one works within reductionist medicine, the other within energy medicine. To learn more, read “Shamans and Psychiatrists: A Comparison.”