Week 3

Pryanka Narayan

ASA 189

Week 3

            What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital is a highly intriguing article that discusses mental illness through the lens of a shaman. For instance, the article states that in the West mental illness is seen as a taboo and those who experience mental illness are often ostracized by society. Though within the Shaman faith, mental illness is treated very differently; in fact, Shaman’s see those who experience mental illness as good omens. They believe those who experience mental illness are actually mediums from the other side. For example, Dr. Some (a Shaman) who migrated to the U.S. in 1980 for graduate studies, came from a background where those who experienced mental illness were not shunned by society, rather they were appreciated. When coming to the U.S. he was appalled when seeing how the West severely medicated mental patients and/or tossed them into mental institutions. He saw many entities that were around the mental patients, that were oblivious to others.  Throughout time Dr. Somé realized that the West had very strong ideologies surrounding mental illness, and the practices that were held in his hometown would never directly translate to the West. Thus, he altered his practices and geared them towards the West in hopes to look at mental illness through a different lens. Personally, while reading this essay I was having a very difficult time finding an opinion, as I do believe that mental illness is a vital problem that many faces and should not be taken lightly. Though while I do say that, I also believe that people are being medicated at a far too fast pace, and often ostracized when the label of mental illness is placed on them. Which brings me to the belief that while mental illness is a vital problem, practices such as Shamanism should be implemented within the healing process. This is due to my belief that the psychological impact of knowing you are not being shunned, instead you have a community that wants to support you, can do wonders.