Melanie Esparza - Week 5

In the article What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital by Staphanie Marohn with Malidoma Patrice Somé, Somé describes that among shamanic culture, mental illness can be a signal for the “birth of a healer”. That is a huge contrast to Western culture where mental illness is viewed as a pathology that must be fixed. In shamanic view, mental illness is seen as a crisis undergone by those individuals who have been chosen as mediums. Somé explains that within his tradition, the “community helps the person reconcile the energies of both worlds” instead of casting them out as misfits. Western society has lost touch with spirituality, and it’s loss is taking a toll on the community. Somé specifically describes the relationship between schizophrenia and foreign energy. While I had a somewhat decent understanding of schizophrenia from a purely clinical standpoint, I had never even begun to consider how it could be tied to spirituality. After reading this article, my point of view shifted and it makes sense that having sustained psychic pressure might cause a nervous breakdown or lead to other consequences if the person has no way of reconciling their experiences with what they believe to be reality. I was particularly intrigued by the passage dealing with ancestors that try to merge with a descendant in order to heal past traumas. I’ve done research on generational trauma and the way that it can affect an individual even if they are unaware of the trauma their ancestors faced. 

Image sourced from: https://www.myhomevitality.com/merging-the-mind-and-spirit/