The Psychological Health of Shamans:

T H E P s Y C H O L O G ~ ~ L HEALTH of spiritual practitioners has long been a point of contention, both in the culture at large and among researchers such as anthropologists, religious scholars, and especially mental health profcssionals. William James wrestled with this issue in The Varictics 01 Rcligiou Expcricncc, and almost a century later the debate continues (Lukoff. Lu, and Turner; Walsh. 1980; Wilber 1993). Witness, for example, the title o l a report on mysticism by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry: Mysticism: Spiritual QucsL or Psychic Disonlcr? Perhaps the most controversial figures o l all have been shamans. The range ofdewriptions and diagnoses that have been given these individuals is nothing less than extraordinary, and two extreme views are now prevalent. Among mainstream academics probably the most common assessment of shamans is that they are psychologically disturbed individuals who have managed to adapt their psychopathology to social needs. Shamans have been diagnosed. labelled, and dismissed in many ways. To start with some of the kinder diagnoses, shamans have been described 3s tricksters and healed madmen (Eliade; Warner). The terms neurotic, epileptic, and charlatan have been applied liberally, and the shaman has