From UPLIFT: In the shamanic view, emotional distress and psychosis signal a spiritual awakening or emergence, not a pathology. Western cultures can learn a great deal from the shamanic approach to mental health.
“Taking a sacred ritual approach to mental illness, rather than regarding the person as a pathological case, gives the person affected—and indeed the community at large—the opportunity to begin looking at it from that vantage point too, which leads to ‘a whole plethora of opportunities and ritual initiative that can be very, very beneficial to everyone present,’ states Dr. Somé.”
