Week 8 blog Yuzhe Zhang, A01

Week 8 blog

Yuzhe Zhang, A01

Stephanie Marohn’s article on the topic of “The Shamanic View of Mental Illness” took us through the relationship between one’s inner energy and spiritual realm. The Shamans mentioned a key word time and again – ritual, a word that has almost been forgotten in our today’s life. However, contrary to Marohn’s viewpoint, I don’t think the religious rituals can have any actual effect except giving people some psychological comfort. Instead, they may even do harm to us.

In the article, Shamans claimed that some of the spirits may be “ancestors who want to merge with a descendant in an attempt to heal what they weren’t able to do while in their physical body.” I think this is an absurd statement. In the age of science, we should believe in science, not this kind of heresy. Someone may ask: “Is the Shamans’ rituals the same as what psychological therapists do?” I would say, the rituals are totally different from psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is based on science and systematic study, however, Shamans are using coincidence to win the trust from people. They are different concepts in nature.

Why many people would rather believe Shamans than scientists or therapists?

References

Marohn. S (2014). What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital. The mind unleashed. Retrieved from http://themindunleashed.org/2014/08/shaman-sees-mental-hospit...

The Ancient Ones (2016). The Ancient Shamanism. Retrieved from http://ancients-bg.com/the-ancient-shamanism/